MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
10-Ks and 10-Qs
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31 , 2021
OR
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: 001-33277
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) |
(Zip Code) | |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (267 ) 824-2827
Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report:
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act:
Title of each class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: None.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
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 ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Yes ☒ No ☐
Regulation S-T
(§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a
non-accelerated
filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2
of the Exchange Act. | ☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||
Non-accelerated filer |
☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in ☒
Rule 12b-2
of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by 819,348,240 . For purposes of this calculation, directors and executive officers of the registrant have been deemed affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.
non-affiliates
of the registrant based upon the closing sale price of the registrant’s common stock on June 30, 2021 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), as reported on the Nasdaq Global Market, was $As of February 21, 2022, the registrant had 17,103,395 shares of common stock outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Certain information required by Part III,
Items 10-14
of this Form 10-K
is incorporated by reference to the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this Form 10-K,
provided that if such Proxy Statement is not filed within such period, such information will be included in an amendment to this Form 10-K
to be filed within such 120-day
period. Auditor Firm Id: |
Auditor Name: |
Auditor Location: |
Table of Contents
Page |
||||||
Item 1. |
6 | |||||
Item 1A. |
29 | |||||
Item 1B. |
57 | |||||
Item 2. |
57 | |||||
Item 3. |
57 | |||||
Item 4. |
57 | |||||
Item 5. |
58 | |||||
Item 6. |
60 | |||||
Item 7. |
61 | |||||
Item 7A. |
69 | |||||
Item 8. |
69 | |||||
Item 9. |
69 | |||||
Item 9A. |
69 | |||||
Item 9B. |
70 | |||||
Item 10. |
71 | |||||
Item 11. |
71 | |||||
Item 12. |
71 | |||||
Item 13. |
71 | |||||
Item 14. |
71 | |||||
Item 15. |
72 | |||||
Item 16. |
74 | |||||
| 75 | ||||||
i
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on
Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, includes “forward-looking statements” made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us, but are subject to factors beyond our control Forward-looking statements: reflect management’s current knowledge, assumptions, judgment and expectations regarding future performance or events; include all statements that are not historical facts; and can be identified by terms such as “allow,” “anticipates,” “appear,” “be,” “believes,” “continue,” “could,” “demonstrates,” ”design,” “estimates,” “expects,” “expectation,” “forecasts,” “future,” “help,” “hopeful,” “inform,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” ”predictive,” “projects,” “seeks,” “should,” “will,” “will achieve,” “would” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. In particular, forward-looking statements contained in or incorporated by reference to this Annual Report relate to, among other things, | • | Anticipated or estimated future results, including the risks and uncertainties associated with our future operating performance and financial position, |
| • | Our possible or assumed future results of operations and expenses, business strategies and plans (including ex-U.S. launch/partnering plans), capital needs and financing plans, market trends, competitive position, industry environment and potential growth opportunities, |
| • | Our ability to delay certain research activities and related clinical expenses as necessary, |
| • | Our clinical trials, including the anticipated timing of disclosure, presentations of data from, or outcomes from our trials, |
| • | Research and development activities, and the timing and results associated with the future development of our lead product candidate, resmetirom (formerly known as MGL-3196), including projected market size and sector leadership, |
| • | The timing and completion of projected 2022 clinical milestone events, including enrollment, additional studies, top-line data and open label projections, |
| • | Plans, objectives and timing for making a Subpart H (Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-Threatening Illnesses) submission to FDA, |
| • | Our primary and secondary study endpoints for resmetirom, and the potential for achieving such endpoints and projections, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (“NASH”) resolution, safety, fibrosis treatment, cardiovascular effects and lipid treatment with resmetirom, |
| • | Optimal dosing levels for resmetirom and projections regarding potential NASH or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (“NAFLD”) and potential patient benefits with resmetirom, including future NASH resolution, safety, fibrosis treatment, cardiovascular effects, lipid treatment and/or biomarker effects with resmetirom, |
| • | The potential efficacy and safety of resmetirom for non-cirrhotic NASH patients and cirrhotic NASH patients, |
| • | Ex-U.S. launch/partnering plans, |
| • | The predictive power of resmetirom liver fat reduction, as measured by non-invasive tests, on NASH resolution and/or fibrosis reduction or improvement, and potential NASH or NAFLD patient risk profile benefits with resmetirom, |
| • | The predictive power of liver fat, volume or fibrosis reduction with resmetirom using non-invasive tests, |
| • | The predictive power of non-invasive tests generally, including for purposes of diagnosing NASH, monitoring patient response to resmetirom, or recruiting and conducting a NASH clinical trial, |
1
| • | Market demand for and acceptance of our products, |
| • | Research, development and commercialization of new products, |
| • | Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including, but not limited to, potential regulatory delays or rejections, |
| • | Risks associated with meeting the objectives of our clinical studies, including, but not limited to our ability to achieve enrollment objectives concerning patient numbers (including an adequate safety database), outcomes objectives and/or timing objectives for our studies, any delays or failures in enrollment, the occurrence of adverse safety events, and the risks of successfully conducting trials that are substantially larger, and have patients with different disease states, than our past trials, |
| • | Risks related to the effects of resmetirom’s mechanism of action and our ability to accomplish our business and business development objectives and realize the anticipated benefit of any such transactions, and |
| • | Assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. |
We caution you that the foregoing list may not include all of the forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report. Although management presently believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and you should be aware that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to: our clinical development of resmetirom; enrollment and trial conclusion uncertainties, generally and in relation to and social distancing measures and individual precautionary measures that may be implemented or continued for an uncertain period of time; our potential inability to raise sufficient capital to fund our ongoing operations as currently planned or to obtain financings on terms similar to those we have arranged in the past; outcomes or trends from competitive studies; future topline data timing or results; the risks of achieving potential benefits in studies that includes substantially more patients, and patients with different disease states, than our prior studies; the timing and outcomes of clinical studies of resmetirom; and the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Madrigal undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they are made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Please refer to Madrigal’s submissions filed or furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for more detailed information regarding these risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. We specifically discuss these risks and uncertainties in greater detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report, as well as in our other filings with the SEC. You should read this Annual Report, and the other documents that we file or have filed with the SEC, with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
COVID-19
shelter-in-place
Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for our management to predict all risks and uncertainties, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual future results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements.
Except as required by applicable law or the rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market, or NASDAQ, we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
2
RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
The following is a summary of the principal risk factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. Before you invest in our securities, you should read the following summary together with the more detailed description of material risks described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report and the other information contained in this Annual Report.
Risks Related to our Business
| • | We have limited operating history, we have incurred significant operating losses since inception and we expect to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future. We may never become profitable or, if achieved, be able to sustain profitability. |
| • | Our business depends on the success of resmetirom, which is still in clinical development and has not completed a pivotal trial. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for and successfully commercialize resmetirom, or we experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed. |
| • | Clinical trials are very expensive, time-consuming and difficult to design and implement and involve uncertain outcomes. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials are not always predictive of future results. Any product candidate that we advance into clinical trials may not have favorable results in later clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. |
| • | Because resmetirom has not yet received regulatory approval for any indication, it is difficult to predict the time and cost of development and our ability to successfully complete clinical development and obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for commercialization and our ability to realize a benefit, if any, from Fast Track designation or any Subpart H application may be limited or unavailable. |
| • | If clinical trials or regulatory approval processes for our product candidates are prolonged, delayed or suspended, we may be unable to commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis, which would require us to incur additional costs and delay our receipt of any revenue from potential product sales. |
| • | If we inadvertently fail to comply with foreign regulatory requirements governing human clinical trials and marketing approval for drugs, we could be prevented from selling our drug candidates in foreign markets. |
| • | We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical trials for our product candidates. If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, COVID-19 , |
| • | Any product candidate in our current or future clinical trials may cause unacceptable adverse events or side effects or have other properties that may delay or prevent its regulatory approval or commercialization or limit its commercial potential. |
| • | Our product candidates will remain subject to ongoing regulatory review even if they receive marketing approval, and if we fail to comply with continuing regulations, we could lose these approvals and the sale of any approved commercial products could be suspended. |
| • | We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing industry, and our product candidates may become obsolete. |
| • | If the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities approve generic products that compete with any of our or any of our partners’ product candidates, the sales of our product candidates would be adversely affected. |
| • | If physicians and patients do not accept our future products or if the market for indications for which any product candidate is approved is smaller than expected, we may be unable to generate significant revenue, if any. |
3
| • | The continuation or worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic could affect our ability to complete our ongoing clinical trials, disrupt regulatory activities and delay or disrupt commercialization of resmetirom, and may have other adverse effects on our stock price and business operations. |
| • | As we evolve from a company that is primarily involved in clinical development to a company that is also involved in commercialization, we may encounter difficulties in expanding our operations successfully. |
| • | The uncertainty associated with pharmaceutical reimbursement and related matters may adversely affect our business. |
| • | If we fail to develop and commercialize other product candidates, we may be unable to grow our business. |
| • | Our internal computer systems, or those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of our development programs and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations. |
Risks Relating to Our Intellectual Property
| • | Our rights to develop and commercialize our product candidates are subject in part to the terms and conditions of a license to resmetirom granted to us by Hoffmann-La Roche. |
| • | We may fail to comply with any of our obligations under agreements pursuant to which we license rights or technology, which could result in the loss of rights or technology that are material to our business. |
| • | Our success depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies. |
| • | Claims by third parties that we infringe their proprietary rights may result in liability for damages or prevent or delay our developmental and commercialization efforts. |
| • | We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful. Further, our issued patents could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court. |
| • | We may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to our product candidates through acquisitions and in-licenses. |
| • | We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world. |
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Capital
| • | If we fail to obtain the capital necessary to fund all of our planned operations, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize resmetirom and other future product candidates. |
| • | Our ability to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments may be limited by provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. |
Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common Stock
| • | The price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile. |
| • | A small number of our stockholders own a substantial amount of our outstanding common stock and may be deemed to have substantial control over us; therefore, your ability to influence corporate matters may be limited. |
4
| • | Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management. |
| • | Future sales and issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase common stock could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our share price to fall. |
| • | Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets or significant short sales of our common stock, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital. |
5
PART I
Item 1. |
Business |
References in this Annual Report on
Form 10-K
to Madrigal, the Company, we, our and us refer to Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “Madrigal” is a registered trademark of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks or service marks appearing in this report may be trademarks or service marks of other owners. Executive Overview
Our Focus
. We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, and liver diseases. Our lead product candidate, resmetirom, is a proprietary, liver-directed, selective thyroid hormone receptor-ß, or THR-ß,
agonist being developed as a once-daily oral pill that can potentially be used to treat a number of disease states with high unmet medical need, including non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis, or NASH. Our Patient Market Opportunity.
NASH is a serious inflammatory form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD. NAFLD has become the most common liver disease in the United States and other developed countries and is characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver with no other apparent causes. NASH can progress to cirrhosis or liver failure, require liver transplantation and can also result in liver cancer. Progression of NASH to end stage liver disease will soon surpass all other causes of liver failure requiring liver transplantation. Importantly, beyond these critical conditions, NASH and NAFLD patients additionally suffer heightened cardiovascular risk and, in fact, die more frequently from cardiovascular events than from liver disease. NASH and NAFLD have grown as a consequence of rising worldwide obesity-related disorders. In the United States, NAFLD is estimated to affect approximately 25% of the population, and approximately 25% of those will progress from NAFLD to NASH. Current estimates place NASH prevalence at approximately 20 million people in the United States, or five to six percent of the adult population, with similar prevalence in Europe and Asia. The prevalence of NASH is also increasing in developing regions due to the adoption of a more sedentary lifestyle and a diet consisting of processed foods with high fat and fructose content. Our Completed Studies.
For NASH, we enrolled 125 patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial with resmetirom. We achieved the 12-week
primary endpoint for this Phase 2 clinical trial and reported the results in December 2017, and we reported positive topline 36-week
results at the conclusion of the Phase 2 clinical trial in May 2018. We also completed a 36-week,
open-label extension study in 31 participating NASH patients from our Phase 2 clinical trial, which included 14 patients who received placebo in the main study. On December 18, 2019 the Company announced it had opened for enrollment under “—Our Ongoing and Planned Studies”), with resmetirom doses of 80 mg or 100 mg or placebo. Enrollment objectives for this study were exceeded, with approximately 1,300 patients enrolled overall. The
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
a 52-week,
non-invasive,
multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical study of patients with biopsy-confirmed or presumed NASH recruited from sites in the U.S. Key endpoints are safety, including safety biomarkers. Secondary endpoints include LDL cholesterol, lipid biomarkers, MRI-PDFF,
NASH and fibrosis biomarkers. Except for serial liver biopsies, the study protocol is similar to the MAESTRO-NASH study (discussed belowMAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study will help support the adequacy of the safety database at the time of NDA submission for Subpart H approval for treatment of NASH in patients with F2 or F3 fibrosis. In November of 2021, we reported data from the open label non-cirrhotic
arm of MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
and in January 2022 we announced that we achieved primary and secondary endpoints for the double-blind portion of MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
as summarized in “- Key Developments” below. We also completed a 116 patient Phase 2 clinical trial and announced results in February 2018 for the use of resmetirom in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HeFH. In addition to the NASH and HeFH Phase 2 clinical trials, resmetirom has also been studied in multiple completed Phase 1 trials in a total of
6
more than 300 subjects. Resmetirom was well-tolerated in these trials, which included a single ascending dose trial, a multiple ascending dose trial, several drug interaction studies, a multiple dose mass balance study, a single dose relative bioavailability study of tablet formulation versus capsule formulation, a multiple dose drug interaction study, a multiple dose drug interaction with food effect study, and a hepatic impairment study.
Our Ongoing and Planned Studies.
H-accelerated
approval. The primary endpoint pertains to the percent of patients treated with either dose of resmetirom as compared with placebo who achieve NASH resolution on the week 52 liver biopsy, defined as the absence of hepatocyte ballooning (score=0), and minimal lobular inflammation (score 0-1),
associated with at least a 2-point
reduction in NAS (NAFLD Activity Score), and no worsening of fibrosis stage. Two key secondary endpoints are reduction in LDL-cholesterol
and a 1-point
or more improvement in fibrosis stage on the week 52 biopsy with no worsening of NASH. Patients will continue in the study for a total of approximately 54 months, and will be evaluated for a composite clinical outcome including cirrhosis on liver biopsy, or a liver related event such as hepatic decompensation. The total anticipated enrollment currently is approximately 2,000 patients, and will include up to 15% high risk F1 fibrosis stage NASH patients whose efficacy responses will be evaluated as exploratory endpoints. On June 30, 2021 we announced our achievement of the requisite enrollment of patients to support the planned Subpart H (Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-Threatening Illnesses) submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On July 13, 2021 we announced first patient dosed in a planned
52-week
open label active treatment extension study of MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
named MAESTRO-NAFLD-Open Label Extension (OLE). The OLE study allows patients who complete MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
to consent to 52 weeks of active treatment with resmetirom, making this treatment available to both patients who were assigned to placebo in MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
and patients who were on resmetirom in MAESTRO-NAFLD-1.
The following chart summarizes the status of our product candidate development programs for resmetirom:
7
Key Developments
In January 2022, Madrigal announced topline results from the Phase 3
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
safety study of resmetirom. Madrigal reported that resmetirom demonstrated statistical significance for primary and key secondary endpoints summarized below, from the double-blind placebo-controlled 969-patient
portion of the study. These endpoints indicated that resmetirom (1) was well-tolerated at 80 and 100 mg in patients treated for 52 weeks, (2) provided significant and clinically relevant reductions in liver fat as measured by MRI-PDFF
and (3) significantly reduced atherogenic lipids, including LDLc, apolipoprotein B and triglycerides. A total of 972 patients were randomized in the double-blind arms of the population for evaluation of key secondary and other endpoints. Important inclusion criteria included the presence of three risk factors of metabolic syndrome, a level of liver fibrosis (measured by FibroScan) consistent with a range of stages of liver fibrosis, and =8% liver fat (measured by
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study: 969 patients were included in the safety population and 943 patients in a modified intent-to-treat
MRI-PDFF).
Adverse events observed in the
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
trial were generally mild to moderate in severity. The frequency of serious adverse events was similar across treatment arms and discontinuation for adverse events was low. Consistent with published data, the most common adverse event reported with greater frequency in the resmetirom groups vs placebo was generally mild diarrhea or increased stool frequency at the beginning of therapy, which occurred in 9% and ~17% over the placebo rate in the 80 and 100 mg dose groups, respectively.
Resmetirom 80 mg |
Resmetirom 100 mg |
Placebo | ||||
Safety population |
(N=327) | (N=324) | (N=318) | |||
At least one TEAE |
289 (88.4) | 279 (86.1) | 260 (81.8) | |||
At least one Serious TEAE |
20 (6.1) | 24 (7.4) | 20 (6.3) | |||
TEAE ≥ Grade 3 Severity |
26 (8.0) | 29 (9.0) | 29 (9.1) | |||
AE discontinuations from study |
All treatments combined, n=21; (2.17%) | |||||
Maximum NCI CTCAE Severity Grade |
||||||
Grade 1 |
99 (30.3) | 99 (30.6) | 92 (28.9) | |||
Grade 2 |
164 (50.2) | 151 (46.6) | 139 (43.7) | |||
AEs over 10% |
||||||
Diarrhea |
76 (23.2) | 101 (31.2) | 44 (13.8) | |||
Nausea |
38 (11.6) | 59 (18.2) | 25 (7.9) | |||
AE (adverse event); TEAE (treatment emergent adverse event); NCI (National Cancer Institute); CTCAE (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events)
The following hierarchically-controlled key secondary endpoints were reported for both the 80 and 100 mg resmetirom dose groups. Resmetirom provided significant reductions in liver fat as measured by
MRI-PDFF
and reduced atherogenic lipids, including LDLc, apolipoprotein B and triglycerides. Open-label arm data is reported in the far left column below and double-blind arm data are reported in the remaining columns below. Although both arms were randomized in MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
lipid reductions were numerically greater in the 100 mg open label treatment arm compared to the 100 mg double-blind arm, and we believe this is due to greater visit and dose interruptions experienced by open-label arm patients during the height of the COVID-19
pandemic, as 8
patients in the open-label active 100 mg treatment arm were less impacted by COVID-related dose interruptions than double-blind patients.
Resmetirom 100 mg OL |
Resmetirom 80 mg |
p-value |
Resmetirom 100 mg |
p-value |
Placebo | |||||||
LDLc %CFB (SE) (Week 24) |
-21 (1.9) | -12.7 (2.1) | .0001 | -14.4 (2.1) | .0001 | -1.7 (2.0) | ||||||
ApoB %CFB (SE) (Week 24) |
-22 (1.5) | -14.6 (1.5) | .0001 | -16.6 (1.6) | .0001 | -0.1 (1.5) | ||||||
MRI-PDFF %CFB (Week 16) |
-49% | -41% | .0001 | -48% | .0001 | -6% | ||||||
Liver volume PDFF correction %CFB |
-60% | |||||||||||
MRI-PDFF %CFB (Week 52) |
-53% | -43% | .0001 | -48% | .0001 | -8% | ||||||
Liver volume PDFF correction %CFB |
-61% | |||||||||||
Triglycerides baseline 150 mg/dL, CFB (SE) |
-65 (8.3) | -55.6 (8.6) | NA | -59 (6.5) | NA | -6.9 (16.1) | ||||||
Triglycerides baseline 150 mg/dL (geomean) %CFB (95% CI) |
-25 (3.1) | -19.5 (-27.0 to -11.1) |
=.0005 | -21.5 (-28.0 to -14.3) |
.0001 | -2.1 (-10.6 to 7.4) |
CFB (change from baseline); SE (standard error); APOB (Apolipoprotein B);
MRI-PDFF
(magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat-fraction);
CI (confidence interval); OL, open label non-cirrhotic
arm randomized concurrently with double-blind arms COVID-19
Pandemic Effects on Madrigal Phase 3 Trials In April 2020 we announced that in response to guidance from regulatory agencies, measures for
COVID-19
at impacted sites were put in place for our Phase 3 MAESTRO-NASH and MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
studies, allowing both studies to continue without changes to the protocol. Following a Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) meeting it was recommended that Phase 3 studies proceed without modification. The COVID-19
pandemic had no material adverse impact on our operating results, our conduct of the MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study or our liquidity for previous periods. However, COVID-19
did introduce clinical trial and operational risks and uncertainties that are both general in nature and relate specifically to our MAESTRO-NASH study. In addition, at the height of COVID-19,
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
double blind patients had an average of two missed visits and two dose interruptions, with the dose interruptions primarily related to third-parties. These risks and uncertainties, which are beyond our control, are summarized in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Resmetirom Phase 2 Clinical Trial in NASH
As summarized above, the Company successfully completed its Phase 2 clinical trial in NASH in 2018. In this clinical trial, resmetirom demonstrated statistical significance in the primary endpoint (p0.0001), the relative reduction of liver fat compared with baseline on magnetic resonance imaging-estimated proton density fat fraction, or
MRI-PDFF,
at 12-weeks
which was reported in December 2017, and statistically significant results in multiple 36-week
endpoints, including key secondary endpoints, reduction and resolution of NASH on liver biopsy as set forth in the table below, which was reported in May 2018. This clinical trial was published in the Lancet in November, 2019. Specific data from this study is as follows. Resmetirom |
Resmetriom MRI-PDFF Responders(1) |
Placebo | ||||
Number of patients with baseline and end-of-study |
73 | 46 | 34 | |||
2 Point Decrease in NAS |
56% | 70% | 32% | |||
| p=0.02 | p=0.001 | |||||
NASH Resolution |
27% | 39% | 6% | |||
| p=0.02 | p=0.001 |
(1) |
resmetirom MRI-PDFF Responders = resmetirom treated patients with =30% relative fat reduction on Week 12 MRI-PDFF |
(2) |
does not include one end-of-study |
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Resmetirom treated patients with greater than or equal to 30% fat reduction on
MRI-PDFF
at 12-weeks
demonstrated a higher percentage of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score, or NAS, reduction and NASH resolution. In patients with NASH resolution, 35% of resmetirom treated patients and no placebo patients had a baseline NAS greater than or equal to five. In resmetirom patients with NASH resolution, fibrosis also resolved in 50% of such patients and was decreased statistically significantly relative to all placebo patients. Further,
36-week
results from our Phase 2 clinical trial in NASH showed: | • | Sustained, highly statistically significant (p0.0001) reduction in liver fat compared with placebo on 36-week MRI-PDFF and mean relative fat reduction of 37% with resmetirom treated patients in contrast with 8.5% with placebo patients; |
| • | Sustained, statistically significant reductions (p0.0001) in resmetirom compared to placebo treated patients in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and apolipoprotein B (ApoB) of more than 20%, triglycerides (TG) of 36% and lipoprotein(a) of 37%; |
| • | Statistically significant reductions in liver enzymes (ALT, AST and GGT) relative to placebo (all p=0.002) and a 40% reduction in ALT in patients with elevated baseline levels (p=0.01); |
| • | Statistically significant reductions in fibrosis biomarkers in resmetirom treated patients as compared with placebo patients; |
| • | On liver biopsy, fibrosis was reduced by at least one point in 23% of placebo patients and 29% of resmetirom treated patients; |
| • | Very good all subject tolerability: mostly mild and a few moderate adverse events, or AEs, which were balanced between drug treated patients and placebo patients; and |
| • | An increase in incidence of a transient mild diarrhea at beginning of study, often a single episode, in resmetirom treated patients compared with placebo patients. |
Resmetirom Phase 2 Clinical Trial in HeFH
In February 2018, we announced
top-line
results from our Phase 2 clinical trial in HeFH. In this trial, patients treated with resmetirom (placebo corrected) achieved highly significant (p 0.0001) LDL-C
lowering of 18.8%, and 21% LDL-C
lowering in those patients receiving an optimal dose of resmetirom. LDL-C
lowering was 28.5% in patients treated with resmetirom as compared to placebo in a prespecified group of patients who did not tolerate high intensity statin doses. Highly significant (p0.0001) and numerically similar results were observed with ApoB. Highly significant (p0.0001) TG (25-31%),
apolipoprotein CIII (22.7%), and Lp(a) lowering (26-33%)
were observed in all patients treated with resmetirom and certain prespecified subgroups, irrespective of statin treatment. Resmetirom has been well-tolerated with mostly mild AEs and some moderate AEs, the numbers of which are balanced between placebo and drug-treatment groups. Fewer than seven percent of patients did not complete the study, and patients who discontinued for AEs, all mild to moderate, were balanced between drug-treated and placebo patients. There were two serious AEs in the study, both considered unrelated to treatment, one in a placebo and one in a drug-treated patient.
Lead Product Candidate—Resmetirom
We believe that resmetirom may be the first
THR-agonist
product candidate in development for NASH that selectively targets the THR-ß
pathway. Active thyroid hormone, known as T3, interacts with two nuclear receptors, THR-α,
which is the predominant receptor expressed in most human tissues, including heart and bone, and THR-ß,
which has more restricted tissue expression, and is the predominant receptor responsible for metabolic actions in the liver, including both cholesterol- and TG-lowering.
Selective activation of the THR-ß
10
receptor in liver tissue is believed to favorably affect cholesterol and lipoprotein levels via multiple mechanisms, which may be complementary to those of other lipid-lowering therapies such as statin drugs. We believe that these characteristics of
THR-ß
activation by resmetirom will in turn lead to clinically meaningful reductions in LDL-C,
and plasma and liver TGs. We believe that resmetirom is the first selective small molecule
THR-ß
agonist compound. Resmetirom, along with MGL-3745,
a potential backup compound to resmetirom, was discovered at Hoffmann-La
Roche, or Roche, in Nutley, New Jersey, by utilizing a novel functional assay that, unlike a simple receptor binding assay, assessed the functional activity of compounds which interacted with thyroid hormone receptors. In a published study by Madrigal and Roche in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry using this functional assay, resmetirom was shown to be highly selective for the THR-ß
receptor, with almost no effect on THR-α,
unlike other compounds purported in published studies to be ß -selective based on binding affinity, but which were shown to equally activate THR-α
and THR-ß
in the novel functional assay. We believe that the ß-selectivity and liver-targeting properties of resmetirom are critically important for resmetirom’s beneficial metabolic actions in the liver, and enable avoidance of safety issues associated with
THR-α
activation by thyroid hormone and/or less selective THR agonists in tissues such as heart and bone. In a variety of preclinical animal model studies, resmetirom showed enhanced safety relative to T3 or other thyroid agonists. In animal models, resmetirom demonstrated cholesterol lowering, liver TG lowering, and reduction of markers of NASH-related liver inflammation and fibrosis at drug levels similar to those that lowered LDL-C
in human clinical trials, providing data to support the advancement of resmetirom into NASH and FH clinical trials. In chronic animal toxicology studies in dogs and rats, no effects on bone or cartilage histology were seen at any resmetirom dose in either species. Resmetirom did not increase liver enzymes in Phase 1 studies and there were no bone and cartilage histologic findings in chronic animal toxicology studies.
Resmetirom Clinical and
Non-Clinical
Development Program To date, we have completed a series of Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies,
Phase 2-enabling
preclinical good laboratory practice, or GLP, toxicology studies, and drug manufacturing studies to support further clinical development, including active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, manufacturing and drug product development studies, drug metabolism studies, acute, subchronic and chronic animal toxicology studies, and other safety pharmacology and toxicology studies. We have completed Phase 1 studies with resmetirom in a total of 252 subjects to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic effects of resmetirom. Our Phase 1 studies included randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, single and
14-day
multiple-dose escalation studies, drug-interaction studies with statins, with the antidiabetic agent pioglitazone, and with the antiplatelet agent clopidogrel. In addition, a study using radiolabeled resmetirom, a study of a tablet versus capsule formulation of resmetirom, and a multiple dose drug interaction and food effect study have also been completed. In Phase 1 studies, resmetirom was well-tolerated up to 200 mg once daily. The results of these studies suggest that resmetirom is suitable for once-daily oral dosing. Currently there is an ongoing Phase 1 hepatic impairment study to characterize the safety and pharmacokinetics of resmetirom in patients with hepatic impairment, a Phase 1 drug-interaction study with warfarin, and a drug interaction study of resmetirom and pravastatin and simvastatin. In a Phase 1 multiple ascending dose study in healthy subjects, the effects of resmetirom on lipid parameters were assessed as initial markers of pharmacodynamic activity (Atherosclerosis (range,
230:373-380,
2013). As illustrated in the figure below, daily doses of resmetirom ranging from 50 to 200 mg showed highly statistically significant reductions relative to placebo of up to 30% for LDL-C
(range, p=.05-0.0001),
28% for non-high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol, or non-HDL-C
p =0.027-p0.0001)
and 24% for ApoB (range, 11
p =0.008-0.0004),
and statistical trends of up to 60% reduction in TG (range, p =0.13-0.016).
The near maximal lipid effects were observed at a resmetirom dose of 80 mg once-daily. Resmetirom was well-tolerated at all doses, with no dose-related adverse events or liver enzyme, electrocardiography, or vital-sign changes. At the highest dose of resmetirom (200 mg), there was a reversible reduction of 20% in the level of a precursor hormone to T3, free T4, which was significantly different from placebo (p 0.0001) that may be explained by increased liver metabolism of free T4. There was no change in thyrotropin, a pituitary hormone that regulates the level and production of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland or T3, or other evidence of central thyroid axis dysfunction at any dose of resmetirom. Change in Lipids After 14 Days
Change from Baseline (CFB) by mean % CFB calculated for each individual subject 24 h after 14th dose; baseline value obtained just prior to first dose; ApoB, apolipoprotein B; Chol, total cholesterol;
LDL-C,
LDL cholesterol directly measured; Non-HDL-C,
non-HDL
cholesterol; TG, triglycerides (median %CFB). In a Phase 2 double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical trial, 116 patients with HeFH who were not at their
LDL-C
goal were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either resmetirom or placebo, in addition to their current cholesterol lowering regimen, which included approximately 75% taking high intensity statins (20/40 mg rosuvastatin or 80 mg atorvastatin), and about two-thirds
of patients also taking ezetimibe. Compared to placebo, resmetirom treated patients achieved highly significant (p 0.0001) LDL-C
lowering of 18.8%, and 21% LDL-C
lowering in those on an optimal dose of resmetirom. LDL-C
lowering was 28.5% in resmetirom treated compared to placebo in a prespecified group of patients who did not tolerate high intensity statin doses. Highly significant (p0.0001) and numerically similar results were observed with ApoB. Highly significant reductions (p0.0001) in TG (25-31%),
ApoCIII (22.7%) and Lp(a) (26-33%)
were observed in all resmetirom treated patients and prespecified subgroups, irrespective of statin treatment. In the NASH Phase 2 double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical trial, 125 patients 18 years of age and older with liver biopsy-confirmed NASH were randomized at approximately 25 clinical sites in the United States. Patients were randomized to receive either placebo (N=41) or resmetirom (N=84). The starting dose in resmetirom-treated patients was 80 mg once a day. The study employed an adaptive dosing design whereby, in a blinded fashion, the dose could be adjusted by small amounts (i.e. 20 mg up or down) or remain at
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80 mg in each resmetirom-treated patient based on a pharmacokinetic analysis of drug level performed in each patient at 2 weeks. The primary endpoint of the study was the reduction of liver fat at 12 weeks compared with baseline (relative change), assessed by MRI-PDFF, with efficacy confirmed at the end of the trial (36 weeks) by repeat MRI-PDFF and conventional liver biopsy to examine histological evidence for the resolution of NASH. Other secondary endpoints included changes in clinically relevant biomarkers at 12 and 36 weeks, improvement in fibrosis by at least one stage with no worsening of steatohepatitis, and safety and tolerability.
Resmetirom demonstrated statistical significance (p0.0001) in the primary endpoint, the relative reduction of liver fat on MRI-PDFF at 12 weeks. At 36 weeks, statistically significant results were demonstrated in multiple histology endpoints including key secondary endpoints related to the reduction and resolution of NASH. At 36 weeks, resmetirom treated patients demonstrated sustained, statistically significant (p0.0001) reductions compared to placebo treated patients in LDL-C and ApoB of more than 20%, TGs of 36% and Lp(a) of 37%. In addition, resmetirom demonstrated statistically significant reductions in liver enzymes (ALT, AST and GGT) relative to placebo (all p=0.002).
Published data showed that patients with =30% PDFF reduction at Week 12 had a higher rate of NASH resolution and accompanying fibrosis reduction. A secondary analysis of the Phase 2 NASH clinical trial further supported the potential of PDFF to predict NASH response.
| • | Percentages of patients with NASH resolution at Week 36 increased with greater PDFF reduction (agreement between two independent pathologist central biopsy readers) |
| • | In resmetirom-treated patients with ≥ 50% fat reduction at Week 12, 64% had NASH resolution with a component response driven primarily by ballooning and inflammation |
| • | PDFF reduction ≥ 30 and ≥ 50% at Week 12 was associated with improvement in all NAS components including fibrosis reduction on subsequent liver biopsy and achievement of both endpoints: NASH resolution and ≥ 1 point fibrosis reduction PDFF reduction ≥ 30 and ≥ 50% at Week 12 was also associated with fibrosis reduction on subsequent liver biopsy |
These findings support the pathogenicity of liver steatosis in NASH and fibrosis progression.
Our Strategy
Our goal is to become a leading biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative liver-directed, ß-selective thyroid hormone receptor agonists for the treatment of cardio-metabolic and liver disease, fibrosis and inflammation. A key element is building a multi-therapy NASH focused company. To achieve our goal, we plan to:
| • | Complete clinical development and seek regulatory approval of resmetirom in NASH. first-in-class |
| • | Establish commercial capabilities to market resmetirom as a leading treatment for NASH. |
| • | Grow our pipeline through additional indications for resmetirom potentially including orphan indications. |
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Target Indications
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis
Overview and Market Opportunity
NASH is a serious inflammatory form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD. NAFLD has become the most common liver disease in the United States and other developed countries and is characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver with no other apparent causes. NASH and NAFLD have grown as a consequence of rising worldwide obesity-related disorders. In the United States, NAFLD is estimated to affect approximately 25% of the population, and approximately 25% of those will progress from NAFLD to NASH. Current estimates place NASH prevalence at approximately 20 million people in the United States, or five to six percent of the adult population, with similar prevalence in Europe and Asia. The prevalence of NASH is also increasing in developing regions due to the adoption of a more sedentary lifestyle and a diet consisting of processed foods with high fat and fructose content.
In addition to the accumulation of fat in the liver, NASH is characterized by inflammation and cellular damage with or without fibrosis, the first stage of liver scarring, which may ultimately progress to cirrhosis. NASH is a severe condition that can lead to fibrosis and eventually progress to cirrhosis, portal hypertension, esophageal varices, ascites, liver cancer and liver failure. NASH is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease, or CVD, and the most common cause of death in NASH patients is CVD. Progression to cirrhosis and other late-stage complications can occur within five to ten years after an initial NASH diagnosis. NASH patients with
type-2
diabetes have a heightened risk of NASH disease progression. Once the disease advances beyond NASH to such life-threatening conditions as liver cancer and liver failure, then liver transplantation is the only treatment alternative. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects the prevalence of obesity to increase from 34% of the United States population to 42% of the United States population by 2030. Driven by this epidemic of obesity, NASH is projected to become the leading cause of liver transplants in the near future. Given the extremely limited availability of organ donors and high transplant costs, NASH patients who require transplantation will place a significant economic burden on the healthcare system. As such, there is a significant unmet medical need for well-tolerated oral treatments for NASH. Because there are currently no therapeutic products approved for the treatment of NASH, the market size is difficult to estimate. However, based on our analysis of multiple market assessments, we estimate that the addressable NASH population is several million patients worldwide, and that NASH could become a multi-billion dollar market able to support multiple approved drug products.
Resmetirom in NASH
We are developing resmetirom for the treatment of
non-cirrhotic
NASH with fibrosis. Based on the scientific literature in human and animal studies, we believe that NASH livers in humans frequently have a deficiency in THR-ß
activity that leads to features of NASH, including fatty liver, inflammation and fibrosis, and that treatment with resmetirom will replace this hormone deficiency and be an effective NASH treatment. We believe that resmetirom is an excellent candidate for the chronic treatment of NASH because of its safety and tolerability profile observed to date in healthy subjects, its effects in reducing cardiovascular risk factors such as LDL-C
and TGs in early-stage clinical trials, and its multiple beneficial effects in animal models of NASH. CVD is the most common cause of death in patients with NASH. We have completed multiple studies in animal models of metabolic diseases, dyslipidemia and NASH in which resmetirom demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in liver TGs, insulin resistance, liver enzymes (which may be elevated in NASH), and markers of inflammation and fibrosis. We believe that resmetirom will treat the underlying lipotoxicity that drives the inflammation and liver cell damage observed in NASH patients, and after the underlying lipotoxicity is treated, NASH-related liver fibrosis will resolve as the liver regenerates. 14
Resmetirom NASH Phase 2 and 3 Clinical Studies
In October 2016, we initiated a Phase 2 proof of concept clinical trial in patients with liver biopsy documented NASH, including those with
type-2
diabetes, dyslipidemia and hypertension. In the study we randomized 125 NASH patients 2:1, resmetirom or placebo QD in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, study of once-daily resmetirom versus placebo in patients with NASH, including those with type-2
diabetes. Patients continued treatment through 36 weeks. The study was conducted in the United States. The primary endpoint was to evaluate the efficacy of resmetirom as measured by the reduction of liver fat at 12 weeks, and the secondary endpoint was to evaluate the efficacy of resmetirom as measured by a reduction of NASH, which was assessed by liver biopsy, at 36 weeks. Other secondary and exploratory endpoints included safety and tolerability, and effects on serum biomarkers at 12 and 36 weeks, lipid parameters, and biomarker measures of insulin sensitivity. We reached our top-line
analysis of the primary endpoint in December 2017, and we reached our top-line
analysis of the secondary endpoint (NASH assessment on liver biopsy) in May 2018. There was an extension study in a subset of the patients that completed the main 36-week
study which was completed in 2019. Madrigal has ongoing Phase 3 resmetirom studies for patients with NASH or presumed NASH as discussed in detail in this report. We believe that the designs of our Phase 2 and Phase 3 NASH studies are consistent with principles for NASH drug development outlined by the FDA in its public communications and draft guidance for industry and based on our past interactions with FDA, including our end of Phase 2 meeting with the FDA in 2019.
Because of the slow progression of NASH and the time required to conduct an outcomes trial that would evaluate clinical endpoints such as progression to cirrhosis or survival, the FDA recommends sponsors consider the following liver histological improvements as Phase 3 trial endpoints reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit to support accelerated approval under subpart H regulations:
Resolution of steatohepatitis on overall histopathological reading and no worsening of liver fibrosis;
Or
Improvement in liver fibrosis greater than or equal to one stage and no worsening of steatohepatitis;
Or
Both resolution of steatohepatitis and improvement in fibrosis.
In March 2019, the Company announced that it had initiated a Phase 3 trial of resmetirom in patients with NASH. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study has been and will be conducted at more than 150 sites in the United States and the rest of the world. Patients with liver biopsy confirmed NASH with stage 2 or 3 fibrosis will be randomized 1:1:1 to receive a single oral daily dose of placebo, resmetirom 80 mg or resmetirom 100 mg. A second liver biopsy at week 52 in the first 900 patients will be the basis of filing for subpart
H-accelerated
approval; the primary endpoint pertains to the percent of patients treated with either dose of resmetirom as compared with placebo who achieve NASH resolution on the week 52 liver biopsy, defined as the absence of hepatocyte ballooning (score=0), and minimal lobular inflammation (score 0-1),
associated with at least a 2 point reduction in NAS, and no worsening of fibrosis stage. Two key secondary endpoints are reduction in LDL-cholesterol
and a 1-point
or more improvement in fibrosis stage on the week 52 biopsy with no worsening of NASH. Patients will continue in the study for a total of approximately 54 months and will be evaluated for a composite clinical outcome including cirrhosis on liver biopsy, or a liver related event such as hepatic decompensation. The total anticipated enrollment is approximately 2,000 patients and is expected to include up to 15% high risk F1 fibrosis stage NASH patients whose efficacy responses will be evaluated as exploratory endpoints. In December 2019 the Company announced it had opened for enrollment
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
a 52-week,
double-blind, placebo controlled Phase 3 clinical study in 700 patients with biopsy-confirmed or 15
presumed NASH recruited from sites in the U.S. Key endpoints are safety, including safety biomarkers, LDL cholesterol, lipid biomarkers, and fibrosis biomarkers. Except for serial liver biopsies, the study protocol is similar to the MAESTRO-NASH study with resmetirom doses of 80 mg or 100 mg or placebo and includes key secondary lipid,
MRI-PDFF
and NASH biomarker endpoints. In addition, MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
includes an open label arm in which up to 100 patients will be dosed with 100 mg resmetirom. Enrollment objectives for this study have been exceeded, with approximately 1,200 patients enrolled overall. In October 2020 we completed enrollment of the double-blind, placebo controlled arms of the study. The MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study will help support the adequacy of the safety database at the time of NDA submission for subpart H approval or treatment of NASH in patients with F2 or F3 fibrosis. MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
also includes an open label arm with approximately 170 non-cirrhotic
patients with NASH treated with 100 mg resmetirom. Data from this open label portion of the MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study have been reported at various professional society conferences, demonstrating statistically significant reductions from baseline in liver fat as assessed by MRI-PDFF
and Fibroscan CAP, as well as reductions in liver stiffness as determined by MRE and Fibroscan TE (a surrogate for liver fibrosis). Markers of liver fibrosis and inflammation were also reduced by resmetirom relative to baseline. Additionally, atherogenic lipids, including LDL-cholesterol,
apolipoprotein B, triglycerides, and lipoprotein (a) were reduced relative to baseline. The adverse event profile in this open label cohort has been similar to that observed in Phase 2. The MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
open label arm over-enrolled and includes more than 150 patients with NASH and compensated cirrhosis to obtain a preliminary assessment of the use of resmetirom in patients with more advanced disease. In January 2022, Madrigal announced topline results from the Phase 3
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
safety study of resmetirom. Primary and key secondary endpoints from the double-blind placebo-controlled 969-patient
portion of the study were achieved, as described herein. See “ – Key Developments” above. Collaborations
VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or VIA, entered into a research, development and commercialization agreement, or the Roche Agreement, with Roche, on December 18, 2008. We subsequently assumed all of VIA’s rights in, to and under, and all of VIA’s obligations under, the Roche Agreement pursuant to an asset purchase agreement, dated September 14, 2011. Pursuant to the terms of the Roche Agreement, we, as to VIA, assumed control of all development and commercialization of resmetirom and will hold exclusive worldwide rights for all potential indications. Under the Roche Agreement, Roche exclusively licensed certain patent rights and
successor-in-interest
know-how
relating to resmetirom in exchange for consideration consisting of an upfront payment, milestone payments, the remainder of which total $8 million and are tied to regulatory approval in the United States and Europe of resmetirom or any derivative product, and single-digit royalty payments based on net sales of resmetirom and any derivative products, subject to certain reductions. In 2011, we commenced Phase 1 clinical trials and subsequently paid Roche a related milestone payment. In October 2016, we commenced a Phase 2 study in NASH and subsequently paid Roche a related milestone payment. In 2019, we commenced a Phase 3 study in NASH and subsequently paid Roche a $2 million related milestone payment. Except as described above, we have not achieved any additional product development or regulatory milestones under the Roche Agreement and have generated no net sales of products developed from resmetirom. Pursuant to the Roche Agreement, we must use commercially reasonable efforts to conduct clinical and commercial development programs for products containing resmetirom. If we determine that it is not reasonable to continue clinical trials or other development of resmetirom, we may elect to cease further development and Roche may terminate the license. If we determine not to pursue the development or commercialization of resmetirom in certain jurisdictions, including the United States, Roche may terminate the license for such territories. The Roche Agreement will expire, unless earlier terminated pursuant to other provisions of the agreement, on the last to occur of (i) the expiration of the last valid claim of a licensed patent covering the manufacture, use or sale of products containing resmetirom, or (ii) ten years after the first sale of a product containing resmetirom.
16
Competition
The development and commercialization of new drugs is highly competitive. We will face competition with respect to all product candidates we may develop or commercialize in the future from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. The key factors affecting the success of any approved product will be its efficacy, safety profile, drug interactions, method of administration, pricing, reimbursement and level of promotional activity relative to those of competing drugs.
| • | Our potential competitors may have substantially greater financial, technical, and personnel resources than us. In addition, many of these competitors have significantly greater commercial infrastructures. Our ability to compete successfully will depend largely on our ability to leverage our collective experience in drug discovery, development and commercialization to: |
| • | discover and develop medicines that are differentiated from other products in the market, |
| • | obtain patent and/or proprietary protection for our products and technologies; |
| • | obtain required regulatory approvals; |
| • | obtain a commercial partner; |
| • | commercialize our drugs, if approved; and |
| • | attract and retain high-quality research, development and commercial personnel. |
There are currently no therapeutic products approved and marketed for the treatment of NASH in North America and Europe. There are several commercially available products that are currently used
off-label
for NASH, such as vitamin E, an antioxidant, insulin sensitizers, such as pioglitazone, anti-hyperlipidemic agents, such as gemfibrozil, pentoxifylline, ursodiol and others. In addition, there are numerous drugs in development for the treatment of NASH. We are aware of several companies that have product candidates in clinical development for the treatment of NASH, including Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., Galectin Therapeutics, Inc., Galmed Medical Research Ltd., Cirius Therapeutics, Novartis AG, Novo Nordisk A/S, Takeda, Inventiva, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Inc., Merck Co., Lilly, Genentech, Sanofi S.A., NGM Biopharmaceutical, Viking Therapeutics, Akero Therapeutics, Enanta Pharmaceuticals, 89Bio Inc., Axcella, Can-Fite,
Hepion, NorthSea, Terns, Zydus Cadila and MedImmune LLC, and there are other companies with candidates in earlier stages of development. Given resmetirom’s actions on the underlying biological pathways across the spectrum of early to late stages of NASH, its CV beneficial effects, and its complementary mechanism to other therapies, we believe that resmetirom has the potential to be used alone or in combination with some of these potential NASH products. Sales and Marketing
Because we are focused on discovery and development of our product candidates, we currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities in order to commercialize any approved product candidates. If our product candidates are approved, we intend either to establish a sales and marketing organization with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize our products, or to outsource this function to a third party.
Manufacturing
We do not own or operate, and currently have no plans to establish, any manufacturing facilities. We currently rely, and expect to rely, on third-party contract manufacturers, or CMOs, for all required starting materials, API and finished product for the manufacture of any product candidates that we may develop for larger-scale preclinical and clinical testing, as well as for commercial quantities of any drug candidates that are approved. We do not have long-term supply agreements for any of our product candidates and regularly obtain supplies and services related to our product candidates from CMO’s on a purchase order basis. We currently have
17
a single source for API and finished product for resmetirom and are developing a second source for API. We plan to continue to rely on CMOs for API, finished product, packaging, storage, and distribution for both clinical supplies and any of our product candidates that receive health authority approval.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses primarily consist of costs associated with our research activities, including the preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. Our research and development expenses were $205.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, $184.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, and $72.3 million for year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to the advancement of clinical programs to Phase 3 studies, further API manufacturing studies and the continuation of preclinical studies. We expect research and development expenses to increase over time as we advance our clinical and preclinical development programs for resmetirom.
Intellectual Property
We will be able to protect our technology and products from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent we are covered by valid and enforceable patents or such knowledge is effectively maintained as trade secrets. Patents and other proprietary rights are thus an essential element of our business. We also rely on trade secrets,
know-how,
continuing technological innovation and licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our competitive position. Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for our current and future product candidates, technology and
know-how,
to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others, and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. We seek to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing United States and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, and maintaining the confidentiality of inventions and improvements that are important to the development of our business. We own or
co-own:
five United States and 32 foreign issued patents and allowed patent applications; six United States and 45 foreign pending patent applications; and two international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Each of these patents and applications relates to resmetirom, including composition-of-matter, certain dosage forms, methods of making resmetirom, its use in the treatment of key disease indications, or other THR beta analogs and uses thereof. Our current patent portfolio covers the United States and certain other jurisdictions worldwide. The two international patent applications can be used as the basis for multiple additional patent applications worldwide. In addition, pursuant to the Roche Agreement, Roche granted us an exclusive license to certain United States and foreign patents and patent applications owned by Roche and Roche know-how
relating to resmetirom. The Roche Agreement imposes various diligence, milestone payment, royalty payment, insurance, indemnification, and other obligations on us. Issued patents directed to resmetirom, including certain dosage forms, have statutory expiration dates between 2026 and 2037, excluding any patent term extensions or equivalents thereof that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations. We have pending patent applications for resmetirom that, if issued, would be expected to expire in the United States and in countries outside of the United States between 2033 and 2042, excluding any patent term adjustment that might be available following the grant of the patent and any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations. We have a pending patent application for other THR beta analogs that, if issued, would be expected to expire in the United States and in countries outside of the United States in 2043, excluding any patent term adjustment that might be available following the grant of the patent and any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
Our trademarks are protected under the common law and/or by registration in the United States and other countries. We seek to protect our proprietary processes, in part, by confidentiality agreements and invention
18
assignment agreements with our personnel, including consultants and commercial partners. These agreements are designed to protect our proprietary information.
Orphan Drug Designation
Some potential target disease indications for resmetirom are rare diseases or may be designated rare diseases and we plan to pursue orphan drug designation where possible. If granted, each such designation might provide for regulatory exclusivity for seven years in the United States and ten years in the EU from the date of product approval for individual indications.
Government Regulation
Government Regulation and Product Approval
Government authorities in the United States, at the federal, state and local level, and other countries extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, approval, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, monitoring and reporting, promotion, advertising, distribution, marketing and export and import of drug products such as those we are developing. A new drug must be approved by the FDA through the new drug application, or NDA, process before it may be legally marketed in the United States, and must be approved by foreign regulatory authorities via various analogous procedures before it can be marketed in the applicable country. The animal and other
non-clinical
data and the results of human clinical trials performed under an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, and under similar foreign applications will become part of the NDA. United States Drug Development Process
In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and implementing regulations. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state and local statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Failure to comply with the applicable United States requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval, may subject an applicant to administrative or judicial sanctions. These sanctions could include, among other things, the FDA’s refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, a clinical hold, warning letters and other types of enforcement-related letters, requesting product recalls, product seizures, changes to the conditions surrounding marketing approval such as labeling changes or changes to a Risk Evaluation and Mitigations Strategies, or REMS, program, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, debarment, restitution, disgorgement of profits, or civil or criminal investigations and penalties. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us. The process required by the FDA before a drug or biologic may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:
| • | completion of preclinical laboratory tests, animal studies and formulation studies, some in accordance with the FDA’s current Good Laboratory Practices, or GLP, the Animal Welfare Act administered and enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture, and other applicable regulations; |
| • | submission to the FDA of an IND which must become effective before human clinical trials may begin; |
| • | approval by an institutional review board, or IRB, before each trial may be initiated at each clinical site; |
| • | performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials under protocols submitted to the FDA and reviewed and approved by each IRB, conducted in accordance with federal regulations and according to Good Clinical Practices, or GCP, to establish the safety and efficacy of the proposed drug for its intended use; |
| • | submission to the FDA of an NDA; |
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| • | completion of registration batches and validation of the manufacturing process to show ability to consistently produce quality batches of product; |
| • | satisfactory completion of an FDA Advisory Committee review, if applicable; |
| • | satisfactory completion of an FDA inspection of the manufacturing facility or facilities at which the drug is produced to assess compliance with current good manufacturing practice, or cGMP, to assure that the facilities, methods and controls are adequate to preserve the drug’s identity, strength, quality and purity; and |
| • | FDA review and approval of the NDA. |
Once a pharmaceutical candidate is identified for development, it enters the preclinical testing stage. Preclinical tests include laboratory evaluations of product chemistry, toxicity and formulation, as well as animal studies, to assess the safety and quality of the product. Animal studies must be performed in compliance with federal regulations and requirements, including, as applicable, GLP and the Animal Welfare Act. An IND sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information and analytical data, to the FDA as part of the IND. The sponsor will also include a protocol detailing, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety, and the effectiveness criteria to be evaluated, if the trial lends itself to an efficacy evaluation. Some preclinical testing may continue even after the IND is submitted. A
30-day
waiting period after the submission of each IND is required prior to the commencement of clinical testing in humans. If during this 30-day
period the FDA does not raise any concerns or issues that must be addressed prior to the commencement of clinical trials or does not impose a clinical hold, the IND becomes effective 30 days following the FDA’s receipt of the IND and the clinical trial proposed in the IND may begin. Clinical holds also may be imposed by the FDA at any time before or during studies due to safety concerns or non-compliance,
or other reasons. All clinical trials must be conducted under the supervision of one or more qualified investigators in accordance with GCP. They must be conducted under protocols detailing the objectives of the trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and exclusion criteria and the safety and effectiveness criteria to be evaluated. Each protocol must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND, and progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted at least annually. In addition, timely safety reports must be submitted to the FDA and the investigators for serious and unexpected adverse events or animal test results that suggest a significant risk to human subjects. An IRB at each institution participating in the clinical trial must review and approve each protocol before a clinical trial commences at that institution and must also approve the information regarding the trial and the consent form that must be provided to each trial subject or his or her legal representative, monitor the study until completed and otherwise comply with IRB regulations. Foreign studies conducted under an IND must meet the same requirements that apply to studies being conducted in the U.S. Data from a foreign study not conducted under an IND may be submitted in support of an NDA if the study was conducted in accordance with GCP and the FDA is able to validate the data.
Human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap or be combined:
| • | Phase 1: |
| • | Phase 2: |
| • | Phase 3: |
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| intended to establish the overall risk-benefit ratio of the product candidate and provide, if appropriate, an adequate basis for product approval and product labeling. In most cases, the FDA requires two adequate and well controlled Phase 3 clinical trials to demonstrate the efficacy of the product candidate, although a single Phase 3 clinical trial with other confirmatory evidence may be sufficient in certain instances. |
The FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the drug has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 testing may not be completed successfully within any specified period, if at all. Further, success in either preclinical studies or early-stage clinical trials does not assure success in later-stage clinical trials. Sponsors of all controlled clinical trials, except for Phase 1 trials, are required to submit certain clinical trial information for inclusion in the public clinical trial registry and results data bank maintained by the National Institutes of Health, which are publicly available at http://clinicaltrials.gov.
During the development of a new drug, sponsors are given opportunities to meet with the FDA at certain points. These points may be prior to submission of an IND, at the end of Phase 2, and before an NDA is submitted. Meetings at other times may be requested. These meetings can provide an opportunity for the sponsor to share information about the data gathered to date, for the FDA to provide advice, and for the sponsor and FDA to reach agreement on the next phase of development. Sponsors typically use the end of Phase 2 meeting to discuss their Phase 2 clinical results and present their plans for the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial that they believe will support approval of the new drug.
Concurrent with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional animal studies and must also develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the drug and finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product candidate and, among other things, the manufacturer must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final drug. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
United States Review and Approval Processes
The results of product development, preclinical studies and clinical trials, along with descriptions of the manufacturing process, analytical tests conducted on the chemistry of the drug, proposed labeling, and other relevant information are submitted to the FDA as part of an NDA requesting approval to market the product for a specific indication. The submission of an NDA is subject to the payment of user fees under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, as amended; a waiver of such fees may be obtained under certain limited circumstances. The FDA conducts a preliminary review of a submitted NDA within 60 days from receipt to ensure that the application is sufficiently complete for substantive review before it accepts the application for filing. The FDA may request additional information rather than accept an NDA for filing. In this event, the NDA must be resubmitted with the additional information. The resubmitted application also is subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an
in-depth
substantive review. The FDA’s PDUFA performance goals generally provide for action on an NDA within 10 months of the 60-day
filing date. That deadline can be extended under certain circumstances, including by the FDA’s requests for additional information. The targeted action date can also be shortened to within 6 months of the 60-day
filing date for products that are granted priority review designation because they are intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs. The FDA reviews an NDA to determine, among other things, whether a product is safe and effective for its intended use and whether its manufacturing is cGMP-compliant to assure and preserve the product’s identity, strength, quality and purity. Before approving an NDA, the FDA will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. In 21
addition, the FDA often will conduct a bioresearch monitoring inspection of the clinical trial sites involved in conducting pivotal studies to ensure data integrity and compliance with applicable GCP requirements. The FDA may refer the NDA to an advisory committee for review, evaluation and recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendation of an advisory committee, but it generally follows such recommendations. The approval process is lengthy and often difficult, and the FDA may refuse to approve an NDA if the applicable regulatory criteria are not satisfied or may require additional clinical or other data and information. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may ultimately decide that the NDA does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval. Data obtained from clinical trials are not always conclusive, and the FDA may interpret data differently than we interpret the same data.
At the end of the review period, the FDA may issue an approval letter following satisfactory completion of all aspects of the review process, or the FDA may issue a complete response letter, or CRL, which generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require additional clinical or other data or impose other conditions that must be met in order to secure final approval of the NDA. If and when deficiencies outlined in a CRL have been addressed to the FDA’s satisfaction in a resubmission of the NDA, the FDA may issue an approval letter. The FDA’s PDUFA review goal is to review such resubmissions within two or six months of receipt, depending on the type of information included. Notwithstanding the submission of any requested additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval and deny approval of a resubmitted NDA.
NDAs receive either standard or priority review. An application for a drug that treats a serious condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in treatment, prevention or diagnosis of disease may qualify for priority review. Priority review for an NDA for a new molecular entity will be six months from the date that the NDA is filed. The FDA has ten months in which to complete its initial review of a standard new molecular entity NDA. The FDA does not always meet its goal dates and in certain circumstances the goal date may be extended. Priority review does not change the standard for approval, but may expedite the approval process.
Product candidates may qualify for review and approval under the subpart
H-accelerated
approval pathway if the candidates are intended to treat a serious condition, provide meaningful therapeutic benefit over existing treatments, and demonstrate an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit or on an intermediate clinical endpoint. In clinical trials, a surrogate endpoint is a measurement of laboratory or clinical signs of a disease or condition that substitutes for a direct measurement of how a patient feels, functions, or survives. Surrogate endpoints can often be measured more easily or more rapidly than clinical endpoints. As a condition of accelerated approval, the FDA requires that a sponsor of a drug receiving accelerated approval perform confirmatory adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical trials. Accelerated approval does not change the standards for approval. All promotional materials for drug candidates approved under the accelerated approval pathway are subject to prior review by the FDA. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the product candidate with specific prescribing information for specific indications. If a product receives regulatory approval, the approval may be further limited to specific diseases, dosages or patient populations, or the indications for use may otherwise be limited, which could restrict the commercial value of the product. In addition, the FDA may require a sponsor to conduct Phase 4 testing which involves clinical trials designed to further assess a drug’s safety and effectiveness after NDA approval, and may require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the safety of approved products which have been commercialized.
The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, or FDASIA, which was enacted in 2012, made permanent the Pediatric Research Equity Act, or PREA, which requires a sponsor to conduct pediatric studies for most drugs and biologics, for a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration. Under PREA, original NDAs and supplements thereto must contain a
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pediatric assessment unless the sponsor has received a deferral or waiver. The required assessment must assess the safety and effectiveness of the product for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The sponsor or FDA may request a deferral of pediatric studies for some or all of the pediatric subpopulations. A deferral may be granted for several reasons, including a finding that the drug or biologic is ready for approval for use in adults before pediatric studies are complete or that additional safety or effectiveness data needs to be collected before the pediatric studies begin. The FDA must send a
non-compliance
letter to any sponsor that fails to submit the required assessment, keep a deferral current or fails to submit a request for approval of a pediatric formulation. Patent Term Restoration and Regulatory Exclusivities
Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA approval of our product candidates, some of our United States patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, patent term restoration cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. The patent term restoration period is generally
one-half
the time between the effective date of an IND, and the submission date of an NDA, plus the time between the submission date of an NDA and the approval of that application, except that the period is reduced by any time during which the applicant failed to exercise due diligence. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug is eligible for the extension, and the extension must be applied for prior to expiration of the patent and within 60 days of approval. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in consultation with the FDA, reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension or restoration. The Hatch-Waxman Act also provides periods of regulatory exclusivity for products that would serve as a reference listed drug, or RLD, for an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, or application submitted under section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA, or 505(b)(2) application. If a product is a new chemical entity, or NCE—generally meaning that the active moiety has never before been approved in any drug—there is a period of five years from the product’s approval during which the FDA may not accept for filing any ANDA or 505(b)(2) application for a drug with the same active moiety. An ANDA or 505(b)(2) application may be submitted after four years, however, if the sponsor of the application makes a “Paragraph IV” certification.
A product that is not an NCE may qualify for a three-year period of exclusivity if the NDA contains new clinical data (other than bioavailability studies), derived from studies conducted by or for the sponsor, that were necessary for approval. In that instance, the exclusivity period does not preclude filing or review of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) application; rather, the FDA is precluded from granting final approval to the ANDA or 505(b)(2) application until three years after approval of the RLD. Additionally, the exclusivity applies only to the conditions of approval that required submission of the clinical data.
Once the FDA accepts for filing an ANDA or 505(b)(2) application containing a Paragraph IV certification, the applicant must within 20 days provide notice to the RLD NDA holder and patent owner that the application has been submitted and provide the factual and legal basis for the applicant’s assertion that the patent is invalid or not infringed. If the NDA holder or patent owner files suit against the ANDA or 505(b)(2) applicant for patent infringement within 45 days of receiving the Paragraph IV notice, the FDA is prohibited from approving the ANDA or 505(b)(2) application for a period of 30 months or the resolution of the underlying suit, whichever is earlier. If the RLD has NCE exclusivity and the notice is given and suit filed during the fifth year of exclusivity, the regulatory stay extends until seven and a half years after the RLD approval. The FDA may approve the proposed product before the expiration of the regulatory stay if a court finds the patent invalid or not infringed or if the court shortens the period because the parties have failed to cooperate in expediting the litigation.
Pediatric exclusivity is another type of marketing exclusivity available in the United States. The FDASIA made permanent the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act, or BPCA, which provides for an additional six
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months of marketing exclusivity if a sponsor conducts clinical trials in children in response to a written request from the FDA, or a Written Request. If the Written Request does not include studies in neonates, the FDA is required to include its rationale for not requesting those studies. The FDA may request studies on approved or unapproved indications in separate Written Requests. The issuance of a Written Request does not require the sponsor to undertake the described studies.
Orphan Drug Designation
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a drug or biological product intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or more than 200,000 individuals in the United States and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the United States a drug for this type of disease or condition will be recovered from sales in the United States for that drug. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an NDA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in or shorten the duration of the regulatory review and approval process. If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan product exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug for the same indication, except in very limited circumstances, for seven years. Orphan drug exclusivity, however, also could block the approval of one of our product candidates for seven years if a competitor obtains approval of the same drug as defined by the FDA or if our product candidate is determined to be contained within the competitor’s product for the same indication or disease.
The FDA also administers an orphan drug clinical research grants program, whereby researchers may apply for funding to conduct clinical trials to support the approval of drugs, biologics, medical devices, and medical foods for rare diseases and conditions. A product does not have to be designated as an orphan drug to be eligible for the grant program. An application for an orphan grant should propose one discrete clinical study to facilitate FDA approval of the product for a rare disease or condition. The study may address an unapproved new product or an unapproved new use for a product already on the market.
Expedited Programs
The FDA maintains several programs to facilitate and expedite the development and review of drug applications that are intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition for which there is no effective treatment and that demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for such a disease or condition, including Fast Track Designation, Breakthrough Designation, Priority Review (discussed above in United States Review and Approval Processes), and the Accelerated Approval pathway (discussed above in United States Review and Approval Processes). Under the Fast Track Designation program, the sponsor of a new drug candidate may request that the FDA designate the drug candidate for a specific indication as a fast track drug concurrent with, or after, the filing of the IND for the drug candidate. The FDA must determine if the drug candidate qualifies for fast track designation within 60 days of receipt of the sponsor’s request. Under the Fast Track Designation program, the FDA may grant fast track designation for a product candidate if it is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition and nonclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need. Features of Fast Track Designation include more frequent interactions with the review team, and the possibility of rolling review.
Under the Breakthrough Designation Program, FDA may grant a drug Breakthrough Therapy Designation if it is intended to treat a serious condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement on a clinically significant endpoint over available therapies. Features of Breakthrough Therapy Designation include intensive guidance on an efficient drug development program, an organizational commitment by the agency involving senior managers in a proactive, cross-disciplinary review of the drug application, and the possibility of rolling review.
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Post-Approval Requirements
Once an approval is granted, products are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA. The FDA may withdraw the approval if, among other things, compliance with regulatory standards is not maintained or if safety or efficacy problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product may result in restrictions on product marketing or even withdrawal of approval for the product application. If new safety issues are identified following approval, the FDA may require the NDA sponsor to take certain measures, such as revising the approved labeling to reflect the new safety information, conducting post-market studies or clinical trials to assess the new safety information, and/or implementing or changing a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS, program to mitigate newly-identified risks. After approval, some types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications, manufacturing changes and additional labeling claims, are subject to further FDA review and approval. Drug manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved drugs are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP and other laws and regulations. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical and commercial quantities of our product candidates. Future inspections by the FDA and other regulatory agencies may identify compliance issues at the facilities of our contract manufacturers that may disrupt production or distribution, or require substantial resources to correct.
Any drug products manufactured or distributed by us pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, record-keeping requirements, reporting of adverse experiences with the drug, providing the FDA with updated safety and efficacy information, drug sampling and distribution requirements, complying with certain electronic records and signature requirements, and complying with FDA promotion and advertising requirements. The FDA strictly regulates labeling, advertising, promotion and other types of information on products that are placed on the market. Drugs may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label.
From time to time, legislation is drafted, introduced and passed in Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the approval, manufacturing and marketing of products regulated by the FDA. In addition to new legislation, FDA regulations and guidance are often revised or interpreted by the agency in ways that may significantly affect our business and our products. It is impossible to predict whether further legislative changes will be enacted, or FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations changed or what the impact of such changes, if any, may be.
Foreign Regulation
In addition to regulations in the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of its products. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain approval by the comparable regulatory authorities of foreign countries or economic areas, such as the European Union, before we may commence clinical trials or market products in those countries or areas. The approval process and requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from place to place, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval.
Under EU regulatory systems, a company may submit marketing authorization applications either under a centralized or decentralized procedure. The centralized procedure, which is compulsory for medicinal products produced by biotechnology or those medicinal products containing new active substances for specific indications such as the treatment of AIDS, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, viral diseases and designated orphan medicines, and optional for other medicines which are highly innovative. Under the centralized procedure, a marketing application is submitted to the EMA where it will be evaluated by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use and a favorable opinion typically results in the grant by the European
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Commission of a single marketing authorization that is valid for all EU member states within 67 days of receipt of the opinion. The initial marketing authorization is valid for five years, but once renewed is usually valid for an unlimited period. The decentralized procedure provides for approval by one or more “concerned” member states based on an assessment of an application performed by one member state, known as the “reference” member state. Under the decentralized approval procedure, an applicant submits an application, or dossier, and related materials to the reference member state and concerned member states. The reference member state prepares a draft assessment and drafts of the related materials within 120 days after receipt of a valid application. Within 90 days of receiving the reference member state’s assessment report, each concerned member state must decide whether to approve the assessment report and related materials. If a member state does not recognize the marketing authorization, the disputed points are eventually referred to the European Commission, whose decision is binding on all member states. In addition to the centralized procedure and the decentralized procedure, it may also be possible to obtain a marketing authorization for one single EU Member State through a national procedure. Under a mutual recognition procedure, a national marketing authorization granted by one EU Member State may be recognized by one or more other EU Member States resulting in harmonized marketing authorizations in those EU Member States.
When conducting clinical trials in the EU, we must adhere to the provisions of the EU Clinical Trials Directive and the laws and regulations of the EU Member States implementing them. These provisions require, among other things, that the prior authorization of an Ethics Committee and the submission and approval of a clinical trial authorization application be obtained in each Member State before commencing a clinical trial in that Member State. As of January 31, 2022, the new EU Clinical Trials Regulation will apply. The EU Clinical Trials Regulation will repeal and replace the EU Clinical Trials Directive, introduces a complete overhaul of the existing regulation of clinical trials for medicinal products in the EU, including a new coordinated procedure for authorization of clinical trials that is similar to the mutual recognition procedure for marketing authorization of medicinal products, and increased obligations on sponsors to publish clinical trial results.
As in the United States, it may be possible in foreign countries to obtain a period of market and/or data exclusivity that would have the effect of postponing the entry into the marketplace of a competitor’s generic product. For example, in the EU, if any of our products receive marketing approval in the European Economic Area, or EEA, which is comprised of the 27 member states of the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, we expect that we will benefit from eight years of data exclusivity and an additional two years of marketing exclusivity. An additional one-year extension of marketing exclusivity is possible if during the data exclusivity period we obtain an authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications that is deemed to bring a significant clinical benefit compared to existing therapies. The data exclusivity period begins on the date of the product’s first marketing authorization in the EU and prevents biosimilars from relying on the holder of the marketing authorization for the reference biological medicine’s pharmacological, toxicological and clinical data for a period of eight years. After eight years, a biosimilar product application may be submitted and the sponsoring companies may rely on the marketing authorization holder’s data. However, a biosimilar medicine cannot launch until 2 years later (or a total of ten years after the first marketing authorization in the EU of the innovator product), or 3 years later (or a total of eleven years after the first marketing authorization in the EU of the innovator product) if the marketing authorization holder obtains marketing authorization for a new indication with significant clinical benefit within the eight year data exclusivity period.
As in the United States, a sponsor may apply for designation of a product as an orphan drug for the treatment of a specific indication in the EU before the application for marketing authorization is made. Orphan drugs in Europe enjoy economic and marketing benefits, including up to ten years of market exclusivity for the approved indication unless another applicant can show that its product is safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior to the orphan-designated product.
Reimbursement
Significant uncertainty exists regarding the coverage and reimbursement status of products approved by the FDA and other government authorities. In the United States, sales of any products for which we may receive
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regulatory approval for commercial sale will depend in significant part on the availability and adequacy of coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors. Third-party payors include government authorities, managed care providers, private health insurers and other organizations. The process for determining whether a payor will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the reimbursement rate that the payor will pay for the product. Third-party payors may limit coverage to specific products on an approved list which might not include all of the FDA-approved products for a particular indication. Moreover, a payor’s decision to provide coverage for a product does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be approved. Adequate third-party reimbursement may not be available to enable us to maintain price levels sufficient to realize an appropriate return on our investment in product development.
Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for, examining the medical necessity of, and assessing the cost-effectiveness of medical products and services, in addition to their safety and efficacy. In order to obtain coverage and reimbursement for any product that might be approved for sale, we may need to conduct expensive pharmacoeconomic studies in order to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of any products, in addition to the costs required to obtain regulatory approvals. Our drug candidates may not be considered medically necessary or cost-effective. If third-party payors do not consider a product to be cost-effective compared to other available therapies, they may not cover the product after approval as a benefit under their plans or, if they do, the level of payment may not be sufficient to allow a company to sell its products at a profit.
The U.S. government and state legislatures have shown significant interest in implementing cost containment programs to limit the growth of government-paid health care costs, including price controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded prescription drugs. For example, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended the ACA, contains provisions that may reduce the profitability of drug products, including, for example, increased rebates for drugs reimbursed by Medicaid programs, extension of Medicaid rebates to Medicaid managed care plans, mandatory discounts for certain Medicare Part D beneficiaries and annual fees based on pharmaceutical companies’ share of sales for branded prescription drugs to federal health care programs. Adoption of government controls and measures, and tightening of restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures, could limit payments for pharmaceuticals.
The marketability of any products for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale may suffer if the government and third-party payors fail to provide adequate coverage and reimbursement. In addition, an increasing emphasis on cost containment measures in the United States has increased and we expect will continue to increase the pressure on pharmaceutical pricing. Coverage policies and third-party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future.
In addition, in some foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing vary widely from country to country. For example, the EU provides options for its member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. A member state may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our products. Historically, products launched in the EU do not follow price structures of the United States and generally tend to be significantly lower
Human Capital
As of February 21, 2022, we had seventy one full-time employees, including fifty two engaged in research, development, and regulatory activities, and nineteen in executive, commercial, general and administrative
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functions, and multiple part-time consultants. We believe that our future success will be shaped by our continued ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees. We provide our employees with competitive salaries and bonuses, opportunities for equity ownership in the Company, and an employment package that is designed to promote well-being across all aspects of their lives, including health care, disability, retirement investment options and paid time off.
General Information
We were incorporated in Delaware in September 2011. Our principal executive offices are located at 200 Barr Harbor Drive, Suite 200, West Conshohocken, PA 19428. Our Internet website address is www.madrigalpharma.com. No portion of our website is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We advise you to read this Annual Report on Form 10-K in conjunction with other reports and documents that we file from time to time with the SEC. In particular, please read our definitive proxy statement, which will be filed with the SEC in connection with our 2022 annual meeting of stockholders, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and any current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time. You may obtain copies of these reports after the date of this annual report directly from us or from the SEC at its website at www.sec.gov. We make our periodic and current reports available on our internet website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.
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Item 1A. |
Risk Factors |
You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information included in or incorporated by reference into this report, before making an investment decision. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we do not currently believe are important to an investor may also harm our business. If any of the events, contingencies, circumstances or conditions described in the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition or our results of operations could be seriously harmed. If that happens, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you may lose part or all of the value of any of our shares held by you.
Risks Related to Our Business
We have limited operating history, we have incurred significant operating losses since inception and we expect to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future. We may never become profitable or, if profitability is achieved, we may be unable to sustain profitability.
We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future as we continue our clinical trial and development programs for resmetirom and other future product candidates. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $667.3 million. Losses have principally resulted from costs incurred in our preclinical and clinical trials, research and development programs and from our general and administrative expenses. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of approximately $270.3 million. In the future, we intend to continue to conduct research and development, clinical testing, regulatory compliance and, if resmetirom or other future product candidates are approved, sales and marketing activities that, together with anticipated general and administrative expenses, will likely result in us incurring further significant losses for the foreseeable future.
We currently generate no revenue from product sales, and we may never be able to commercialize resmetirom or other future product candidates. We do not currently have the required approvals to market resmetirom or any other future product candidates, and we may never receive them. We may not be profitable even if we or any of our future development partners succeed in commercializing any of our product candidates. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing and commercializing our product candidates, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if at all.
Our business depends on the success of resmetirom, which is still in clinical development and has not completed a pivotal trial. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for and successfully commercialize resmetirom, or we experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
The primary focus of our product development since mid- 2018 has been resmetirom, a liver-directed selective thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist for potential use in
non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis, or NASH. Successful continued development and ultimate regulatory approval of resmetirom for NASH is critical to the future success of our business. We have invested, and will continue to invest, a significant portion of our time and financial resources in the clinical development of resmetirom. We will need to raise sufficient funds to successfully complete our clinical development program for resmetirom in NASH. The future regulatory and commercial success of resmetirom is subject to a number of risks, including the following: | • | we may not have sufficient financial and other resources to complete the necessary clinical trials for resmetirom, including, but not limited to, our planned registrational clinical trials to obtain drug approval; |
| • | the mechanism of action of resmetirom is complex and we do not know the degree to which it will translate into a therapeutic benefit, if any, in NASH or any other indication, and we do not know the degree to which the complex mechanism of action may contribute to long term safety issues or adverse events, if any, when resmetirom is taken for prolonged periods such as in the treatment of NASH or any other indication; |
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| • | delay or inability to reach agreement with the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities on acceptable clinical trial design; |
| • | regulators, IRBs or ethics committees may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site; |
| • | we may not be able to obtain adequate evidence from clinical trials of efficacy and safety for resmetirom in NASH or any other indication; |
| • | we do not know the degree to which resmetirom will be accepted as a therapy by physicians, patients and payors, even if approved; |
| • | in our clinical programs for resmetirom, we may experience variability in patients, adjustments to clinical trial procedures and the need for additional clinical trial sites, which could delay our clinical trial progress; |
| • | the results of our clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical or clinical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory bodies for marketing approval; |
| • | patients in our clinical trials may die or suffer other adverse effects for reasons that may or may not be related to resmetirom, which could delay or prevent further clinical development; |
| • | the standards implemented by clinical or regulatory agencies may change at any time; |
| • | we cannot be certain what efficacy endpoints clinical or regulatory agencies may require in a Phase 3 clinical trial of NASH or for approval of our product candidates; we also cannot be certain if we will be able to gain Subpart H approval of any of our product candidates based on surrogate endpoints; |
| • | foreign clinical or regulatory agencies may require efficacy and safety endpoints for Phase 3 clinical trials that may not be favorable to us and different from the results we have observed to date in our current trials; |
| • | other differences in the design of our ongoing and planned Phase 3 clinical trials of the treatment of NASH, including the use of a new tablet formulation of resmetirom and/or the inclusion of patients with more advanced NASH, could cause the results of our Phase 3 trials to be less favorable than the results we observed in our Phase 2 trials in NASH; |
| • | if we obtain Subpart H approval of resmetirom based on a surrogate endpoint, consistent with our ongoing Phase 3 trial, we will be required to conduct a post-approval clinical outcomes trial to confirm the clinical benefit of the product candidate and if the post-approval trial is not successful we may not be able to continue marketing the product; |
| • | we cannot be certain of the number and type of clinical trials and non-clinical studies that FDA or other regulatory agencies will require in order to approve resmetirom for NASH; |
| • | if approved for NASH, resmetirom will likely compete with the off-label use of currently marketed products and other therapies in development that may reach approval for NASH prior to resmetirom; and |
| • | we may not be able to obtain, maintain or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights. |
We could also encounter delays if a clinical trial is placed on clinical hold, suspended or terminated by us, the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, or the FDA, the competent authorities and/or ethics committees of the EU Member States or other regulatory authorities, if a clinical trial is recommended for suspension or termination by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trial, or on account of changes to federal, state, or local laws. A suspension or termination may be imposed 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, EMA, competent authorities and/or ethics committees of the EU Member States or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold,
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unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product or treatment, failure to establish or achieve clinically meaningful trial endpoints, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial.
Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates. Further, the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval even after they have reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials.
Our product development costs will increase if we experience delays in clinical testing or marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and may allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, potentially impairing our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and harming our business and results of operations. Any delays in our clinical development programs may harm our business, financial condition and results of operations significantly.
Of the large number of drugs in development in the pharmaceutical industry, only a small percentage results in the submission of a new drug application, or NDA, to the FDA and even fewer are approved for commercialization. Furthermore, even if we do receive regulatory approval to market resmetirom, any such approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses or patient populations for which we may market the products. Accordingly, even if we are able to obtain the requisite financing to continue to fund our development programs, we may be unable to successfully develop or commercialize resmetirom. If we or any of our future development partners are unable to develop, or obtain regulatory approval for, or, if approved, successfully commercialize resmetirom, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to continue our business.
Clinical trials are very expensive, time-consuming and difficult to design and implement and involve uncertain outcomes. Furthermore, the results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials are not always predictive of future results. Any product candidate that we advance into clinical trials, including resmetirom, may not have favorable results in later clinical trials or receive regulatory approval.
Drug development has inherent risk. We will be required to demonstrate through adequate and well-controlled clinical trials that our product candidates are safe and effective, with a favorable benefit-risk profile, for use in our target indications before we can seek regulatory approvals for its commercial sale. Clinical studies are expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and are uncertain as to outcome. Delay or failure can occur at any stage of development, including after commencement of any of our clinical trials. In addition, success in early clinical trials does not mean that later clinical trials will be successful, because later-stage clinical trials may be conducted in broader patient populations and involve different study designs. For instance, our Phase 1 results and our Phase 2 primary endpoint results in NASH may not be predictive of any future results in any Phase 3 clinical trial in NASH. Furthermore, our ongoing and future trials will need to demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy in large patient populations for approval by regulatory authorities. Companies frequently suffer significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after earlier clinical trials have shown promising results, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products. In addition, only a small percentage of drugs under development result in the submission of an NDA to the FDA and even fewer are approved for commercialization.
We cannot be certain that any of our ongoing or future clinical trials will be successful, and any safety concerns observed in any one of our clinical trials in our targeted indications could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our product candidates in those and other indications.
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Because resmetirom has not yet received regulatory approval for any indication, it is difficult to predict the time and cost of development and our ability to successfully complete clinical development and obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for commercialization.
Resmetirom has neither received Subpart H or full regulatory approval for the treatment of NASH or any other indication, and unexpected problems may arise that could cause us to delay, suspend or terminate our development efforts in any or all indications. Further, the long-term safety consequences of a liver-directed thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist are not known. Regulatory approval of new product candidates such as resmetirom can be more expensive and take longer than approval for candidates for the treatment of more well-understood diseases with previously approved products.
If clinical trials or regulatory approval processes for our product candidates are prolonged, delayed or suspended, we may be unable to commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis, which would require us to incur additional costs and delay our receipt of any revenue from potential product sales.
We cannot predict whether we will encounter problems with any of our completed, ongoing or planned clinical trials that will cause us or any regulatory authority to delay, suspend, or terminate those clinical trials or delay the analysis of data derived from them. A number of events, including but are not limited to any of the following, could delay or impede completely the completion of our ongoing and planned clinical trials and negatively affect our ability to obtain regulatory approval for, and to market and sell, a particular product candidate:
| • | conditions imposed on us by the FDA or other regulatory authorities regarding the scope or design of our clinical trials; |
| • | insufficient supply of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct and complete our clinical trials; |
| • | slow enrollment and retention rate of subjects in our clinical trials; |
| • | challenges in identifying or recruiting sufficient study sites or investigators for clinical trials; and |
| • | serious and unexpected drug-related side effects related to the product candidate being tested. |
Commercialization of our product candidates may be delayed by the imposition of additional conditions on our clinical trials by the FDA or any other applicable foreign regulatory authority or the requirement of additional supportive studies by the FDA or such foreign regulatory authority.
We do not know whether our ongoing clinical trials will need to be restructured, will enroll an adequate number of patients on time, or will be completed on schedule, if at all, or whether future clinical trials will begin as planned or have similar future challenges. Delays in the initiation, enrollment or completion of our clinical trials will result in increased development costs for our product candidates, and our financial resources may be insufficient to fund any incremental costs. In addition, if our clinical trials are delayed, our competitors may be able to bring products to market before we do and the commercial viability of our product candidates could be limited.
If we inadvertently fail to comply with foreign regulatory requirements governing human clinical trials and marketing approval for drugs, we could be prevented from selling our drug candidates in foreign markets, which may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing, and reimbursement for marketing our drug candidates outside the United States vary greatly from country to country and may require additional testing. We expect that our future clinical development of our drug candidates will involve a number of clinical trials in foreign jurisdictions, particularly in Europe. We have no experience in obtaining foreign regulatory approvals. The time required to obtain approvals outside the United States may differ from that
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required to obtain FDA approval. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not guarantee approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. Failure to comply with these regulatory requirements or obtain required approvals could impair our ability to develop foreign markets for our drug candidates and may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical trials for our product candidates. If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, including those arising out of
COVID-19,
our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected. Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to our success. We may not be able to initiate, continue, or complete clinical trials required by the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies for resmetirom if we are unable to locate, enroll and maintain a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate. Our Phase 3 clinical trials have significantly more patients than were enrolled in our Phase 2 trials. Although we have satisfied Subpart H patient enrollment for MAESTRO-NASH, clinical enrollment is not complete as of December 31, 2021 and significant additional enrollment will be necessary and will be ongoing for some time. A significant factor in the timing to conduct and complete clinical trials, is affected by many factors, 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, and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages and disadvantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating. For instance, we are aware that other companies conducting clinical trials in NASH patients have had delays in recruiting patients for their trials. In the MAESTRO-NASH Phase 3 trial, patients’ willingness to undergo a liver biopsy involve risk factors. In addition, potential patients for resmetirom may not be adequately diagnosed or identified with the diseases which we are targeting or may not meet the entry criteria for our studies.
The global coronavirus pandemic has presented significant challenges in the enrollment and conduct of MAESTRO-NASH. Screening for MAESTRO-NASH was negatively impacted due to the outbreak of the guidelines that influenced the closing or suspension of many European and U.S. trial sites and a decline in U.S. patients seeking screening biopsies. In addition, because MAESTRO-NASH is focused on specific patient populations with protocol-specified biopsy requirements, our ability to enroll eligible patients was limited and enrollment was slower than we anticipated before the pandemic. While we believe our
COVID-19
pandemic, and the resulting governmental quarantine restrictions and shelter-in-place
COVID-19
mitigation efforts have positioned us to overcome past enrollment challenges, the pace of new enrollment cannot be guaranteed and ultimately will be dependent on our target study patients becoming comfortable initiating protocol-prescribed procedures, including biopsies, during the COVID-19
pandemic. If the
COVID-19
pandemic continues or worsens, our patient recruitment and enrollment efforts may be adversely affected, delayed or interrupted. In addition, patients may choose to withdraw from our studies or we may choose to (or be required) to pause enrollment and or patient dosing in our trial in order to preserve health resources and protect trial participants, as applicable. It is unknown whether or how long pauses, delays or disruptions could occur or continue. Our ability to successfully complete enrollment and study objectives in the midst of the COVID-19
pandemic is subject to circumstances beyond our control and also is subject to the enhanced risks and uncertainties that are described in our other Risk Factors. In addition, he FDA typically requires sponsors of lipid-lowering product candidates to conduct drug-drug interaction studies with statins because statins may have increased safety risks when administered together with other drug therapies that affect their pharmacokinetic profile. We have completed two Phase 1 clinical drug interaction studies of resmetirom and statins in 39 normal healthy volunteers, which showed resmetirom to have a favorable safety profile and to be well-tolerated. We have completed a Phase 2 clinical trial in NASH including
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patients taking low dose statins. We have also completed a Phase 2 clinical trial in HeFH including patients taking high dose statins. In general, drug interactions between resmetirom and statins and any other drug that might result in adverse events could delay development in later clinical trials.
We will be required to identify and enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials. We also may encounter difficulties in identifying and enrolling NASH patients with a stage of disease appropriate for our future clinical trials. We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials if we are unable to locate and maintain a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in the clinical trials required (or as may be required) by the FDA or other foreign regulatory agencies. In addition, the process of finding and diagnosing patients is costly and may prove more costly in the future. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for any of our clinical trials could result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials.
Any product candidate in our current or future clinical trials may cause unacceptable adverse events or side effects or have other properties that may delay or prevent its regulatory approval or commercialization or limit its commercial potential.
Unacceptable adverse events or undesirable side effects caused by any of our product candidates in current or future clinical trials could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in the denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other regulatory authorities for any or all targeted indications and markets. This in turn could prevent us from completing development of or commercializing the affected product candidate and generating revenue from its sale. If any of our product candidates cause unacceptable adverse events in clinical trials, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval or commercialize such product candidate.
Occurrence of serious treatment-related side effects could impede subject recruitment and clinical trial enrollment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial, require us to halt the clinical trial, and prevent receipt of regulatory approval from the FDA. They could also adversely affect physician or patient acceptance of our product candidates or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
We have received Fast Track Designation from the FDA for resmetirom for NASH; however, such designation may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and the designation may be rescinded if the product candidate no longer meets the qualifying criteria for Fast Track.
In October 2019, FDA granted Fast Track designation to resmetirom for NASH. Products that have been designated as Fast Track may be eligible for certain action to expedite development and review of the application, including rolling review. The receipt of Fast Track designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to products considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, the FDA may withdraw Fast Track Designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.
Our product candidates will remain subject to ongoing regulatory review even if they receive marketing approval, and if we fail to comply with continuing regulations, we could lose these approvals and the sale of any approved commercial products could be suspended.
Even if we receive regulatory approval to market a particular product candidate, the manufacturing, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, and record keeping related to the product will remain subject to extensive regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance with cGMP regulations, and GCPs for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval, all of which
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may result in significant expense and limit our ability to commercialize such products. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to periodic review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any NDA or other marketing application and previous responses to inspection observations. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control. In addition, any regulatory approvals that we receive for resmetirom may also be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, and will contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. The FDA may also require a REMS Program as a condition of approval of our product candidates, which could include requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools.
If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements of the FDA and other applicable domestic and foreign regulatory authorities, or previously unknown problems with any approved product, manufacturer, or manufacturing process are discovered, we could be subject to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions, including:
| • | restrictions on marketing or manufacturing of our products, withdrawal of the product from the market; |
| • | holds on clinical trials; |
| • | warning letters or untitled letters; |
| • | civil or criminal penalties; |
| • | fines; |
| • | injunctions; |
| • | product seizures or detentions; |
| • | pressure to initiate voluntary product recalls; |
| • | suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals; and |
| • | refusal to approve pending applications for marketing approval of new products or supplements to approved applications. |
If any of these events occurs, our ability to sell such products may be impaired, and we may incur substantial additional expense to comply with regulatory requirements, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing industry, and our product candidates may become obsolete.
We are engaged in a rapidly evolving field. Competition from other pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and research and academic institutions is intense and likely to increase. Many of those companies and institutions have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than us. Those companies and institutions also have substantially greater experience in developing products, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approval and in manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products. Our competitors may succeed in obtaining regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we do. Competitors have developed or are in the process of developing technologies that are, or in the future may be, the basis for competitive products. Some of these competitive products may have an entirely different approach or means of accomplishing the desired therapeutic effect than products being developed by us. Our competitors may succeed in developing products that are more effective and/or cost competitive than those we are developing, or that would render our product candidates less competitive or even obsolete. In addition, one or more of our competitors may achieve product commercialization or patent protection earlier than we may, which could materially adversely affect our business.
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If the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities approve generic products that compete with any of our or any of our partners’ product candidates, the sales of our product candidates would be adversely affected.
Once an NDA or marketing authorization application outside the United States is approved, the product covered thereby becomes a “listed drug” that can, in turn, be cited by potential competitors in support of approval of an abbreviated new drug application in the United States. Agency regulations and other applicable regulations and policies provide incentives to manufacturers to create modified,
non-infringing
versions of a drug to facilitate the approval of an abbreviated new drug application or other application for generic substitutes in the United States and in nearly every pharmaceutical market around the world. These manufacturers might only be required to conduct a relatively inexpensive study to show that their product has the same active ingredient(s), dosage form, strength, route of administration and conditions of use, or labeling, as our product and that the generic product is bioequivalent to our product, meaning it is absorbed in the body at the same rate and to the same extent as our product. These generic equivalents, which must meet the same quality standards as branded pharmaceuticals, would be significantly less costly than our product to bring to market, and companies that produce generic equivalents are generally able to offer their products at lower prices. Thus, after the introduction of a generic competitor, a significant percentage of the sales of any branded product are typically lost to the generic product. Accordingly, competition from generic equivalents to our product or any of our partners’ future products, if any, would materially adversely affect our future revenue, profitability and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made and expect to make in our or any of our partners’ product candidates, including resmetirom. Competition that our or any of our partners’ products may face from generic versions of our products could materially and adversely impact our future revenue, profitability and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in those product candidates.
If physicians and patients do not accept our future products or if the market for indications for which any product candidate is approved is smaller than expected, we may be unable to generate significant revenue, if any.
Even if any of our product candidates obtain regulatory approval, they may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, and third-party payers. Efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payers on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may not be successful. If any of our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue or any profits from operations. Physicians may decide not to recommend its treatments for a variety of reasons including:
| • | timing of market introduction of competitive products; |
| • | demonstration of clinical safety and efficacy compared to other products; |
| • | cost-effectiveness; |
| • | limited or no coverage by third-party payers; |
| • | convenience and ease of administration; |
| • | prevalence and severity of adverse side effects; |
| • | restrictions in the label of the drug; |
| • | other potential advantages of alternative treatment methods; and |
| • | ineffective marketing and distribution support of its products. |
If any of our product candidates are approved, but fail to achieve market acceptance or such market is smaller than anticipated, we may not be able to generate significant revenue and our business would suffer.
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The continuation or worsening of the
COVID-19
pandemic, could affect our ability to complete our ongoing clinical trials, disrupt regulatory activities and delay or disrupt commercialization of resmetirom, and may have other adverse effects on our stock price and business operations. The
COVID-19
pandemic has caused, and may continue to cause many governments to implement measures to slow the spread of the outbreak of the virus and its multiple variations. These measures include quarantines, travel restrictions, heightened border security, shelter-in
place guidelines, social distancing restrictions and other measures. This outbreak and the resulting governmental measures have had a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses and commerce in the life sciences industry generally, as supply chains and manufacturing process have been disrupted; facilities and production have been suspended; available personnel has declined; and demand for certain third-party goods and services, such as medical services and supplies, has spiked. The future progression of the pandemic and its effects on our business and operations are extremely uncertain and subject to the risks described below. We and our contract research organizations (“CROs”) and contract manufacturing organizations (“CMO”) may face disruptions that have affected and may continue to affect our ability to conduct and timely complete ongoing clinical trials including disruptions in procuring items that are essential for our development activities, such as materials and intermediates used in the manufacturing of resmetirom. We and our CROs and CMOs, as well as clinical trial sites, have faced and may continue to face disruptions related to our ongoing clinical trials arising from staffing disruptions and limitations on our activities and the activities of our CROs and CMOs, and delays in the ability to obtain necessary institutional review board or other necessary site approvals or delays in site initiations or site monitoring visits, as well as other delays at clinical trial sites. We may also face limitations on enrollment and patients withdrawing from our clinical trials or not complying with the protocol procedures, which could delay completion of our clinical trials or adversely affect the data generated by our clinical trials. For instance, patient screening and enrollment has been impacted and study patients may not be able to comply with clinical trial protocols (including biopsy testing), in each case where quarantines or restrictions impede patient movement or interrupt patient demand for, or a medical facility’s delivery of, protocol-required services and procedures. Additionally, our ability to recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who may have heightened risks if exposed to
shelter-in-place
COVID-19
may adversely impact the Company’s clinical trial operations. The response to the COVID-19
pandemic also could redirect resources with respect to regulatory and intellectual property matters in a way that could adversely impact our ability to progress regulatory approvals and protect our intellectual property. In addition, we may face impediments to regulatory meetings and approvals due to measures that are intended to limit in-person
interactions. The pandemic has significantly impacted economies worldwide, which could result in adverse effects on our business and operations. Moreover, the pandemic has also caused significant disruptions in the financial markets, and may continue to cause such disruptions, which has led to increased trading volatility and significant stock price declines, particularly in the first quarter of 2020, and the pandemic or related consequences may adversely impact the future volatility and value of our stock and future trading in our stock. In accordance with governmental pronouncements, we have instituted policies to facilitate working remotely. The continuation of personnel working from home (not only at Madrigal, but also at CROs, CMOs, clinical sites and governmental and supervisory bodies) has negatively impacted our productivity and our business plans. Past and future disruptions adversely impacted and could impact our business operations and/or delay necessary interactions with regulators, ethics committees, manufacturing sites, research or clinical trial sites and other important agencies and contractors, including our CROs and CMOs. We cannot be certain what the overall impact of the
COVID-19
pandemic will be on our business. However, it has the potential to adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. As we evolve from a company that is primarily involved in clinical development to a company that is also involved in commercialization, we may encounter difficulties in expanding our operations successfully.
As we advance our product candidates through clinical trials, we will need to expand our development, regulatory, manufacturing, and marketing and sales capabilities and may need to further contract with third
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parties to provide these capabilities. As our operations expand, we likely will need to manage additional relationships with such third parties, as well as additional collaborators, distributors, marketers and suppliers.
Maintaining third party relationships for these purposes will impose significant added responsibilities on members of our management and other personnel. We must be able to effectively manage our development efforts, recruit and train sales and marketing personnel, effectively manage our participation in the clinical trials in which our product candidates are involved and improve our managerial, development, operational and finance systems, all of which may impose a strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure.
If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing or distribution services, any product revenues that we receive, or the profitability of these product revenues to us, are likely to be lower than if we were to market and sell any products that we develop without the involvement of these third parties. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell and market our products or in doing so on terms that are favorable to us. We likely will have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively. If we do not establish sales and marketing capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our products.
The uncertainty associated with pharmaceutical reimbursement and related matters may adversely affect our business.
Market acceptance and sales of any one or more of our product candidates will depend on reimbursement policies and may be affected by future healthcare reform measures in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions. Government authorities and third-party payers, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs they will cover and establish payment levels. We cannot be certain that reimbursement will be available for any of our product candidates. Also, we cannot be certain that reimbursement policies will not reduce the demand for, or the price paid for, our products. If reimbursement is not available or is available on a limited basis, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidates that we develop.
In the United States, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, also called the Medicare Modernization Act, or MMA, changed the way Medicare covers and pays for pharmaceutical products. The legislation established Medicare Part D, which expanded Medicare coverage for outpatient prescription drug purchases by the elderly but provided authority for limiting the number of drugs that will be covered in any therapeutic class. The United States and several foreign jurisdictions are considering, or have already enacted, a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products profitably. Among policy makers and payers in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access to healthcare. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any products that we develop due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations, and additional legislative proposals.
In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended, (the ACA) became law in the United States. The goal of the ACA is to reduce the cost of healthcare and substantially change the way healthcare is financed by both government and private insurers. While we cannot predict what impact on federal reimbursement policies this legislation will have in general or on our business specifically, the ACA may result in downward pressure on pharmaceutical reimbursement, which could negatively affect market acceptance of, and the price we may charge for, any products we develop that receives regulatory approval. Additional legislative changes to and regulatory changes under the ACA remain possible, but the nature and extent of such potential additional changes are uncertain at this time. We expect that the ACA, its implementation, efforts to
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repeal or replace, or invalidate the ACA, or portions thereof, and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, could have a material adverse effect on our industry generally and on our ability to maintain or increase sales of existing products or to successfully commercialize product candidates, if approved.
If any product liability lawsuits are successfully brought against us or any of our collaborative partners, 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 in seriously ill patients and will face an even greater risk if product candidates are approved by regulatory authorities and introduced commercially. Product liability claims may be brought against us or our partners by participants enrolled in our clinical trials, patients, healthcare providers or others using, administering or selling any of our future approved products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against any such claims, we may incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
| • | decreased demand for any of our future approved products; |
| • | injury to our reputation; |
| • | withdrawal of clinical trial participants; |
| • | termination of clinical trial sites or entire trial programs; |
| • | significant litigation costs; |
| • | substantial monetary awards to or costly settlements with patients or other claimants; |
| • | product recalls or a change in the indications for which products may be used; |
| • | loss of revenue; |
| • | diversion of management and scientific resources from our business operations; and |
| • | the inability to commercialize our product candidates. |
If any of our product candidates are approved for commercial sale, we will be highly dependent upon consumer perceptions of us and the safety and quality of our products. We could be adversely affected if we are subject to negative publicity. We could also be adversely affected if any of our products or any similar products distributed by other companies prove to be, or are asserted to be, harmful to patients. Also, because of our dependence upon consumer perceptions, any adverse publicity associated with illness or other adverse effects resulting from patients’ use or misuse of our products or any similar products distributed by other companies could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.
We do not currently hold product liability insurance coverage. Prior to commercialization of our product candidates, we will need to purchase insurance coverage. As a result, we may be unable to maintain or obtain sufficient insurance at a reasonable cost to protect us against losses that could have a material adverse effect on our business. These liabilities could prevent or interfere with our product development and commercialization efforts. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us, particularly if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could decrease our cash resources and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our employees, contractors, vendors and partners may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading.
We are exposed to the risk of fraud or other misconduct by our employees, contractors, vendors or partners. Misconduct by these parties could include failures to comply with FDA regulations, to provide accurate information to the FDA, to comply with federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations, to report financial information or data timely, completely or accurately, or to disclose unauthorized activities to us.
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In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Third-party misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, but it is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us resulting from this misconduct and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
We enter into various contracts in the normal course of our business in which we indemnify the other party to the contract. In the event we have to perform under these indemnification provisions, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In the normal course of business, we periodically enter into academic, commercial, service, collaboration, licensing, consulting and other agreements that contain indemnification provisions. With respect to our academic and other research agreements, we typically indemnify the institution and related parties from losses arising from claims relating to the products, processes or services made, used, sold or performed pursuant to the agreements for which we have secured licenses, and from claims arising from our or our potential sublicensees’ exercise of rights under the agreements. With respect to our commercial agreements, we indemnify our vendors from any third-party product liability claims that could result from the production, use or consumption of the product, as well as for alleged infringements of any patent or other intellectual property right by a third party.
Should our obligation under an indemnification provision exceed applicable insurance coverage or if we are denied insurance coverage, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Similarly, if we are relying on a collaborator to indemnify us and the collaborator is denied insurance coverage or the indemnification obligation exceeds the applicable insurance coverage, and if the collaborator does not have other assets available to indemnify us, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
If we fail to develop and commercialize other product candidates, we may be unable to grow our business.
Although the development and commercialization of resmetirom is our primary focus, as part of our longer-term growth strategy, we plan to evaluate the development and commercialization of other therapies related to thyroid hormone, orphan and other diseases. We will evaluate internal opportunities from our compound libraries, and also may choose to
in-license
or acquire other product candidates as well as commercial products to treat patients suffering from thyroid hormone, orphan or other disorders with high unmet medical needs and limited treatment options. These other product candidates may require additional, time-consuming development efforts prior to commercial sale, including preclinical studies, clinical trials and approval by the FDA and/or 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 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, be successfully commercialized, be widely accepted in the marketplace, or be more effective than other commercially available alternatives. 40
If we lose key management personnel, or if we fail to recruit additional highly skilled personnel, our ability to identify, develop and commercialize products will be impaired.
We are highly dependent on principal members of our management team, including our Chief Executive Officer, Paul A. Friedman, M.D., and our President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer, Rebecca Taub, M.D. These executives each have significant pharmaceutical industry experience. The loss of any member of our management team or scientific staff, including Drs. Friedman and Taub, would impair our ability to identify, develop and market new products. Our management and other employees may voluntarily terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of these or other key personnel, or the inability to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, could result in delays to development or approval, loss of sales and diversion of management resources. In addition, we depend on our ability to attract and retain other highly skilled personnel. Competition for qualified personnel is intense, and the process of hiring and integrating such qualified personnel is often lengthy. We may be unable to recruit such personnel on a timely basis, if at all, which would negatively impact our development and commercialization programs.
Additionally, we do not currently maintain “key person” life insurance on the lives of our executives or any of our employees. This lack of insurance means that we may not receive adequate compensation for the loss of the services of these individuals.
We currently do not have significant marketing, sales or distribution infrastructure with respect to our product candidates. If we are unable to fully develop our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities on our own or through collaborations with marketing partners, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates.
We currently do not have significant marketing, sales or distribution capabilities and have limited sales or marketing experience within our organization. If our lead product candidate, resmetirom, is approved, we intend to establish a sales and marketing organization with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize resmetirom in the United States, and to license or outsource this function to a third party or third parties outside of the United States. Either of these options would be expensive and time-consuming. Some or all of these costs may be incurred in advance of any approval of resmetirom. In addition, we may not be able to hire a sales force in the United States that is sufficient in size or has adequate expertise in the medical markets that we intend to target. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely affect the commercialization of resmetirom and other future product candidates.
With respect to our existing and future product candidates, we may choose to collaborate with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or as an alternative to our own sales force and distribution systems. To the extent that we enter into
co-promotion
or other licensing arrangements, our product revenue may be lower than if we directly marketed or sold any approved products. In addition, any revenue we receive will depend in whole or in part upon the efforts of these third parties, which may not be successful and are generally not within our control. If we are unable to enter into these arrangements on acceptable terms or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any approved products. If we are not successful in commercializing any approved products, either on our own or through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future product revenue will suffer and we may incur significant additional losses. Even if we obtain FDA approval of resmetirom or any other future product candidate, we may never obtain approval or commercialize our products outside of the United States, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.
In order to market any products outside of the United States, we must establish and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other countries regarding clinical trial design, safety and efficacy. Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and
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regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. Approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking foreign regulatory approvals could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and may require additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, which would be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in those countries. Satisfying these and other regulatory requirements is costly, time consuming, uncertain and subject to unanticipated delays. In addition, our failure to obtain regulatory approval in any country may delay or have negative effects on the process for regulatory approval in other countries. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including international markets, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we or our partners fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our products will be harmed.
If we do not obtain protection under the Hatch-Waxman Act and similar foreign legislation by extending the term of patents covering each of our product candidates, our business may be materially harmed.
Depending upon the timing, duration and conditions of FDA marketing approval of our product candidates, one or more of our United States patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent term extension of up to five years for a patent covering an approved product as compensation for effective patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, we may not receive an extension if we fail to apply within applicable deadlines, fail to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise fail to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the length of the extension could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, the period during which we can enforce our patent rights for that product may not extend beyond the current patent expiration dates and competitors may obtain approval to market competing products sooner. As a result, our revenue could be potentially materially reduced. Further, if this occurs, our competitors may take advantage of our investment in development and trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case.
We may fail to obtain orphan drug designations from the FDA for our product candidates, as applicable, and even if we obtain such designations, we may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.
Our strategy includes filing for orphan drug designation where available for our product candidates. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is defined as one occurring in a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug or biologic will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and
user-fee
waivers. In addition, if a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full NDA, to market the same drug or biologic for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or where the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity. We have not obtained orphan designation for any product candidates to date, although we believe some of the potential indications of our product candidates could qualify for orphan drug designation and the related benefits if approved for such indications and we may file for orphan drug designation with respect to such indications. Even if we obtain such designations, we may not be the first to obtain regulatory approval of a product candidate for the orphan-designated indication due to the uncertainties associated with developing
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pharmaceutical products. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for an indication broader than the orphan-designated indication or may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if we are unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the orphan-designated disease or condition. Further, even if we obtain orphan drug designation exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties may be approved for the same condition, and only the first applicant to receive approval will receive the benefits of marketing exclusivity. Even after an orphan-designated product is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve a later drug with the same active moiety for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior if it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug, nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. In addition, while we may seek orphan drug designation for our product candidates, we may never receive such designations. Failure to obtain an orphan drug designation for our product candidates may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If we or our partners market products in a manner that violates fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws, or if we or our partners violate government price reporting laws, we or our partners may be subject to administrative civil and/or criminal penalties.
Although we do not currently have any products on the market, if we obtain FDA approval for our product candidates, and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our operations may be directly, or indirectly through our prescribers, customers and third-party payors, subject to various U.S. federal and state healthcare laws and regulations. These laws include, among others, the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the U.S. federal civil and criminal false claims laws. At such time, if ever, as we or any of our partners market any of our future approved products, it is possible that some of our business activities and/or our partners could be subject to challenge under one or more of these laws.
Federal false claims, false statements and civil monetary penalties laws prohibit, among others, any person from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment of government funds, or knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to the federal government, or knowingly concealing or knowing and improperly avoiding, decreasing, or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal government. The federal healthcare program Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce, or in return for, purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for the purchase, lease or order of any healthcare item or service reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid or other federally financed healthcare programs. This statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers, on the one hand, and prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers, on the other. Although there are several statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common activities from prosecution, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and practices that involve remuneration intended to induce prescribing, purchasing or recommending may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. There are other federal and state anti-fraud and abuse laws and regulations, as well as laws that require reporting of payments to certain health care professionals and adoption of certain compliance program requirements, that will govern our operations if and when we begin commercializing our products.
In addition, we and/or our partners may be subject to patient data privacy and security regulation, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and its implementing regulations (“HIPAA”), which impose specified requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of protected health information.
Most states also have statutes or regulations similar to these federal laws, which may apply to items such as pharmaceutical products and services reimbursed by private insurers. We and/or our partners may be subject to administrative, civil and criminal sanctions for violations of any of these federal and state laws. Pharmaceutical
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and other healthcare companies have been sued or found to have violated these laws for a variety of promotional and marketing and other activities, such as: providing free trips, free goods, sham consulting fees and grants and other monetary benefits to prescribers; reporting to pricing services inflated average wholesale prices that were then used by federal programs to set reimbursement rates; engaging in
off-label
promotion; and knowingly submitting false pricing information to the federal government, knowingly misrepresenting that information, or failing to timely submit that information. Pharmaceutical companies may further be found liable for civil monetary penalties for knowing and intentionally overcharging covered entities under the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Ensuring that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the federal and state laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including (depending on the applicable law) criminal and significant civil monetary penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government programs, injunctions, recall or seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, denial or withdrawal of
pre-marketing
product approvals, private ‘‘qui tam’’ actions brought by individual whistleblowers in the name of the government or refusal to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. If the third parties on which we rely for the conduct of our clinical trials and results do not perform our clinical trial activities in accordance with good clinical practices and related regulatory requirements, we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates.
We use third-party service providers to conduct and/or oversee the clinical trials of our product candidates and expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We rely heavily on these parties for successful execution of our clinical trials. Nonetheless, we are responsible for confirming that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with FDA requirements and our general investigational plan and protocol.
The FDA requires us and our third-party service providers to comply with GCP for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate, and that the trial participants are adequately protected. Our reliance on third parties that we do not control does not relieve us of these responsibilities and requirements. Third parties may not complete activities on schedule or may not conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory or GCP requirements or the respective trial plans and protocols. In addition, third parties may not be able to repeat their past successes in clinical trials. The failure of these third parties to carry out their obligations could delay or prevent the development, approval and commercialization of our product candidates or result in enforcement action against us.
If our relationship with these third-party providers terminates, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative providers or do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional third-party providers involves substantial cost and requires management time and focus, and could delay development and commercialization of our product candidates. Though we intend to carefully manage our relationships with our third-party providers, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a negative impact on our business and financial condition.
We have relied on, and expect to continue to rely on, third-party manufacturers to produce our product candidates.
We do not own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of clinical or commercial quantities of our product candidates, and we lack the resources and the capabilities to do so. As a result, we currently rely, and
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expect to rely on third-party manufacturers to supply our product candidates. Reliance on third-party manufacturers entails risks to which we would not be subject if we manufactured our product candidates or products ourselves. For example, if we do not maintain our key manufacturing relationships, we may fail to find replacement manufacturers or develop our own manufacturing capabilities, which could delay or impair our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our products and substantially increase our costs or deplete profit margins, if any. If we do find replacement manufacturers, we may not be able to enter into agreements with them on terms and conditions favorable to us and there could be a substantial delay before new facilities could be qualified and registered with the FDA and other foreign regulatory authorities.
The FDA and other foreign regulatory authorities require manufacturers to register manufacturing facilities. The FDA and corresponding foreign regulators also inspect these facilities to confirm compliance with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs. Contract manufacturers may face manufacturing or quality control problems causing drug substance production and shipment delays or a situation where the contractor may not be able to maintain compliance with the applicable cGMP requirements. Any failure to comply with cGMP requirements or other FDA, European Medicines Agency, or EMA, and comparable foreign regulatory requirements could adversely affect our clinical research activities and our ability to develop our product candidates and market our products following approval.
Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to develop our product candidates and commercialize any products that receive regulatory approval on a timely basis.
Our internal computer systems, or those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of our development programs and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our internal computer systems and those of our current or future third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. Attacks on information technology systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and they are being conducted by increasingly sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. In addition to extracting sensitive information, such attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. The prevalent use of mobile devices also increases the risk of data security incidents. While we have not experienced any material system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations or the operations of third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors and consultants, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and significant reputational, financial, legal, regulatory, business or operational harm. For example, the loss of clinical trial data for our product candidates 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 of or damage to our data or applications or other data or applications relating to our technology or product candidates, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liabilities and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed. In addition, our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyberattacks and other related breaches.
denial-of-service
Any failure or perceived failure by us or any third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants to comply with our privacy, confidentiality, data security or similar obligations to third parties, or any data security incidents or other security breaches that result in the unauthorized access, release or transfer of sensitive information, including personally identifiable information, may result in governmental investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory fines, litigation or public statements against us, could cause third parties to lose
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trust in us or could result in claims by third parties asserting that we have breached our privacy, confidentiality, data security or similar obligations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations. Moreover, data security incidents and other security breaches can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm. While we have implemented data security measures intended to protect our information technology systems and infrastructure, there can be no assurance that such measures will successfully prevent service interruptions or data security incidents.
Failure to comply with health and data protection laws and regulations could lead to government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation and/or adverse publicity, and could negatively affect our operating results and business.
We may be subject to data privacy and security regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. HIPAA imposes privacy and security obligations on covered entity health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses, as well as their “business associates” – certain persons or covered entities that create, receive, maintain, or transmit protected health information in connection with providing a specified service or performing a function on behalf of a covered entity. We could potentially be subject to criminal penalties if we, our affiliates, or our agents knowingly use or disclose individually identifiable health information maintained by a HIPAA-covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA.
To the extent we collect California resident personal information, we may also be subject to the CCPA. The CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020, created new transparency requirements and granted California residents several new rights with regard to their personal information. In addition, in November 2020, California voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) ballot initiative which introduced significant amendments to the CCPA and established and funded a dedicated California privacy regulator, the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CPPA”). The amendments introduced by the CPRA go into effect on January 1, 2023, and new implementing regulations are expected to be introduced by the CPPA. Failure to comply with the CCPA may result in, among other things, significant civil penalties and injunctive relief, or statutory or actual damages. In addition, California residents have the right to bring a private right of action in connection with certain types of incidents. These claims may result in significant liability and damages. Similarly, there are a number of legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that could impose new obligations or limitations in the area of consumer protection. These laws and regulations are evolving and may impose limitations on our business activities. The obligations to comply with new privacy laws may require us, among other things, to update our notices and develop new processes internally and with our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants to facilitate consumer rights requests, and such laws may impose restrictions on our processing of personal information that may impact the way we operate our business. We may be subject to fines, penalties, or private actions in the event of
non-compliance
with such laws. The CCPA, the CPRA or other domestic privacy and data protection laws and regulations may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. European data collection is governed by restrictive regulations governing the use, processing and cross-border transfer of personal information.
Outside the United States, our clinical trial programs and operations implicate international data protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”). The GDPR increases our responsibility and liability in relation to the processing of personal data of individuals located in the EU. The GDPR, together with the national legislation of the EU member states governing the processing of personal data, impose strict obligations and restrictions on the ability to collect, analyze and transfer personal data, including health data and samples from clinical trials and adverse event reporting. In particular, these obligations and restrictions concern the consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, the information provided to the individuals, the sharing of personal data with third parties, the transfer of personal data out of the EU,
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security breach notifications, security and confidentiality of the personal data and imposition of substantial potential fines for violations of the data protection obligations. Specifically regarding the transfer of personal data outside of the EU, while there are legal mechanisms available to lawfully transfer personal data outside of the EU, including to the United States, there are certain unsettled legal issues regarding such data transfers, the resolution of which may adversely affect our ability to transfer personal data or otherwise may cause us to incur significant costs to come into compliance with applicable data transfer impact assessments and implementation of legal data transfer mechanisms. On July 16, 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled the
EU-US
Privacy Shield to be an invalid data transfer mechanism and confirmed that the Model Clauses remain valid, and in June 2021, the European Commission published updated versions of the Model Clauses, which must be incorporated into new and existing agreements within prescribed timeframes in order to continue to lawfully transfer personal data outside of the EU. Data protection authorities from the different EU member states, as well as in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, have promulgated national privacy laws that impose additional requirements, which add to the complexity of processing and transferring EU personal data, with the United Kingdom and Switzerland following the EU with the publication of new Model Clauses to be incorporated in all applicable contracts within a specified timeframe in order to legitimize data transfers from those jurisdictions. Our ability to continue to transfer personal data outside of the EU, United Kingdom, or Switzerland may become significantly more expensive and may subject us to increased scrutiny and liability under the GDPR or similar local laws, and we may experience operating disruptions if we are unable to conduct these transfers in the future. Risks Relating to Our Intellectual Property
Our rights to develop and commercialize our product candidates are subject in part to the terms and conditions of a license to resmetirom granted to us by Roche.
We entered into a Research, Development and Commercialization Agreement, or the Roche Agreement, with
Hoffmann-La
Roche, or Roche, on December 18, 2008. Pursuant to the terms of the Roche Agreement, we assumed control of all development and commercialization of resmetirom and hold exclusive worldwide rights for all potential indications. Under the Roche Agreement, Roche exclusively licensed certain patent rights and know-how
relating to resmetirom in exchange for consideration consisting of an upfront payment, milestone payments tied to the achievement of product development and regulatory milestones, and royalty payments based on net sales of products containing resmetirom or another licensed product, subject to certain reductions. The Roche Agreement will expire, unless earlier terminated pursuant to other provisions thereof, on the last to occur of (i) the expiration of the last valid claim of a licensed patent covering the manufacture, use or sale of products containing resmetirom, or (ii) ten years after the first sale of a product containing resmetirom. Under the Roche Agreement, Roche controls prosecution of the licensed patent rights, although we have a right to comment. We do not have, nor have we had, any material disputes with Roche regarding the Roche Agreement. However, if there is any future dispute between us and Roche regarding the parties’ rights under the Roche Agreement, our ability to develop and commercialize resmetirom, or any other product candidate covered by the Roche Agreement, may be materially harmed. Any uncured, material breach under the Roche Agreement could result in our loss of exclusive rights to resmetirom and may lead to a complete termination of the Roche Agreement and force us to cease product development efforts for resmetirom.
We may fail to comply with any of our obligations under agreements pursuant to which we license rights or technology, which could result in the loss of rights or technology that are material to our business.
We may enter into license agreements from time to time. Licensing of intellectual property is important to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including but not limited to:
| • | the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues; |
| • | the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement; |
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| • | the sublicensing of patent and other rights; |
| • | our diligence obligations under the license agreement and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations; |
| • | the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by us and our licensors and collaborators; and |
| • | the priority of invention of patented technology. |
If disputes over intellectual property and other rights that we have licensed or acquired from third parties prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.
Our success depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies.
Our success depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies. Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection and trade secret protection for our product candidates, proprietary technologies, and their uses, as well as our ability to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others.
We can provide no assurance that our patent applications or those of our licensors will result in additional patents being issued or that issued patents will afford sufficient protection against competitors with similar technologies, nor can we provide any assurance that the patents issued will not be infringed, designed around or invalidated by third parties. Even issued patents may later be found unenforceable or may be modified or revoked in proceedings instituted by third parties before various patent offices or in courts. The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain. Only limited protection may be available and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. This failure to properly protect the intellectual property rights relating to our product candidates could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. While we have licensed rights to issued patents in the United States and other jurisdictions for resmetirom, we cannot be certain that the claims in issued patents will not be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged. We cannot be certain that the claims in owned and licensed patent applications covering our product candidates will be considered patentable by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, and valid by courts in the United States or by the patent offices and courts in foreign jurisdictions. Even if we owned and licensed patent applications covering our product candidates, the patents may not be enforced against competitors. For example, a formulation patent may not be enforced against those making and marketing a product that has the same active pharmaceutical ingredient in a different formulation that is not claimed in the formulation patent. patents protect the use of a product for the specified method or for treatment of a particular indication. This type of patent may not be enforced against competitors making and marketing a product that has the same active pharmaceutical ingredient but is used for a method not claimed in the patent. Moreover, even if competitors do not actively promote their product for our targeted indications, physicians may prescribe these products patents, the practice is common and such infringement is difficult to prevent or prosecute.
Method-of-use
“off-label.”
Although off-label
prescriptions may infringe or contribute to the infringement of method-of-use
Our patent licensed from Roche relating to resmetirom is scheduled to expire in the United States in 2026. Our
composition-of-matter
co-owned
patents and pending patent applications that cover our particular solid form, dosage, method of manufacturing, and uses of resmetirom to treat various indications are scheduled to expire in 2033. Our exclusively-owned pending patent applications that cover companion diagnostics, various solid forms of resmetirom, combination therapy, method of use, and method of manufacturing, if issued, are expected to expire between 2037 and 2042. Our exclusively-owned pending patent application that covers other THR beta analogs and uses thereof, if issued, is expected to expire in 2043. While patent term adjustments or patent term extensions could result in later expiration dates for each of these patents, there can be no assurances that we will 48
receive any patent adjustments or patent term extensions. The patent application process and patent maintenance and enforcement are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we or any of our future development partners will be successful in protecting our product candidates by obtaining and defending patents. These risks and uncertainties include the following:
| • | the USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process and after a patent has issued. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case; |
| • | patent applications may not result in any patents being issued; |
| • | patents may be challenged, invalidated, modified, revoked, circumvented, found to be unenforceable or otherwise may not provide any competitive advantage; |
| • | we and our licensor(s) may not have been the first to make the inventions covered by pending patent applications or issued patents; |
| • | we and our licensor(s) may not have been the first to file patent applications for our product candidates or the compositions developed, or for their uses; |
| • | others may independently develop identical, similar or alternative products or compositions and uses thereof; |
| • | we and our licensor(s)’ disclosures in patent applications may not be sufficient to meet the statutory requirements for patentability; |
| • | others may design around our owned and licensed patent claims to produce competitive products which fall outside of the scope of the patents; |
| • | others may identify prior art or other bases which could invalidate our or our licensor(s)’ patents; |
| • | our competitors might conduct research and development activities in the United States and other countries that provide a safe harbor from patent infringement claims for certain research and development activities, as well as in countries where us and our licensor(s) do not have patent rights, and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in major commercial markets; |
| • | there may be significant pressure on the United States government and international governmental bodies to limit the scope of patent protection both inside and outside the United States for disease treatments that prove successful, as a matter of public policy regarding worldwide health concerns; and |
| • | countries other than the United States may have patent laws less favorable to patentees than those upheld by United States courts, allowing foreign competitors a better opportunity to create, develop and market competing product candidates. |
In addition, we rely on the protection of our trade secrets and proprietary
know-how.
Although we have taken steps to protect our trade secrets and unpatented know-how,
including entering into confidentiality agreements with third parties, and confidential information and inventions agreements with employees, consultants and advisors, we cannot provide any assurances that any of these parties would not breach the agreements to disclose any proprietary information, including trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Further, third parties may still obtain this information by other means, such as breaches of our physical or computer security systems. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Moreover, third parties may come upon this or similar information lawfully and independently. We would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to 49
compete with us. Further, intellectual property rights have limitations and do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive position. If any of these events occurs or if we otherwise lose protection for our trade secrets or proprietary
know-how,
our business may be harmed. Recent patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents.
On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. In particular, under the Leahy-Smith Act, the United States transitioned in March 2013 to a “first inventor to file” system in which the first inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent. Third parties are allowed to submit prior art before the issuance of a patent by the USPTO, and a patent may become subject to post-grant proceedings including opposition, derivation, reexamination, review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope or enforceability of, or invalidate, our patent rights, which could adversely affect our competitive position.
inter partes
Claims by third parties that we infringe their proprietary rights may result in liability for damages or prevent or delay our developmental and commercialization efforts.
The biotechnology industry has been characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing product candidates. As the biotechnology industry expands and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties. Because patent applications are maintained in secrecy until the application is published, we may be unaware of third party patents that may be infringed by commercialization of resmetirom or our other product candidates. Moreover, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently-pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. In addition, identification of third party patent rights that may be relevant to our technology is difficult because patent searching is imperfect due to differences in terminology among patents, incomplete databases and the difficulty in assessing the meaning of patent claims. Any claims of patent infringement asserted by third parties would be time consuming and could likely:
| • | result in costly litigation; |
| • | divert the time and attention of our technical personnel and management; |
| • | cause development delays; |
| • | prevent us from commercializing resmetirom for NASH or our other product candidates until the asserted patent expires or is held finally invalid or not infringed in a court of law; |
| • | require us to develop non-infringing technology, which may not be possible on a cost-effective basis; or |
| • | require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. |
Although no third party has asserted a claim of patent infringement against us as of the filing date of this report, others may hold proprietary rights that could prevent resmetirom or our other product candidates from being marketed. Any patent-related legal action against us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin commercial activities relating to our product candidate or processes could subject us to potential liability for damages and require us to obtain a license to continue to manufacture or market resmetirom or our other product candidates. We cannot predict whether we would prevail in any such actions or that any license required under any of these patents would be made available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, we cannot be sure that
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we could redesign our product candidate or processes to avoid infringement, if necessary. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or the failure to obtain necessary licenses, could prevent us from developing and commercializing resmetirom or our other product candidates, which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results.
Moreover, we may be subject to a third party preissuance submission of prior art to the USPTO or in addition to interference proceedings, may become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, review, post-grant review or other post-grant proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates
inter partes
We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful. Further, our issued patents could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court.
If we or any of our future development partners were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent directed at one of our product candidates, or one of our future product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness,
non-enablement
or insufficient written description. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO or made a misleading statement during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before the USPTO, even outside the context of litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on such product candidate. Such a loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business Interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us or declared by the USPTO may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications or those of our licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Our defense of litigation or interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our clinical trials, continue our research programs, license necessary technology from third parties, or enter into development partnerships that would help us bring our product candidates to market.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
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We may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to our product candidates through acquisitions and
in-licenses.
We currently have rights to the intellectual property, through licenses from third parties and under patents that we own or
co-own,
to develop our product candidates. Because our programs may require the use of proprietary rights held by third parties, the growth of our business may depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license,
or use these proprietary rights. For example, our product candidates may require specific formulations to work effectively and efficiently and the rights to these formulations may be held by others. We may be unable to acquire or in-license
any compositions, methods of use, processes, or other third party intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our product candidates. The licensing and acquisition of third party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and a number of more established companies are also pursuing strategies to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, cash resources, and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment. We may collaborate with U.S. and foreign academic institutions and industry collaborators to accelerate our preclinical or clinical research. Typically, these institutions provide us with an option to negotiate a license to any of the institution’s rights in technology resulting from the collaboration. Regardless of such option, we may be unable to negotiate a license within the specified timeframe or under terms that are acceptable to us. If we are unable to do so, the institution may offer the intellectual property rights to other parties, potentially blocking our ability to pursue our program.
If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third party intellectual property rights or maintain the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may have to abandon development of that program and our business and financial condition could suffer.
Our reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them or that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or disclosed.
Because we rely on third parties to research and develop and to manufacture our product candidates, we must, at times, share trade secrets with them. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our advisors, employees, third party contractors and consultants prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, including our trade secrets. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with third parties, the need to share trade secrets and other confidential information increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others, or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. Any of these could impair our competitive position.
In addition, these agreements typically restrict the ability of our advisors, employees, third party contractors and consultants to publish data potentially relating to our trade secrets, although our agreements may contain certain limited publication rights. For example, any academic institution that we may collaborate with in the future will usually expect to be granted rights to publish data arising out of such collaboration, provided that we are notified in advance and given the opportunity to delay publication for a limited time period in order for us to secure patent protection of intellectual property rights arising from the collaboration, in addition to the opportunity to remove confidential or trade secret information from any such publication. In the future we may also conduct joint research and development programs that may require us to share trade secrets under the terms of our research and development or similar agreements. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, our competitors may discover our trade secrets, either through breach of our agreements with third parties,
52
independent development or publication of information by any of our third party collaborators. A competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets would impair our competitive position and have an adverse impact on our business.
If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.
Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely impact our financial condition or results of operations.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
While we have licensed from Roche issued patents directed at resmetirom in the United States and other countries, filing, prosecuting and defending patents on resmetirom in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing their inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with resmetirom, and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.
Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biopharmaceuticals, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Capital
If we fail to obtain the capital necessary to fund all of our planned operations, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize resmetirom and other future product candidates.
Although we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our current operations through at least the next 12 months, we will require additional working capital in the next twelve-
53
months and on a long-term basis in order to complete the remaining clinical development primarily for resmetirom and potentially for other product candidates through potential regulatory approval and through potential commercialization of these product candidates. We expect our spending levels overall to increase in connection with our clinical trials of resmetirom as well as other corporate activities. The amount and timing of any expenditure needed to implement our development and commercialization programs will depend on numerous factors, including:
| • | the type, number, scope, progress, expansion costs, results of and timing of our future clinical trials and projected product label or the need for additional clinical trials of resmetirom for NASH and dyslipidemia or any of our other product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future; |
| • | the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights; |
| • | the costs and timing of obtaining regulatory approval for resmetirom for NASH and any of our other potential product candidates; |
| • | the costs and timing of obtaining or maintaining manufacturing for resmetirom for NASH and any of our other product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved; |
| • | the costs and timing of establishing sales, marketing and reimbursement capabilities and enhanced internal controls over financial reporting; |
| • | the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, license agreements and other partnerships, including for ex-US resmetirom opportunities; |
| • | costs associated with any new product candidates that we may develop, in-license or acquire; and |
| • | the effect of competing technological and market developments. |
Some of these factors are outside of our control. Our existing capital resources may not be sufficient to enable us to fund the completion of all planned clinical trials and commercialization objectives for our product candidates. These and other circumstances may cause to delay certain research activities and related clinical expenses, but such delays will not alter our need to raise additional funding. As a result, we will need to raise substantial additional funds in the future.
We have not sold any products, and we do not expect to sell or derive revenue from any product sales for the foreseeable future. We may seek additional funding through future debt and equity financings, as well as potential additional collaborations or strategic partnerships with other companies or through
non-dilutive
financings. Additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. In addition, the terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders or have a potential restrictive effect on how we operate our business. In addition, market perception that we need to issue additional shares, the issuance of additional shares by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our shares to decline. If we are unable to obtain additional funding on a timely basis, we may need to delay certain aspects of, or be unable to complete, planned clinical trials for resmetirom for NASH and our other product candidates, and we may be required to significantly curtail some or all of our activities. We also could be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or otherwise that may require us to relinquish rights to our product candidates or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us.
Our ability to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain
built-in
losses to reduce future tax payments may be limited by provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Our net operating losses have been fully offset by a valuation allowance due to uncertainties surrounding our ability to realize these tax benefits. Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if
54
a corporation undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three year period), the corporation’s ability to use its
pre-change
net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change
tax attributes to offset its post-change income may be limited. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have not performed a detailed analysis to determine whether an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code, or similar state provisions, has previously occurred. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change
net operating loss carryforwards to offset U.S. federal taxable income may become subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us and may be substantial. Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common Stock
The price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile.
Historically, the market price of our common stock has fluctuated over a wide range, and it is likely that the price of our common stock will continue to be volatile in the future. The closing price of our common stock has ranged from $55.89 to $137.5 per share during the period from January 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022. The market price of our common stock could be impacted due to a variety of factors, including: global market or financial developments (whether due to the COVID pandemic or otherwise); US market events (including the potential for unusual market trading activity following external short interest developments or social media activity, such as those that have impacted certain stocks such as AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. and GameStop Corp. in 2021, and which in any case generally would be beyond our control); the outbreak of war or hostilities; NASH therapeutic company developments and/or FDA developments, regardless of whether occurring generally and/or specifically as to our clinical trials and development programs; industry-wide events; and the following events or developments:
| • | the losses we may incur, including increased losses resulting from costs associated with increases in our clinical trial activity; |
| • | developments in patent or other proprietary rights owned or licensed by us, our collaborative partners or our competitors; |
| • | the progress and results of our clinical trials; |
| • | public or regulatory concern as to the safety and efficacy of NASH products developed by us or others or public safety generally; and |
| • | litigation. |
In addition, due to one or more of the foregoing factors in one or more future quarters, our results of operations may fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. In the event any of the foregoing occur, the market price of our common stock could be highly volatile and may materially decline.
A small number of our stockholders own a substantial amount of our outstanding common stock and may be deemed to have substantial control over us; therefore, your ability to influence corporate matters may be limited.
Certain stockholders affiliated and associated with our officers and directors collectively own approximately 19.25% of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2021 and acting together, may have the ability to substantially affect matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a strategic transaction, even if such a transaction would benefit other stockholders.
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Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Provisions in our charter and bylaws may delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change of control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. These provisions include a classified board of directors. In addition, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits, with some exceptions, stockholders owning in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us. Although we believe these provisions together provide for an opportunity to receive higher bids by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors, they would apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders.
Future sales and issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase common stock could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our share price to fall.
We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. We may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. In June 2021 we established a new (“ATM”) program in the amount of $200 million. As of December 31, 2021, $159.2 million remained reserved and available for sale under this ATM program. We may, from time to time, issue and sell shares of our common stock under this ATM program to or through a sales agent up to established limits. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, through the ATM program or otherwise, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing stockholders. Please see Note 6 within the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report on Form
“at-the-market”
10-K
for more details regarding potential sales of our common stock under the ATM program. We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted from a beneficial ownership standpoint and value may be diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing stockholders.
Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets or significant short sales of our common stock, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise capital.
As of December 31, 2021, there were a number of investors or investor groups that held a significant beneficial ownership interest in our common stock, including: 2,037,140 shares of our outstanding common stock (the “Bay City Affiliate Holdings”) beneficially owned by Dr. Fred Craves, our Lead Director, which includes 1,511,782 shares beneficially owned by Bay City Capital LLC (“Bay City”); 1,251,619 shares of our outstanding common stock beneficially owned by Drs. Paul Friedman and Becky Taub (the “Friedman/Taub Holdings”), our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and President of RD and Chief Medical Officer, respectively; 1,969,797 shares of outstanding Series A Convertible Preferred stock, a common stock equivalent with no voting rights, that is convertible into shares of Common Stock on a basis only to the extent that after giving effect to such conversion the holders thereof and their affiliates and any persons who are members of a Section 13(d) group with the holders or their affiliates would beneficially own (in the aggregate, for purposes of Rule
1-for-1
13d-3
under the Exchange Act) no more than 4.99% of the outstanding Common Stock (the “Beneficial Ownership56
Limitation”); and 2,301,574 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options under our 2015 Stock Plan, as amended (the “Common Shares Underlying Our Stock Options”). The Bay City Affiliate Holdings and the Friedman/Taub Holdings collectively represent approximately 19.22% of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2021, and are capable of being sold directly (including by Bay City or its affiliated funds) or indirectly (following any future distribution to Bay City from affiliated funds, to Bay City fund limited partners, or by Bay City to its partners), and any material sale of such shares could significantly reduce the market price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise adequate capital. As of December 31, 2021, the 1,969,797 Common Shares Underlying Our Preferred Stock (disregarding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation and assuming the full conversion of all currently outstanding preferred shares) owned by entities affiliated with Baker Bros. Advisors LP and 1,499,213 additional shares of common stock directly owned by entities affiliated with Baker Bros. Advisors LP collectively represented beneficial ownership of approximately 19.9% of our common stock on an as converted basis (the “Baker Bros. Fully Converted Interest”). In addition, we have six institutional investors who have filed Schedule 13Gs (or amendments thereto) reflecting collective beneficial ownership, as of December 31, 2021, of approximately 34.8% of our outstanding common stock (“Our Other Shares Beneficially Owned by Institutional Investors”). Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by one or more of the investors of groups listed above (such as the Common Shares Underlying Our Stock Options, the Bay City Affiliate Holdings, the Friedman/Taub Holdings, the Baker Bros. Fully Converted Interest, the Common Shares Underlying Our Stock Options, or Our Other Shares Beneficially Owned by Institutional Investors) or other equity-related securities in the public markets, could depress the market price of our common stock. If there are significant sales or short sales of our stock, the price decline that could result from this activity may cause the share price to decline further, which, in turn, may cause long holders of the common stock to sell their shares, thereby contributing to sales of common stock in the market. See “Risk Factors; Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common StockThe price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile” Such sales or short sales also may impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional shares in the future at a time and price that our management deems acceptable, if at all.
—
.
We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock, and accordingly, stockholders must rely on stock appreciation for any return on their investment.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividend on our common stock and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the future. As a result, the only return to stockholders will be appreciation in the price of our common stock, which may never occur. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock.
Item 1B. |
Unresolved Staff Comments |
None.
Item 2. |
Properties |
As of December 31, 2021, we leased our approximately 12,200 square-foot corporate headquarters facility located in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. We believe our facility is adequate for our current needs. This lease expires in November 2023. We plan to lease or acquire additional space as our business continues to grow. We continue to evaluate our facility requirements and believe that appropriate space will be available to accommodate our future needs.
Item 3. |
Legal Proceedings |
We currently are not a party to any material legal proceedings.
Item 4. |
Mine Safety Disclosures |
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. |
Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchase of Equity Securities. |
Market Information
Our common stock has traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol “MDGL” since July 25, 2016. Prior to July 25, 2016, our common stock was traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol “SNTA.”
Holders
As of February 21, 2022, there were approximately 32 holders of record of our common stock. This number does not include “street name” or beneficial holders, whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers, financial institutions and other nominees. In addition, we had two holders of record who owned shares of our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay cash dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, contractual restrictions, capital requirements, and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant.
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Stock Performance Graph
The graph set forth below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2021, with the cumulative total return of (a) the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and (b) the Nasdaq Composite Index, over the same period. This graph assumes the investment of $100 on January 1, 2017 in our common stock, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index and assumes the reinvestment of dividends, if any.
The comparisons shown in the graph below are based upon historical data. We caution that the stock price performance shown in the graph below is not necessarily indicative of, nor is it intended to forecast, the potential future performance of our common stock.
The above Stock Performance Graph and related information shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, except to the extent that we specifically request that such information be treated as soliciting material or specifically incorporate it by reference into a filing.
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Item 6. |
Selected Financial Data |
The statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 have been derived from our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on
Form 10-K.
The statements of operations data for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 have been derived from our audited financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The following selected financial data should be read in conjunction with our “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and financial statements and related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Years Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
||||||||||||||||
(in thousands, except per share amounts) |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated Statements of Operations Data: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenues: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenues |
$ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||||
| Operating expenses: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development |
205,164 | 184,809 | 72,324 | 25,389 | 24,390 | |||||||||||||||
| General and administrative |
37,318 | 21,864 | 22,648 | 15,293 | 7,672 | |||||||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| Total operating expenses |
242,482 | 206,673 | 94,972 | 40,682 | 32,062 | |||||||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| Loss from operations |
(242,482 | ) | (206,673 | ) | (94,972 | ) | (40,682 | ) | (32,062 | ) | ||||||||||
| Interest income (expense), net |
363 | 4,329 | 11,024 | 7,671 | 558 | |||||||||||||||
| Other income |
273 | 100 | — | 200 | 350 | |||||||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| Net loss |
$ | (241,846 | ) | $ | (202,244 | ) | $ | (83,948 | ) | $ | (32,811 | ) | $ | (31,154 | ) | |||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| Net loss per common share: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per common share |
$ | (14.63 | ) | $ | (13.09 | ) | $ | (5.45 | ) | $ | (2.22 | ) | $ | (2.54 | ) | |||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding |
16,535,188 | 15,446,638 | 15,394,659 | 14,796,712 | 12,244,939 | |||||||||||||||
Years Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
||||||||||||||||
(in thousands) |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated Balance Sheet Data: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
$ | 270,346 | $ | 284,149 | $ | 439,045 | $ | 483,718 | $ | 191,527 | ||||||||||
| Total assets |
273,332 | 286,995 | 442,056 | 485,428 | 192,313 | |||||||||||||||
| Total liabilities |
77,225 | 47,025 | 25,491 | 8,444 | 10,054 | |||||||||||||||
| Accumulated deficit |
(667,310 | ) | (425,464 | ) | (223,220 | ) | (139,272 | ) | (106,461 | ) | ||||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity |
$ | 196,107 | $ | 239,970 | $ | 416,565 | $ | 476,984 | $ | 182,259 | ||||||||||
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Item 7. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. |
The Risk Factors in Part I, Item 1A and disclosures under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” within this Annual Report on
Form 10-K,
the audited financial statements and accompanying notes, included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K,
and this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read together. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. As disclosed in this report, our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and in the “Risk Factors” sections contained in Part I, Item 1A in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our operating results are not necessarily indicative of results that may occur for the full fiscal year or any other future period. About Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Our Focus
THR-ß,
agonist being developed as a once-daily oral pill that can potentially be used to treat a number of disease states with high unmet medical need, including non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis, or NASH. Our Patient Market Opportunity.
Our Completed Studies.
12-week
primary endpoint for this Phase 2 clinical trial and reported the results in December 2017, and we reported positive topline 36-week
results at the conclusion of the Phase 2 clinical trial in May 2018. We also completed a 36-week,
open-label extension study in 31 participating NASH patients from our Phase 2 clinical trial, which included 14 patients who received placebo in the main study. We also completed a 116 patient Phase 2 clinical trial and announced results in February 2018 for the use of resmetirom in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HeFH. In addition to the NASH and HeFH Phase 2 clinical trials, resmetirom has also been studied in multiple completed Phase 1 trials in a total of more than 300 subjects. Resmetirom was well-tolerated in these trials, which included a single ascending dose trial, a multiple ascending dose trial, several drug interaction studies, a multiple dose mass balance study, a single dose relative bioavailability study of tablet formulation versus capsule formulation, a multiple dose drug interaction study, a multiple dose drug interaction with food effect study, and a hepatic impairment study. Our Ongoing and Planned Studies.
61
agonist, resmetirom. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study is being conducted at more than 200 sites in the United States and the rest of the world. Patients with liver biopsy confirmed NASH with stage 2 or 3 fibrosis are being randomized 1:1:1 to receive a single oral daily dose of placebo, resmetirom 80 mg or resmetirom 100 mg. A second liver biopsy at week 52 in the first 900 patients will be the basis of filing for Subpart
H-accelerated
approval; the primary endpoint pertains to the percent of patients treated with either dose of resmetirom as compared with placebo who achieve NASH resolution on the week 52 liver biopsy, defined as the absence of hepatocyte ballooning (score=0), and minimal lobular inflammation (score 0-1),
associated with at least a 2-point
reduction in NAS (NAFLD Activity Score), and no worsening of fibrosis stage. Two key secondary endpoints are reduction in LDL-cholesterol
and a 1-point
or more improvement in fibrosis stage on the week 52 biopsy with no worsening of NASH. Patients will continue in the study for a total of approximately 54 months, and will be evaluated for a composite clinical outcome including cirrhosis on liver biopsy, or a liver related event such as hepatic decompensation. The total anticipated enrollment is approximately 2,000 patients, and will include up to 15% high risk F1 fibrosis stage NASH patients whose efficacy responses will be evaluated as exploratory endpoints. On June 30, 2021 we announced our achievement of the requisite enrollment of patients to support the planned Subpart H (Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-Threatening Illnesses) submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On December 18, 2019 the Company announced it had opened for enrollment MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
a 52-week,
non-invasive,
multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical study of patients with biopsy-confirmed or presumed NASH recruited from sites in the U.S. Key endpoints are safety, including safety biomarkers. Secondary endpoints include LDL cholesterol, lipid biomarkers, MRI-PDFF,
NASH and fibrosis biomarkers. Except for serial liver biopsies, the study protocol is similar to the MAESTRO-NASH study with resmetirom doses of 80 mg or 100 mg or placebo. In October 2020, we completed enrollment of the double-blind, placebo-controlled arms of the study. Enrollment objectives for this study have been exceeded, with approximately 1,300 patients enrolled overall. The MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study will help support the adequacy of the safety database at the time of NDA submission for Subpart H approval for treatment of NASH in patients with F2 or F3 fibrosis. On July 13, 2021 we announced first patient dosed in a planned 52-week
open label active treatment extension study of MAESTRO-NAFLD-1,
named MAESTRO-NAFLD-Open Label Extension (OLE). The OLE study allows patients who complete MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
to consent to 52 weeks of active treatment with resmetirom, making this treatment available to both patients who were assigned to placebo in MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
and patients who were on resmetirom in MAESTRO-NAFLD-1.
Key Developments
In January 2022, Madrigal announced topline results from the Phase 3
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
safety study of resmetirom. Madrigal reported that resmetirom demonstrated statistical significance for primary and key secondary endpoints summarized above under “Business: Key Developments.” COVID-19
Pandemic Effects on Madrigal In April 2020 we announced that in response to guidance from regulatory agencies, measures for
COVID-19
at impacted sites were put in place for our Phase 3 MAESTRO-NASH and MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
studies, allowing both studies to continue without changes to the protocol. Following a Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) meeting it was recommended that Phase 3 studies proceed without modification. The COVID-19
pandemic had no material adverse impact on our operating results, our conduct of the MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
study or our liquidity for previous periods. However, COVID-19
did introduce clinical trial and operational risks and uncertainties that are both general in nature and relate specifically to our MAESTRO-NASH study. In addition, at the height of COVID-19,
MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
double blind patients had an average of two missed visits and two dose interruptions, with the dose interruptions primarily related to third-parties. These risks and uncertainties, which are beyond our control, are summarized in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
62
Basis of Presentation
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses primarily consist of costs associated with our research activities, including the preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. We expense our research and development expenses as incurred. We contract with clinical research organizations to manage our clinical trials under agreed upon budgets for each study, with oversight by our clinical program managers. We account for nonrefundable advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities as expenses when the service has been performed or when the goods have been received. Manufacturing expense includes costs associated with drug formulation development and clinical drug production. We do not track employee and facility related research and development costs by project, as we typically use our employee and infrastructure resources across multiple research and development programs. We believe that the allocation of such costs would be arbitrary and not be meaningful.
Our research and development expenses consist primarily of:
| • | salaries and related expense, including stock-based compensation; |
| • | external expenses paid to clinical trial sites, contract research organizations, laboratories, database software and consultants that conduct clinical trials; |
| • | expenses related to development and the production of nonclinical and clinical trial supplies, including fees paid to contract manufacturers; |
| • | expenses related to preclinical studies; |
| • | expenses related to compliance with drug development regulatory requirements; and |
| • | other allocated expenses, which include direct and allocated expenses for depreciation of equipment and other supplies. |
We expect to continue to incur substantial expenses related to our development activities for the foreseeable future as we conduct our clinical studies programs, manufacturing and toxicology studies. Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials, additional drug manufacturing requirements, and later stage toxicology studies such as carcinogenicity studies. Our research and development expenses have increased year over year in each of 2019, 2020, and 2021 and we expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially in the future. The process of conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials necessary to obtain regulatory approval is costly and time consuming. The probability of success for each product candidate is affected by numerous factors, including preclinical data, clinical data, competition, manufacturing capability and commercial viability. Accordingly, we may never succeed in achieving marketing approval for any of our product candidates
Completion dates and costs for our clinical development programs as well as our research program can vary significantly for each current and future product candidate and are difficult to predict. As a result, we cannot estimate with any degree of certainty the costs we will incur in connection with the development of our product candidates at this point in time. We expect that we will make determinations as to which programs and product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each program and product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the scientific success of early research programs, results of ongoing and future clinical trials, our ability to enter into collaborative agreements with respect to programs or potential product candidates, as well as ongoing assessments as to each current or future product candidate’s commercial potential.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation expenses for employees, management costs, costs associated with obtaining and maintaining our patent portfolio, professional fees for accounting, auditing, consulting and legal services, and allocated overhead expenses.
63
We expect that our general and administrative expenses may increase in the future as we expand our operating activities, maintain and expand our patent portfolio and incur additional costs associated with being a public company and maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements. We expect these potential increases will likely include management costs, legal fees, accounting fees, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance premiums and expenses associated with investor relations.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our financial statements which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to accrued research and development expenses. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Research and Development Costs
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Research and development costs are comprised of costs incurred in performing research and development activities, including internal costs (including stock-based compensation), costs for consultants, milestone payments under licensing agreements, and other costs associated with the Company’s preclinical and clinical programs. In particular, the Company has conducted safety studies in animals, optimized and implemented the manufacturing of our drug, and conducted Phase
1-3
clinical trials, all of which are considered research and development expenditures. Management uses significant judgment in estimating the amount of research and development costs recognized in each reporting period. Management analyzes and estimates the progress of its preclinical studies and clinical trials, completion of milestones events per underlying agreements, invoices received and contracted costs when estimating the research and development costs to accrue in each reporting period. Actual results could differ from the Company’s estimates. The Company’s historical estimates for research and development costs have not been materially different from the actual costs. Stock-Based Compensation
The Company recognizes stock-based compensation expense based on the grant date fair value of stock options granted to employees, officers and directors. The Company uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the grant date fair value as management believes it is the most appropriate valuation method for its option grants. The Black-Scholes model requires inputs for risk-free interest rate, dividend yield, volatility and expected lives of the options. The expected lives for options granted represent the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding. The Company uses the simplified method for determining the expected lives of options. Expected volatility is based upon an industry estimate or blended rate including the Company’s historical trading activity. The risk-free rate for periods within the expected life of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of the grant. The Company estimates the forfeiture rate based on historical data. This analysis is
re-evaluated
at least annually and the forfeiture rate is adjusted as necessary. Certain of the employee stock options granted by the Company are structured to qualify as incentive stock options (ISOs). Under current tax regulations, the Company does not receive a tax deduction for the issuance, exercise or disposition of ISOs if the employee meets certain holding requirements. If the employee does not meet the holding requirements, a disqualifying disposition occurs, at which time the Company may receive a tax deduction. The Company does not record tax benefits related to ISOs unless and until a disqualifying disposition is reported. In the event of a disqualifying disposition, the entire tax benefit is recorded as a reduction of income
64
tax expense. The Company has not recognized any income tax benefit for its share-based compensation arrangements due to the fact that the Company does not believe it is more likely than not it will realize the related deferred tax assets.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Revenue
We did not generate any revenue during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Operating Expenses
The following table provides comparative results of our operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):
Year ended December 31, |
Increase / (Decrease) |
|||||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
$ |
% |
|||||||||||||
| Research and Development Expenses |
$ | 205,164 | $ | 184,809 | 20,355 | 11 | % | |||||||||
| General and Administrative Expenses |
37,318 | 21,864 | 15,454 | 71 | % | |||||||||||
| Interest (Income) |
(363 | ) | (4,329 | ) | (3,966 | ) | (92 | %) | ||||||||
| Other (income) |
(273 | ) | (100 | ) | 173 | 173 | % | |||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
| $ | 241,846 | $ | 202,244 | 39,602 | 20 | % | ||||||||||
Research and Development Expense
Our research and development expenses were $205.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $184.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Research and development expenses increased by $20.4 million in the 2021 period due primarily to the additional activities related to the Phase 3 clinical trials initiated in 2019, an increase in manufacturing costs to support ongoing clinical trials and to prepare for commercialization, and an increase in head count and related expenses. We expect our research and development expenses to increase over the next couple years as we advance our clinical and preclinical development programs for resmetirom and as we increase our research and development efforts in connection therewith.
General and Administrative Expense
Our general and administrative expenses were $37.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $21.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. General and administrative expenses increased by $15.5 million in the 2021 period due primarily to an increase in
non-cash
stock compensation from stock option awards and increase in other general and administrative expenses. We expect our general and administrative expenses may increase over time as we advance our clinical and preclinical development programs for resmetirom and expand our operating activities, which will likely result in an increase in our headcount, consulting services, and related overhead needed to support those efforts. Interest Income
Our interest income was $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $4.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease in interest income was due primarily to a lower average principal balance in our investment account in 2021 and decreased interest rates.
65
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019
Revenue
We did not generate any revenue during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Operating Expenses
The following table provides comparative results of our operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):
Year ended December 31, |
Increase / (Decrease) |
|||||||||||||||
2020 |
2019 |
$ |
% |
|||||||||||||
| Research and Development Expenses |
$ | 184,809 | $ | 72,324 | 112,485 | 156 | % | |||||||||
| General and Administrative Expenses |
21,864 | 22,648 | (784 | ) | (3 | %) | ||||||||||
| Interest (Income) |
(4,329 | ) | (11,024 | ) | (6,695 | ) | (61 | %) | ||||||||
| Other (income) |
(100 | ) | — | 100 | 100 | % | ||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
| $ | 202,244 | $ | 83,948 | 118,296 | 141 | % | ||||||||||
Research and Development Expense
Our research and development expenses were $184.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $72.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Research and development expenses increased by $112.5 million in the 2020 period due primarily to the additional activities related to the initiation of the Phase 3 clinical trial in NASH, including a payment due related to a milestone achieved under our agreement with Roche, an increase in head count, and an increase in
non-cash
stock compensation from stock option awards. We expect our research and development expenses to increase over the next several years as we advance our clinical and preclinical development programs for resmetirom and as we increase our research and development efforts in connection therewith. General and Administrative Expense
Our general and administrative expenses were $21.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $22.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. General and administrative expenses decreased by $0.8 million in the 2020 period due primarily to a decrease in
non-cash
stock compensation from stock option awards, partially offset by increases in other general and administrative expenses. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase over the next several years as we advance our clinical and preclinical development programs for resmetirom and continue operating as a public company, both of which will likely result in an increase in our headcount, consulting services, and certain overhead needed to support those efforts. Interest Income
Our interest income was $4.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $11.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease in interest income was due primarily to a lower average principal balance in our investment account in 2020.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Since inception, we have incurred significant net losses and we have funded our operations primarily through the issuance of convertible debt, the issuance of shares of our common stock and shares of our preferred stock, and the proceeds from the merger. Our most significant use of capital pertains to salaries and benefits for
66
our employees, including clinical, scientific, operational, financial and management personnel, and external research and development expenses, such as clinical trials and preclinical activity related to our product candidates.
As of December 31, 2021, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling $270.3 million compared to $284.1 million as of December 31, 2020, with the decrease attributable to the funding of operations. Our cash and investment balances are held in a variety of interest-bearing instruments, including obligations of U.S. government agencies, U.S. Treasury debt securities, corporate debt securities and money market funds. Cash in excess of immediate requirements is invested in accordance with our investment policy with a view toward capital preservation and liquidity.
We anticipate continuing to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future. While our rate of cash usage will likely increase in the future, in particular to support our product development and clinical trial efforts, we believe our available cash resources as of December 31, 2021 will be sufficient to fund our operations past one year from the issuance of the financial statements contained herein, and this outlook takes into account circumstances that are currently reasonably foreseeable in connection with the sales agreement entered into in June of 2021, with Cowen and Company, LLC (the “2021 Sales Agreement”), pursuant to which we may, from time to time, issue and sell shares of our common stock up to established limits. Additional capital may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. We also have the ability to delay certain research activities and related clinical expenses if necessary due to liquidity concerns until a date when those concerns are relieved. If adequate funds are not available, or if the terms of potential funding sources are unfavorable, our business and our ability to develop our product candidates would be harmed. Furthermore, any sales of additional equity securities may result in dilution to our stockholders, and any debt financing may include covenants that restrict our business.
COVID-19
pandemic. For a description of COVID-19
pandemic risks, including risks and uncertainties beyond our control, see Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report. Our future long-term liquidity requirements will be substantial and will depend on many factors. To meet future long-term liquidity requirements, we will need to raise additional capital to fund our operations through equity or debt financings, collaborations, partnerships or other strategic transactions. We regularly consider fundraising opportunities and may decide, from time to time, to raise capital based on various factors, including market conditions and our plans of operation. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of a $200 million at-the-market
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our net cash flow activity (in thousands):
Year ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities |
$ | (183,917 | ) | $ | (157,561 | ) | $ | (41,624 | ) | |||
| Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities |
(5,055 | ) | 159,780 | 30,707 | ||||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities |
171,237 | 5,088 | 235 | |||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents |
$ | (17,735 | ) | $ | 7,307 | $ | (10,682 | ) | ||||
Operating Activities
Net cash used in operating activities was $183.9 million, $157.6 million, and $41.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The use of cash in these periods resulted primarily from our losses from operations, as adjusted for
non-cash
charges for stock-based compensation, and changes in our working capital accounts. Net cash used in the year ended December 31, 2021 increased from prior years predominately due to escalated clinical trial related activity. 67
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was $5.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 and consisted primarily of $394.1 million of purchase of marketable securities for our investment portfolio, partially offset by $389.3 million from sales and maturities of marketable securities.
Net cash provided by investing activities was $159.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and consisted primarily of $489.5 million from sales and maturities of marketable securities, partially offset by $329.3 million of purchases of marketable securities for our investment portfolio.
Net cash provided in investing activities was $30.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 and consisted primarily of $650.2 million from sales and maturities of marketable securities, partially offset by $619.3 million of purchase of marketable securities for our investment portfolio.
Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities was $171.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 and consisted primarily of sales of our common stock under the 2020 and 2021 Sales Agreement with Cowen and Company, LLC and the exercise of stock options.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $5.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and consisted primarily of sales of our common stock under the 2020 Sales Agreement with Cowen and Company, LLC and the exercise of stock options.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 and consisted primarily of proceeds from the exercise of stock options.
Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments
As of December 31, 2021, we had contractual obligations and commercial commitments as follows (in thousands):
Payments Due by Period |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Contractual Obligations |
Total |
Less Than 1 Year |
1 - 3 Years |
4 - 5 Years |
More Than 5 Years |
|||||||||||||||
| Operating Leases |
836 | 436 | 400 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
| Total contractual Obligations |
836 | 436 | 400 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Operating leases relates to our corporate headquarters facility located in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
The Company has entered into customary contractual arrangements in support of the Phase 3 clinical trials.
Off-Balance
Sheet Arrangements We do not have any off balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of
Regulation S-K.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements.
68
Item 7A. |
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk. |
Interest Rate Risk
Our exposure to market risk is confined to our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. We regularly review our investments and monitor the financial markets. We invest in high-quality financial instruments, primarily money market funds, U.S. government and agency securities, government-sponsored bond obligations and certain other corporate debt securities, with the effective duration of the portfolio less than twelve months and no security with an effective duration in excess of twenty-four months, which we believe are subject to limited credit risk. We currently do not hedge interest rate exposure. Due to the short-term duration of our investment portfolio and the low risk profile of our investments, we believe that an immediate 10% change in interest rates would not have a material effect on the fair market value of our portfolio. We do not believe that we have any material exposure to interest rate risk or changes in credit ratings arising from our investments.
Capital Market Risk
We currently have no product revenues and depend on funds raised through other sources. One source of funding is through future debt or equity offerings. Our ability to raise funds in this manner depends upon, among other things, capital market forces affecting our stock price.
Inflation Risk
Inflation has not had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 or 2019.
Item 8. |
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. |
The information required by this Item 8 is referred to in Item 15, listed in the Index to Financial Statements as a part of this Annual Report on
Form 10-K,
and is incorporated herein by this reference. Item 9. |
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure. |
None.
Item 9A. |
Controls and Procedures. |
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Rules 13a-15(e)
and 15d-15(e)
under the Exchange Act) that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Under the supervision of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Report. Based on that evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level as of December 31, 2021.
Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures
In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute,
69
assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In addition, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and that management is required to apply judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs. The design of any disclosure controls and procedures also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report On Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in
Rules 13a-15(f)
and 15d-15(f)
under the Exchange Act) for our company. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. This process includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on our financial statements. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Our management, including our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth in the “Internal Control—Integrated Framework” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework). Based on its assessment under that framework, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2021.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has audited the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, as stated in its report, which is included herein.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2021 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. |
Other Information. |
None.
70
PART III
Certain information required by Part III is omitted from this Annual Report on
Form 10-K
because we intend to file our definitive Proxy Statement for our next Annual Meeting of Stockholders, pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the 2022 Proxy Statement, no later than April 30, 2022, and certain information to be included in the 2022 Proxy Statement is incorporated herein by reference. Item 10. |
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance. |
The information required by this item concerning our directors, executive officers, Section 16 compliance and corporate governance matters is incorporated by reference in our 2022 Proxy Statement.
Item 11. |
Executive Compensation. |
The information required by this item regarding executive compensation is incorporated by reference in our 2022 Proxy Statement.
Item 12. |
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters. |
The information required by this item regarding security ownership of certain beneficial owners and management is incorporated by reference in our 2022 Proxy Statement. In addition, information about our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to our 2022 Proxy Statement.
Item 13. |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence. |
The information required by this item regarding certain relationships and related transactions is incorporated by reference in our 2022 Proxy Statement.
Item 14. |
Principal Accountant Fees and Services |
The information required by this item regarding principal accounting fees and services is incorporated by reference in our 2022 Proxy Statement.
71
PART IV
Item 15. |
EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES | |
Item 15(a) |
The following documents are filed as part of, or incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K: | |
Item 15(a)(1) and (2) |
The Consolidated Financial Statements beginning on page F-1 are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Other financial statement schedules have been omitted because the information required to be presented in them is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or related notes. | |
Item 15(a)(3) |
We have filed, or incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K by reference, the exhibits listed on the accompanying Exhibit Index. | |
Item 15(b) |
See Item 15(a)(3) above. | |
Item 15(c) |
See Item 15(a)(2) above. | |
72
73
Exhibit Number |
Exhibit Description |
Filed Herewith |
Incorporated by Reference herein from Form or Schedule |
Filing Date |
SEC File / Registration Number | |||||
| 31.1 | Certification of Principal Executive Officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. | X | ||||||||
| 31.2 | Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. | X | ||||||||
| 32.1** | Certifications of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. | X | ||||||||
| 101.INS | Inline XBRL Instance Document. | X | ||||||||
| 101.SCH | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document. | X | ||||||||
| 101.CAL | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document. | X | ||||||||
| 101.DEF | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document. | X | ||||||||
| 101.LAB | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document. | X | ||||||||
| 101.PRE | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document. | X | ||||||||
| 104 | Inline XBRL for the cover page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, included in the Exhibit 101 Inline XBRL Document Set. |
X | ||||||||
| * | Indicates a management contract, compensatory plan or arrangement. |
| ** | The certifications attached as Exhibit 32.1 that accompany this Annual Report on Form 10-K are not deemed filed with the SEC and are not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the registrant under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, regardless of any general incorporation language contained in any filing. |
| † | Confidential portions of these documents have been filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to a request for confidential treatment. |
Item 16. |
Form 10-K Summary. |
None.
74
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS INC. | ||||||
| Date: February 24, 2022 | By: | /s/ PAUL A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. | ||||
| Paul A. Friedman, M.D. | ||||||
Chief Executive Officer | ||||||
(Principal Executive Officer) | ||||||
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each individual whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Paul A. Friedman, M.D., Alex G. Howarth and Brian J. Lynch, and each or either of them, acting individually, as his or her true and lawful and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Report, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the SEC, granting unto said and agent, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully for all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said and agent, or any of them, or their or his or her substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done or by virtue hereof.
attorney-in-fact
attorney-in-fact
attorney-in-fact
Pursuant to the requirements of the Exchange Act, as amended, this Report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Signatures |
Title |
Date | ||
| /s/ PAUL A. FRIEDMAN, M.D. Paul A. Friedman, M.D. |
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ ALEX G. HOWARTH Alex G. Howarth |
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Accounting and Financial Officer) |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ REBECCA TAUB, M.D. Rebecca Taub, M.D. |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ FRED B. CRAVES, PH.D. Fred B. Craves, Ph.D. |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ KENNETH M. BATE Kenneth M. Bate |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ KEITH R. GOLLUST Keith R. Gollust |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ DAVID MILLIGAN, PH.D. David Milligan, Ph.D. |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
75
| Signatures |
Title |
Date | ||
| /s/ RICHARD S. LEVY, M.D. Richard S. Levy, M.D. |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
| /s/ JAMES M. DALY James M. Daly |
Director |
February 24, 2022 | ||
76
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Page |
||||
F-2 |
||||
F-5 |
||||
F-6 |
||||
F-7 |
||||
F-8 |
||||
F-9 |
||||
F-10 |
||||
F-1
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of comprehensive loss, of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.
Basis for Opinions
The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Report On Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Emphasis of Matter
As discussed in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company will require additional financing to fund future operations. Management’s evaluation of the events and conditions and plans to mitigate this matter are also described in Note 3.
F-2
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.
Research and Development Costs
As described in Notes 2 and 5 to the consolidated financial statements, management uses significant judgment in estimating the amount of research and development costs recognized in each reporting period. Management analyzes and estimates the progress of its preclinical studies and clinical trials, completion of milestone events per underlying agreements, invoices received and contracted costs when estimating the research and development costs to accrue in each reporting period. Total research and development costs incurred during the year ended December 31, 2021 were $205.2 million and research and development costs accrued were $38.3 million as of December 31, 2021.
The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to research and development costs is a critical audit matter are the significant judgment by management when estimating the costs incurred for services performed by vendors that have not yet been invoiced in estimating the research and development costs to accrue in the reporting period. This in turn led to a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity and effort in performing procedures to evaluate the audit evidence obtained relating to estimates of costs accrued.
Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls over management’s process relating to accruing research and development costs, including controls over estimating the costs incurred for services performed by vendors that have not yet been invoiced. These procedures also included, among others, testing management’s process for estimating the research and development costs to accrue in the reporting period, evaluating the completeness and accuracy of underlying data used in management’s estimate by testing for consistency with a sample of contracts and invoices, testing the
F-3
number of patients screened for and enrolled in the trial, testing the mathematical accuracy of the calculation of the accrual for research and development costs incurred, and evaluating the reasonableness of assumptions used in the estimate. Evaluating the reasonableness of assumptions used in the estimate involved assessing management’s ability to reasonably estimate costs incurred that have not been invoiced by (i) performing a comparison of the estimated accrual to average procedure rates per contracts applied to the number of patients screened for and enrolled in the trial, and by (ii) performing a comparison of the estimated accrual to actual costs incurred on similar completed preclinical studies and clinical trials.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 24, 2022
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2016.
F-4
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
December 31, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
|||||||
Assets |
||||||||
Current assets: |
||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | $ | ||||||
Marketable securities |
||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
||||||||
Total current assets |
||||||||
Property and equipment, net |
||||||||
Right-of-use |
||||||||
Total assets |
$ | $ | ||||||
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity |
||||||||
Current liabilities: |
||||||||
Accounts payable |
$ | $ | ||||||
Accrued expenses |
||||||||
Lease liability |
||||||||
Total current liabilities |
||||||||
Long term liabilities: |
||||||||
Lease liability |
||||||||
Total long term liabilities |
||||||||
Total liabilities |
||||||||
Stockholders’ equity: |
||||||||
Preferred stock, par value $ |
— | |||||||
Common stock, par value $ |
||||||||
Additional paid-in-capital |
||||||||
Accumulated other comprehensive gain (loss) |
( |
) | ||||||
Accumulated deficit |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
Total stockholders’ equity |
||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity |
$ | $ | ||||||
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
F-5
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
Revenues: |
||||||||||||
Total revenues |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Operating expenses: |
||||||||||||
Research and development |
||||||||||||
General and administrative |
||||||||||||
Total operating expenses |
||||||||||||
Loss from operations |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Interest income |
||||||||||||
Other income |
||||||||||||
Net loss |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
||||||
Net loss per common share: |
||||||||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per common share |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
||||||
Basic and diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding |
||||||||||||
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
F-6
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
| Net Loss |
$ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | |||
| Other comprehensive income (loss): |
||||||||||||
| Unrealized gain (loss) on available-for-sale |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
| Comprehensive loss |
$ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | |||
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
F-7
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Additional paid-in Capital |
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) |
Accumulated deficit |
Total stockholders’ equity |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preferred stock |
Common stock |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares |
Amount |
Shares |
Amount |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance at December 31, 2018 |
$ | — | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sale of common shares to related parties and exercise of common stock options, net of transaction costs |
— | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Compensation expense related to stock options for services |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unrealized gain on marketable securities |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance at December 31, 2019 |
$ | — | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of common shares in equity offering, excluding to related parties, net of transaction costs |
— | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sale of common shares to related parties and exercise of common stock options, net of transaction costs |
— | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Compensation expense related to stock options for services |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unrealized loss on marketable securities |
— | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance at December 31, 2020 |
$ | — | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of common shares in equity offering, excluding to related parties, net of transaction costs |
— | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sale of common shares to related parties and exercise of common stock options, net of transaction costs |
— | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Compensation expense related to stock options for services |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unrealized loss on marketable securities |
— | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance at December 31, 2021 |
$ | — | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
F-8
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Years Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
Cash flows from operating activities: |
||||||||||||
Net loss |
$ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | |||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: |
||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense |
||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization expense |
||||||||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
( |
) | ||||||||||
Accounts payable |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||
Accrued expense |
||||||||||||
Accrued interest, net of interest received on maturity of investments |
||||||||||||
Net cash used in operating activities |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Cash flows from investing activities: |
||||||||||||
Purchases of marketable securities |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Sales and maturities of marketable securities |
||||||||||||
Purchases of property and equipment, net of disposals |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities |
( |
) | ||||||||||
Cash flows from financing activities: |
||||||||||||
Proceeds from issuances of stock, excluding related parties, net of transaction costs |
— | |||||||||||
Proceeds from the sale of related party stock and exercise of common stock options, net of transaction costs |
||||||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
||||||||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period |
||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: |
||||||||||||
Obtaining a right-of-use |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Purchases of property and equipment in accounts payable at period end |
— | — | ||||||||||
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
F-9
MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
1. Organization, Business and Basis of Presentation
Organization and Business
Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company” or “Madrigal”) is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing novel, high-quality, small-molecule drugs addressing major unmet needs in cardiovascular, metabolic, and liver diseases. The Company’s lead compound, resmetirom, is being advanced for
non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis (“NASH”), a liver disease that commonly affects people with metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, and non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease (“NAFLD”). The Company initiated two Phase 3 studies of resmetirom in NASH in 2019 that are ongoing. The Company announced certain topline results from the Phase 3 MAESTRO-NAFLD-1
safety study of resmetirom in January 2022. 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Principle of Consolidation
The consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect certain reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience and various other assumptions that management believes to be reasonable under the circumstances. Changes in estimates are recorded in the period in which they become known. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents. The Company maintains its cash in bank accounts, the balance of which, at times, exceeds Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured limits.
The primary objective of the Company’s investment activities is to preserve its capital for the purpose of funding operations and the Company does not enter into investments for trading or speculative purposes. The Company’s cash is deposited in highly rated financial institutions in the United States. The Company invests in money market funds and high-grade, commercial paper and corporate bonds, which management believes are subject to minimal credit and market risk.
Marketable Securities
Marketable securities consist of investments in high-grade corporate obligations, and government and government agency obligations that are classified as Since these securities are available to fund current operations they are classified as current assets on the consolidated balance sheets.
available-for-sale.
The Company adjusts the cost of debt securities for amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts to maturity. The Company includes such amortization and accretion as a component of interest income, net. Realized gains and losses and declines in value, if any, that the Company judges to be other-
available-for-sale
F-10
than-temporary on securities are reported as a component of interest income. To determine whether other-than-temporary impairment exists, the Company considers whether it intends to sell the debt security and, if the Company does not intend to sell the debt security, it considers available evidence to assess whether it is more likely than not that it will be required to sell the security before the recovery of its amortized cost basis. During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the Company determined it did not have any securities that were other-than-temporarily impaired.
available-for-sale
Marketable securities are stated at fair value, including accrued interest, with their unrealized gains and losses included as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income or loss, which is a separate component of stockholders’ equity. The fair value of these securities is based on quoted prices and observable inputs on a recurring basis. Realized gains and losses are determined on the specific identification method. During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the Company did not have any realized gains or losses on marketable securities.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The carrying amounts of the Company’s financial instruments, which include cash equivalents, and marketable securities, approximate their fair values. The fair value of the Company’s financial instruments reflects the amounts that would be received upon sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The fair value hierarchy has the following three levels:
Level 1—quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities.
Level 2—observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.
Level 3—unobservable inputs that reflect the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
Financial assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Company measures the fair value of its marketable securities by taking into consideration valuations obtained from third-party pricing sources. The pricing services utilize industry standard valuation models, including both income and market-based approaches, for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly, to estimate fair value. These inputs include reported trades of and broker-dealer quotes on the same or similar securities, issuer credit spreads, benchmark securities and other observable inputs.
As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company’s financial assets valued based on Level 1 inputs consisted of cash and cash equivalents in a money market fund and its financial assets valued based on Level 2 inputs consisted of high-grade corporate bonds and commercial paper. During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, the Company did not have any transfers of financials assets between Levels 1 and 2. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not have any financial liabilities that were recorded at fair value on a recurring basis on the balance sheet.
Research and Development Costs
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Research and development costs are comprised of costs incurred in performing research and development activities, including internal costs (including stock-based compensation), costs for consultants, milestone payments under licensing agreements, and other costs associated with the Company’s preclinical and clinical programs. In particular, the Company has conducted
F-11
safety studies in animals, optimized and implemented the manufacturing of our drug, and conducted Phase
1-3
clinical trials, all of which are considered research and development expenditures. Management uses significant judgment in estimating the amount of research and development costs recognized in each reporting period. Management analyzes and estimates the progress of its preclinical studies and clinical trials, completion of milestones events per underlying agreements, invoices received and contracted costs when estimating the research and development costs to accrue in each reporting period. Actual results could differ from the Company’s estimates. The Company’s historical estimates for research and development costs have not been materially different from the actual costs. Patents
Costs to secure and defend patents are expensed as incurred and are classified as general and administrative expense in the Company’s statements of operations. Patent expenses were approximately $0.5 million, $0.4 million and $0.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company
recognizes
stock-based compensation expense based on the grant date fair value of stock options granted to employees, officers and directors. The Company uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the grant date fair value as management believes it is the most appropriate valuation method for its option grants. The Black-Scholes model requires inputs for risk-free interest rate, dividend yield, volatility and expected lives of the options. The expected lives for options granted represent the period of time that options granted are expected to be outstanding. The Company uses the simplified method for determining the expected lives of options. Expected volatility is based upon an industry estimate or blended rate including the Company’s historical trading activity. The risk-free rate for periods within the expected life of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of the grant. The Company estimates the forfeiture rate based on historical data. This analysis is re-evaluated
at least annually and the forfeiture rate is adjusted as necessary. Certain of the employee stock options granted by the Company are structured to qualify as incentive stock options (ISOs). Under current tax regulations, the Company does not receive a tax deduction for the issuance, exercise or disposition of ISOs if the employee meets certain holding requirements. If the employee does not meet the holding requirements, a disqualifying disposition occurs, at which time the Company may receive a tax deduction. The Company does not record tax benefits related to ISOs unless and until a disqualifying disposition is reported. In the event of a disqualifying disposition, the entire tax benefit is recorded as a reduction of income tax expense. The Company has not recognized any income tax benefit for its share-based compensation arrangements due to the fact that the Company does not believe it is more likely than not it will realize the related deferred tax assets.
Income Taxes
The Company uses the asset and liability method to account for income taxes. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the Company’s financial statement carrying amounts and the tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates expected to be in effect in the years in which the differences are expected to reverse. The Company currently maintains a 100 % valuation allowance on its deferred tax assets.
Comprehensive Loss
Comprehensive loss is defined as the change in equity of a business enterprise during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from
non-owner
sources. Changes in unrealized gains and losses on marketable securities represent the only difference between the Company’s net loss and comprehensive loss. F-12
Basic and Diluted Loss Per Common Share
Basic net loss per share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period, excluding restricted stock that has been issued but is not yet vested. Diluted net loss per common share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding and the weighted average dilutive potential common shares outstanding using the treasury stock method. However, for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, diluted net loss per share is the same as basic net loss per share as the inclusion of weighted average shares of unvested restricted common stock and common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options would be anti-dilutive.
The following table summarizes outstanding securities not included in the computation of diluted net loss per common share as their inclusion would be anti-dilutive:
As of December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
Common stock options |
||||||||||||
Unvested restricted common stock |
||||||||||||
Preferred stock |
||||||||||||
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
None.
3. Liquidity and Uncertainties
The Company is subject to risks common to development stage companies in the biopharmaceutical industry including, but not limited to, uncertainty of product development and commercialization, dependence on key personnel, uncertainty of market acceptance of products and product reimbursement, product liability, uncertain protection of proprietary technology, potential inability to raise additional financing necessary for development and commercialization, and compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government regulations.
The Company has incurred losses since inception, including approximately $241.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, resulting in an accumulated deficit of approximately $667.3 million and $425.5 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Management expects to incur losses for the foreseeable future. To date, the Company has funded its operations primarily through proceeds from sales of the Company’s capital stock. The Company believes that its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at December 31, 2021 will be sufficient to fund operations past one year from the issuance of these financial statements. To meet its future capital needs, the Company intends to raise additional capital through debt or equity financings, collaborations, partnerships or other strategic transactions. However, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to complete any such transactions on acceptable terms or otherwise. The inability of the Company to obtain sufficient funds on acceptable terms when needed could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. The Company has the ability to delay certain research activities and related clinical expenses if necessary due to liquidity concerns until a date when those concerns are relieved.
F-13
4. Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities
A summary of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities held by the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 is as follows (in thousands):
available-for-sale
December 31, 2021 |
||||||||||||||||
Cost |
Unrealized gains |
Unrealized losses |
Fair value |
|||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents: |
||||||||||||||||
Cash (Level 1) |
$ | $ | — | $ | — | $ | ||||||||||
Money market funds (Level 1) |
— | — | ||||||||||||||
Total cash and cash equivalents |
— | — | ||||||||||||||
Marketable securities: |
||||||||||||||||
Corporate debt securities due within |
( |
) | ||||||||||||||
Corporate debt securities due within |
— | ( |
) | |||||||||||||
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
$ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ||||||||||
December 31, 2020 |
||||||||||||||||
Cost |
Unrealized gains |
Unrealized losses |
Fair value |
|||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents: |
||||||||||||||||
Cash (Level 1) |
$ | $ | — | $ | — | $ | ||||||||||
Money market funds (Level 1) |
— | — | ||||||||||||||
Total cash and cash equivalents |
— | — | ||||||||||||||
Marketable securities: |
||||||||||||||||
Corporate debt securities due within |
( |
) | ||||||||||||||
Corporate debt securities due within |
( |
) | ||||||||||||||
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
$ | $ | $ | ( |
$ | |||||||||||
5. Accrued Liabilities
Accrued liabilities as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 consisted of the following (in thousands):
December 31, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
|||||||
Contract research organization costs |
$ | $ | ||||||
Other clinical study related costs |
||||||||
Compensation and benefits |
||||||||
Professional fees |
||||||||
Other |
||||||||
Total accrued liabilities |
$ | $ | ||||||
6. Stockholders’ Equity
Common Stock
Each common stockholder is entitled to one vote for each share of common stock held. The common stock will vote together with all other classes and series of stock of the Company as a single class on all actions to be
F-14
taken by the Company’s stockholders. Each share of common stock is entitled to receive dividends, as and when declared by the Company’s board of directors.
The Company has never declared cash dividends on its common stock and does not expect to do so in the foreseeable future.
Preferred Stock
The Series A Preferred Stock has a par value of $0.0001 per share and is convertible into shares of the common stock at a one -to-one ratio, subject to adjustment as provided in the Certificate of Designation of Preferences, Rights and Limitations of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, that the Company filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on June 21, 2017 (the “Series A Certificate”). The terms of the Series A Preferred Stock are set forth in the Series A Certificate. Each share of the Series A Preferred Stock is convertible into shares of Common Stock following notice that may be given at the holder’s option. Upon any liquidation, dissolution or basis) in the net assets of the Company. Shares of the Series A Preferred Stock will generally have no voting rights, except as required by law. Shares of the Series A Preferred Stock will be entitled to receive dividends before shares of any other class or series of capital stock of the Company (other than dividends in the form of the Common Stock) equal to the dividend payable on each share of the Common Stock, on an
winding-up
of the Company, whether voluntary or involuntary, after the satisfaction in full of the debts of the Company and the payment of any liquidation preference owed to the holders of shares of capital stock of the Company ranking prior to the Series A Preferred Stock upon liquidation, the holders of the Series A Preferred Stock shall participate pari passu with the holders of the Common Stock (on an as-if-converted-to-Common-Stock
as-converted
basis. At-The-Market
In November 2020, the Company entered into an sales agreement (the “2020 Sales Agreement”), with Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”), pursuant to which the Company could, from time to time, issue and sell shares of its common stock. The 2020 Sales Agreement authorized an aggregate offering of up to $200 million in shares of our common stock, at the Company’s option, through Cowen as its sales agent. Sales of common stock through Cowen could be made by any method that is deemed an offering as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, including by means of ordinary brokers’ transactions at market prices, in block transactions or as otherwise agreed by the Company and Cowen. The 2020 Sales Agreement was terminated in June 2021 when the Company filed a new shelf registration statement.
at-the-market
“at-the-market”
Under the 2020 Sales Agreement the Company sold 1,126,733 shares for an aggregate of approximately $137.4 million in gross proceeds, with net proceeds to the Company of approximately $134.8 million after deducting commissions and other transaction costs. Of those shares sold, 1,087,126 were sold in 2021, and 39,607 were sold in 2020.
In June 2021, the Company filed with the SEC and had declared effective a new shelf registration statement on Form sales agreement (the “2021 Sales Agreement”) with Cowen. The terms of the 2021 Sales Agreement are substantially the same as the 2020 Sales Agreement. The 2021 Sales Agreement authorizes an aggregate offering of up to $200 million in shares of our common stock, from time to time, at the Company’s option, through Cowen as its sales agent. The 2021 Sales Agreement supersedes the 2020 Sales Agreement. Subject to the terms and conditions of the 2021 Sales Agreement, Cowen will use commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices to sell the common stock based upon the Company’s instructions (including any price, time or size limits or other customary parameters or conditions the Company may impose).
S-3
and, in connection therewith, entered into a new at-the-market
As of December 31, 2021, 497,043 shares had been sold under the 2021 Sales Agreement for an aggregate of approximately $40.8 million in gross proceeds, with net proceeds to the Company of approximately
F-15
$39.8 million after deducting commissions and other transaction costs. As of December 31, 2021, $159.2 million remained reserved and available for sale under the 2021 Sales Agreement and the Company’s related prospectus supplement.
7. Stock-based Compensation
The 2015 Stock Plan, as amended, is our primary plan through ten years from the date the option is granted. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had options outstanding to purchase 2,301,574 shares of its common stock. As of December 31, 2021, 1,661,293 shares were available for future issuance.
which
equity based grants are awarded. We ceased making new awards under the 2006 Stock Plan upon adoption of the 2015 Stock Plan. The 2015 Stock Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, non-statutory
stock options, restricted stock and other stock-based compensation awards to employees, officers, directors, and consultants of the Company. The administration of the 2015 Stock Plan is under the general supervision of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. The terms of stock options awarded under the 2015 Stock Plan, in general, are determined by the Compensation Committee, provided the exercise price per share generally shall not be set at less than the fair market value of a share of the common stock on the date of grant and the term shall not be greater than The following table summarizes stock option activity during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021:
Shares |
Weighted average exercise price |
Weighted average remaining contractual life (years) |
Aggregate intrinsic value (in thousands) |
|||||||||||||
Outstanding at January 1, 2021 |
$ | |||||||||||||||
Options granted |
||||||||||||||||
Options exercised |
( |
) | ||||||||||||||
Options cancelled |
( |
) | ||||||||||||||
Outstanding at December 31, 2021 |
$ | $ | ||||||||||||||
Exercisable at December 31, 2021 |
$ | $ | ||||||||||||||
The total cash received by the Company as a result of stock option exercises was $1.0 million, $0.7 million and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019. The total intrinsic value of options exercised was $0.1 million $4.1 million and $2.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019. The weighted-average grant date fair values, based on the Black-Scholes option model, of options granted during the year ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 was $ 73.29 , $68.07 , and $91.19 , respectively.
Restricted Common Stock
The Company’s share-based compensation plan provides for awards of restricted shares of common stock to employees, officers, directors and consultants to the Company. Restricted stock awards are subject to forfeiture if employment or service terminates during the prescribed retention period. Restricted shares vest over the service period. There were no outstanding restricted shares or activity in 2021.
F-16
Stock-Based Compensation Expense
Stock-based compensation expense during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 was as follows (in thousands):
Years Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense by type of award: |
||||||||||||
Stock options |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Restricted stock |
||||||||||||
Total stock-based compensation expense |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Effect of stock-based compensation expense by line item: |
||||||||||||
Research and development |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
General and administrative |
||||||||||||
Total stock-based compensation expense included in net loss |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Unrecognized stock-based compensation expense on stock options as of December 31, 2021 was $48.9 million with a weighted average remaining period of 2.79 years.
8. Leases
In 2019, the Company entered into an operating lease for office space, which was renewed and extended in 2020. We adopted ASU asset (or “ROU”) and lease liabilities on the balance sheet. Operating lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at the commencement date. The lease term is determined to be the
2016-02,
“Leases,” on January 1, 2019 requiring, among other changes, operating and finance leases with terms exceeding twelve months to be recognized as a right-of-use
non-cancelable
period including any lessee renewal options that are considered reasonably certain of exercise. The interest rate implicit in lease contracts is typically not readily determinable. As such, the Company used judgment to determine an appropriate incremental borrowing rate, which is the rate incurred to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term in a similar economic environment. Future minimum payments under the Company’s operating leases related to the ROU asset and lease liability as of December 31, 2021 was as follows (in thousand):
Operating Leases |
||||
2022 |
||||
2023 |
||||
Thereafter |
— | |||
Total minimum payments |
$ | |||
Less: imputed interest |
||||
Present value of lease liabilities |
$ | |||
As of December 31, 2021, the weighted average remaining operating lease term was 1.92 years and the weighted average discount rate used to determine the operating lease liabilities was 3.25 %. Cash paid related to the lease liability was $0.4 and $0.3 million for years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 respectively. Operating lease costs were $0.4 and $0.3 million for years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 respectively. Rent, short term and variable leases costs were immaterial during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019.
F-17
9. Commitments and Contingencies
The Company has a Research, Development and Commercialization Agreement with
Hoffmann-La
Roche (“Roche”) which grants the Company a sole and exclusive license to develop, use, sell, offer for sale and import any Licensed Product as defined by the agreement. The agreement requires future milestone payments to Roche. In 2019, the Company commenced a Phase 3 study in 2 million milestone payment under the agreement. Remaining milestones under the agreement total $8 million and are earned by achieving specified objectives related to future regulatory approval in the United States and Europe of a product developed from resmetirom. A single-digit royalty payment range is based on net sales of products developed from resmetirom, subject to certain reductions. Except as described above, the Company has not achieved any additional product development or regulatory milestones and had no
Non-Alcoholic
Steatohepatitis (NASH), which triggered a $The Company has entered into customary contractual arrangements and letters of intent in preparation for and in support of the Phase 3 clinical trials.
10. Income Taxes
At December 31, 2021, the Company had federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of approximately $168.8 million available to reduce future taxable income, of which $40.4 million will expire between 2031 and 2037. The Company also has state operating loss carryforwards of approximately $157.5 million, available to reduce future taxable income, which expire between 2031 and 2041. The Company has unused federal research and development carryforwards of approximately $22.4 million which will begin to expire in 2031.
The Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) limits the amounts of NOL carryforwards that a Company may use in any one year in the event of certain cumulative changes in ownership over a three-year period as described in Section 382 of the IRC. Such change in ownership could limit the Company’s utilization of the NOL, and could be triggered by subsequent sales of securities by the Company or stockholders. The deferred tax asset related to the NOL reflected on the financial statements could be affected by this limitation. Although a formal analysis has not been completed, the Company has determined that an ownership change likely occurred for Madrigal during the year ended December 31, 2017.
In assessing the realizability of deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible. As there is no assurance of future taxable income, a full valuation allowance has been established to offset the deferred tax assets. The valuation allowance increased $79.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. Changes in the deferred tax asset will be recorded as an income tax benefit or expense on the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.
Entities are also required to evaluate, measure, recognize and disclose any uncertain income tax provisions taken on their income tax returns. The Company has analyzed its tax positions and has concluded that as of December 31, 2021 there were no uncertain positions. The 2017 through 2021 tax returns are open to review by the IRS and state taxing authorities. Interest and penalties, if any, as they relate to income taxes assessed, are included in the income tax provision. There was no income tax related interest and penalties included in the income tax provision for 2021.
F-18
Temporary differences that give rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands):
For the years ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
Deferred Tax Liabilities |
||||||||||||
Unrealized gains on investments |
$ | — | $ | $ | ||||||||
Total Deferred Tax Liabilities |
$ | — | $ | $ | ||||||||
Deferred Tax Assets |
||||||||||||
Charitable contributions |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Accrued expenses |
||||||||||||
Intangibles |
||||||||||||
Stock compensation |
||||||||||||
Property, plant equipment |
||||||||||||
Unrealized loss on investment |
— | — | ||||||||||
Net operating losses |
||||||||||||
Capitalized RD |
||||||||||||
RD credit |
||||||||||||
Total deferred tax assets before valuation allowance |
||||||||||||
Valuation allowance |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Total deferred tax assets |
— | |||||||||||
Net deferred tax assets |
$ | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||
Differences between the effective income tax rate and the US statutory rate were as follows (in thousands):
For the years ended December 31, |
||||||||||||
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
||||||||||
Tax benefit at U.S. federal statutory rate |
$ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | |||
Stock based compensation |
— | ( |
) | ( |
) | |||||||
Other nondeductible expenses |
||||||||||||
State income taxes benefit before valuation allowance, net of federal benefit |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Increase in domestic valuation allowance |
||||||||||||
Research and development credit |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||
Other adjustments |
( |
) | ||||||||||
Income tax expense (benefit) |
$ | $ | $ | |||||||||
F-19
11. Quarterly Financial Data (unaudited)
The following tables present a summary of quarterly results of operations for 2021 and 2020 (in thousands, except shares and per share data):
Three months ended |
||||||||||||||||
March 31, 2021 |
June 30, 2021 |
September 30, 2021 |
December 31, 2021 |
|||||||||||||
Revenues: |
||||||||||||||||
Total revenues |
$ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
Operating expenses: |
||||||||||||||||
Research and development |
||||||||||||||||
General and administrative |
||||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses |
||||||||||||||||
Loss from operations |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||
Interest income |
||||||||||||||||
Other income |
||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
||||||||
Net loss per common share: |
||||||||||||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per common share |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
||||||||
Basic and diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding |
||||||||||||||||
Three months ended |
||||||||||||||||
March 31, 2020 |
June 30, 2020 |
September 30, 2020 |
December 31, 2020 |
|||||||||||||
Revenues: |
||||||||||||||||
Total revenues |
$ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
Operating expenses: |
||||||||||||||||
Research and development |
||||||||||||||||
General and administrative |
||||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses |
||||||||||||||||
Loss from operations |
( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||
Interest income |
||||||||||||||||
Other income |
||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
||||||||
Net loss per common share: |
||||||||||||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per common share |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
$ | ( |
||||||||
Basic and diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding |
||||||||||||||||
F-20
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part IItem 1. BusinessItem 1A. Risk FactorsItem 1B. Unresolved Staff CommentsItem 2. PropertiesItem 3. Legal ProceedingsItem 4. Mine Safety DisclosuresPart IIItem 5. Market For Registrant S Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchase Of Equity SecuritiesItem 6. Selected Financial DataItem 7. Management S Discussion and Analysis Of Financial Condition and Results Of OperationsItem 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market RiskItem 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary DataItem 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial DisclosureItem 9A. Controls and ProceduresItem 9B. Other InformationPart IIIItem 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate GovernanceItem 11. Executive CompensationItem 12. Security Ownership Of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder MattersItem 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director IndependenceItem 14. Principal Accountant Fees and ServicesPart IVItem 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement SchedulesItem 15(a) The Following Documents Are Filed As Part Of, Or Incorporated By Reference Into, This Annual Report on Form 10-k:Item 15(a)Item 15(a)(1) and (2)Item 15(a)(3)Item 15(b) See Item 15(a)(3) AboveItem 15(b)Item 15(c) See Item 15(a)(2) AboveItem 15(c)Item 16. Form 10-k Summary