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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 12, 2020.

Registration No. 333-            

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

 

 

OYSTER POINT PHARMA, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   2836   81-1030955
(State or other jurisdiction of   (Primary Standard Industrial   (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)   Classification Code Number)   Identification Number)

202 Carnegie Center, Suite 109

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

(609) 382-9032

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

Jeffrey Nau, Ph.D., M.M.S.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Oyster Point Pharma, Inc.

202 Carnegie Center, Suite 109

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

(609) 382-9032

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Divakar Gupta   Brian J. Cuneo
Ryan Sansom   Nathan Ajiashvili
Brandon Fenn   Latham & Watkins LLP
Cooley LLP   140 Scott Dr.
55 Hudson Yards   Menlo Park, CA 94025
New York, New York 10001   (650) 328-4600
(212) 479-6000  

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.  

If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, 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.

 

Large accelerated filer      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 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

 

Title of each Class of

Securities to be Registered

 

Amount

to be
Registered(1)

  Proposed
Maximum
Offering Price
per Share(2)
 

Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate

Offering Price(2)

 

Amount of

Registration Fee

Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share

 

2,875,000

  $30.57   $87,888,750   $11,408

 

 

(1)

Includes the additional shares that the underwriters have the option to purchase from the Registrant.

(2)

Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the amount of the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, on the basis of the average high and low sales price of the Registrant’s common shares as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 6, 2020.

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 


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The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED MAY 12, 2020

2,500,000 Shares

 

 

LOGO

COMMON STOCK

We are offering 2,500,000 shares of our common stock. Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “OYST.” On May 11, 2020, the last reported sale price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market was $35.17 per share. The final public offering price will be determined through negotiation between us and the lead underwriters in the offering and the recent market price used throughout this prospectus may not be indicative of the final offering price.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the federal securities laws and, as such, have elected to comply with certain reduced reporting requirements for this prospectus and may elect to do so in future filings.

 

     
        Per Share        Total  

Public offering price

     $          $    

Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)

     $          $    

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

     $                      $                

 

(1)   See the section titled “Underwriting” for a description of the compensation payable to the underwriters.

We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to 375,000 additional shares of common stock.

Investing in our common stock involves risks. See the section titled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 17 of this prospectus, to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities, or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of common stock to purchasers on or about                , 2020.

 

J.P. Morgan   Cowen   Piper Sandler

            , 2020


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

     1  

THE OFFERING

     13  

SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

     15  

RISK FACTORS

     17  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     76  

MARKET, INDUSTRY AND OTHER DATA

     78  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     79  

DIVIDEND POLICY

     81  

CAPITALIZATION

     82  

DILUTION

     84  

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

     86  

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

     87  

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

     101  

SHARES ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALE

     107  

MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-U.S. HOLDERS OF OUR COMMON STOCK

     109  

UNDERWRITING

     114  

LEGAL MATTERS

     123  

EXPERTS

     123  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

     123  

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE

     123  

We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide you any information other than that contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We and the underwriters are not making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus or incorporated by reference is accurate only as of the date on the front cover of this prospectus or in the applicable document incorporated by reference. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

To the extent there is a conflict between the information contained in this prospectus, on the one hand, and the information contained in any document incorporated by reference filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission before the date of this prospectus, on the other hand, you should rely on the information in this prospectus. If any statement in a document incorporated by reference is inconsistent with a statement in another document incorporated by reference having a later date, the statement in the document having the later date modifies or supersedes the earlier statement.

For investors outside of the United States: we have not and the underwriters have not done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United States. Persons outside of the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.

 

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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this prospectus and is qualified in its entirety by the more detailed information and financial statements included elsewhere or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. It does not contain all of the information that may be important to you and your investment decision. You should carefully read this entire prospectus, including the sections titled “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this prospectus and our financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus. In this prospectus, unless context requires otherwise, references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Oyster Point,” or “the Company” refer to Oyster Point Pharma, Inc.

Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class pharmaceutical therapies to treat ocular surface diseases. Our lead product candidate OC-01 (varenicline), a highly selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist, is being developed as a nasal spray to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease (DED). OC-01’s novel mechanism of action is designed to re-establish tear film homeostasis by activating the trigeminal parasympathetic pathway and stimulating the glands and cells responsible for natural tear film production. In our Phase 2b clinical trial (ONSET-1) in 182 subjects, OC-01 demonstrated statistically significant improvements (as compared to control) in both signs and symptoms of DED in both the 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml dose group. In ONSET-2, our Phase 3 clinical trial in 758 subjects, OC-01 demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in signs of DED in both the 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml dose groups and statistically significant improvement in signs and symptoms of DED in the 1.2 mg/ml dose group. Based on OC-01’s clinical trial results, and its rapid onset of action, we believe OC-01, if approved, has the potential to become the new standard of care and redefine how DED is treated for millions of patients. With the completion of two pivotal clinical trials, we plan to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second half of 2020. We believe that targeting the parasympathetic nervous system through the use of locally administered cholinergic agonists has the potential to treat a wide range of diseases and disorders. We have identified several indications, including several outside of ophthalmology, where we believe this approach could provide a meaningful benefit to patients.

DED is a multifactorial chronic disease of the ocular surface characterized by the loss of tear film homeostasis, resulting in pain, visual impairment, tear film hyperosmolarity and instability, inflammation and corneal wounding. More than 340 million adults globally and approximately 34 million adults in the United States are estimated to suffer from DED. In the United States, DED is most commonly treated with a variety of over-the-counter eye drops, often referred to as “artificial tears,” and three FDA-approved prescription eye drop therapies: Restasis, Xiidra and Cequa. Artificial tears are intended to supplement insufficient tear production or improve tear film instability, but are primarily saline-based and provide only temporary relief. Restasis and Cequa, both calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressants, and Xiidra, a lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) antagonist, address chronic inflammation associated with DED. Despite the commercial uptake of these therapies—as examples, Restasis, marketed by Allergan, and Xiidra, recently acquired by Novartis, had U.S. sales in 2018 of $1.2 billion and $383 million, respectively—respondents in a survey we commissioned in June 2017 of 150 board-certified or board-eligible eye care practitioners (ECPs) were generally “neutral” or “completely disagreed” with the statement that they could, in their opinion, successfully treat all DED patients with the currently available treatment options whereas only 10% “completely agreed” with such statement. We estimate that of the approximately seven million patients who

 

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have started a prescription treatment to date, fewer than two million remain on prescription at any given time due to the significant limitations of these therapies, which include:

 

 

Mechanisms of action only address inflammation. Currently approved therapies only target inflammation for moderate to severe DED; no approved pharmaceutical products replicate natural tear film, which is highly complex in composition. As these prescription therapies fail to address the fundamental characteristic of DED, the loss of tear film homeostasis, we estimate that 75% of patients still require over-the-counter therapies to supplement their treatment.

 

 

Slow onset of action. Based on data reported from clinical trials, currently available treatments can take between three to six months to demonstrate a significant effect in clinical signs. We believe this delayed onset of action hinders compliance and in turn limits the benefit that patients derive from such treatments.

 

 

Tolerability and compliance issues. Currently approved pharmaceutical therapies for DED are typically administered in an eye-drop formulation and are commonly associated with ocular burning, reduced visual acuity and bad taste after application. The effective use of eye drops can be challenging for some patients, and such challenges can result in reduced compliance.

To address these limitations and the high unmet need expressed by patients, ECPs and payors, we are developing a product candidate that we believe has the potential to become the new standard of care for DED. However, there is no guarantee that such product candidate will be approved by the FDA or, if approved, will provide revenues comparable to Restasis or Xiidra.

Our novel approach leverages the parasympathetic nervous system to promote natural tear film production and re-establish tear film homeostasis. Human tear film is a complex mixture of more than 1,500 different proteins, including antibodies, and numerous classes of lipids and mucins that are responsible for forming the primary refracting surface of the cornea, as well as protecting and moisturizing the cornea. The Lacrimal Functional Unit (LFU), which is controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system, is comprised of glands and cells responsible for producing the three layers that comprise healthy tear film. To stimulate the LFU, we are targeting a class of receptors called nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) that are located on the trigeminal nerve and readily accessible within the anterior nasal cavity.

 

LOGO

Our lead product candidate OC-01 is being developed as a nasal spray to treat the signs and symptoms of DED. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of OC-01, varenicline, is a highly selective nAChR agonist with full agonist activity at the a7 receptor and partial agonist activity at the a3ß4, a3a5ß4, a4ß2 and a4a6ß2 receptors. OC-01’s novel mechanism of action activates the trigeminal parasympathetic pathway to promote natural tear film production. We believe that increasing tear film volume and re-establishing tear film

 

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homeostasis will address the fundamental characteristic of DED, regardless of etiology, and has the potential to treat a broad population of patients throughout the dry eye continuum.

Our Clinical Trial Results

To date, we have treated over 900 subjects across five trials with OC-01 and OC-02 (simpinicline, which was formerly called simpanicline), our second nAChR agonist product candidate. We have consistently designed our clinical trials to be placebo (vehicle)-controlled, statistically rigorous and evaluated using pre-specified sign and symptom endpoints.

ONSET-1 Trial

In October 2018, we reported results from ONSET-1, a dose-ranging, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, registrational Phase 2b clinical trial that evaluated the safety and efficacy of OC-01 in 182 subjects with DED in the United States. The study compared three different doses of OC-01 to control. The pre-specified primary (sign) endpoint was the assessment of tear production as measured by Schirmer’s Score, a quantitative measurement of the amount of tear film, at Week 4 and the two pre-specified secondary (symptom) endpoints were patient-reported symptoms of DED as measured by Eye Dryness Score (EDS), a patient-reported visual analog scale, at Weeks 3 and 4. These endpoints are consistent with those that have been previously utilized in clinical trials of FDA-approved products for DED. As shown below, results showed statistically significant improvements at the primary endpoint (Schirmer’s Score) at all doses compared to control. In addition, results showed statistically significant improvements at the secondary endpoint (EDS) at Week 3 in the 0.6 mg/ml (p=0.006) and 1.2 mg/ml (*p<0.001) dose groups and at Week 4 in the 0.6 mg/ml (p=0.021) dose group.

 

LOGO

 

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LOGO

In addition, exploratory assessment of corneal fluorescein staining, a marker of corneal epithelial cell health, showed a statistically significant benefit as compared to control (vehicle) as soon as four weeks after treatment with OC-01 in the 0.6 mg/ml dose group, and a directional benefit in the 1.2 mg/ml dose group that was not statistically significant. Moreover, OC-01 is designed to promote rapid production of tear film, and improvements in signs and symptoms were observed as quickly as five minutes after administration. OC-01 was well tolerated at all doses assessed in the study with no serious drug-related adverse events reported.

We met with the FDA in February 2019 for an end of Phase 2 meeting following the completion of ONSET-1, and the FDA indicated ONSET-1 could serve as one of the two pivotal safety and efficacy studies required to support an NDA filing for OC-01.

ZEN Trial

We completed a comparative pharmacokinetic “bridge” trial (ZEN) to evaluate the relative bioavailability of varenicline administered as a nasal spray (OC-01) compared to varenicline administered orally (Chantix). The FDA has indicated that reliance upon the varenicline tartrate data in our 505(b)(2) NDA submission would be considered scientifically justified if exposure levels following nasal spray administration of our final clinical formulation are less than or equal to that of Chantix at its approved dose and route of administration. If the FDA determines that the results of this trial establish an adequate bridge between OC-01 and Chantix, it will allow us to reference certain FDA conclusions regarding the safety of varenicline from the FDA’s review of the Chantix NDA. We reported positive top-line results in November 2019 indicating that the exposure levels following nasal spray administration were observed to be significantly lower than those observed with oral varenicline.

 

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MYSTIC Trial

In January 2020, we reported results from MYSTIC, a randomized, single-masked, vehicle-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial that evaluated the safety and efficacy of OC-01 in 123 subjects with DED at the Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera (APEC) in Mexico City. The study compared two different doses of OC-01 nasal spray (0.6 mg/ml or 1.2 mg/ml) to vehicle control nasal spray (1:1:1 randomization). The goal of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of twice daily dosing of OC-01 nasal spray at two dose levels, administered for 84 days. The pre-specified primary endpoint was the assessment of tear production as measured by mean change in Schirmer’s score at day 84 as compared to vehicle control. The study design and summary of the overall results are included below:

 

LOGO

As shown in the figure below, a statistically significant improvement in mean Schirmer’s Score at Day 84 was observed in both doses as compared to control. The 0.6 mg/ml dose was associated with a least squares (LS) mean change from baseline Schirmer’s Score of 10.6 mm (95% confidence interval (CI) 7.9-13.4; p<0.05), while the 1.2 mg/ml dose was associated with a least squares (LS) mean change from baseline Schirmer’s Score of 11.0 mm (95% CI 7.9-14.0; p<0.05). Results were statistically significant in both the Observed and Last Observation Carried Forward analyses.

 

LOGO

 

 

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OC-01 was well tolerated at all doses assessed in the study with no serious adverse events reported that were suspected to be related to the study drug. The majority of drug-related adverse events in MYSTIC were non-ocular, whereas reports of ocular adverse events were limited and transient. The number of subjects reporting non-ocular treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAEs) in any dose group was 6 out of 41 (14.6%) in each OC-01 nasal spray dose group and 9 out of 41 (22.0%) in the vehicle control group. There were no reports of serious TEAEs in the study and no serious adverse events related to study drug administration. As shown in the figure below, the most common overall adverse events in the nasal spray groups were blurry vision, sneezing and headache.

MYSTIC: Non-Ocular Adverse Events Occurring in More than One Subject in any Treatment Group

 

LOGO

The goal of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of twice daily dosing of OC-01 nasal spray administered for 84 days. Although the study will add to the totality of the data in support of the efficacy of OC-01 nasal spray in subjects with DED, the MYSTIC data will be primarily used to support the safety of OC-01 as a part of the integrated data sets submitted to support the NDA submission.

ONSET-2 Trial

In May 2020, we reported top-line results from ONSET-2, a multicenter, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of OC-01 (varenicline) nasal spray for the signs and symptoms of DED. The study enrolled 758 subjects at 22 centers in the United States. Subjects were administered OC-01 nasal spray twice daily for 4 weeks. The study compared two different doses of OC-01 nasal spray (0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml) to vehicle control nasal spray (1:1:1 randomization). The goal of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of twice daily dosing of OC-01 nasal spray at the two different dose levels, administered for 4 weeks. The pre-specified primary endpoint was the percentage of subjects gaining at least 10mm on the Schirmer’s Score as compared to control. Pre-specified secondary endpoints included mean change in Schirmer’s Score (sign) at Week 4, patient-reported symptoms of DED as measured by EDS in the normal clinic environment at Weeks 1, 2 and 4, as well as in a Controlled Adverse Environment (CAE), a low humidity, high airflow environment at Week 4. The study also measured corneal fluorescein staining in both dose groups at Week 4. Subjects will continue to be evaluated post-treatment in a long-term follow up through 12 months.

 

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A statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint of percentage of subjects gaining at least 10 mm in Schirmer’s Score at Week 4 was observed in both doses tested as compared to control as shown in the figure below. In the group of subjects treated with the 0.6 mg/ml dose, the percentage of subjects gaining at least 10mm on Schirmer’s Score was 44% (p<0.0001 vs. control). In the 1.2 mg/ml dose group, the percentage of subjects gaining at least 10mm on Schirmer’s Score was 47% (p<0.0001 vs. control). The percentage of subjects gaining at least 10mm on Schirmer’s Score in the control group was 26%.

Additionally, consistent with the 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml results observed in ONSET-1, there was a statistically significant improvement in mean change in Schirmer’s Score at Week 4 in both doses tested as compared to control as shown in the figure below. In the group of subjects treated with the 0.6 mg/ml dose, at Week 4 the mean change from baseline in Schirmer’s Score was 11.0 mm (p<0.0001 vs. control). In the group of subjects treated with the 1.2 mg/ml dose, at Week 4 the mean change from baseline on Schirmer’s Score was 11.2 mm (p<0.0001 vs. control). Mean change from baseline on Schirmer’s Score in the control group was 5.9 mm.

 

LOGO

As shown in the figure below, the 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml doses of OC-01 nasal spray did not meet the secondary endpoint for patient-reported symptoms of eye dryness in the CAE at Week 4. The statistical power for assessing this endpoint was negatively impacted by a decrease in the sample size, which we believe was due to the subjects being unable to be assessed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, there were a number of subjects not meeting criteria for treatment in the CAE, thereby further reducing statistical power. Treatment versus non-treatment within the CAE was not accounted for in statistical models and therefore we are currently investigating the appropriateness of the analysis in light of these factors.

 

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LOGO

As shown in the figure below, EDS measured in the normal clinic environment demonstrated statistically significant results in the 1.2 mg/ml dose group at Week 4, with a mean change of -22.5 observed (95% CI -25.78 to -19.3; p=0.002). The secondary endpoint of EDS measured in the normal clinical environment at Week 4 was not met in the 0.6 mg/ml dose group (p=0.07). Additionally, mean EDS results in the 1.2 mg/ml dose of OC-01 nasal spray showed statistical significance in EDS measured at Week 2 (p=0.009), as did the 0.6 mg/ml dose at Week 2 (p<0.05). Both doses showed a directional benefit at Week 1, although the change was not statistically significant.

 

LOGO

 

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Assessment of inferior corneal fluorescein staining score also indicated a directional benefit in both dose groups favoring OC-1 nasal spray at Week 4, although the change was not statistically significant.

OC-01 was well-tolerated in ONSET-2 and the adverse event data collected to date was consistent with the results of ONSET-1. The most common adverse event experienced in the treatment groups was sneeze after administration, which occurred with 50% of nasal spray administrations. These adverse events were predominantly transient, with the majority of sneezes occurring within the first minute following administration, and mild in severity. There were no reports of serious adverse events determined to be related to nasal administration. The number of subjects with treatment emergent adverse events related to study drug leading to treatment discontinuation was 2% or less in either treatment group.

 

LOGO

Based on the results from the ZEN, ONSET-1, and ONSET-2 studies and with supporting data from the MYSTIC study, we plan to submit an NDA for OC-01 for the treatment of signs and symptoms associated with DED to the FDA in the second half of 2020.

Additional Indications and Product Candidates

Leveraging our nAChR domain expertise, we continue to explore the development of OC-01 for a number of potential indications and uses associated with and beyond DED, including neurotrophic keratitis, dry eye associated with contact lens intolerance and ocular surface treatment for refractive surgeries. We have also studied OC-02 in two Phase 2b clinical trials in subjects with DED. However, we do not currently intend to pursue FDA approval for OC-02 in DED. We believe that targeting the parasympathetic nervous system through the use of locally administered cholinergic agonists has the potential to treat a wide range of diseases and disorders in the eye and systemically.

Our Team

To execute on our vision to develop and commercialize a new standard of care for DED, we have assembled a team with extensive experience developing and commercializing leading ophthalmic products and therapies. Members of our management team have held senior positions at Allergan, Eyetech, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Oculeve, Ophthotech, Pfizer, Pharmasset and Shire. We intend to leverage this expertise and experience to rapidly pursue the development of OC-01, OC-02 and any other future product candidates that we may identify and develop. We also have leading financial investors which include New Enterprise Associates,

 

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Versant Ventures, Invus Opportunities, Flying L Ventures (investing through its Oyster Point Pharma I fund), KKR (investing through its Falcon Vision fund) and Vida Ventures.

Our Strategy

Our goal is to transform the treatment of DED and other ocular surface diseases by developing a broad portfolio of innovative therapies that target significant unmet medical needs. We intend to achieve this goal by pursuing the following key strategic objectives:

 

 

Completing development and obtaining approval of OC-01 for the treatment of DED;

 

 

Establishing our own specialty sales organization to commercialize OC-01 in the United States;

 

 

Maximizing the value of OC-01 and our other product candidates outside the United States;

 

 

Developing OC-01 for additional indications associated with and beyond DED;

 

 

Leveraging the capabilities of our experienced discovery and development team and our nAChR domain expertise to continue expanding our pipeline of product candidates; and

 

 

Selectively evaluating external opportunities to expand the scope of our pipeline or product offerings.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our ability to execute our business strategy is subject to numerous risks, as more fully described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” immediately following this prospectus summary. These risks include, among others:

 

 

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with limited operating history. We do not have any products approved for sale and have incurred, and expect we will continue to incur for the foreseeable future, significant losses and negative cash flows from operations.

 

 

We are highly dependent on the success of our lead product candidate OC-01 for the treatment of DED. If we are unable to successfully complete our clinical development program for OC-01, our business will be materially harmed.

 

 

Our business depends entirely on the successful discovery, development and commercialization of OC-01 and OC-02 and other future product candidates we may develop. We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products and may never generate revenue or be profitable.

 

 

Our lead product candidate OC-01 is based on an API that is already on the market which exposes us to additional risks.

 

 

OC-01 uses a novel and unproven therapeutic approach and mechanism of action to treat DED and therefore its efficacy and safety are difficult to predict, and there is no guarantee that OC-01 or any other product candidates will be approved by the FDA.

 

 

Drug development is a highly uncertain undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. The outcome of preclinical testing and earlier clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials. The results of our clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of such product candidate.

 

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Even if OC-01 or any other product candidate receives marketing approval, they may fail to achieve market acceptance by ECPs and patients, or adequate formulary coverage, pricing or reimbursement by third-party payors and others in the medical community, and the market opportunity for these products may be smaller than we estimate.

 

 

If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of subjects or conduct of follow up visits in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.

 

 

If we fail to comply with our obligations under any license, collaboration or other agreement, including our license agreement with Pfizer, such agreements may be terminated, we may be required to pay damages and we could lose intellectual property rights that are necessary for developing and protecting our product candidates.

 

 

Our success is highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled executive officers and employees.

 

 

We expect to significantly expand our organization, including building sales and marketing capability and creating additional infrastructure to support our operations as a public company, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

 

 

Even if this offering is successful, we will need substantial additional funding in the future. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, or on acceptable terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce and/or eliminate one or more of our research and development programs or future commercialization efforts.

 

 

The price of our stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

 

 

Our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans could be adversely affected by the effects of health epidemics, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and, if our remediation of the material weaknesses is not effective or if we identify additional material weaknesses in the future, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial results, or prevent fraud, and investor confidence in our company and the market price of our shares may be adversely affected.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in Delaware in June 2015. We were spun out from Oculeve, Inc., a Delaware corporation focused on the treatment of DED, prior to its acquisition by Allergan. Our principal executive offices are located at 202 Carnegie Center, Suite 109, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. Our telephone number is (609) 382-9032. Our website address is www.oysterpointrx.com. Information contained on the website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

Oyster Point, the Oyster Point logo and our other registered or common law trademarks appearing in this prospectus are the property of Oyster Point Pharma, Inc. This prospectus contains references to our trademarks and service marks and to those belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus, including logos, artwork and other visual displays, may appear without the ® or TM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate in any way that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other entities’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other entity.

 

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Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Smaller Reporting Company

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as amended (JOBS Act). We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; the issuance, in any three-year period, by us of more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; and December 31, 2024. As a result of this status, we have taken advantage of reduced reporting requirements in this prospectus and may elect to take advantage of other reduced reporting requirements in our future filings with the SEC. In particular, in this prospectus, we have provided only two years of audited financial statements and have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards, delaying the adoption of these accounting standards until they would apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption and, as a result, we will adopt new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. We intend to rely on other exemptions provided by the JOBS Act, including without limitation, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

We are also a “smaller reporting company” and will remain a smaller reporting company while either (i) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates was less than $250 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter or (ii) our annual revenue was less than $100 million during our most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates was less than $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies, including many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements as those that are available to emerging growth companies, such as reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in this prospectus and our periodic reports and proxy statements. For so long as we remain a smaller reporting company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure and other requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not smaller reporting companies.

 

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THE OFFERING

 

Common stock offered by us

   2,500,000 shares

Common stock to be outstanding immediately after this offering

       
23,870,480 shares (or 24,245,480 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full)

Underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares

       
We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of days to purchase up to 375,000 additional shares of our common stock.

Use of proceeds

  

We estimate that the net proceeds to us from the sale of the shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $81.1 million, or approximately $93.4 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, based upon the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

 

We plan to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund the development of OC-01 and OC-02 and prepare for the commercialization of OC-01, including the initial build-out of a specialty sales organization, and to fund general research and development activities, working capital and other general corporate activities. See the section titled “Use of Proceeds” for more information.

Risk Factors

   See the section of this prospectus titled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 17 and other information included in this prospectus for a discussion of factors you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock.

Nasdaq Global Select Market trading symbol

   “OYST”

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on the 21,370,480 shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020 and excludes the following:

 

 

3,261,499 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020, at a weighted-average exercise price of $8.79 per share;

 

 

39,500 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock that we granted after March 31, 2020, at a weighted-average exercise price of $30.50 per share;

 

 

23,125 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of outstanding restricted stock units as of March 31, 2020;

 

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2,259,918 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, or our 2019 Plan, as of March 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under this plan; and

 

 

270,000 shares of common stock reserved for issuance under our 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or our 2019 ESPP, as of March 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under this plan.

Unless otherwise indicated, this prospectus reflects and assumes the following:

 

 

no exercise of outstanding options or vesting of outstanding restricted stock units after March 31, 2020; and

 

 

no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of common stock from us.

 

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SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables summarize our financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated. We have derived the statements of operations and comprehensive loss data for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019 from our audited financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We have derived the statements of operations and comprehensive loss data for the three months ending March 31, 2019 and 2020 and the balance sheet data as of March 31, 2020 from our unaudited interim condensed financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We have prepared our unaudited interim condensed financial statements on the same basis as our audited financial statements and have included, in our opinion, all adjustments, which are of a normal recurring nature, necessary to state fairly the financial information presented in those statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected in the future. You should read the following summary financial data together with our financial statements and the related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus and the information in the sections titled “Selected Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this prospectus.

 

    Years Ended December 31,     Three Months Ended March 31,  
    2018     2019     2019     2020  
    (in thousands, except share and per share data)  

Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss Data

       

Operating expenses:

       

Research and development

  $ 13,755     $ 33,628     $ 2,405     $ 11,340  

General and administrative

    2,981       13,673       1,605       5,589  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

    16,736       47,301       4,010       16,929  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss from operations

    (16,736     (47,301     (4,010     (16,929

Interest income

    233       1,590       250       410  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss and comprehensive loss

  $ (16,503   $ (45,711   $ (3,760   $ (16,519
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss per share, basic and diluted(1)

  $ (11.69   $ (9.97   $ (2.66   $ (0.77
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares outstanding basic and diluted(1)

    1,411,966       4,585,146       1,411,966       21,367,532  

 

(1)   See Note 1 to our audited financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus, for a description of the method used to calculate basic and diluted net loss per share.

 

     As of March 31, 2020  
     Actual      As  Adjusted(1)(2)  
    

(unaudited)

(in thousands)

 

Balance Sheet Data

     

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 128,630      $ 209,775  

Working capital(3)

     121,253        202,398  

Total assets

     132,312        213,446  

Total liabilities

     10,349        10,337  

Accumulated deficit

     (100,750      (100,750

Total stockholders’ equity

     121,963        203,109  

 

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(1)   Reflects the issuance and sale of shares of common stock in this offering at the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.
(2)   Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, would increase (decrease) the as adjusted amount of each of cash and cash equivalents, working capital, total assets, and total stockholders’ equity by approximately $2.3 million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us at the assumed public offering price after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us would increase (decrease) each of cash and cash equivalents, working capital, total assets and total stockholders’ equity by approximately $32.7 million. The as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only and will be adjusted based on the actual public offering price and other terms of our public offering determined at pricing.
(3)   We define working capital as current assets less current liabilities.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Careful consideration should be given to the following risk factors, in addition to the other information in this prospectus or incorporated by reference herein, including the financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus and the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently see as immaterial may also harm our business. If any of these risks occur, our business, growth prospects, operating results and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose part or all of your investment. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

Risks Related to Our Business

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with limited operating history. We have incurred significant losses and negative cash flows from operations since our formation, and we anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We have no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for you to evaluate our current business and predict our future success and viability.

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Our operations to date have been limited to organizing our company, raising capital and developing our product candidates. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history. In addition, as a new business, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. We will need to transition from a company with a clinical development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization, and we may not be successful in such a transition.

We do not have any products approved for sale, we have not generated any revenue and have incurred net losses in each reporting period since our company’s formation. We have funded our operations primarily from the sale and issuance of our securities. Our net losses were $16.5 million and $45.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, and $16.5 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2020. As of March 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $100.8 million. Additionally, the net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter such that a period-to-period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indicator of our future performance. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue.

We expect to continue incurring significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. We expect that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:

 

 

initiate additional preclinical, clinical and other studies for our product candidates or expand or modify existing studies or currently planned studies;

 

 

change or add additional manufacturers or suppliers, some of which may require additional permits or other governmental approvals;

 

 

create additional infrastructure to support our operations as a public company and our product development and planned future commercialization efforts;

 

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seek marketing approvals, coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates;

 

 

establish a sales, marketing, and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any products for which we may obtain marketing approval;

 

 

seek to identify and develop additional product candidates;

 

 

acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

 

 

make milestone or other payments in connection with the development or approval of our product candidates;

 

 

maintain, protect, and expand our intellectual property portfolio; and

 

 

experience any delays or encounter issues with any of the above.

Our prior losses and expected future losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our working capital and our ability to achieve and maintain profitability.

We are highly dependent on the success of our lead product candidate OC-01 for the treatment of dry eye disease. If we are unable to successfully obtain the marketing approvals necessary to commercialize OC-01 or experience significant delays in doing so, or if after obtaining marketing approvals, we fail to commercialize this product candidate, our business will be materially harmed.

We have devoted a significant portion of our financial resources and business efforts to the development of OC-01 for the treatment of DED. Although we are also developing OC-01 for other indications and a second product candidate OC-02, we do not anticipate receiving marketing approvals for any product candidates other than OC-01 in the next several years. Our ability to generate revenues from product sales will depend on our obtaining marketing approval for and commercializing OC-01, and we cannot accurately predict when or if OC-01 will receive marketing approval for DED or a secondary indication. Because we have focused our resources and efforts on developing OC-01 for DED, we have limited resources and may fail to commit adequate resources to, or delay the pursuit of opportunities for, other indications or other product candidates that may have greater commercial potential, and our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable product candidates and profitable market opportunities. If we fail to successfully develop OC-01 for DED, we may not be able to identify, assess and develop OC-01 for other indications or OC-02 or a second lead product candidate or other product candidates on a timely basis, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Our business depends entirely on the successful discovery, development and commercialization of OC-01, OC-02 and other future product candidates we may develop. We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products and may never generate revenue or be profitable.

We have no products approved for commercial sale and do not anticipate generating any revenue until either OC-01 or another product candidate receives the regulatory and marketing approvals necessary for commercialization. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends significantly on our ability, or any future collaborator’s ability, to achieve a number of objectives, including:

 

 

successful and timely completion of preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates, including OC-01 for the treatment of neurotrophic keratitis (NK) or other indications, OC-02 and any other future product candidates;

 

 

establishing and maintaining relationships with contract research organizations (CROs) and clinical sites for the clinical development, both in the United States and internationally, of our product candidates;

 

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timely receipt of marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities for OC-01 or any other product candidates for which we successfully complete clinical development;

 

 

making any required post-marketing approval commitments to applicable regulatory authorities;

 

 

establishing and maintaining commercially viable supply and manufacturing relationships with third parties that can provide adequate, in both amount and quality, products and services to support clinical development and meet the market demand for product candidates that we develop, if approved;

 

 

successful commercial launch following any marketing approval, including the development of a commercial infrastructure, whether in-house or with one or more collaborators;

 

 

a continued acceptable safety profile both prior to and following any marketing approval of our product candidates;

 

 

commercial acceptance of our product candidates by patients, the medical community and third-party payors;

 

 

identifying, assessing and developing new product candidates;

 

 

obtaining, maintaining and expanding patent protection, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;

 

 

protecting our rights in our intellectual property portfolio;

 

 

defending against third-party interference or infringement claims, if any;

 

 

obtaining favorable terms in any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary or desirable to develop, manufacture or commercialize our existing or acquired product candidates;

 

 

obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement for customers and patients from government and third-party payors for product candidates that we develop;

 

 

addressing any competing therapies and technological and market developments; and

 

 

attracting, hiring and retaining qualified personnel.

We may never be successful in achieving our objectives and, even if we do, may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability, or comparable to the revenues of existing therapies, including Restasis and Xiidra. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to maintain or further our research and development efforts, raise additional necessary capital, grow our business, retain key employees and continue our operations.

Our lead product candidate OC-01 is based on an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that is already on the market, which exposes us to additional risks.

The API in OC-01, varenicline (in the form of varenicline tartrate), has been previously approved by the FDA and the EMA as an oral tablet under the trade name Chantix, an aid to smoking cessation treatment, and is available in more than 80 countries throughout the world. From 2009 to 2016, the FDA required Chantix to carry a boxed warning advising consumers of potential serious mental health side effects from Chantix. Although the FDA removed this box warning from Chantix in 2016 in response to the EAGLES study sponsored by Pfizer, regulatory authorities may identify other adverse side effects related to varenicline in the future or may add back the warning. Additionally, we anticipate that manufacturers will begin selling varenicline in generic form

 

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in the future, which could lead to increased use of varenicline by patients and increase the possibility that patients experience adverse side effects related to varenicline. Any adverse side effects that arise from the use of any form of varenicline, whether Chantix, generic varenicline or our product candidate, or reporting thereof could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of OC-01 and seriously harm our business. Furthermore, if manufacturer demand for varenicline increases in the future, particularly as a result of generic forms of varenicline becoming available, we may not be able to continue to obtain varenicline on commercially reasonable terms, which would seriously harm our business.

OC-01 uses a novel and unproven therapeutic approach and mechanism of action to treat DED and therefore its efficacy and safety are difficult to predict, and there is no guarantee that OC-01 or any other product candidates will be approved by the FDA.

We are developing OC-01 as a preservative-free, aqueous nasal spray that will stimulate the lacrimal functional unit (LFU) to produce natural tear film. To our knowledge, OC-01 represents the first pharmacological treatment approach for DED that is aimed at stimulating the LFU. Other than with respect to data from studies and trials of OC-01 and OC-02, there is limited or no clinical evidence showing that natural tear film can be produced through the stimulation of the LFU. For instance, even though OC-01 has shown promising results in preclinical studies and clinical trials for the treatment of DED, we may not succeed in demonstrating safety and efficacy of OC-01 for other indications, including OLYMPIA, our upcoming Phase 2 clinical trial for NK. Advancing OC-01 as a novel product creates significant challenges for us, including:

 

 

obtaining marketing approval;

 

 

educating medical personnel, including eye care practitioners (ECPs), and patients regarding the potential efficacy and safety benefits, as well as the challenges, of incorporating our product candidates, if approved, into treatment regimens; and

 

 

establishing the sales and marketing capabilities upon obtaining any marketing approvals to gain market acceptance.

We cannot guarantee that OC-01 or any of our other future product candidates will be approved by the FDA. Product candidates in later-stage clinical trials often fail to demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities despite having successfully progressed through preclinical studies and other clinical trials. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety and efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial protocols, differences in size and type of the patient populations, differences in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. For example, although OC-01 met the primary endpoint in ONSET-2 in both the 1.2 mg/ml and 0.6 mg/ml dose groups, OC-01 nasal spray did not meet the secondary endpoint for patient-reported symptoms of eye dryness in a Controlled Adverse Environment (CAE) and other secondary endpoints in either dose group. Additionally, we cannot guarantee that the safety profile of OC-01 in healthy volunteers and patients with DED will be replicated in trials and studies for other indications, such as NK. Assessments of efficacy can vary widely for a particular participant, and from participant to participant and site to site within a clinical trial. This subjectivity can increase the uncertainty of, and adversely impact, our clinical trial outcomes. In addition, participants treated with OC-01 may also be treated with other investigational drugs, prescription drugs or even over-the-counter treatments following the treatment period of our OC-01 studies, any of which with OC-01 may also be treated with other investigational drugs, prescription drugs or even over-the-counter treatments following the treatment period of our OC-01 studies, any of which can cause side effects or adverse events that are unrelated to our product candidate, but which are observed during the long-term safety follow-up for OC-01. The occurrence of such side effects or adverse events could have a negative impact on OC-01’s safety profile.

 

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Drug development is a highly uncertain undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. The outcome of preclinical testing and earlier clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials. The results of our clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of such product candidate.

Research and development of biopharmaceutical products is inherently risky. We cannot give any assurance that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory, including marketing, approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety, efficacy and durability profile despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or unacceptable safety issues, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. Most product candidates that begin clinical trials are never approved by regulatory authorities for commercialization.

Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of preclinical and clinical studies of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of early-stage or later-stage clinical trials, and results of early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. The results of clinical trials in one set of subjects may not be predictive of those obtained in another. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety, efficacy or durability results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants.

We may also experience issues in implementing our clinical trials that would delay or prevent us from satisfying the applicable requirements of the FDA and other regulatory authorities, including:

 

 

the number of participants required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate or participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate;

 

 

our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;

 

 

other regulators or institutional review boards may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;

 

 

we may experience delays in reaching, or fail to reach, agreement on acceptable clinical trial contracts or clinical trial protocols with prospective trial sites; and

 

 

we may experience delays, or patients may not be able to or may decide not to participate in follow-up visits in our clinical trials, due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

We may be unable to design and execute clinical trials that support marketing approval. We cannot be certain that our planned clinical trials or any other future clinical trials will be successful. For example, use of OC-01 requires the patient to follow a prescribed technique to administer the nasal spray. Failure to properly administer the nasal spray by the patient or inappropriate technique demonstration by the ECP, may adversely

 

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affect the outcome of OC-01 in demonstrating efficacy in one or more clinical trials. Additionally, 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, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

In addition, even if such clinical trials are successfully completed, we cannot guarantee that the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities will interpret the results as we do, and more trials could be required before we submit our product candidates for approval. To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory to the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities for support of a marketing application, we may be required to expend significant resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates. Even if regulatory approval is secured for any of our product candidates, the terms of such approval may limit the scope and use of our product candidate, which may also limit its commercial potential. For example, although OC-01 met the primary endpoint in ONSET-2 in both dose groups tested, OC-01 nasal spray did not meet the secondary endpoint for patient-reported symptoms of eye dryness in a CAE as well as other secondary endpoints in either dose group tested, which could adversely affect the label of OC-01 or limit the commercial viability and scope and use of OC-01, if approved.

If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of subjects or conduct of follow up visits in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.

We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of subjects to participate in these trials to such trial’s conclusion as required by the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Patient enrollment is a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials. Any difficulties we experience relating to completion of patient visits in clinical trials, including as impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, could delay regulatory approval for our product candidates.

Patient enrollment may be affected if our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that are under development for the same indications as our product candidates, and subjects who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’ product candidates. Patient enrollment for any of our future clinical trials may be affected by other factors, including:

 

 

size and nature of the patient population;

 

 

severity of the disease under investigation;

 

 

availability and efficacy of approved drugs for the disease under investigation;

 

 

participant eligibility criteria for the trial in question as defined in the protocol;

 

 

perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;

 

 

ECPs’ and participants’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new products that may be approved for the indications we are investigating;

 

 

efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;

 

 

participant referral practices of ECPs;

 

 

the ability to monitor participants adequately during and after treatment;

 

 

proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective trial subjects;

 

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continued enrollment of prospective subjects by clinical trial sites;

 

 

the risk that subjects enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the trials before completion; and

 

 

disruptions or difficulties, or other restrictions, in initiating, enrolling, conducting or completing trials due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of subjects for our clinical trials would result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to obtain marketing approval for the sale of our product candidates. Furthermore, even if we are able to enroll a sufficient number of subjects for our clinical trials, we may have difficulty maintaining enrollment of such subjects in our clinical trials.

We may also face challenges in collecting data from follow up visits related to our enrolled clinical trials. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, select clinical trial sites in our ONSET-2 clinical trial were closed and subjects were unable to attend visits per the trial protocol, which reduced the amount of data we are able to collect for subjects at these affected centers with respect to primary and secondary endpoints. We believe that this inability to collect data had an adverse impact on the statistical powering of certain of our secondary endpoints in ONSET-2, and may impact our future our clinical trial results.

Our current or future product candidates may cause or reveal significant adverse events, toxicities or other undesirable side effects which may delay or prevent marketing approval. In addition, if we obtain approval for any of our product candidates, significant adverse events, toxicities or other undesirable side effects may be identified during post-marketing surveillance, which could result in regulatory action or negatively affect our ability to market the product.

Adverse events or other undesirable side effects caused by or associated with treatment by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities.

During the conduct of clinical trials, subjects report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries, and discomforts, to their study doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the product candidate being studied caused these conditions. It is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as use of these product candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were not observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by subjects. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational products are tested in large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to subjects on a commercial scale after approval.

The most commonly reported adverse events in ONSET-1, ZEN, MYSTIC and ONSET-2 were non-ocular in nature, which were sneezing and coughing. If approved, we expect that OC-01 will be used chronically over a prolonged period of time. However, we have no clinical safety data on patients treated with OC-01 for longer than 84 days and these adverse events are subjective and based on subjects’ self-report, which may not accurately reflect the actual number of adverse events. Our understanding of the relationship between our product candidates and these adverse events may change as we gather more information, and additional unexpected adverse events may occur. If additional clinical experience indicates that OC-01 or any other product candidate has side effects or causes serious or life- threatening side effects, participant recruitment for studies and the ability of enrolled subjects to complete studies could be negatively impacted, and the development of the product candidate may fail or be delayed, which would severely harm our business, growth prospects, operating results and financial condition.

 

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Additionally, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects or adverse events caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including but not limited to:

 

 

regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product or require additional warnings on the label;

 

 

we may be required to change the way the product is administered or conduct additional clinical trials or post-approval studies;

 

 

we may be required to create a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) plan, which could include a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients, a communication plan for healthcare providers, including ECPs, and/or other elements to assure safe use;

 

 

we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and

 

 

our reputation may suffer.

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

Interim, top-line and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available, and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary, interim or top-line data from our clinical trials. These interim updates are based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the top-line results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Top-line data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, top-line data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. In addition, we may report interim analyses of only certain endpoints rather than all endpoints. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Adverse differences between interim data and final data could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate and our company in general. Further, additional disclosure of interim data by us or by our competitors in the future could result in volatility in the price of our common stock. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is typically selected from a more extensive amount of available information. You or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product candidate or our business. If the preliminary or top-line data that we report differ from late, final or actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the

 

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conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize our product candidates may be harmed, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Our success is highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled executive officers and employees.

To succeed, we must recruit, retain, manage and motivate qualified executives as we build out the management team, and we face significant competition for experienced personnel. We are highly dependent on the principal members of our management and need to continue to add executives with operational and commercialization experience as we plan for commercialization of our product candidates and build out a leadership team that can manage our operations as a public company. If we do not succeed in attracting and retaining qualified personnel, particularly at the management level, it could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan and harm our operating results. In particular, the loss of one or more of our executive officers could be detrimental to us if we cannot recruit suitable replacements in a timely manner. The competition for qualified personnel in the biotechnology field is intense and as a result, we may be unable to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel necessary for the future success of our business. We could in the future have difficulty attracting experienced personnel to our company and may be required to expend significant financial resources in our employee recruitment and retention efforts.

Many of the other biotechnology companies that we compete against for qualified personnel have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than we do. They also may provide more diverse opportunities and better prospects for career advancement. Some of these characteristics may be more appealing to high-quality candidates than what we have to offer. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, the rate and success at which we can discover, develop and commercialize our product candidates will be limited and the potential for successfully growing our business will be harmed.

If we engage in acquisitions, in-licensing or strategic partnerships, this may increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.

We may engage in various acquisitions and strategic partnerships in the future, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, intellectual property rights, technologies or businesses. Any acquisition or strategic partnership may entail numerous risks, including:

 

 

increased operating expenses and cash requirements;

 

 

the assumption of indebtedness or contingent liabilities;

 

 

the issuance of our equity securities which would result in dilution to our stockholders;

 

 

assimilation of operations, intellectual property, products and product candidates of an acquired company, including difficulties associated with integrating new personnel;

 

 

the diversion of our management’s attention from our existing product candidates and initiatives in pursuing such an acquisition or strategic partnership;

 

 

retention of key employees, the loss of key personnel, and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships;

 

 

risks and uncertainties associated with the other party to such a transaction, including the prospects of that party and their existing products or product candidates and regulatory approvals; and

 

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our inability to generate revenue from acquired intellectual property, technology and/or products sufficient to meet our objectives or even to offset the associated transaction and maintenance costs.

In addition, if we undertake such a transaction, we may incur large one-time expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expense.

We expect to significantly expand our organization, including building sales and marketing capability and creating additional infrastructure to support our operations as a public company, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

We expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of sales and marketing and finance and accounting. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited financial resources and our limited experience in managing such anticipated growth, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert or stretch our management and business development resources in a way that we may not anticipate. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.

Our business and operations would suffer in the event of security breaches, system failures and other disruptions.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our computer systems, as well as those of our contractors and consultants, are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters (including hurricanes), terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. The application and data we possess contain critical information, including research and development information, commercial information, personal information about our employees and consultants, and business and financial information. Protecting this critical information includes risks, including loss of access risk, inappropriate disclosure risk, inappropriate modification risk and the risk of being unable to adequately monitor our internal controls to prevent security breaches, system failures and other cybersecurity disruptions.

If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our product candidate development programs. For example, the loss of preclinical study or clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or planned trials 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 were to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of personal, confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed.

The secure processing, storage, maintenance and transmission of this information is critical to our operations. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or internal bad actors, or breached due to employee error, a technical vulnerability, malfeasance or other disruptions. Although, to our knowledge, we have not experienced any such material security breach to date, any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, significant regulatory penalties, and such an event could disrupt our operations, damage our reputation, and cause a loss of confidence in us and our ability to conduct clinical trials, which could adversely affect our reputation and delay clinical development of our product candidates.

 

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Furthermore, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Likewise, we rely on other third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and to conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business.

Internal computer systems, or those used by our third-party research institution collaborators, CROs or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer other breakdowns, cyber-attacks or information security breaches that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of such systems and data, expose us to liability, and affect our reputation.

We are increasingly dependent upon information technology systems, infrastructure, and data to operate our business, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also rely on third party vendors and their information technology systems. Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our CROs and other contractors and consultants may be vulnerable to damage from computer viruses or unauthorized access, or breached due to operator error, malfeasance or other system disruptions. As the cyber-threat landscape evolves, these attacks are growing in frequency, sophistication and intensity, and are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. These threats can come from a variety of sources, ranging in sophistication from an individual hacker to a state-sponsored attack. Cyber-threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Over the past few years, cyber-attacks have become more prevalent, intense, sophisticated and much harder to detect and defend against. Such attacks could include the use of key loggers or other harmful and virulent malware, including ransomware or other denials of service, and can be deployed through malicious websites, the use of social engineering and/or other means. We and our third party vendors may not be able to anticipate all types of security threats, and we may not be able to implement preventive measures effective against all such security threats. The techniques used by cyber criminals change frequently, may not be recognized until launched, and can originate from a wide variety of sources. As a result of COVID-19, we may face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees that are working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. Although to our knowledge we and our vendors have not experienced any such material system failure or security breach to date, if a breakdown, cyber-attack or other information security breach were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations , whether due to a loss of trade secrets or other proprietary information or other similar disruption and we could incur liability and reputational damage. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Likewise, we rely on our third-party research institution collaborators for research and development of our product candidates and other third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and to conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business.

Cyber-attacks, breaches, interruptions or other data security incidents could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under federal or state laws that protect the privacy of personal information, regulatory penalties, significant remediation costs, disrupt key business operations and divert attention of management and key information technology resources. In the United States, notice of breaches must be made to affected individuals, the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, and for extensive breaches, notice may need to be made to the media or U.S. state attorneys general. Such a notice could harm our reputation and our ability to compete. The HHS has the discretion to impose penalties without attempting to resolve violations through informal means. In addition, U.S. state attorneys general are authorized to bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in response to violations that threaten the privacy of state residents. There can be no assurance that we, our collaborators, CROs, vendors, and any other business

 

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counterparties will be successful in efforts to detect, prevent, protect against or fully recover systems or data from all break-downs, service interruptions, attacks or breaches of systems. In addition, we do not maintain standalone cyber-security insurance and have limited insurance coverage in the event of any breach or disruption of our or our collaborators’, CROs’, or vendors’ systems, including any unauthorized access or loss of any personal data that we may collect, store or otherwise process. The costs related to significant security breaches or disruptions could be material and exceed the limits of any insurance coverage we may have. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or systems, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, including data related to our personnel, we could incur liability and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed and our business and operations could be adversely affected and/or could result in the loss or disclosure of critical or sensitive data, which could result in financial, legal, business or reputational harm to us.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, information security policies and contractual obligations relating to privacy and data protection, including the use, processing, and cross-border transfer of personal information. These laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, or monetary penalties, and otherwise may harm our business.

We receive, generate and store significant and increasing volumes of sensitive information and business-critical information, including employee and personal data (including protected health information), research and development information, commercial information, and business and financial information. We heavily rely on external security and infrastructure vendors to manage our information technology systems and data centers. We face a number of risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate use or disclosure, inappropriate modification, and the risk of our being unable to adequately monitor, audit and modify our controls over our critical information. This risk extends to the third-party vendors and subcontractors we use to manage this sensitive data.

A wide variety of provincial, state, national, and international laws, and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal data. These data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. For example, the collection and use of personal data in the European Union are governed by the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which became fully effective on May 25, 2018. The GDPR imposes stringent data protection requirements, including, for example, more robust disclosures to individuals and a strengthened individual data rights regime, shortened timelines for data breach notifications, limitations on retention of information, increased requirements pertaining to special categories of data, such as health data, and additional obligations when we contract with third-party processors in connection with the processing of the personal data. The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data out of the European Union to the United States and other third countries and in the context of clinical trials, we currently rely on patient informed consent as the legal basis for such transfers. In addition, the GDPR provides that European Union member states may make their own further laws and regulations limiting the processing of personal data, including genetic, biometric or health data. The GDPR provides for penalties for noncompliance of up to the greater of 20 million or four percent of worldwide annual revenues. The GDPR applies extraterritorially, and we may be subject to the GDPR because of our data processing activities that involve the personal data of individuals located in the European Union, such as in connection with any European Union clinical trials. GDPR regulations may impose additional responsibility and liability in relation to the personal data that we process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the new data protection rules. This may be onerous and may interrupt or delay our development activities, and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In addition, the United Kingdom leaving the EU could also lead to further legislative and

 

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regulatory changes. It remains unclear how the United Kingdom data protection laws or regulations will develop in the medium to longer term and how data transfer to the United Kingdom from the EU will be regulated, especially following the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU on January 31, 2020 without a deal. However, the United Kingdom has transposed the GDPR into domestic law with the Data Protection Act 2018, which remains in force following the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU.

Further, various states, such as California and Massachusetts, have implemented similar privacy laws and regulations that impose restrictive requirements regulating the use and disclosure of health information and other personally identifiable information. These laws and regulations are not necessarily preempted by HIPAA, particularly if a state affords greater protection to individuals than HIPAA. Where state laws are more protective, we have to comply with the stricter provisions. In addition to fines and penalties imposed upon violators, some of these state laws also afford private rights of action to individuals who believe their personal information has been misused. For example, California recently enacted legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), that, among other things, require covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, and afford such consumers new abilities to opt-out of certain sales of personal information, that became effective on January 1, 2020. The CCPA was amended several times throughout 2018 and 2019, and it is unclear whether further modifications will be made to this legislation or how it will be interpreted. In addition, the CCPA requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to individuals and consumers in California, and afford such individuals and consumers new data protection rights, including the ability to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The GDPR, CCPA and many other laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection are still being tested in courts, and they are subject to new and differing interpretations by courts and regulatory officials. Additionally, the interplay of federal and state laws may be subject to varying interpretations by courts and government agencies, creating complex compliance issues for us and data we receive, use and share, potentially exposing us to additional expense, adverse publicity and liability. We are working to comply with the GDPR, CCPA and other privacy and data protection laws and regulations that apply to us, and we anticipate needing to devote significant additional resources to complying with these laws and regulations.

It is possible that the GDPR, CCPA or other laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction or inconsistent with our current policies and practices and compliance with such laws and regulations could require us to change our business practices and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our business. We cannot guarantee that we are in compliance with all such applicable data protection laws and regulations and we cannot be sure how these regulations will be interpreted, enforced or applied to our operations. Furthermore, other jurisdictions outside the European Union are similarly introducing or enhancing privacy and data security laws, rules, and regulations, which could increase our compliance costs and the risks associated with noncompliance. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices and our efforts to comply with the evolving data protection rules may be unsuccessful. We cannot guarantee that we or our vendors may be in compliance with all applicable international laws and regulations as they are enforced now or as they evolve. For example, our privacy policies may be insufficient to protect any personal information we collect or may not comply with applicable laws. Our non-compliance could result in government-imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business. In addition to the risks associated with enforcement activities and potential contractual liabilities, our ongoing efforts to comply with evolving laws and regulations at the federal and state level may be costly and require ongoing modifications to our policies, procedures and systems. In addition, if we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of protected health information, we could be found to have breached our contracts.

Our actual or perceived failure to adequately comply with applicable laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection, or to protect personal data and other data we process or maintain, could result in

 

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regulatory enforcement actions against us, including fines, imprisonment of company officials and public censure, claims for damages by affected individuals, other lawsuits or reputational and damage, all of which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Risks Related to Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain timelines and uncertain outcomes, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future results. If clinical trials of our product candidates, particularly OC-01, are prolonged or delayed, we may be unable to obtain required regulatory approvals, and therefore be unable to commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis or at all.

Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans. To date, we have focused substantially all of our efforts and financial resources on identifying, acquiring, and developing our product candidates, including conducting preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and we cannot be certain that any clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. Our inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to us and negatively impact our ability to generate revenue. Our future success is dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize product candidates. We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product.

Each of our product candidates will require additional clinical development, management of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, achieving and maintaining commercial-scale supply, building of a commercial organization, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. We may experience delays in our ongoing clinical trials and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all.

We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize OC-01, OC-02 or any other product candidates that we may develop, including:

 

 

we may experience delays in or failure to reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;

 

 

we may fail to obtain sufficient enrollment in our clinical trials or participants may fail to complete our clinical trials;

 

 

clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs;

 

 

we may decide, or regulators or institutional review boards may require us, to suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

 

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regulators or institutional review boards may require us to perform additional or unanticipated clinical trials to obtain approval or we may be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements to maintain regulatory approval;

 

 

regulators may revise the requirements for approving our product candidates, or such requirements may not be as we anticipate;

 

 

the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate, and we may need to delay or suspend one or more trials until we complete additional financing transactions or otherwise receive adequate funding;

 

 

the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate or may be delayed;

 

 

our product candidates may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, causing us or our investigators, regulators or institutional review boards to suspend or terminate trials;

 

 

regulatory authorities may suspend or withdraw their approval of a product or impose restrictions on its distribution;

 

 

we may experience delays due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, including with respect to the receipt of product candidates or other materials, submission of NDAs, filing of INDs and starting any clinical trials for other indications or programs; and

 

 

we may experience manufacturing delays due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic in our supply chain caused by a shortage of raw materials, a lack of employees on site at our suppliers due to illness, or a lack of productivity at our suppliers due to local or national government quarantine restrictions on coming to the workplace.

For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced an impact at select clinical trial sites during the month of March 2020 where ophthalmology practices were closed or subjects were unable to attend visits or where clinical trial sites did not feel comfortable putting their staff or subjects into a CAE, which limited our ability to assess the related secondary endpoint in our ONSET-2 study for those subjects. We do not know whether any of our preclinical studies or clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, or are unable to achieve clinical endpoints due to unforeseen events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Significant clinical trial delays could also allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do or shorten any periods during which we have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations.

We are in the process of validating our manufacturing process and, to date, we do not have the stability and microbiology data on our product registration batches necessary for regulatory approval for OC-01.

We are still currently collecting stability and microbiology data on our product registration batches to support NDA approval and to date we do not yet have data to support an NDA filing. We reported top-line results for ONSET-2 in the second quarter 2020, and we plan to submit an NDA to the FDA in the second half of 2020. However, we manufactured our FDA registration batches of 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml OC-01 nasal spray in July

 

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and August 2019, and as the FDA requires 12 months stability data to support NDA filing, the data will not be available until after August 2020. Stability data is collected after subjecting our batches to various conditions, such as refrigeration, room temperature, and high temperatures, and it is possible that impurities, particulates, leachables, microbiology, and/or degradation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, varenicline, or OC-01 nasal spray could occur or other issues could be detected. If the stability data is not acceptable, we may need to change our manufacturing process, which could result in a delay of the NDA submission or impact the approval of the product or both, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. The FDA may also impose specific conditions, such as requiring the final product to be shipped and stored under refrigerated conditions. Any additional requirements could result in an increase in the overall cost of the product and complicate the supply chain, which could also materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

OC-01 and our other product candidates have never been manufactured on a commercial scale, and there are risks associated with scaling up manufacturing to commercial scale.

To date, our third-party manufacturer has only manufactured our OC-01 nasal spray in limited quantities in batch sizes appropriate for our clinical trials and registration batches to support the NDA submission, for which batch sizes are a fraction of the size we expect will be necessary for commercialization. The manufacturing processes for commercial scale are still being developed and have not been tested and the process validation requirement has not yet been satisfied. Although we plan to manufacture commercial scale batches of OC-01 nasal spray on the same manufacturing line as the registration batches, with the same equipment, only at higher scale, there are risks associated with scaling up manufacturing to commercial volumes including, among others, cost overruns, technical or other problems with process scale-up, process reproducibility, stability issues, lot consistency and timely availability of raw materials. There is no assurance that our manufacturer will be successful in establishing a larger-scale commercial manufacturing process for OC-01 that achieves our objectives for manufacturing capacity and cost of goods, in a timely manner or at all. Our manufacturers may be constrained or disrupted by the effects of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in delays. In addition, there is no assurance that our manufacturers will be able to manufacture OC-01 to specifications acceptable to the FDA or other regulatory authorities, to produce it in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the potential launch of OC-01 or to meet potential future demand. If our manufacturers are unable to produce sufficient quantities of approved products for commercialization, either on a timely basis or at all, and in a cost-effective manner, our commercialization efforts would be impaired, including impacting the launch of OC-01 or inventory levels, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully commercialize our product candidates that obtain regulatory approval.

We currently do not have and have never had a marketing or sales team. In order to commercialize any product candidates, if approved, we must build marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services for each of the territories in which we may have approval to sell and market our product candidates. We may not be successful in accomplishing these required tasks.

Establishing an internal sales and marketing team with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize our product candidates will be expensive and time-consuming, and will require significant attention of our executive officers to manage. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities could adversely impact the commercialization of any of our

 

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product candidates that we obtain approval to market, if we do not have arrangements in place with third parties to provide such services on our behalf. Alternatively, if we choose to collaborate, either globally or on a territory-by-territory basis, with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems, we will be required to negotiate and enter into arrangements with such third parties relating to the proposed collaboration. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements when needed, on acceptable terms, or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our product candidates that receive regulatory approval or any such commercialization may experience delays or limitations. If we are unable to successfully commercialize our approved product candidates, 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.

Furthermore, we believe that approximately 26% of prescribing ECPs account for 80% of the volume of DED prescription treatments. If we are unable to obtain access to these ECPs and educate adequate numbers of ECPs on the benefits of prescribing our products, if and when approved, our efforts to commercialize such products will be severely inhibited, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

Even if OC-01 or any other product candidate receives marketing approval, they may fail to achieve market acceptance by ECPs and patients, or adequate formulary coverage, pricing or reimbursement by third-party payors and others in the medical community, and the market opportunity for these products may be smaller than we estimate.

If OC-01 or any other product candidate that we develop receives marketing approval, it may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by ECPs, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. Current treatments that are commonly used in the United States for DED include over-the-counter eye drops, often referred to as “artificial tears”, Restasis, Xiidra and off-label use of corticosteroids. In particular, existing prescription therapies, notably Restasis and Xiidra, are marketed by much larger biopharmaceutical companies with established brand recognition. As a result, even if OC-01 demonstrates promising or superior clinical results, including the treatment of both signs and symptoms of DED, it is possible that ECPs may continue to rely on these treatments rather than OC-01 or any other product candidate, if and when approved for marketing by the FDA. In addition, if generic versions of any products that compete with any of our product candidates are approved for marketing by the FDA, they would likely be offered at a substantially lower price than we expect to offer for our product candidates, if approved. As a result, ECPs, patients and third-party payors may choose to rely on such products rather than our product candidates.

If OC-01 or any other product candidate does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, formulary coverage, pricing or reimbursement we may not generate significant product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of OC-01 or any other product candidate that we develop, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:

 

 

the efficacy and potential advantages of our product candidates compared to alternative treatments, including the existing standard of care;

 

 

our ability to offer our products for sale at competitive prices, particularly in light of the lower cost of alternative treatments;

 

 

the clinical indications for which the product is approved;

 

 

the convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments;

 

 

the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of ECPs to prescribe these therapies;

 

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the strength of our marketing and distribution support, which may be adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic;

 

 

publicity concerning our products or competing products and treatments;

 

 

the timing of market introduction of competitive products;

 

 

the potential for our competitors to limit our access to the market through anti-competitive contracts or other arrangements;

 

 

the availability of third-party formulary coverage and adequate reimbursement, particularly by Medicare in light of the prevalence of DED in persons over age 55;

 

 

the prevalence and severity of any side effects; and

 

 

any restrictions on the use of our products together with other medications.

Our assessment of the potential market opportunity for OC-01 and other product candidates is based on industry and market data that we obtained from industry publications and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties, some of which we commissioned. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. While we believe these industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies are reliable, we have not independently verified such data. Similarly, although the studies we have commissioned are based on information that we believe to be complete and reliable, we cannot guarantee that such information is accurate or complete. The potential market opportunity for the treatment of DED in particular is difficult to precisely estimate. Our estimates of the potential market opportunities for our product candidates include several key assumptions based on our industry knowledge, industry publications, third-party research and other surveys, which may be based on a small sample size and fail to accurately reflect market opportunities. Further, we have commissioned a number of market studies that are specific to us and to our product candidates and used the results of these studies to help assess our market opportunity. While we believe that our internal assumptions and the bases of our commissioned studies are reasonable, no independent source has verified such assumptions or bases. If any of our assumptions or estimates, or these publications, research, surveys or studies prove to be inaccurate, then the actual market for OC-01 or any of our other product candidates may be smaller than we expect, and as a result our product revenue may be limited and it may be more difficult for us to achieve or maintain profitability.

The commercial success of our products depends on the availability and sufficiency of third party payor coverage and reimbursement.

Patients in the United States and elsewhere generally rely on third party payors to reimburse part or all of the costs associated with their prescription drugs. Accordingly, market acceptance of our products is dependent on the extent to which third party coverage and reimbursement is available from third-party payors, including government health administration authorities (including in connection with government healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid), private healthcare insurers and other healthcare funding organizations.

Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval. Coverage decisions may not favor new products when more established or lower cost therapeutic alternatives are already available. Even if we obtain coverage for a given product, the associated reimbursement rate may not be adequate to cover our costs, including research, development, intellectual property, manufacture, sale and distribution expenses, or may require copayments that patients

 

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find unacceptably high. Patients are unlikely to use our products unless reimbursement is adequate to cover all or a significant portion of the cost of our products.

Coverage and reimbursement policies for products can differ significantly from payor to payor as there is no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products among third party payors in the United States. There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement as the process of determining coverage and reimbursement is often time consuming and costly which will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage or adequate reimbursement will be obtained.

In addition, we expect that the increased emphasis on managed care and cost containment measures in the United States by third party payors and government authorities to continue and will place pressure on pharmaceutical pricing and coverage. 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.

If we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient third party coverage and adequate reimbursement for our products, the commercial success of our products may be greatly hindered and our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we may be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations or post-marketing commitments as specified by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, which may result in additional costs associated with those commitments.

If we obtain regulatory approval for OC-01 or any other product candidate, such approved products will be subject to continual regulatory review by the FDA and/or non-U.S. regulatory authorities. Additionally, any product candidates, if approved, will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements, including labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with such products.

If FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves any of our product candidates, including OC-01, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for the product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), as well as Good Clinical Practice (GCP) for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval, all of which may result in significant expense and limit our ability to successfully commercialize such products. In addition, any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may also be subject to limitations on the approved indications or conditions of use for which the product may be marketed or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product.

Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our product candidates, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with our third-party manufacturers’ processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:

 

 

restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, withdrawal of the product from the market, or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;

 

 

fines, warning letters or holds on clinical trials;

 

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refusal by the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us, or suspension or revocation of product license approvals;

 

 

product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; and

 

 

injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

Our ongoing regulatory requirements may also change from time to time, potentially harming or making costlier our commercialization efforts. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or other countries. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business.

We face significant competition, and if our competitors develop and market technologies or products more rapidly than we do or that are more effective, safer or less expensive than the product candidates we develop, our commercial opportunities will be negatively impacted. Our product candidates will, if approved, also compete with existing branded, generic and off-label products.

The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to OC-01 for the treatment of DED, and will face competition with respect to OC-01 for other indications and any other product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.

The DED market is already served by a variety of competing products. Many of these existing products have achieved widespread acceptance among ECPs, patients and payors. In addition, certain of these products are available, or may become available, on a generic basis, and our product candidates may not demonstrate sufficient additional clinical benefits to ECPs, patients or payors to justify a higher price compared to generic products. In many cases, insurers or other third-party payors, particularly Medicare, seek to encourage the use of generic products.

Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than our products. This opportunity could also be reduced if we do not obtain a favorable label for our products, if approved. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.

In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third-party payors, particularly Medicare, seeking to encourage the use of generic products. Generic products are currently being used for certain of the indications that we are pursuing, and additional products are expected to become available on a generic basis over the coming years.

Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more

 

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resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and other early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

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

Our business exposes us to significant product liability risks inherent in the development, testing, manufacturing and marketing of therapeutic treatments. Product liability claims could delay or prevent completion of our development programs. If our product candidates are approved for marketing, such claims could still result in an FDA, EMA or other regulatory authority investigation of the safety and effectiveness of such products, our manufacturing processes and facilities or our marketing programs. These investigations could potentially lead to a recall of our products or more serious enforcement action, limitations on the approved indications for which they may be used or suspension or withdrawal of approvals. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may also result in injury to our reputation, withdrawal of clinical trial participants, costs to defend the related litigation, a diversion of management’s time and our resources, initiation of investigations by regulators, substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants, the inability to commercialize our product candidates and decreased demand for our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale. We currently have product liability insurance that we believe is appropriate for our stage of development and may need to obtain higher levels prior to marketing any of our product candidates, if approved. Any insurance we have or may obtain may not provide sufficient coverage against potential liabilities and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could adversely affect our results of operations and business and cause our stock price to decline. Furthermore, clinical trial and product liability insurance is becoming increasingly expensive. As a result, we may be unable to maintain or obtain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses, including those caused by product liability claims.

A variety of risks associated with marketing our product candidates internationally could materially adversely affect our business.

We plan to seek regulatory approval of our product candidates outside of the United States and, accordingly, we expect that we will be subject to additional risks related to operating in foreign countries if we obtain the necessary approvals, including:

 

 

differing regulatory requirements, reimbursement regimes and pricing controls in foreign countries;

 

 

unexpected changes in tariffs, trade barriers, price and exchange controls and other regulatory requirements;

 

 

economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in particular foreign economies and markets;

 

 

compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labor laws for employees living or traveling abroad;

 

 

foreign taxes, including withholding of payroll taxes;

 

 

foreign currency fluctuations, which could result in increased operating expenses and reduced revenue, and other obligations incident to doing business in another country;

 

 

difficulties staffing and managing foreign operations;

 

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workforce uncertainty in countries where labor unrest is more common than in the United States;

 

 

potential liability under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or comparable foreign regulations;

 

 

challenges enforcing our contractual and intellectual property rights, especially in those foreign countries that do not respect and protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the United States;

 

 

production shortages resulting from any events affecting raw material supply or manufacturing capabilities abroad; and

 

 

business interruptions resulting from pandemics and public heath emergencies, including those related to COVID-19 or geo-political actions, including war and terrorism.

These and other risks associated with our international operations may materially adversely affect our ability to attain or maintain profitable operations.

Following the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU on January 31, 2020, commonly referred to as “Brexit”, there is a “transition period” ending December 31, 2020 during which the United Kingdom will essentially be treated as a Member State of the EU and the regulatory regime will remain the same across the United Kingdom and the EU. The Withdrawal Agreement allows for this “transition period” to be extended by one or two years, but the U.K. government is currently legislating to require the transition period to end on December 31, 2020 without the possibility to extend further. In that scenario, the trading relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU will be governed by whatever agreement the two parties can reach in the course of 2020. On that short timetable the United Kingdom and EU are likely to focus on ensuring tariff-free trade but it is unclear whether there would be any formal regulatory alignment between United Kingdom and EU rules after January 1, 2021. In the unlikely event that the United Kingdom leaves the EU without an agreement, so called “hard Brexit,” the United Kingdom will be completely separated from a regulatory perspective from the EU immediately upon the exit date.

Since the regulatory framework for pharmaceutical products in the United Kingdom relating to quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products, clinical trials, marketing authorization, commercial sales and distribution of pharmaceutical products is derived from EU directives and regulations, Brexit will materially impact the future regulatory regime which applies to products and the approval of product candidates in the United Kingdom. In the first instance, a separate United Kingdom authorization from any centralized authorization for the EU would need to be applied for in advance of a hard Brexit or before the end of any agreed transition period. In the immediately foreseeable future, the process is likely to remain very similar to that applicable in the EU, albeit that the processes for applications will be separate. Longer term, the United Kingdom is likely to develop its own legislation that diverges from that in the EU.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our technology and products, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets.

We rely upon a combination of patents, trademarks, trade secret protection, and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our development programs and product candidates. Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to OC-01, OC-02, and any future product candidates. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our development programs and product candidates. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file

 

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and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our or our licensors’ operations.

The patents and patent applications that we own may fail to result in issued patents with claims that protect OC-01, OC-02 or any future product candidate in the United States or in other foreign countries. There is no assurance that all of the potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications has been found, which can prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application, or be used to invalidate a patent. Even if patents do successfully issue and even if such patents cover OC-01, OC-02 or any future product candidate, third parties may challenge their validity, enforceability or scope, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable. Any successful opposition to these patents or any other patents owned by or licensed to us could deprive us of rights necessary for the successful commercialization of any product candidates that we may develop. Further, if we encounter delays in regulatory approvals, the period of time during which we could market a product candidate under patent protection could be reduced.

The patent application process is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we or any of our potential future collaborators 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, the noncompliance with which can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, and partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction;

 

 

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;

 

 

our competitors, many of whom have substantially greater resources than we do and many of whom have made significant investments in competing technologies, may seek or may have already obtained patents that will limit, interfere with or block our ability to make, use and sell our product candidates;

 

 

there may be significant pressure on the U.S. 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 U.S. courts, allowing foreign competitors a better opportunity to create, develop and market competing products.

The patent prosecution process is also expensive and time consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions where protection may be commercially advantageous. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, if we choose to license certain patent rights in the future from third parties, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of such patent applications, or to maintain the patents, directed to technology that we license from those third parties. We may also require the cooperation of our future licensor, if any, in order to enforce the licensed patent rights, and such cooperation may not be provided. Therefore, any licensed patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. We cannot be certain that patent prosecution and maintenance activities by any of our future licensors have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and

 

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regulations, which may affect the validity and enforceability of such patents or any patents that may issue from such applications. If they fail to do so, this could cause us to lose rights in any applicable intellectual property that we in-license, and as a result our ability to develop and commercialize products or product candidates may be adversely affected and we may be unable to prevent competitors from making, using and selling competing products.

If the patent applications we hold or may in-license in the future with respect to our development programs and product candidates fail to issue, if their breadth or strength of protection is threatened, or if they fail to provide meaningful exclusivity for OC-01, OC-02 or any future product candidate, it could dissuade other companies from collaborating with us to develop product candidates, and threaten our ability to commercialize OC-01, OC-02 or future product candidates. Any such outcome could have a materially adverse effect on our business.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has been and will continue to be the subject of litigation and new legislation. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, many countries restrict the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body. Publications in scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our own patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result of these and other factors, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection.

Moreover, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the USPTO or become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. The costs of defending our patents or enforcing our proprietary rights in post-issuance administrative proceedings and litigation can be substantial and the outcome can be uncertain. 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.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and patents in which we have an interest may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. Generally, issued patents are granted a term of 20 years from the earliest claimed non-provisional filing date. In certain instances, patent term can be adjusted to recapture a portion of delay incurred by the USPTO in examining the patent application (patent term adjustment). The scope of patent protection may also be limited.

Without patent protection for our current or future product candidates, we may be open to competition from generic versions of such products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing, and

 

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regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA marketing approval of OC-02 and future product candidates, one or more of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years beyond the normal expiration of the patent as compensation for patent term lost during drug development and the FDA regulatory review process, which is limited to the approved indication (or any additional indications approved during the period of extension). This extension is based on the first approved use of a product and is limited to only one patent that covers the approved product, the approved use of the product, or a method of manufacturing the product. However, the applicable authorities, including the FDA and the USPTO in the United States, and any equivalent regulatory authority in other countries, may not agree with our assessment of whether such extensions are available, and may refuse to grant extensions to our patents, or may grant more limited extensions than we request. We may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time-period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to extend the expiration date of our existing patents or obtain new patents with longer expiry dates, our competitors may be able to take advantage of our investment in development and clinical trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data to obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment, and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for noncompliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the USPTO and other foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign national or international patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment, and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse, including due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on us or our licensors’ patent maintenance vendors, can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of patent rights include, but are not limited to, failure to timely file national and regional stage patent applications based on our international patent application, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees, and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or any of our licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering OC-01, OC-02 or any future product candidate, our competitors may be able to enter the market, which would have an adverse effect on our business.

We may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope or expiration of a third-party patent, which might adversely affect our ability to develop and market our products.

We cannot guarantee that any of our patent searches or analyses, including the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending application in the

 

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United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our current and future product candidates in any jurisdiction.

The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent and the patent’s prosecution history. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to market our products. We may incorrectly determine that our products are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, and our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our products.

Third-party claims or litigation alleging infringement of patents or other proprietary rights, or seeking to invalidate our patents or other proprietary rights, may delay or prevent the development and commercialization of OC-01, OC-02, and any future product candidate.

Our commercial success depends in part on our avoiding infringement and other violations of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including patent infringement lawsuits, interferences, derivation, and administrative law proceedings, inter partes review, and post-grant review before the USPTO, as well as oppositions and similar processes in foreign jurisdictions. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we and our collaborators are developing product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, and as we gain greater visibility and market exposure as a public company, the risk increases that our product candidates or other business activities may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent and other proprietary rights of third parties. Third parties may assert that we are infringing their patents or employing their proprietary technology without authorization.

Also, there may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our current and future product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications which may later result in issued patents that our current or future product candidates may infringe.

We are aware of three issued U.S. patents owned by Pfizer (U.S. Pat. Nos.: 7,265,119 (the ‘119), 6,890,927 (the ‘927) and 6,410,550 (the ‘550)) that Pfizer has listed in the Orange Book as covering its varenicline tartrate product, which is marketed as Chantix as an aid to smoking cessation treatment. Certain claims of these three patents are directed toward the compound varenicline tartrate and related salts thereof, and therefore may be relevant to our candidate OC-01. Of the three issued patents, we anticipate that only the ‘119 and the ‘927 will be in force at the time that we could expect to receive FDA approval of OC-01 and on October 18, 2019, we entered into a non-exclusive patent license for these patents. The ‘550 is listed in the Orange Book as expiring May 10, 2020, with pediatric exclusivity expiring November 10, 2020, and based on our current development plans, we anticipate that both the patent and pediatric exclusivity associated with the ‘550 will no longer be in force at the time of our expected FDA approval. However, even with the aforementioned license, we cannot provide assurances that third parties won’t allege infringement, which could delay or prevent the development and commercialization of OC-01 or other product candidates.

In addition, third parties may obtain patent rights in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon their rights. If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the

 

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manufacturing process of any of our product candidates, any molecules formed during the manufacturing process, methods of treating certain diseases or conditions that we are pursuing with our product candidates, our formulations including combination therapies, or any final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize such product candidate unless we obtained a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may be subject to claims that we are infringing other intellectual property rights, such as trademarks or copyrights, or misappropriating the trade secrets of others, and to the extent that our employees, consultants or contractors use intellectual property or proprietary information owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.

Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our current and future product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful infringement or other intellectual property claim against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties or redesign our affected products, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. We cannot predict whether any such license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms. Furthermore, even in the absence of litigation, we may need to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our product candidates, and we have done so from time to time. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly. We cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist which might be enforced against our product candidates, resulting in either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties or other forms of compensation to third parties.

During the course of any intellectual property litigation, there could be public announcements of the initiation of the litigation as well as results of hearings, rulings on motions, and other interim proceedings in the litigation. If securities analysts or investors regard these announcements as negative, the perceived value of our existing products, programs or intellectual property could be diminished. Accordingly, the market price of shares of our common stock may decline. Such announcements could also harm our reputation or the market for our future products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents, the patents of any licensors or our other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe or otherwise violate our patents, the patents of our licensors or our other intellectual property rights. To counter infringement or unauthorized use or misappropriations, we may be required to file legal claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that one or more patent of ours or any of our current or future licensors is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing. The initiation of a claim against a third party may also cause the third party to bring counter claims against us such as claims asserting that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory

 

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requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, non-enablement or lack of statutory subject matter. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant material information from the USPTO, or made a materially misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar validity claims before the USPTO in post-grant proceedings such as ex parte reexaminations, inter partes review, or post-grant review, or oppositions or similar proceedings outside the United States, in parallel with litigation or even outside the context of litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. We cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. For any patents and patent applications that we license from third parties, we may have limited or no right to participate in the defense of such licensed patents against challenge by a third party. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on our current or future product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could harm our business.

We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the United States Our business could be harmed if in litigation the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Any litigation or other proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights may fail, and even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees.

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 an adverse effect on the price of our common shares.

Because of the expense and uncertainty of litigation, we may not be in a position to enforce our intellectual property rights against third parties.

Because of the expense and uncertainty of litigation, we may conclude that even if a third party is infringing our patents, in-licensed patents, any patents that may be issued as a result of our present or future patent applications, or other intellectual property rights, the risk-adjusted cost of bringing and enforcing such a claim or action may be too high or not in the best interest of our company or our stockholders. In such cases, we may decide that the more prudent course of action is to simply monitor the situation or initiate or seek some other non-litigious action or solution.

Changes in U.S. patent law or the patent law of other countries or jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.

The United States has enacted and implemented wide-ranging patent reform legislation. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on actions by Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we have licensed or that we might obtain in the future. Similarly, changes in patent law and regulations in other countries or jurisdictions or changes in the governmental bodies that enforce them or changes in how the relevant governmental authority enforces patent laws or regulations may weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we have licensed or that we may obtain in the future.

 

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We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world, which could impair our business.

Filing, prosecuting, and defending patents covering OC-01, OC-02 and any future product candidate throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. 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 may have or obtain patent protection, but where patent enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These unauthorized products may compete with our products in such jurisdictions and take away our market share where we do not have any issued or licensed patents and any future patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from so competing.

Our future reliance on third parties may require 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 expect to rely on third parties to manufacture OC-01, OC-02 and any future product candidates, and we expect to collaborate with third parties on the continuing development of OC-01, OC-02 and any future product candidates, we must, at times, share trade secrets with them. We also expect to conduct R&D programs that may require us to share trade secrets under the terms of our partnerships or agreements with CROs. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into agreements containing confidentiality and use restrictions and obligations, including material transfer agreements, consulting agreements, manufacturing and supply agreements, confidentiality agreements or other similar agreements with our advisors, employees, contractors, CMOs, CROs, other service providers and consultants prior to 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. Given that our proprietary position is based, in part, on our know-how and trade secrets, a competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

In addition, these agreements typically restrict the ability of our advisors, employees, third-party contractors CMOs, CROs, other service providers and consultants to publish data potentially relating to our trade secrets, although our agreements may contain certain limited publication rights. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, our competitors may discover our trade secrets, either through breach of our agreements with third parties, 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.

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of their former employers or other third parties.

We employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, or at research institutions. Although we seek to protect our ownership of intellectual property rights by ensuring that our agreements with our employees, collaborators, and other third parties with whom we do business include provisions requiring such parties to assign rights in inventions to us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information of our employees’ former employers or other third parties. We may also be subject to

 

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claims that former employers or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and if we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. The following examples are illustrative:

 

 

others may be able to make formulations or compositions that are the same as or similar to our current and future product candidates, but that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we own;

 

 

others may be able to make product that is similar to our current and future product candidates we intend to commercialize that is not covered by the patents that we exclusively licensed and have the right to enforce;

 

 

we, any of our future licensors or collaborators might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patents or pending patent applications that we own;

 

 

we or any of our future licensor might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our inventions;

 

 

others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing our intellectual property rights;

 

 

it is possible that our future patent applications will not lead to issued patents;

 

 

issued patents that we own may not provide us with any competitive advantages, or may be held invalid or unenforceable as a result of legal challenges;

 

 

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 we do not have patent rights, and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets; and

 

 

we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable.

Any collaboration or partnership arrangements that we may enter into in the future may not be successful, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our products.

Any future collaborations that we enter into may not be successful. The success of our collaboration arrangements will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators. Collaborations are subject to numerous risks, which may include that:

 

 

collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to collaborations;

 

 

collaborators may not pursue development and commercialization of our products or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on trial or test results, changes in their strategic focus due to the acquisition of competitive products, availability of funding or other external factors, such as a business combination that diverts resources or creates competing priorities;

 

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collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our current and future product candidates;

 

 

a collaborator with marketing, manufacturing and distribution rights to one or more products may not commit sufficient resources to or otherwise not perform satisfactorily in carrying out these activities;

 

 

we could grant exclusive rights to our collaborators that would prevent us from collaborating with others;

 

 

collaborators may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our intellectual property or proprietary information in a way that gives rise to actual or threatened litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to potential liability;

 

 

disputes may arise between us and a collaborator that causes the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of our current or future products or that results in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management attention and resources;

 

 

collaborations may be terminated, and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable current or future products;

 

 

collaborators may own or co-own intellectual property covering our products that results from our collaborating with them, and in such cases, we would not have the exclusive right to develop or commercialize such intellectual property;

 

 

a collaborator’s sales and marketing activities or other operations may not be in compliance with applicable laws resulting in civil or criminal proceedings; and

 

 

a collaborator’s operations may be materially adversely impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If our future 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.

We intend to use registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names to brand and market ourselves and our products. Our 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 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. We may license our trademarks and trade names to third parties, such as distributors. Though these license agreements may provide guidelines for how our trademarks and trade names may be used, a breach of these agreements or misuse of our trademarks and tradenames by our licensees may jeopardize our rights in or diminish the goodwill associated with our trademarks and trade names. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade names, 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 affect our business, growth prospects, operating results and financial condition.

 

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If we fail to comply with our obligations under any license, collaboration or other agreements, including our license agreement with Pfizer, such agreements may be terminated, we may be required to pay damages and we could lose intellectual property rights that are necessary for developing and protecting our product candidates.

We currently and may in the future license from third parties certain intellectual property relating to current and future product candidates. If we breach any material obligations, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our operations, or use the intellectual property licensed to us in an unauthorized manner, we may be required to pay damages and the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, which could result in us being unable to develop, manufacture, and sell products that are covered by the licensed technology or enable a competitor to gain access to the licensed technology. Specifically, our license agreement with Pfizer can be terminated by Pfizer upon 60 days’ written notice for our uncured material breach or 30 days following non-payment or immediately upon our insolvency.

Disputes may arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:

 

 

the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;

 

 

whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;

 

 

our right to sublicense patents and other rights to third parties;

 

 

our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development and commercialization of our product candidates, and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;

 

 

our right to transfer or assign the license; and

 

 

the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by any of our licensors and us and our partners.

If disputes over intellectual property that we license prevent or impair our ability to maintain our licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, certain of our current or future agreements with third parties may limit or delay our ability to consummate certain transactions, may impact the value of those transactions, or may limit our ability to pursue certain activities.

Further, we or our current or future licensors, if any, may fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of development and commercialization activities before it is too late to obtain patent protection on them. Therefore, we may miss potential opportunities to strengthen our patent position. It is possible that defects of form in the preparation or filing of our patents or patent applications may exist, or may arise in the future, for example with respect to proper priority claims, inventorship, claim scope, or requests for patent term adjustments. If we or our current or future licensors fail to establish, maintain or protect such patents and other intellectual property rights, including due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our licensors’ business operations, such rights may be reduced or eliminated. If our current or future licensors are not fully cooperative or disagree with us as to the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of any patent rights, such patent rights could be compromised. If there are material defects in the form, preparation, prosecution, or enforcement of our patents or patent applications, such patents may be invalid and/or unenforceable, and such applications may never result in valid, enforceable patents. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties, which may have an adverse impact on our business.

 

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In addition, even where we have the right to control patent prosecution of patents and patent applications under a license from third parties, we may still be adversely affected or prejudiced by actions or inactions of our predecessors or licensors and their counsel that took place prior to us assuming control over patent prosecution.

Our acquired technologies and current or future licensed technology may be subject to retained rights. Our predecessors or licensors may retain certain rights under their agreements with us, including the right to use the underlying technology for noncommercial academic and research use, to publish general scientific findings from research related to the technology, and to make customary scientific and scholarly disclosures of information relating to the technology. It is difficult to monitor whether our predecessors or future licensors limit their use of the technology to these uses, and we could incur substantial expenses to enforce our rights to our licensed technology in the event of misuse.

If we are limited in our ability to utilize acquired technologies or current or future licensed technologies, or if we lose our rights to critical acquired or in-licensed technology, we may be unable to successfully develop, out-license, market and sell our products, which could prevent or delay new product introductions. Our business strategy depends on the successful development of acquired technologies, and current or future licensed technology, into commercial products. Therefore, any limitations on our ability to utilize these technologies may impair our ability to develop, out-license or market and sell our product candidates.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

If the FDA does not conclude that OC-01 satisfies the requirements under Section 505(b)(2) of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), or if the requirements for such product candidates under Section 505(b)(2) are not as we expect, the approval pathway for those product candidates may take longer, cost more or entail greater complications and risks than anticipated, and may not be successful.

We intend to seek FDA approval through the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for OC-01. Section 505(b)(2) of the FFDCA permits the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) where some or all of the data required for approval comes from studies not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. Our ability to rely on certain of the FDA’s findings of safety and effectiveness in approval of another NDA or on studies published in the scientific literature will depend on our ability to demonstrate the relevance to OC-01.

In particular, we conducted ZEN, a comparative pharmacokinetic “bridge” trial, to evaluate the relative bioavailability of varenicline administered as a nasal spray (OC-01) compared to varenicline administered orally (Chantix) in order to reference certain FDA conclusions regarding the safety of varenicline from the Agency’s review of the Chantix NDA. If the FDA does not accept or disagrees with our conclusions from ZEN or the data required for approval of our Section 505(b)(2) NDA are different than anticipated, we may be required to conduct additional development activities or studies or provide additional data and information to pursue the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway on our proposed timeline. Such delays could result in new competitive products reaching the market faster than OC-01, which could materially adversely impact our competitive position and growth prospects.

The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable. If we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will be unable to generate product revenue and our business will be substantially harmed.

The time required to obtain approval by the FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable, typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon

 

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numerous factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. In addition, approval policies, regulations or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions, which may cause delays in the approval or the decision not to approve an application. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other data. Even if we eventually complete clinical testing and receive approval of any regulatory filing for our product candidates, the FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may approve our product candidates for a more limited indication or a narrower patient population than we originally requested. For example, the fact that OC-01 did not achieve certain secondary endpoints in ONSET-2 could have an adverse effect on our ability to obtain our desired label for OC-01, if approved. We have not submitted for, or obtained, regulatory approval for any product candidate, and it is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.

Further, development of our product candidates and/or regulatory approval may be delayed for reasons beyond our control. For example, a U.S. federal government shutdown or budget sequestration, such as ones that occurred during 2013, 2018 and 2019, or diversion of resources to currently handle the COVID-19 public health emergency and pandemic may result in significant reductions to the FDA’s budget, employees and operations, which may lead to slower response times and longer review periods, potentially affecting our ability to progress development of our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 may cause the FDA to allocate additional resources to product candidates focused on treating related illnesses, which could lead to longer approval processes for our product candidates. Finally, our competitors may file citizens’ petitions with the FDA in an attempt to persuade the FDA that our product candidates, or the clinical trials that support their approval, contain deficiencies. Such actions by our competitors could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving any of our NDAs.

Applications for our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

 

 

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

 

 

the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may determine that our product candidates are not safe and effective, only moderately effective or have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use;

 

 

the population studied in the clinical trial may not be sufficiently broad or representative to assure efficacy and safety in the full population for which we seek approval;

 

 

the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;

 

 

the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of an NDA, or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere;

 

 

we may be unable to demonstrate to the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate’s risk-benefit ratio for its proposed indication is acceptable;

 

 

the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes, test procedures and specifications or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and

 

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

This lengthy approval process, as well as the unpredictability of the results of clinical trials, may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval to market any of our product candidates, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

We may face difficulties from changes to current regulations and future legislation.

In the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes to the healthcare system that could affect our future results of operations. Existing regulatory policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (or collectively, the ACA), was passed, which substantially changes the way healthcare is financed by both the government and private insurers, and significantly impacts the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. There remain judicial, Congressional and executive branch challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, as well as efforts by the Trump administration to repeal or replace certain aspects of the ACA. Since January 2017, President Trump has signed Executive Orders and other directives designed to delay the implementation of certain provisions of the ACA or otherwise circumvent some of the requirements for health insurance mandated by the ACA. Concurrently, Congress has considered legislation that would repeal or repeal and replace all or part of the ACA. While Congress has not passed comprehensive repeal legislation, several bills affecting the implementation of certain taxes under the ACA have passed. On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law federal tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Tax Act), which includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the ACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” The 2020 federal spending package permanently eliminated, effective January 1, 2020, the ACA-mandated “Cadillac” tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage and medical device tax and, effective January 1, 2021, also eliminates the health insurer tax. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, among other things, amended the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, to close the coverage gap in most Medicare Part D drug plans. In December 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule permitting further collections and payments to and from certain ACA-qualified health plans and health insurance issuers under the ACA risk adjustment program in response to the outcome of federal district court litigation regarding the method CMS uses to determine this risk adjustment.

On December 14, 2018, a Texas U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the “individual mandate” was repealed by Congress as part of the Tax Act. Additionally, on December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the District Court ruling that the individual mandate was unconstitutional and remanded the case back to the District Court to determine whether the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. On March 2, 2020, the United States Supreme Court granted the petitions for writs of certiorari to review this case, although it is unclear when the Supreme Court will make a decision. It is also unclear how such litigation and other efforts to repeal and replace the ACA will impact the ACA and our business.

 

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In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. These changes included aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year, effective April 1, 2013, which, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will stay in effect through 2029 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was signed into law on March 27, 2020, designed to provide financial support and resources to individuals and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, suspended the 2% Medicare sequester from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020, and extended the sequester by one year, through 2030. In January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several providers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. These new laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, which could have a material adverse effect on customers for our product candidates, if approved, and accordingly, our financial operations.

Moreover, payment methodologies may be subject to changes in healthcare legislation and regulatory initiatives. There has been heightened governmental scrutiny recently over the manner in which drug manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. For example, at the federal level, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for the fiscal year 2021 includes a $135 billion allowance to support legislative proposals seeking to reduce drug prices, increase competition, lower out-of-pocket drug costs for patients and increase patient access to lower-cost generic and biosimilar drugs. On March 10, 2020, the Trump administration sent “principles” for drug pricing to Congress, calling for legislation that would, among other things, cap Medicare Part D beneficiary out-of-pocket pharmacy expenses, provide an option to cap Medicare Part D beneficiary monthly out-of-pocket expenses and place limits on pharmaceutical price increases. In addition, the Trump administration previously released a “Blueprint” to lower drug prices and reduce out-of-pocket costs of prescription drugs that contained proposals to increase manufacturer competition, increase the negotiating power of certain federal healthcare programs, incentivize manufacturers to lower the list price of their products and reduce the out-of-pocket costs of drug products paid by consumers. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has solicited feedback on some of these measures and, at the same time, has implemented others under its existing authority. For example, in May 2019, CMS issued a final rule to allow Medicare Advantage plans the option to use step therapy for Part B drugs beginning January 1, 2020. This final rule codified CMS’s policy change that was effective January 1, 2019. While some of these and other measures may require additional authorization to become effective, Congress and the Trump administration have each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

We expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. It is possible that additional governmental action is taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our product candidates.

 

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In the European Union, similar political, economic and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize our product candidates, if approved. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the European Union or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs. The delivery of healthcare in the European Union, including the establishment and operation of health services and the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than EU, law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of health care and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. In general, however, the healthcare budgetary constraints in most EU member states have resulted in restrictions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines by relevant health service providers. Coupled with ever-increasing EU and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved.

Legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for biotechnology products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by Congress of the FDA approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.

Our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial collaborators, principal investigators, CROs, suppliers and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial collaborators, principal investigators, CROs, suppliers and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities. Misconduct by these parties could include failures to comply with FDA regulations, provide accurate information to the FDA, comply with federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws and regulations, comply with data privacy and security laws and accurately report financial information or data or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the health care 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. Misconduct by these parties 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. Although we have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics with respect to our employees, agents and contractors, it is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by these parties, 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. Additionally, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, 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 penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations.

 

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If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We and any contract manufacturers and suppliers we engage are subject to numerous federal, state, and local environmental, health, and safety laws, regulations, and permitting requirements, including those governing laboratory procedures; the generation, handling, use, storage, treatment, and disposal of hazardous and regulated materials and wastes; the emission and discharge of hazardous materials into the ground, air, and water; and employee health and safety. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological and radioactive materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. Under certain environmental laws, we could be held responsible for costs relating to any contamination at our current or past facilities and at third-party facilities. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties.

Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, product development and manufacturing efforts. In addition, we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials or waste. Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not currently maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials. Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for damages or be penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory approvals could be suspended, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or commercialization efforts. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions. The FDA, EMA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from trials conducted in locations outside of their jurisdiction.

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction. For example, even if the FDA or EMA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion and reimbursement of the product candidate in those countries. However, a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.

 

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Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and establishing and maintaining compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we or any future collaborator fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets or fail to receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.

In addition, we may choose to conduct international clinical trials. The acceptance of study data by the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authority from clinical trials conducted outside of their respective jurisdictions may be subject to certain conditions. In cases where data from foreign clinical trials are intended to serve as the basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (1) the data are applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice; (2) the trials are performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence and pursuant to GCP regulations; and (3) audits by regulatory authorities of the clinical data do not identify significant data integrity issues. Additionally, the FDA’s clinical trial requirements, including the adequacy of the patient population studied and statistical powering, must be met. In addition, such foreign trials are subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA, EMA or any applicable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of its applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA, EMA or any applicable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay aspects of our business plan, and which may result in our product candidates not receiving approval or clearance for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction.

Our business activities may be subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws of other countries in which we operate, as well as U.S. and certain foreign export controls, trade sanctions, and import laws and regulations. Compliance with these legal requirements could limit our ability to compete in foreign markets and subject us to liability if we violate them.

We recently completed a trial and may plan to initiate additional trials in countries other than the United States. Our business activities may be subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, regulations or rules of other countries in which we operate. The FCPA generally prohibits offering, promising, giving or authorizing others to give anything of value, either directly or indirectly, to a non-U.S. government official in order to influence official action or otherwise obtain or retain business. The FCPA also requires public companies to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials, including officials of non-U.S. governments. Additionally, in many other countries, the healthcare providers, including ECPs, who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, our dealings with these prescribers and purchasers are subject to regulation under the FCPA. Recently the SEC and Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents or contractors, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, the closing down of our facilities, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international activities, our ability to attract and retain employees and our business, growth prospects, operating results and financial condition.

 

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In addition, our products may be subject to U.S. and foreign export controls, trade sanctions and import laws and regulations. Governmental regulation of the import or export of our products, or our failure to obtain any required import or export authorization for our products, when applicable, could harm our international sales and adversely affect our revenue. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our products may create delays in the introduction of our products in international markets or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products to some countries altogether. Furthermore, U.S. export control laws and economic sanctions prohibit the shipment of certain products and services to countries, governments, and persons targeted by U.S. sanctions. If we fail to comply with export and import regulations and such economic sanctions, we may be fined or other penalties could be imposed, including a denial of certain export privileges. Moreover, any new export or import restrictions, new legislation or shifting approaches in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or in the countries, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our products by, or in our decreased ability to export our products to existing or potential customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our products or limitation on our ability to export or sell access to our products would likely adversely affect our business.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses.

If any of our product candidates are approved and we are found to have improperly promoted off-label uses of those products, we may become subject to significant liability. The FDA and other regulatory agencies strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products, such as our product candidates, if approved. In particular, a product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. For example, if we receive marketing approval for OC-01 as a treatment for the signs and symptoms of DED, physicians may nevertheless, in their independent medical judgment, prescribe legally available products for their patients in a manner that is inconsistent with the approved label. The FDA does not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatments but the FDA does restrict manufacturer’s communications on the subject of off-label use of their products. If we are found to have promoted such off-label uses, we may become subject to significant liability. The U.S. federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion of off-label use and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. The FDA has also required that companies enter into consent decrees or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct is changed or curtailed. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion of our product candidates, if approved, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business, growth prospects, operating results and financial condition.

Disruptions at the FDA, the SEC and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, and other events that may otherwise affect the FDA’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the FDA have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other government agencies on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.

 

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Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, in recent years, including in 2013, 2018 and 2019, the U.S. government shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical FDA, SEC and other government employees and stop critical activities.

Separately, in response to the global pandemic of COVID-19, on March 10, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to postpone most foreign inspections of manufacturing facilities and products through April 2020, and subsequently, on March 18, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to temporarily postpone routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, in our operations as a public company, future government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.

Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

Our operations, and those of our CROs, CMOs, suppliers, and other contractors and consultants, could be subject to wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, power shortages or outages, floods or monsoons, public health crises, such as pandemics, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war (including trade wars), political instability or other conflict, and other natural or man-made disasters or other events outside of our control that can disrupt business. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. For example, we rely on third-party manufacturers to produce and process our product candidates. Our ability to obtain supplies of our product candidates or other necessary supplies could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers are affected by a man-made or natural disaster or other business interruption. All of our operations including our corporate headquarters are located in a single location in Princeton, New Jersey. Damage or extended periods of interruption to our corporate, development or research facilities due to fire, natural disaster, power loss, communications failure, unauthorized entry or other events could cause us to cease or delay development of some or all of our product candidates. Although we maintain property damage and business interruption insurance coverage on these facilities, our insurance might not cover all losses under such circumstances and our business may be seriously harmed by such delays and interruption.

Our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans could be adversely affected by the effects of health epidemics, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans could be adversely affected by health epidemics in regions where we have concentrations of clinical trial sites or other business operations, and could cause significant disruption in the operations of CROs upon whom we rely. In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causing the Coronavirus Disease 2019, also known as COVID-19, was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan. Since then, COVID-19 has spread to multiple countries worldwide, including the United States, where we have planned and ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. The pandemic and government measures taken in response have also had a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses and commerce, as worker shortages have occurred, supply chains have been disrupted, facilities and production have been suspended and demand for certain goods and services has fallen.

 

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The President of the United States has declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, invoking powers under the Stafford Act, the legislation that directs federal emergency disaster response and powers under the Defense Production Act, the legislation that facilitates the production of goods and services necessary for national security and for other purposes. In addition, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many state, local and foreign governments have put in place, and others in the future may put in place, quarantines, executive orders, shelter-in-place orders and similar government orders and restrictions in order to control the spread of the disease. Such orders or restrictions, and the perception that such orders or restrictions could occur, have resulted in business closures, work stoppages, slowdowns and delays, work-from-home policies, travel restrictions and cancellation of events, among other effects that could negatively impact productivity and disrupt our business and operations. For example, our headquarters and certain of our trial sites are located in New Jersey, and in March 2020, the Governor of New Jersey announced that all businesses, excluding essential services, must decrease their in-office workforce by 100%. We have implemented a work-from-home policy for all employees, and we may take further actions that alter our operations as may be required by federal, state or local authorities, or which we determine are in the best interests of our employees. Moreover, our clinical development timelines and plans could be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Site initiation and patient enrollment could be delayed or suspended due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, some patients may not be able to comply with clinical trial protocols and the ability to conduct follow up visits with treated patients may be limited if quarantines impede patient movement or interrupt healthcare services. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, select clinical trial sites in our ONSET-2 clinical trial were closed and subjects were unable to attend visits per the trial protocol, which reduced the number of patients for which we collected data on with respect to our primary and secondary endpoints. In addition, due to COVID-19, a number of clinical trial sites for ONSET-2 did not feel comfortable putting their staff or subjects into a CAE, which limited our ability to assess the related secondary endpoint for those subjects, which we believe contributed to not achieving certain secondary endpoints in ONSET-2. We cannot assure you that the inability to collect such data would not have an adverse impact on our clinical trial results. Similarly, our ability to recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to COVID-19 could be adversely impacted.

If COVID-19 continues to spread in the United States and elsewhere, we may experience disruptions that could severely impact our business, preclinical studies, and clinical trials, including:

 

 

delays in receiving approval from local regulatory authorities to initiate our planned clinical trials;

 

 

delays or difficulties in enrolling and retaining patients in our clinical trials;

 

 

delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including difficulties in recruiting clinical site investigators and clinical site staff;

 

 

delays in clinical sites receiving the supplies and materials needed to conduct our clinical trials, including interruption in global shipping that may affect the transport of clinical trial materials;

 

 

changes in local regulations as part of a response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic which may require us to change the ways in which our clinical trials are conducted, which may result in unexpected costs, or to discontinue the clinical trials altogether;

 

 

diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials;

 

 

interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others, or interruption of clinical trial subject visits and study procedures, the occurrence of which could affect the integrity of clinical trial data;

 

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risk that participants enrolled in our clinical trials will acquire COVID-19 while the clinical trial is ongoing, which could impact the results of the clinical trial, including by increasing the number of observed adverse events;

 

 

interruptions or delays in preclinical studies due to restricted or limited operations at our research and development laboratory facility;

 

 

delays in necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or forced furlough of government employees;

 

 

limitations in employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our clinical trials, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people;

 

 

refusal of the FDA to accept data from clinical trials in affected geographies; and

 

 

interruption or delays to our sourced discovery and clinical activities.

Further, the spread of COVID-19, which has caused a broad impact globally, may materially affect us economically. While the potential economic impact brought by and the duration of COVID-19 may be difficult to assess or predict, a widespread pandemic could result in significant disruption of global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and the value of our common stock.

The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve, and we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of the potential impacts on our business, our clinical trials, healthcare systems or the global economy as a whole.

Changes in U.S. tax law may materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law to address the COVID-19 crisis. The CARES Act is an approximately $2 trillion emergency economic stimulus package that includes numerous U.S. federal income tax provisions, including the modification of: (i) net operating loss rules (as discussed below), (ii) the alternative minimum tax refund and (iii) business interest deduction limitations under Section 163(j) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code).

The Tax Act also significantly changed the U.S. federal income taxation of U.S. corporations. The Tax Act remains unclear in many respects and has been, and may continue to be, the subject of amendments and technical corrections, as well as interpretations and implementing regulations by the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (the IRS), which have lessened or increased certain adverse impacts of the Tax Act and may continue to do so in the future. In addition, it is unclear how these U.S. federal income tax changes will affect state and local taxation, which often uses federal taxable income as a starting point for computing state and local tax liabilities. We continue to work with our tax advisors to determine the full impact the Tax Act and the CARES Act will have on us. We urge our investors to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to both the Tax Act and the CARES Act and the potential tax consequences of investing in our common stock.

 

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Risks Related to Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research and studies.

We do not have the ability to independently conduct our clinical trials. We currently rely on third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct our current and planned clinical trials of OC-01 and OC-02, and we expect to continue to rely upon third parties to conduct additional clinical trials of OC-01, OC-02 and potential future product candidates. Third parties have a significant role in the conduct of our clinical trials and the subsequent collection and analysis of data. These third parties are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such third party, we have limited ability to control the amount or timing of resources that any such third party will devote to our clinical trials. Some of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements with a third party, it would delay our development activities.

Our reliance on these third parties for such development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For example, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with GCP standards, regulations for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. The EMA also requires us to comply with similar standards. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCP requirements, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under current cGMP regulations. Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the marketing approval process. We also are required to register certain ongoing clinical trials and post the results of certain completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.

The third parties we rely on for these services may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors. In addition, the operations of our CROS and other third-party service providers may be constrained or disrupted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for our product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our product candidates.

We contract with third parties for the production of our product candidates for preclinical studies and our ongoing clinical trials, and expect to continue to do so for additional clinical trials and ultimately for commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

We do not currently have the infrastructure or internal capability to manufacture supplies of our product candidates for use in development and commercialization. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third-party manufacturers for the production of our product candidates for preclinical studies and clinical trials

 

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under the guidance of members of our organization. We do not have long-term supply agreements. If we were to experience an unexpected loss of supply of OC-01, OC-02 or any of our future product candidates for any reason, whether as a result of manufacturing, supply or storage issues or otherwise, we could experience delays, disruptions, suspensions or terminations of, or be required to restart or repeat, any pending or ongoing clinical trials.

We expect to continue to rely on third-party manufacturers for the commercial supply of any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. We may be unable to maintain or establish required agreements with third-party manufacturers or to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including:

 

 

the failure of the third party to manufacture our product candidates according to our schedule, or at all, including if our third-party contractors give greater priority to the supply of other products over our product candidates, are constrained by the recent COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise do not satisfactorily perform according to the terms of the agreements between us and them;

 

 

the termination or nonrenewal of arrangements or agreements by our third-party contractors at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us;

 

 

the breach by the third-party contractors of our agreements with them;

 

 

the failure of third-party contractors to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, including manufacturing drug supply pursuant to strictly enforced cGMPs;

 

 

the failure of the third party to manufacture our product candidates according to our specifications;

 

 

the mislabeling of clinical supplies, potentially resulting in the wrong dose amounts being supplied or active drug or placebo not being properly identified;

 

 

clinical supplies not being delivered to clinical sites on time, leading to clinical trial interruptions, or of drug supplies not being distributed to commercial vendors in a timely manner, resulting in lost sales; and

 

 

the misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how.

We do not have complete control over all aspects of the manufacturing process of, and are dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with cGMP regulations for manufacturing both active drug substances and finished drug products. Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside of the United States. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA, EMA or others, they will not be able to secure and/or maintain marketing approval for their manufacturing facilities. In addition, we do not have control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA, EMA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain marketing approval for or market our product candidates, if approved. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of our product candidates, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our product candidates and harm our business and results of operations.

 

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We currently rely on single source manufacturers and suppliers for the supply of OC-01 and OC-02. If we decide to move to different or add additional manufacturers and suppliers in the future, any such transition or addition would require significant efforts in testing and validating the manufacturing and formulation process and could result in delays or other issues, which could have an adverse effect on the supply of our product candidates.

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 commercialize any product candidates that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.

We may pursue collaborations with third parties for the development or commercialization of our product candidates. If we decide to pursue collaborations, but are not able to establish those collaborations on commercially reasonable terms, we may have to alter our development and commercialization plans. If we do enter into collaborations that are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of these product candidates.

Our development programs and the potential commercialization of our product candidates will require substantial additional cash to fund expenses. We may seek to selectively form collaborations to expand our capabilities, potentially accelerate research and development activities and provide for commercialization activities by third parties. Any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders, or disrupt our management and business.

We would face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, the potential market for the subject product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of competing drugs, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of intellectual property and industry and market conditions generally. The potential collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our product candidate. Further, we may not be successful in our efforts to establish a collaboration or other alternative arrangements for future product candidates because they may be deemed to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort and third parties may not view them as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy.

In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators. Even if we are successful in entering into a collaboration, the terms and conditions of that collaboration may restrict us from entering into future agreements on certain terms with potential collaborators.

If and when we seek to enter into collaborations, we may not be able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of a product candidate, reduce or delay its development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales and marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not

 

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have sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.

Our business operations and current and future relationships with healthcare professionals, clinical investigators, consultants, patient organizations, customers, CROs and third party payors in connection with our current and future business activities may be subject to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, transparency laws, government price reporting, and health information privacy and security laws, which could expose us to, among other things, criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, exclusion from governmental healthcare programs, reputational harm, administrative burdens and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers and third-party payors play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, including ECPs, clinical investigators, CROs, third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we research, market, sell and distribute our products for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations include the following:

 

 

the federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, persons and entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service, for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid;

 

 

the federal civil and criminal false claims, including the civil False Claims Act, which can be enforced by private citizens through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, and civil monetary penalties laws, prohibit individuals or entities from, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government;

 

 

the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) prohibits, among other things, executing or attempting to execute a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters;

 

 

HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and their implementing regulations, also imposes obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, on certain covered healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses as well as their respective business associates that perform services for them that involve the use, or disclosure of, individually identifiable health information, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information;

 

 

federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers;

 

 

the FDCA, which prohibits, among other things, the adulteration or misbranding of drugs, biologics and medical devices;

 

 

the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires applicable manufacturers of covered drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, with specific exceptions, to annually report to CMS information regarding

 

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payments and other transfers of value to physicians, as defined by such law, and teaching hospitals as well as information regarding ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Additionally, beginning in 2022 for payments made in 2021, manufacturers’ reporting requirements will extend to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other mid-level practitioners. The information reported is publicly available on a searchable website, with disclosure required annually; and

 

 

analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, may apply to sales and marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers.

Some state laws require biotechnology companies to comply with the biotechnology industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government and may require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures. Some state laws require biotechnology companies to report information on the pricing of certain drug products. In addition, certain state and local laws require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives. State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts. For instance, the collection and use of health data in the European Union is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which extends the geographical scope of EU data protection law to non-EU entities under certain conditions, tightens existing EU data protection principles, creates new obligations for companies and new rights for individuals. Failure to comply with the GDPR may result in substantial fines and other administrative penalties. The GDPR may increase our responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the GDPR. This may be onerous and if our efforts to comply with GDPR or other applicable EU laws and regulations are not successful, it could adversely affect our business in the European Union.

Efforts to ensure that our current and future business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve on-going substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices, including the provision of stock options as compensation for consulting services to physicians and other healthcare providers, some of whom may be in a position to recommend, purchase and/or prescribe our product candidates, if approved, may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations 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 these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid or similar programs in other countries or jurisdictions, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming and may require significant financial and personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired. Further, if any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to significant criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

 

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Risks Related to Ownership of Common Stock and to this Offering

Even if this offering is successful, we will need substantial additional funding in the future. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, or on acceptable terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce and/or eliminate one or more of our research and development programs or future commercialization efforts.

Developing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is a very time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. Our operations have consumed significant amounts of cash since inception, and we expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue to conduct clinical trials of, and seek marketing approval for, OC-01, OC-02 and any other future product candidates. Even if one or more of the product candidates that we develop is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate. Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory agencies to perform clinical trials or preclinical studies in addition to those that we currently anticipate. Other unanticipated costs may also arise. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates, including OC-01, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. Because the design and outcome of our planned and anticipated clinical trials are highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of any product candidate we develop. In addition, we have incurred and will continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in order to maintain our continuing operations.

As of March 31, 2020, we had $128.6 million in cash and cash equivalents. We estimate that our net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $81.1 million or approximately $93.4 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, assuming a public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Although we believe that the estimated net proceeds from this offering, together with our available cash and cash equivalents, will be sufficient to fund our planned operations for at least 18 months following the date of this offering, this belief is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Changing circumstances, some of which may be beyond our control, could cause us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned.

We plan to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund the development of OC-01 and OC-02 and prepare for the commercialization of OC-01, including the initial build-out of a specialty sales organization, and to fund general research and development activities, working capital and other general corporate activities. Advancing the development of OC-01, OC-02 and any other future product candidates will require a significant amount of capital. The net proceeds from this offering and our existing cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to fund all of the activities that are necessary to complete the development of OC-01, OC-02 and any other future product candidates. We will continue to require additional capital to develop our product candidates and fund operations for the foreseeable future. We may seek to raise capital through private or public equity or debt financings, collaborative or other arrangements with corporate sources, or through other sources of financing, which may dilute our stockholders or restrict our operating activities. The amount of additional capital we will need to raise will depend on many factors, including:

 

 

the scope, timing, rate of progress and costs of our drug discovery efforts, preclinical development activities, laboratory testing and clinical trials for our product candidates;

 

 

the number and scope of clinical programs we decide to pursue;

 

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the cost, timing and outcome of preparing for and undergoing regulatory review of our product candidates;

 

 

the scope and costs of development and commercial manufacturing activities;

 

 

the cost and timing associated with commercializing our product candidates, if they receive marketing approval;

 

 

the extent to which we acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

 

 

the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims;

 

 

our ability to establish and maintain collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;

 

 

our efforts to enhance operational systems and our ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel, including personnel to support the development of our product candidates and, ultimately, the sale of our products, following FDA approval;

 

 

our implementation of operational, financial and management systems; and

 

 

the costs associated with being a public company.

We do not have any committed external source of funds. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed or on acceptable terms would have a negative impact on our business, growth prospects, operating results and financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategy, and we may have to delay, reduce the scope of, suspend or eliminate one or more of our research-stage programs, clinical trials or future commercialization efforts.

An active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained.

Prior to the closing of our initial public offering, or IPO, in November 2019, there was no public trading market for our common stock. Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the market for our shares has demonstrated varying levels of trading activity. We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade or whether an active trading market will be sustained in the future. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable, may reduce the market value of your shares and may impair our ability to raise capital.

If securities or industry analysts do not continue to publish research or reports, or if they publish adverse or misleading research or reports, regarding us, our business or our market, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business or our market. If no additional securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, our stock price could be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who cover us issue adverse or misleading research or reports regarding us, our business model, our intellectual property, our stock performance or our market, or if our operating results fail to meet the expectations of analysts, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

The price of our stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

The trading price of our common stock may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which we cannot control. The stock market in general, and pharmaceutical and

 

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biotechnology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein, these factors include:

 

 

the timing and results of preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates or those of our competitors;

 

 

the success of competitive products or announcements by potential competitors of their product development efforts;

 

 

regulatory actions with respect to our products or our competitors’ products;

 

 

actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to our competitors;

 

 

regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;

 

 

developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;

 

 

the recruitment or departure of key personnel;

 

 

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

 

 

actual or anticipated changes in estimates as to financial results, development timelines or recommendations by securities analysts;

 

 

fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;

 

 

market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector;

 

 

changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;

 

 

changes or expected changes to government and such implications for the health care industry;

 

 

share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares;

 

 

announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;

 

 

sales of our common stock by us, our insiders or our other stockholders;

 

 

expiration of market stand-off or lock-up agreements; and

 

 

general economic, industry and market conditions.

The realization of any of the above risks or any of a broad range of other risks, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, could have a dramatic and adverse impact on the market price of our common stock.

You will incur immediate and substantial dilution as a result of this offering.

If you purchase common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution of $26.66 per share, representing the difference between the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and our as adjusted

 

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net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering. As of March 31, 2020, there were 3,261,499 shares subject to outstanding options with a weighted-average exercise price of $8.79 per share. To the extent that these outstanding options are ultimately exercised or the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares, you will incur further dilution. See the section titled “Dilution” for a further description of the dilution you will experience immediately after this offering.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to fall.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. After this offering, we will have 23,870,480 outstanding shares of common stock based on the number of shares outstanding as of March 31, 2020, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares and no exercise of outstanding options or vesting of outstanding restricted stock units. This includes the 2,500,000 shares that we sell in this offering, which may be resold in the public market immediately without restriction, unless purchased by our affiliates. Moreover, holders of an aggregate of 14,193,281 shares of our common stock have rights, subject to certain conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. In addition, on October 31, 2019, we filed a registration statement on Form S-8 registering 5,822,484 shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity incentive plans. As a result, shares registered under this registration statement on Form S-8 can be freely sold in the public market subject to the satisfaction of vesting arrangements and the exercise of such options, volume limitations applicable to affiliates and the lock-up agreements described below.

We and our executive officers, directors and certain stockholders have entered into lock-up agreements with the underwriters under which they have agreed, subject to specific exceptions described in the section titled “Underwriting,” not to sell, directly or indirectly, any shares of common stock without the permission of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co. for a period of 75 days, in the case of our non-employee directors and certain stockholders, and 90 days, in the case of our executive officers, following the date of this prospectus. We refer to such 75 and 90 day periods as the lock-up periods. When the lock-up periods expire, we and our securityholders subject to a lock-up agreement could sell up to 15,447,647 shares in the public market, which could cause our stock price to fall. In addition, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co. may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements at any time and for any reason prior to the expiration of the lock-up agreements. See the description of the lock-up agreement with the underwriters in the section titled “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” for more information. Sales of a substantial number of such shares upon expiration of the lock-up agreements, the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of these agreements, could cause our market price to fall or make it more difficult for you to sell your common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our product candidates on unfavorable terms to us.

We may seek additional capital through a variety of means, including through public or private equity, debt financings or other sources, including up-front payments and milestone payments from strategic collaborations. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt or equity securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a stockholder. Such financing may result in dilution to stockholders, imposition of debt covenants, increased fixed payment obligations or other restrictions that may

 

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affect our business. If we raise additional funds through up-front payments or milestone payments pursuant to strategic collaborations with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.

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

As of March 31, 2020, our executive officers, directors, holders of 5% or more of our capital stock and their respective affiliates beneficially owned approximately 72% of our voting stock and, upon the completion of this offering, that same group will beneficially own approximately 65% of our outstanding voting stock based on the number of shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, no exercise of outstanding options or vesting of outstanding restricted stock units and no purchases of shares in this offering by any member of this group of stockholders. As a result, this group of stockholders will have the ability to control us through this ownership position even if they do not purchase any additional shares in this offering. These stockholders may be able to determine all matters requiring stockholder approval. For example, these stockholders may be able to control elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents or approval of any merger, sale of assets or other major corporate transaction. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our common stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders. The interests of this group of stockholders may not always coincide with your interests or the interests of other stockholders and they may act in a manner that advances their best interests and not necessarily those of other stockholders, including seeking a premium value for their common stock, and might affect the prevailing market price for our common stock.

Participation in this offering by certain of our directors, executive officers or other affiliates would reduce the available public float of our shares.

If any of our directors, executive officers or other affiliates purchase shares in this offering, such purchases would reduce the available public float of our common stock because such purchasers would be restricted from selling such shares during the applicable lock-up period following this offering and thereafter would be subject to volume limitations pursuant to restrictions under applicable securities laws. As a result, any purchase of shares by our directors, officers or affiliates in this offering will reduce the liquidity of our common stock relative to what it would have been had these shares been purchased by investors that were not directors, officers or our other affiliates.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act). For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including:

 

 

being permitted to provide only two years of audited financial statements, in addition to any required unaudited interim financial statements, with correspondingly reduced “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” disclosure in this prospectus;

 

 

not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;

 

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not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements;

 

 

reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in this prospectus and our periodic reports and proxy statements; and

 

 

exemptions from the requirements of holding nonbinding advisory stockholder votes on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; (2) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (3) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period; and (4) December 31, 2024.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. As a result, changes in rules of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or their interpretation, the adoption of new guidance or the application of existing guidance to changes in our business could significantly affect our financial position and results of operations.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and, if our remediation of the material weaknesses is not effected in a timely manner or it is not effective or if we identify additional material weaknesses in the future, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial results, or prevent fraud, and investor confidence in our company and the market price of our shares may be adversely affected.

As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal control. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the Sarbanes-Oxley Act), requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

During 2019, in connection with the audits of our financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we identified two material weaknesses in our control over financial reporting.

First, we did not design or maintain an effective control environment commensurate with our financial reporting requirements. Specifically, we lack a sufficient number of professionals with an appropriate level of accounting knowledge, training and experience to appropriately analyze, record and disclose accounting matters timely and accurately. This material weakness contributed to an additional material weakness in that we did not design and maintain formal accounting policies, procedures and controls to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, including controls over the preparation and review of account reconciliations and journal entries.

These material weaknesses resulted in an audit adjustment to decrease operating expenses and accounts payable in the year ended December 31, 2018, and audit adjustments to the income tax footnote in the year

 

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ended December 31, 2019, that were not material. Additionally, each of the above material weaknesses could result in a misstatement of the aforementioned account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.

We have started to take some of the following steps to address the internal control deficiencies that contributed to the material weakness:

 

 

hiring of additional finance and accounting personnel with prior experience working for finance departments of public companies and technical accounting experience, supplemented by third-party resources;

 

 

documenting and formally assessing our accounting and financial reporting policies and procedures; and

 

 

assessing significant accounting transactions and other technical accounting and financial reporting issues, preparing accounting memoranda addressing these issues and maintaining these memoranda in our corporate records.

However, our efforts are still preliminary and our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of December 31, 2019, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weaknesses in our control environment and formal accounting policies.

While we believe that these efforts, including working to formalize and implement our accounting policies and internal controls and the related documentation, will improve our internal control over financial reporting, the implementation of these measures is ongoing and will require validation and testing of the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over a sustained period of financial reporting cycles. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, and are continuing to implement, will be sufficient to remediate the material weaknesses we have identified or avoid potential future material weaknesses. If the steps we take do not correct the material weaknesses in a timely manner, we will be unable to conclude that we maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting. Accordingly, there could continue to be a reasonable possibility that these deficiencies or others could result in a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement of our financial statements that would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

We have incurred and will continue to incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives and corporate governance practices. Additionally, if we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired.

As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, and these expenses may increase even more after we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, as well as rules adopted, and to be adopted, by the SEC and Nasdaq. Our management and other personnel have devoted and will continue to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations have and will continue to substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, which will increase our operating expenses. We cannot accurately predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to these requirements. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers.

In addition, as a public company we will be required to incur additional costs and obligations in order to comply with SEC rules that implement Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Under these rules, beginning with our

 

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second annual report on Form 10-K after we become a public company, we will be required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, and once we cease to be an emerging growth company, we will be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaging in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are designed and operating effectively, and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting.

The rules governing the standards that must be met for management to assess our internal control over financial reporting are complex and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation to meet the detailed standards under the rules. During the course of its testing, our management may identify material weaknesses or deficiencies which may not be remedied in time to meet the deadline imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our internal control over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, or if we are unable to maintain proper and effective internal controls, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements. If that were to happen, the market price of our stock could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.

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

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

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

We will have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering, and you will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of these proceeds. You will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether we are using the proceeds appropriately. Our management might not apply the net proceeds in ways that ultimately increase the value of

 

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your investment. If we do not invest or apply the net proceeds from this offering in ways that enhance stockholder value, we may fail to achieve expected financial results, which could cause our stock price to decline.

We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our stock.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to any appreciation in the value of their stock.

Provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws and Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the market price of our common stock.

Our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws contain provisions that could depress the market price of our common stock by acting to discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions, among other things:

 

 

establish a classified board of directors so that not all members of our board are elected at one time;

 

 

permit only the board of directors to establish the number of directors and fill vacancies on the board;

 

 

provide that directors may only be removed “for cause” and only with the approval of two-thirds of our stockholders;

 

 

authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that our board could use to implement a stockholder rights plan (also known as a poison pill);

 

 

eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;

 

 

prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;

 

 

prohibit cumulative voting;

 

 

authorize our board of directors to amend the bylaws;

 

 

establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings; and

 

 

require a super-majority vote of stockholders to amend some provisions described above.

In addition, Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (DGCL) prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person which together with its affiliates owns, or within the last three years has owned, 15% of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner.

Any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our capital stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

 

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Our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for:

 

 

any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;

 

 

any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty;

 

 

any action asserting a claim against us arising under the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; and

 

 

any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal-affairs doctrine.

This exclusive-forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision. If a court were to find this exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business. Nothing in our amended and restated bylaws, including the exclusive-forum provision, precludes stockholders that assert claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act from bringing such claims in state or federal court, subject to applicable law.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

Our net operating loss carryforwards (NOLs) and certain other tax attributes could expire unused and be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities because of their limited duration or because of restrictions under U.S. tax law. Our NOLs generated in tax years ending on or prior to December 31, 2017 are only permitted to be carried forward for 20 taxable years under applicable U.S. federal tax law. As of December 31, 2019, we had U.S. federal and state NOLs of $59.1 million, and $60.7 million, respectively. Of the U.S. federal NOLs, $4.5 million will expire beginning in the year 2035 and $54.6 million will carry forward indefinitely. The state NOLs will expire beginning in the year 2035.

Under the Tax Act, federal NOLs generated in tax years ending after December 31, 2017 may be carried forward indefinitely. Under the CARES Act, NOL carryforwards arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2021 may be carried back to each of the five tax years preceding the tax year of such loss. Due to our cumulative losses through December 31, 2019, we do not anticipate that such provision of the CARES Act will be relevant to us. The deductibility of federal NOLs, particularly for tax years beginning after December 31, 2020, may be limited. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act or the CARES Act.

In addition, our NOLs and tax credit carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the IRS and state tax authorities. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a cumulative change in our ownership by “5-percent stockholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period), the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes to offset its post-change income and taxes may be limited. Similar rules

 

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may apply under state tax laws. We have determined that no significant limitation would be placed on the utilization of our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards due to prior ownership changes. We may, however experience ownership changes in the future as a result of this offering or subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, some of which are outside our control. If our ability to utilize those NOLs and tax credit carryforwards becomes limited by an “ownership change” as described above, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of our NOLs and certain other tax attributes, which could have a material adverse effect on our cash flows and results of operations.

We may be subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile and, in the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this prospectus, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy, product candidates, planned preclinical studies and clinical trials, results of clinical trials, research and development costs, regulatory approvals, timing and likelihood of success, as well as plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that are in some cases beyond our control and may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus include, but are not limited to, statements about:

 

 

the likelihood of our clinical trials demonstrating safety and efficacy of our product candidates, and other positive results;

 

 

the timing of initiation of our future clinical trials, and the reporting of data from our completed, current and future preclinical and clinical trials;

 

 

our plans relating to the clinical development of our product candidates, including the size, number and disease areas to be evaluated;

 

 

the size of the market opportunity and prevalence of DED for our product candidates;

 

 

our plans relating to commercializing our product candidates, if approved, including the geographic areas of focus and sales strategy;

 

 

the success of competing therapies that are or may become available;

 

 

our estimates of the number of patients in the United States who suffer from DED and the number of patients that will enroll in our clinical trials;

 

 

the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of our product candidates;

 

 

the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approval for our product candidates;

 

 

our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates;

 

 

our plans relating to the further development and manufacturing of our product candidates, including additional indications for which we may pursue;

 

 

the expected potential benefits of strategic collaborations with third parties and our ability to attract collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise;

 

 

existing regulations and regulatory developments in the United States and other jurisdictions;

 

 

our plans and ability to obtain or protect intellectual property rights, including extensions of existing patent terms where available;

 

 

our continued reliance on third parties to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates, and for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies and clinical trials;

 

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the need to hire additional personnel, and our ability to attract and retain such personnel;

 

 

the accuracy of our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing;

 

 

our financial performance;

 

 

the sufficiency of our existing capital resources to fund our future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements;

 

 

the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations;

 

 

our expectations regarding the period during which we will qualify as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act; and

 

 

our anticipated use of our existing resources and the proceeds from this offering.

We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about our business, the industry in which we operate and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects, and these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or development. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein until after we distribute this prospectus, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.

In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this prospectus, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

 

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MARKET, INDUSTRY AND OTHER DATA

This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus contain estimates, projections and other information concerning our industry, our business and the markets for our product candidates, including data regarding the estimated size of such markets and the incidence of certain medical conditions. We obtained the industry, market and similar data in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus from our internal estimates and research, including surveys and studies we have sponsored and/or conducted, and from academic and industry research, publications, surveys and studies conducted by third parties, including governmental agencies. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances that are assumed in this information. While we believe that the data we use from third parties are reliable, we have not separately verified these data. Further, while we believe our internal research is reliable, such research has not been verified by any third party. You are cautioned not to give undue weight to any such information, projections and estimates.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds to us from the sale of the shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $81.1 million, or approximately $93.4 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, based upon the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $2.3 million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $32.7 million, assuming that the assumed public offering price remains the same, and after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We do not expect that a change in the public offering price or the number of shares by these amounts would have a material effect on our uses of the proceeds from this offering, although it may accelerate the time at which we will need to seek additional capital.

The principal purposes of this offering are to obtain additional capital to support our operations, establish a public market for our common stock and facilitate our future access to the public capital markets. We currently expect to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing capital resources: to fund the development of OC-01 and OC-02 and prepare for the commercialization of OC-01, including the initial build-out of a specialty sales organization, and to fund general research and development activities, working capital and other general corporate activities.

We expect that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our available cash and cash equivalents, will allow us to submit our NDA with the FDA and, assuming an approval, commercialize OC-01 in the U.S. market. The net proceeds from this offering, together with our available cash and cash equivalents, may not be sufficient for us to fund OC-01, or any other product candidate, through regulatory approval, launch and commercialization, while continuing research and development of new products, and we may need to raise additional capital to complete the development and commercialization of OC-01 and any other product candidates we develop. It is difficult to predict the cost and timing required to complete development and obtain regulatory approval of, and commercialize, our product candidates due to, among other factors, our lack of experience with initiating, conducting and completing Phase 3 clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approval and commercializing product candidates, the rate of subject enrollment in our clinical trials, filing requirements with various regulatory agencies, clinical trial results, and the actual costs of manufacturing and supplying our product candidates.

We believe opportunities may exist from time to time to expand our current business through license or acquisitions of, or investments in, complementary businesses, products or technologies, and we may use a portion of the net proceeds for these purposes.

Although we believe that the estimated net proceeds from this offering, together with our available cash and cash equivalents, will be sufficient to fund our planned operations for at least 18 months following the date of this offering, this belief is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Changing circumstances, some of which may be beyond our control, could cause us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned.

 

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Our management will have broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds from this offering. The amounts and timing of our expenditures will depend upon numerous factors including the results of our research and development efforts, the timing and success of preclinical studies and any ongoing clinical trials or clinical trials we may commence in the future, the timing of regulatory submissions, the amount of cash obtained through our existing collaborations and future collaborations, if any, and any unforeseen cash needs.

Pending their uses, we plan to invest the net proceeds of this offering in short-term, interest-bearing, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock since our inception. We intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Payment of future cash dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors after taking into account various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, the requirements and contractual restrictions of then-existing debt instruments and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and total capitalization as of March 31, 2020, as follows:

 

 

on an actual basis;

 

 

on an as adjusted basis to reflect our issuance and sale of 2,500,000 shares of common stock in this offering at the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

You should read this information in conjunction with our financial statements and the related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus, as well as the sections of this prospectus titled “Selected Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

 

     As of March 31, 2020  
     Actual     As Adjusted(1)  
     (unaudited)  
     (in thousands, except per share data)  

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 128,630     $ 209,775  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Stockholders’ equity:

    

Preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share; 5,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted

     —         —    

Common stock, $0.001 par value per share; 1,000,000,000 shares authorized, 21,370,480 shares issued and outstanding, actual; 1,000,000,000 shares authorized, 23,870,480 shares issued and outstanding, as adjusted

     21       24  

Additional paid-in capital

     222,692       303,835  

Accumulated deficit

     (100,750     (100,750
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total stockholders’ equity

     121,963       203,109  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total capitalization

   $ 121,963     $ 203,109  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)   Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, would increase (decrease) our as adjusted cash and cash equivalents, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by approximately $2.3 million, assuming that the number of shares of common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of common stock offered by us would increase (decrease) our as adjusted cash and cash equivalents, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by approximately $32.7 million, assuming the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only and will be adjusted based on the actual public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

 

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The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on the 21,370,480 shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020, and excludes the following:

 

 

3,261,499 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020, at a weighted-average exercise price of $8.79 per share;

 

 

39,500 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock that we granted after March 31, 2020, at a weighted-average exercise price of $30.50 per share;

 

 

23,125 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of outstanding restricted stock units as of March 31, 2020;

 

 

2,259,918 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2019 Plan as of March 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under this plan; and

 

 

270,000 shares of common stock reserved for issuance under our 2019 ESPP as of March 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under this plan.

 

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be immediately diluted to the extent of the difference between the public offering price per share of our common stock and the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book value as of March 31, 2020 was $122.0 million, or $5.71 per share of our common stock. Our historical net tangible book value is the amount of our total tangible assets (total assets less deferred offering costs) less our total liabilities. Historical net tangible book value per share represents historical net tangible book value divided by the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020.

After giving further effect to our sale of 2,500,000 shares of common stock in this offering at the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our as adjusted net tangible book value as of March 31, 2020 would have been $203.1 million, or $8.51 per share. This represents an immediate increase in the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $2.80 to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution in the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $26.66 to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering. Dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering is determined by subtracting the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the assumed public offering price per share paid by new investors.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

 

Assumed public offering price per share

      $ 35.17  

Historical net tangible book value per share as of March 31, 2020

   $ 5.71     

Increase in as adjusted net tangible book value per share attributable to new investors purchasing shares in this offering

   $ 2.80     
  

 

 

    

As adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering

      $ 8.51  
     

 

 

 

Dilution per share to new investors purchasing shares in this offering

      $ 26.66  
     

 

 

 

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, would increase (decrease) the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $0.10 per share and the dilution to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $0.90 per share, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $0.97 and decrease the dilution per share to new investors participating in this offering by $0.97, assuming no change in the assumed public offering price and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A decrease of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us would decrease the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $1.06 and increase the dilution per share to new investors participating in this offering by $1.06, assuming no change in the assumed public offering price and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase 375,000 additional shares of common stock in this offering in full at the assumed public offering price of $35.17 per share, the last reported sale price of our common

 

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shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on May 11, 2020, and assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, the as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering would be $8.88 per share, and the dilution in as adjusted net tangible book value per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering would be $26.29 per share.

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on the 21,370,480 shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020 and excludes the following:

 

 

3,261,499 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2020, at a weighted-average exercise price of $8.79 per share;

 

 

39,500 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options to purchase shares of our common stock that we granted after March 31, 2020, at a weighted-average exercise price of $30.50 per share;

 

 

23,125 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of outstanding restricted stock units as of March 31, 2020;

 

 

2,259,918 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2019 Plan as of March 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under this plan; and

 

 

270,000 shares of common stock reserved for issuance under our 2019 ESPP as of March 31, 2020, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under this plan.

To the extent that any outstanding options are exercised or new options are issued under the equity benefit plans, or we issue additional shares of common stock or other securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of our capital stock in the future, there will be further dilution to investors participating in this offering.

 

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SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables summarize our selected financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated. We have derived our selected statements of operations and comprehensive loss data for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019, from our audited financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We have derived the statements of operations and comprehensive loss data for the three months ending March 31, 2019 and 2020 and the balance sheet data as of March 31, 2020 from our unaudited interim condensed financial statements and related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We have prepared our unaudited interim condensed financial statements on the same basis as our audited financial statements and have included, in our opinion, all adjustments, which are of a normal recurring nature, necessary to state fairly the financial information presented in those statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future. You should read the financial and other data below together with our financial statements and the related notes incorporated by reference in this prospectus and the information in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this prospectus.

 

     Years Ended
December 31,
    Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2018     2019     2019     2020  
     (in thousands, except share and per share amounts)  

Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss Data

        

Operating expenses:

        

Research and development

   $ 13,755     $ 33,628     $ 2,405     $ 11,340  

General and administrative

     2,981       13,673       1,605       5,589  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     16,736       47,301       4,010       16,929  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss from operations

     (16,736     (47,301     (4,010     (16,929

Interest income

     233       1,590       250       410  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss and comprehensive loss

   $ (16,503   $ (45,711   $ (3,760   $ (16,519
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net loss per share, basic and diluted(1)

   $ (11.69   $ (9.97   $ (2.66   $ (0.77
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares outstanding basic and diluted(1)

     1,411,966       4,585,146       1,411,966       21,367,532  

 

(1)   See Note 1 to our audited financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus, for a description of the method used to calculate basic and diluted net loss per share.

 

     As of December 31,     As of March 31,  
     2018     2019     2020  
                 (unaudited)  
    

(in thousands)

 

Balance Sheet Data

      

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 5,228     $ 139,147     $ 128,630  

Working capital(1)

     4,678       136,781       121,253  

Total assets

     5,704       143,209       132,312  

Total liabilities

     946       5,911       10,349  

Redeemable convertible preferred stock

     43,001       —         —    

Accumulated deficit

     (38,520     (84,231     (100,750

Total stockholders’ (deficit) equity

     (38,243     137,298       121,963  

 

(1)   We define working capital as current assets less current liabilities.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes to those statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and our unaudited interim financial statements and related notes to those statements included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2020, which are incorporated by reference herein. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this prospectus or in the documents incorporated by reference herein, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus or in our documents incorporated by reference herein, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Overview

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class pharmaceutical therapies to treat ocular surface diseases. Our lead product candidate OC-01 (varenicline), a highly selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist, is being developed as a nasal spray to treat the signs and symptoms of DED. OC-01’s novel mechanism of action is designed to re-establish tear film homeostasis by activating the trigeminal parasympathetic pathway and stimulating the glands and cells responsible for natural tear film production. In our Phase 2b clinical trial (ONSET-1) in 182 subjects, OC-01 demonstrated statistically significant improvements (as compared to control) in both signs and symptoms of DED in both the 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml dose group. In our Phase 3 clinical trial in 758 subjects, ONSET-2, OC-01 demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in signs of DED in both the 0.6 mg/ml and 1.2 mg/ml dose groups and a statistically significant improvement in signs and symptoms of DED in the 1.2mg/ml dose group. Based on OC-01’s clinical trial results and its rapid onset of action, we believe OC-01, if approved, has the potential to become the new standard of care and redefine how DED is treated for millions of patients. With the completion of two pivotal clinical trials, we plan to submit an NDA for OC-01 for treatment of signs and symptoms of DED to FDA in the second half of 2020. We believe that targeting the parasympathetic nervous system through the use of locally administered cholinergic agonists has the potential to treat a wide range of diseases and disorders. We have identified several indications, including several outside of ophthalmology, where we believe this approach could provide a meaningful benefit to patients.

Since our formation in June 2015, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to developing our product candidates. We have incurred significant operating losses to date. Our net losses were $16.5 million and $45.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, and $16.5 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2020. As of March 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $100.8 million. We expect that our operating expenses will increase significantly as we advance our product candidates through preclinical and clinical development, seek regulatory approval, and prepare for and, if approved, proceed to commercialization; acquire, discover, validate and develop additional product candidates; obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property portfolio; and hire additional personnel. In addition, we have incurred and will continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.

We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any revenue since inception. Our ability to generate product revenue will depend on the successful development, regulatory approval and eventual commercialization of one or more of our product candidates. Until such time as we can generate significant

 

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revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through private or public equity or debt financings, collaborative or other arrangements with corporate sources, or through other sources of financing. Adequate funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as and when needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

We plan to continue to use third-party service providers, including clinical research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organization (CMOs), to carry out our preclinical and clinical development and to manufacture and supply the materials to be used during the development and commercialization of our product candidates. We do not currently have a sales force. If OC-01 is approved for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of DED, we intend to deploy a specialty sales force at launch of approximately 150 to 200 field representatives.

The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve, and we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 on our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans remains uncertain, and will depend on certain developments, including the duration and spread of the outbreak and its impact on our clinical trial enrollment, trial sites, partners, CROs, third-party manufacturers, and other third parties with whom we do business, as well as its impact on regulatory authorities and our key scientific and management personnel. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced an impact to select clinical trial sites during the month of March where ophthalmology practices were closed, or subjects were unable to attend protocol specified visits. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. To the extent possible, we are conducting business as usual, with necessary or advisable modifications to employee travel and employee work locations. We will continue to actively monitor the rapidly evolving situation related to COVID-19 and may take further actions that alter our operations, including those that may be required by federal, state or local authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, partners and other third parties with whom we do business. At this point, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may affect our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans, including the resulting impact on our expenditures and capital needs, remains uncertain.

Prior to our IPO, we funded our operations primarily from the sale and issuance of redeemable convertible preferred stock and convertible promissory notes. In February and April 2019, we raised net proceeds of $92.9 million from the sale of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock.

In October 2019, we entered into a non-exclusive patent license agreement with Pfizer, or the License Agreement, pursuant to which we made an upfront payment of $5.0 million. If we successfully commercialize OC-01, we may be required to pay a single milestone payment in the very low double-digit millions and tiered royalties on net sales of OC-01 at percentages ranging from the mid-single digits to the mid-teens.

On November 4, 2019, we completed our IPO selling 5,750,000 shares of our common stock at $16.00 per share. Proceeds from our IPO, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, were $82.1 million. In connection with the completion of our IPO on November 4, 2019, all then outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock converted into 14,193,281 shares of common stock.

As of March 31, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $128.6 million. We believe that our cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our projected operations for at least 18 months following the completion of this offering.

 

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Components of Operating Results

Revenue

We have not generated any revenue from product sales and do not expect to do so in the near future.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development Expenses

Substantially all of our research and development expenses consist of expenses incurred in connection with the development of our product candidates. These expenses include fees paid to third parties to conduct certain research and development activities on our behalf, consulting costs, costs for laboratory supplies, product acquisition and license costs, certain payroll and personnel-related expenses, including salaries and bonuses, employee benefit costs and stock-based compensation expenses for employees dedicated to our research and product development and allocated overhead expenses, including rent, equipment, depreciation, information technology costs and utilities. We expense both internal and external research and development expenses as they are incurred.

We do not allocate our costs by product candidate, as a significant amount of research and development expenses include internal costs, such as payroll and other personnel expenses, laboratory supplies and allocated overhead expenses, and external costs, such as fees paid to third parties to conduct research and development activities on our behalf, are not tracked by product candidate. In particular, with respect to internal costs, several of our departments support multiple product candidate research and development programs, and therefore the costs cannot be allocated to a particular product candidate or development program. The following table shows our research and development expenses by type of activity:

 

     Years Ended
December 31,
     Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2018      2019      2019      2020  
                   (unaudited)  
     (in thousands)  

Clinical and preclinical

   $ 9,302      $ 12,470      $ 1,194      $ 6,112  

Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC)

     2,885        12,148        800        3,837  

License costs

     —          5,000        —          —    

Regulatory and other costs

     1,568        4,010        411        1,391  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total research and development expenses

   $ 13,755      $ 33,628      $ 2,405      $ 11,340  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

We are focusing substantially all of our resources on the development of our product candidates, particularly OC-01. We expect our research and development expenses to increase substantially for at least the next few years, as we seek to initiate additional clinical trials for our product candidates, complete our clinical programs, pursue regulatory approval of our product candidates and prepare for the possible commercialization of these product candidates. Predicting the timing or cost to complete our clinical programs or validation of our commercial manufacturing and supply processes is difficult and delays may occur because of many factors, including factors outside of our control. For example, if the FDA or other regulatory authorities were to require us to conduct clinical trials beyond those that we currently anticipate, we could be required to expend significant additional financial resources and time on the completion of clinical development. Furthermore, we are unable to predict when or if our product candidates will receive regulatory approval with any certainty.

 

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General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist principally of payroll and personnel expenses, including salaries and bonuses, benefits and stock-based compensation expenses, professional fees for legal, consulting, accounting and tax services, allocated overhead expenses, including rent, equipment, depreciation, information technology costs and utilities, and other general operating expenses not otherwise classified as research and development expenses.

We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase as a result of increased personnel costs, expanded infrastructure and higher consulting, legal and accounting services costs associated with complying with the applicable stock exchange and SEC requirements, investor relations costs and director and officer insurance premiums associated with being a public company.

Interest Income

Interest income consists primarily of interest income earned on our cash and cash equivalents.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 and 2020

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods indicated (in thousands, except percentages):

 

     Three Months Ended March 31,              
             2019                     2020             $
Change
    %
Change
 
    

(unaudited)

(in thousands)

       

Operating expenses:

        

Research and development

   $ 2,405     $ 11,340     $ 8,935       372%  

General and administrative

     1,605       5,589       3,984       248%  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

Loss from operations

     (4,010     (16,929     (12,919     322%  

Interest income

     250       410       160       64%  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

Net loss

   $ (3,760   $ (16,519   $ (12,759     339%  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses increased by $8.9 million, or 372%, from the three months ended March 31, 2019 to the three months ended March 31, 2020. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to our advancement of OC-01 and reflected an increase in expenses related to CROs and CMOs of $7.8 million and an increase in payroll and personnel-related expenses, including salaries and bonuses, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, of $1.1 million. We expect that our research and development costs will continue to increase as we continue to add personnel to support our research and development activities and incur further expenses for CROs and CMOs in order to continue the advancement of our product candidates.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses increased by $4.0 million, or 248%, from the three months ended March 31, 2019 to the three months ended March 31, 2020. The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to the expansion of our organization and reflected an increase in payroll and personnel-

 

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related expenses, including salaries and bonuses, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, of $2.0 million, an increase in professional fees for legal, accounting, and other outside services to support our operations as a public company of $1.8 million, and an increase in marketing expenses of $0.2 million. We expect that our general and administrative expenses will continue to increase as we continue to add personnel to support the growth of our business, incur additional expenses related to the commercialization of our products, and incur higher expenses associated with operating as a public company.

Interest Income

Interest income increased by $0.2 million, or 64%, from the three months ended March 31, 2019 to the three months ended March 31, 2020, primarily due to an increase in cash and cash equivalents as a result of the IPO in November 2019.

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2018 and 2019

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods indicated (in thousands, except percentages):

 

     Year Ended December 31,               
     2018     2019     $
Change
     %
Change
 
     (in thousands)         

Operating expenses:

         

Research and development

   $ 13,755     $ 33,628     $ 19,873        144%  

General and administrative

     2,981       13,673       10,692        359%  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

Loss from operations

     (16,736     (47,301     (30,565      183%  

Interest income

     233       1,590       1,357        582%  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

Net loss

   $ (16,503   $ (45,711   $ (29,208      177%  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses increased by $19.9 million, or 144%, from the year ended December 31, 2018 to the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to our advancement of OC-01 and reflected an increase in fees due to CROs and CMOs of $12.5 million, an increase of $5.0 million related to the license acquisition payment made to Pfizer and an increase in payroll and personnel-related expenses, including salaries and bonuses, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, of $2.4 million. We expect that our research and development expenses will continue to increase as we continue to add personnel to support our research and development activities and incur further expenses for CROs and CMOs in order to continue the advancement of our product candidates.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses increased by $10.7 million, or 359%, from the year ended December 31, 2018 to the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to the expansion of our organization and reflected an increase in payroll and personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, of $4.4 million, an increase in professional services and other expenses incurred in relation to our IPO readiness of $3.5 million, an increase in marketing expenses, of $1.5 million, an increase in facilities expenses, consisting primarily of rent and depreciation, of $0.3 million; and an increase in other general and administrative expenses of $1.0 million.

 

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Interest Income

Interest income increased by $1.4 million, or 582%, from the year ended December 31, 2018 to the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to an increase in cash and cash equivalents as a result of the IPO in November 2019 and the sale of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock in February and April 2019.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of Liquidity

Since our formation in 2015 through March 31, 2020, we have funded our operations with an aggregate of $213.4 million in gross cash proceeds from the sale of redeemable convertible preferred stock and convertible promissory notes and the gross cash proceeds from our IPO. In February and April 2019 we received net cash proceeds of $84.9 million and $8.0 million, respectively, from the sale of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock. On November 4, 2019, we received $82.1 million of net proceeds upon completion of our IPO. As of March 31, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $128.6 million.

Future Funding Requirements

We have incurred net losses since our inception. For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, we had net losses of $16.5 million and $45.7 million, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2020, we had net losses of $3.8 million and $16.5 million, respectively, and we expect to incur substantial additional losses in future periods. As of March 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $100.8 million. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our projected operations for at least 18 months following the date of this offering. As a result, we did not apply for, nor receive, assistance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act).

To date, we have not generated any revenue. We do not expect to generate any meaningful revenue unless and until we obtain regulatory approval of and commercialize any of our product candidates or enter into collaborative agreements with third parties, and we do not know when, or if, either will occur. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect the losses to increase as we continue the development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates and begin to commercialize any approved products. We are subject to all of the risks typically related to the development of new product candidates, and we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. Moreover, we have incurred and will continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.

We will continue to require additional capital to develop our product candidates and fund operations for the foreseeable future. We may seek to raise capital through private or public equity or debt financings, collaborative or other arrangements with corporate sources, or through other sources of financing. We anticipate that we will need to raise substantial additional capital, the requirements for which will depend on many factors, including:

 

 

the scope, timing, rate of progress and costs of our drug discovery efforts, preclinical development activities, laboratory testing and clinical trials for our product candidates;

 

 

the number and scope of clinical programs we decide to pursue;

 

 

the cost, timing and outcome of preparing for and undergoing regulatory review of our product candidates;

 

 

the scope and costs of development and commercial manufacturing activities;

 

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the cost and timing associated with commercializing our product candidates, if they receive marketing approval;

 

 

the extent to which we acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

 

 

the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims;

 

 

our ability to establish and maintain collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;

 

 

our efforts to enhance operational systems and our ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel, including personnel to support the development of our product candidates and, ultimately, the sale of our products, following FDA approval;

 

 

our implementation of operational, financial and management systems;

 

 

the potential effects of the recent COVID-19 pandemic on our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans; and

 

 

the costs associated with being a public company.

A change in the outcome of any of these or other variables with respect to the development of any of our product candidates could significantly change the costs and timing associated with the development of that product candidate. Furthermore, our operating plans may change in the future, and we will continue to require additional capital to meet operational needs and capital requirements associated with such operating plans. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Any future debt financing into which we enter may impose upon us additional covenants that restrict our operations, including limitations on our ability to incur liens or additional debt, pay dividends, repurchase our common stock, make certain investments or engage in certain merger, consolidation or asset sale transactions. Any debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders.

Adequate funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed could have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategies. If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may be required to delay, reduce, or terminate some or all of our development programs and clinical trials or we may also be required to sell or license to others rights to our product candidates in certain territories or indications that we would prefer to develop and commercialize ourselves. If we are required to enter into collaborations and other arrangements to supplement our funds, we may have to give up certain rights that limit our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates or may have other terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders, which could materially affect our business and financial condition.

See the section of this prospectus titled “Risk Factors” for additional risks associated with our substantial capital requirements.

 

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Summary Statement of Cash Flows

The following table sets forth the primary sources and uses of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash for each of the periods presented below:

 

     Years Ended December 31,     Three Months Ended March 31,  
             2018                     2019                     2019                     2020          
          

(unaudited)

 
     (in thousands)  

Net cash (used in) provided by:

        

Operating activities

   $ (17,083   $ (40,815   $ (3,430   $ (10,412

Investing activities

     —         (200     —       (99

Financing activities

     —         174,985       84,854       4  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net (decrease) increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

   $ (17,083   $ 133,970     $ 81,424     $ (10,507
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $3.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019. Cash used in operating activities was primarily due to the use of funds in our operations to develop our product candidates resulting in a net loss of $3.8 million, an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $0.6 million arising from prepayments made to CROs and CMOs, partially offset by an increase in accounts payable of $0.6 million and an increase in our accrued expenses and other current liabilities of $0.3 million mainly due to the timing of payments to our service providers.

Net cash used in operating activities was $10.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. Cash used in operating activities was primarily due to the use of funds in our operations to develop our product candidates resulting in a net loss of $16.5 million and a decrease in accrued expenses and other current liabilities of $2.1 million, offset by a decrease in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $0.6 million due to the amortization of prepaid insurance, an increase in accounts payable of $6.4 million mainly due to the timing of payments to our service providers, and by non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $1.2 million.

Net cash used in operating activities was $17.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. Cash used in operating activities was primarily due to the use of funds in our operations to develop our product candidates resulting in a net loss of $16.5 million, increased by a decrease in accrued liabilities of $1.2 million primarily due to a decrease in accrued research and development and accrued compensation expenses, and partially offset decrease in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $0.5 million.

Net cash used in operating activities was $40.8 million for year ended December 31, 2019. Cash used in operating activities was primarily due to the use of funds in our operations to develop our product candidates resulting in a net loss of $45.7 million, adjusted by non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $3.3 million and by a decrease in changes in assets and liabilities of $1.6 million. Decrease in changes in assets and liabilities included an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $2.6 million due to change in prepayments made to CROs and CMOs, offset by an increase in accrued liabilities of $4.2 million due to an increase in accrued research and development expenses and professional fees.

Cash Flows used in Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was zero for the three months ended March 31, 2019. Net cash used in investing activities was $99,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2020, which related to the purchase of property and equipment.

 

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Net cash used in investing activities was zero for the year ended December 31, 2018. Net cash used in investing activities was $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, which related to the purchase of property and equipment.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $84.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019, primarily due to net proceeds from the sale of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock. Net cash provided by financing activities was $4,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2020, which was the proceeds received from stock option exercises.

We did not undertake any financing activities in the year ended December 31, 2018.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $175.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, due to net proceeds from the sale of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock of $92.9 million and net proceeds from the IPO of $82.1 million.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

As of March 31, 2020, there have been no material changes to our contractual obligations and commitments from those disclosed below as of December 31, 2019.

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2019:

 

     Payments Due by Period (in thousands)  
     Less than 1 year      1 to 3 years      Total  

Operating lease obligations (1)

   $ 319      $ 502      $ 821  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1)   We lease our office facilities in Princeton, New Jersey under two non-cancellable operating leases with an expiration dates of March 15, 2020 and July 31, 2022. The minimum lease payments above do not include any related common area maintenance charges or real estate taxes.

In January 2020 we amended one lease of our office facilities in Princeton, New Jersey to include additional office space, with an expiration date of July 31, 2022. Total future minimum lease payments under this amendment are $0.4 million.

We enter into contracts in the normal course of business with third-party contract organizations for preclinical and clinical studies and testing, manufacture and supply of our preclinical materials and other services and products used for operating purposes. These contracts generally provide for termination following a certain period after notice, and therefore we believe that our non-cancelable obligations under these agreements are not material.

In October 2016, we entered into an asset purchase agreement pursuant to which we acquired the compound OC-02. Under this agreement we are obligated to make milestone payments of up to an aggregate of $37.0 million upon achievement of certain development and regulatory milestone events. In March 2018, we made a payment of $1.5 million upon completion of the first of these milestones. We accrued such amount as of December 31, 2017 as we concluded that it was probable that such payment would be made. Under the asset purchase agreement, we are also obligated to make royalty payments at a mid-single digit percentage rates on net worldwide sales of the covered products. In addition, we are required to pay 15% of any (i) licensing revenue we receive that is related to OC-02 and (ii) revenue received from the sale of OC-02, up to a maximum aggregate amount of $10.0 million. These commitments are not included in the table above due to uncertainty of timing of any such payments.

 

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In October 2019, we entered into the License Agreement with Pfizer, which granted us non-exclusive rights under Pfizer’s U.S. Pat. Nos.: 7,265,119 and 6,890,927 covering varenicline tartrate to develop, manufacture, and commercialize our OC-01 varenicline product candidate. Under the terms of the License Agreement, we made an upfront payment to Pfizer of $5.0 million. If we successfully commercialize OC-01, we may be required to pay a single milestone payment in the very low double-digit millions and tiered royalties on net sales of OC-01 at percentages ranging from the mid-single digits to the mid-teens. The royalty obligation to Pfizer will commence upon first commercial sale of OC-01 and will expire upon the later of (a) the expiration of all regulatory or data exclusivity granted to Pfizer in connection with varenicline in the United States; and (b) the expiration or abandonment of the last valid claims of the licensed patents. These commitments are not included in the table above due to uncertainty of timing of any such payments.

Critical Accounting Policies, Significant Judgments and Use of Estimates

Our financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported expenses incurred during the reporting periods. Our estimates are based on our historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are 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. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. The future effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our results of operations, cash flows, and financial position are unclear, however we believe we have used reasonable estimates and assumptions in preparing the financial statements. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates. For more detail on our critical accounting policies, see Note 1 “Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our audited financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Accrued Research and Development

We have entered into various agreements with CMOs and CROs. Our research and development accruals are estimated based on the level of services performed, progress of the studies, including the phase or completion of events, and contracted costs. The estimated costs of research and development provided, but not yet invoiced, are included in accrued liabilities on the balance sheet. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from the original estimates, we will adjust the accrual accordingly. Payments made to CMOs and CROs under these arrangements in advance of the performance of the related services are recorded as prepaid expenses and other current assets until the services are rendered. To date, our estimated accruals have not differed materially from the actual costs.

Stock-Based Compensation

We use a fair value-based method to account for all stock-based compensation arrangements with employees and non-employees, including stock options and stock awards. The fair value of the option granted is recognized on a straight-line basis over the period during which an optionee is required to provide services in exchange for the option award, known as the requisite service period, which usually is the vesting period. We

 

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account for forfeitures as they occur. In determining fair value of the stock options granted, we use the Black–Scholes model, which requires the input of subjective assumptions. These assumptions include: estimating the length of time employees will retain their vested stock options before exercising them (expected term), the estimated volatility of our common stock price over the expected term (expected volatility), risk-free interest rate and expected dividends. Changes in the following assumptions can materially affect the estimate of fair value and ultimately how much stock-based compensation expense is recognized; and the resulting change in fair value, if any, is recognized in our statement of operations and comprehensive loss during the period the related services are rendered. There are several assumptions that are required in the Black-Scholes model.

 

 

Expected Term – The expected term is calculated using the simplified method which is used when there is insufficient historical data about exercise patterns and post-vesting employment termination behavior. The simplified method is based on the vesting period and the contractual term for each grant, or for each vesting-tranche for awards with graded vesting. The mid-point between the vesting date and the maximum contractual expiration date is used as the expected term under this method. For awards with multiple vesting-tranches, the times from grant until the mid-points for each of the tranches may be averaged to provide an overall expected term.

 

 

Expected Volatility – We use an average historical stock price volatility of a peer group of comparable publicly traded companies in biotechnology and pharmaceutical related industries to be representative of our expected future stock price volatility, as we do not have any trading history for our common stock. For purposes of identifying these peer companies, we consider the industry, stage of development, size and financial leverage of potential comparable companies. For each grant, we measure historical volatility over a period equivalent to the expected term.

 

 

Expected Dividend Rate – We have not paid and do not anticipate paying any dividends in the near future. Accordingly, we estimate the dividend yield to be zero.

 

 

Risk-Free Interest Rate – The risk-free interest rate is based on the implied yield currently available on U.S. Treasury zero-coupon issues with a remaining term equivalent to the expected term of the stock award.

Common Stock Valuations prior to our IPO

Prior to our IPO, the estimated fair value of the common stock underlying our stock options and stock awards was determined at each grant date by our board of directors, with input from management. All options to purchase shares of our common stock were intended to be exercisable at a price per share not less than the per-share fair value of our common stock underlying those options on the date of grant.

Prior to our IPO, on each grant date, we developed an estimate of the fair value of our common stock based on the information known to us on the date of grant, upon a review of any recent events and their potential impact on the estimated fair value per share of the common stock, and valuations from an independent third-party valuation firm.

Prior to our IPO, our valuations of our common stock were determined in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation, or the Practice Aid.

The assumptions used to determine the estimated fair value of our common stock prior to our IPO were based on numerous objective and subjective factors, combined with management judgment, including:

 

 

external market conditions affecting the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and trends within the industry;

 

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our stage of development and business strategy;

 

 

the rights, preferences and privileges of our redeemable convertible preferred stock relative to those of our common stock;

 

 

the prices at which we sold shares of our redeemable convertible preferred stock;

 

 

our financial condition and operating results, including our levels of available capital resources;

 

 

the progress of our research and development efforts;

 

 

equity market conditions affecting comparable public companies; and

 

 

general U.S. market conditions and the lack of marketability of our common stock.

The Practice Aid identifies various available methods for allocating enterprise value across classes and series of capital stock to determine the estimated fair value of common stock at each valuation date. In accordance with the Practice Aid, we considered the following methods:

 

 

Option Pricing Method. Under the option pricing method, or OPM, shares are valued by creating a series of call options with exercise prices based on the liquidation preferences and conversion terms of each equity class. The estimated fair values of the preferred and common stock are inferred by analyzing these options.

 

 

Probability-Weighted Expected Return Method. The probability-weighted expected return method, or PWERM, is a scenario-based analysis that estimates value per share based on the probability-weighted present value of expected future investment returns, considering each of the possible outcomes available to us, as well as the economic and control rights of each share class.

Based on our early stage of development and other relevant factors, we determined that OPM method as well as a hybrid approach of the OPM and the PWERM methods were the most appropriate methods for allocating our enterprise value to determine the estimated fair value of our common stock. In valuing the equity prior to our IPO, our board of directors also considered the fact that our stockholders could not freely trade our common stock in the public markets. Accordingly, we applied discounts to reflect the lack of marketability of our common stock based on the weighted-average expected time to liquidity. The estimated fair value of our common stock at each grant date prior to our IPO reflected a non-marketability discount partially based on the anticipated likelihood and timing of a future liquidity event.

Common Stock Valuations following our IPO

Subsequent to our IPO, the fair value of our common stock is based on the closing quoted market price of our common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the date of grant.

Income Taxes

We provide for income taxes under the asset and liability method. Current income tax expense or benefit represents the amount of income taxes expected to be payable or refundable for the current year. Deferred income tax assets and liabilities arise due to differences between when assets or liabilities are recognized for tax purposes and when they are recognized for financial reporting purposes. Net operating losses and credit carryforwards are also deferred tax assets. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using the enacted tax rates and laws that will be in effect when such items are expected to reverse. Deferred income tax assets are reduced, as necessary, by a valuation allowance when management determines it is more likely than not that some or all of the tax benefits will not be realized.

 

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We assess all material positions taken in any income tax return, including all significant uncertain positions, in all tax years that are still subject to assessment or challenge by relevant taxing authorities. Assessing an uncertain tax position begins with the initial determination that the position meets the more-likely-than-not threshold and is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than fifty percent likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement.

As of each balance sheet date, unresolved uncertain tax positions must be reassessed, and we will determine whether the factors underlying the more-likely-than-not threshold assertion have changed and the amount of the recognized tax benefit is still appropriate. The recognition and measurement of tax benefits requires significant judgment. Judgments concerning the recognition and measurement of a tax benefit might change as new information becomes available. Our policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to the underpayment of income taxes as a component of income tax expense or benefit. To date, there have been no interest or penalties charged in relation to the unrecognized tax benefits.

Net operating loss carryforwards and tax credit carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the IRS and state tax authorities and may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in the ownership interest of significant stockholders over a three-year period in excess of 50 percentage points as defined under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, which could limit the amount of tax attributes that can be utilized annually to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities. The amount of the annual limitation is determined based on our value immediately prior to the ownership change. Subsequent ownership changes may further affect the limitation in future years. We have determined that no significant limitation would be placed on the utilization of our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards due to prior ownership changes. Subsequent ownership changes may affect the limitation in future years.

As of December 31, 2018 and 2019, we had unrecognized tax benefits, all of which would affect income tax expense if recognized, before consideration of our valuation allowance. We do not expect that our uncertain tax positions will materially change in the next 12 months.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

Since our inception, we have not engaged in any off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined in the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Indemnification Agreements

We enter into standard indemnification arrangements in the ordinary course of business. Pursuant to these arrangements, we indemnify, hold harmless and agree to reimburse the indemnified parties for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party, including in connection with any trade secret, copyright, patent or other intellectual property infringement claim by any third party with respect to our technology. The term of these indemnification agreements is generally perpetual any time after the execution of the agreement. The maximum potential amount of future payments we could be required to make under these arrangements is not determinable. We have never incurred costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims related to these indemnification agreements. As a result, we believe the fair value of these agreements is minimal.

We have also agreed to indemnify our directors and officers for certain events or occurrences while the director or officer is, or was serving, at our request in such capacity. The indemnification period covers all pertinent events and occurrences during the director’s or officer’s service. The maximum potential amount of future payments we could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is not specified in the agreements; however, we have director and officer insurance coverage that reduces our exposure and enables us to recover a portion of any future amounts paid. We believe the estimated fair value of these indemnification agreements in excess of applicable insurance coverage is minimal.

 

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JOBS Act Accounting Election

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, permits an “emerging growth company” such as us to take advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies. However, we have chosen to irrevocably “opt out” of such extended transition period, and as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. We intend to rely on other exemptions provided by the JOBS Act, including without limitation, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (1) the last day of our first fiscal year in which we have total annual revenues of more than $1.07 billion; (2) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700.0 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (3) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period; and (4) December 31, 2024.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See the section titled “Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in Note 1 to our financial statements included in our Annual Report in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus, for additional information.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

The following summary describes our common stock and preferred stock, as well as certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws. This summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, copies of which have been filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, as well as to the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law.

Authorized Capital Stock

Our authorized capital stock consists of 1,000,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share. All outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.

Common Stock

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “OYST.” The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. The transfer agent and registrar’s address is 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021, and its telephone number is (800) 962-4284.

Voting Rights

Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors.

Dividends

Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then-outstanding preferred stock, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors out of legally available funds.

Liquidation

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of our common stock will be entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then-outstanding shares of preferred stock.

Rights and Preferences

Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, conversion, subscription or other rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of our common stock are subject to and may be adversely affected by the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock that we may designate in the future.

Preferred Stock

Under the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our board of directors is authorized to issue, without any further vote or action by the stockholders, shares of preferred stock in one or more series

 

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and, with respect to each such series, to fix the designations, powers, preferences and rights, and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, of any wholly unissued series of Preferred Stock, including, without limitation, authority to fix by resolution or resolutions the dividend rights, dividend rate, conversion rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption (including sinking fund provisions), redemption price or prices, and liquidation preferences of any such series, and the number of shares constituting any such series and the designation thereof, or any of the foregoing.

The issuance of shares of preferred stock will affect, and may adversely affect, the rights of holders of common stock. It is not possible to state the actual effect of the issuance of any shares of preferred stock on the rights of holders of common stock until our board of directors determines the specific rights attached to that preferred stock. The effects of issuing additional preferred stock could include one or more of the following: (i) restricting dividends on the common stock; (ii) diluting the voting power of the common stock; (iii) impairing the liquidation rights of the common stock; or (iv) delaying or preventing changes in control or management of our Company.

Preferred stock will be fully paid and nonassessable upon issuance.

Common Stock Options

As of March 31, 2020, we had outstanding options to purchase an aggregate of 3,261,499 shares of our common stock, with a weighted-average exercise price of $8.79 per share, under our 2016 Plan and our 2019 Plan. After March 31, 2020, we issued options to purchase an aggregate of 39,500 shares of our common stock, with a weighted-average exercise price of $30.50 per share, under our 2019 Plan.

Registration Rights

Under our investor rights agreement, the holders of up to 14,193,281 shares of our common stock or their transferees have the right to require us to register the offer and sale of their shares, or to include their shares in any registration statement we file, in each case as described below.

Demand Registration Rights

The holders of up to 14,193,281 shares of our common stock are entitled to certain demand registration rights. The holders of at least 50% of the shares having registration rights then outstanding can request that we file a registration statement to register the offer and sale of their shares. We are only obligated to effect up to two such registrations. Each such request for registration must cover securities the anticipated aggregate gross proceeds of which, before deducting underwriting discounts and expenses, is at least $10 million. These demand registration rights are subject to specified conditions and limitations, including the right of the underwriters to limit the number of shares included in any such registration under certain circumstances. If we determine that it would be materially detrimental to us and our stockholders to effect such a demand registration, we have the right to defer such registration, not more than once in any twelve month period, for a period of up to 90 days.

Form S-3 Registration Rights

The holders of up to 14,193,281 shares of our common stock are entitled to certain Form S-3 registration rights. At any time when we are eligible to file a registration statement on Form S-3, the holders of the shares having these rights then outstanding can request that we register the offer and sale of their shares of our common stock on a registration statement on Form S-3 so long as the request covers securities the anticipated

 

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aggregate public offering price of which is at least $1 million. These stockholders may make an unlimited number of requests for registration on a registration statement on Form S-3. However, we will not be required to effect a registration on Form S-3 if we have effected two such registrations within the twelve month period preceding the date of the request. These Form S-3 registration rights are subject to specified conditions and limitations, including the right of the underwriters to limit the number of shares included in any such registration under certain circumstances. Additionally, if we determine that it would be seriously detrimental to us and our stockholders to effect such a demand registration, we have the right to defer such registration, not more than once in any twelve month period, for a period of up to 90 days.

Piggyback Registration Rights

The holders of up to 14,193,281 shares of our common stock are entitled to certain “piggyback” registration rights. If we propose to register the offer and sale of shares of our common stock under the Securities Act, all holders of these shares then outstanding can request that we include their shares in such registration, subject to certain marketing and other limitations, including the right of the underwriters to limit the number of shares included in any such registration statement under certain circumstances. As a result, whenever we propose to file a registration statement under the Securities Act, other than with respect to (1) a registration related to any employee benefit plan or a corporate reorganization or other transaction covered by Rule 145 promulgated under the Securities Act, (2) a registration relating to the offer and sale of debt securities, (3) a registration on any registration form that does not permit secondary sales or (4) a registration pursuant to the demand or Form S-3 registration rights described in the preceding two paragraphs above, the holders of these shares are entitled to notice of the registration and have the right, subject to certain limitations, to include their shares in the registration.

Expenses of Registration

We will pay all expenses relating to any demand registrations, Form S-3 registrations and piggyback registrations, subject to specified exceptions.

Termination

The registration rights terminate upon the earliest of (1) the date that is five years after the completion our IPO, (2) immediately prior to the completion of certain liquidation events and (3) as to a given holder of registration rights, the date after the completion of our IPO when such holder of registration rights can sell all of such holder’s registrable securities during any ninety day period pursuant to Rule 144 promulgated under the Securities Act and such holder holds less than one percent (1%) of our outstanding securities.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Certain Provisions of Delaware Law, Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Our Amended and Restated Bylaws

Some provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could make the following transactions more difficult:

 

 

acquisition of us by means of a tender offer;

 

 

acquisition of us by means of a proxy contest or otherwise; or

 

 

removal of our incumbent officers and directors.

Those provisions, summarized below, are expected to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids and to promote stability in our management. These provisions are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our board of directors.

 

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Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws

Classified Board of Directors

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors is divided into three classes, designated Class I, Class II, and Class III. Each class contains an equal number of directors, as nearly as possible, consisting of one-third of the total number of directors constituting our entire board of directors. The directors in each class are elected to serve for a three-year term, one class being elected each year by our stockholders. At each annual meeting of stockholders, successors to the class of directors whose term expires at that annual meeting will be elected for a three-year term.

Removal of Directors

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that stockholders may only remove a director for cause by a vote of at least a majority of the voting power of the issued and outstanding capital stock of our Company entitled to vote in the election of directors.

Director Vacancies

Vacancies and newly created directorships on our board of directors may be filled only by the affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining directors then in office, even though less than a quorum of the board of directors.

No Cumulative Voting

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that stockholders do not have the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors.

Special Meetings of Stockholders

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provides that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders may be called only by an officer at the request of a majority of our board of directors, by the chairperson of our board of directors, or by our Chief Executive Officer.

Advance Notice Procedures for Director Nominations

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to nominate candidates for election as directors at an annual or special meeting of stockholders must provide timely notice thereof in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice generally must be delivered to and received at our principal executive offices not less than the 45th day nor more than the 75th day before the one-year anniversary of the date on which we first mailed the proxy materials or a notice of availability of proxy materials (whichever is earlier) for the preceding year’s annual meeting. Although the amended and restated bylaws do not give our board of directors the power to approve or disapprove stockholder nominations of candidates to be elected at an annual meeting, our amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed or may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect its own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the company.

 

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Action by Written Consent

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that any action to be taken by the stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and may not be effected by written consent.

Amending our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended or altered in any manner provided by the DGCL. Our amended and restated bylaws may be adopted, amended, altered, or repealed by stockholders only upon approval of at least majority of the voting power of all the then outstanding shares of the common stock, except for any amendment of certain provisions, including those listed above, which would require the approval of a two-thirds majority of our then outstanding common stock. Additionally, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our bylaws may be amended, altered or repealed by our board of directors.

Authorized but Unissued Shares

Our authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval, except as required by the listing standards of Nasdaq, and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of our Company by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Exclusive Jurisdiction

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to the DGCL, any action regarding our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision. Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law for the specified types of actions and proceedings, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against us or our directors and officers. Nothing in our amended and restated bylaws, including the exclusive forum provision, precludes stockholders that assert claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act from bringing such claims in state or federal court, subject to applicable law.

Delaware Anti-Takeover Statute

We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law regulating corporate takeovers. In general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging, under certain circumstances, in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date the person became an interested stockholder unless, (i) prior to the date of the transaction, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, (ii) upon completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting

 

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stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding, but not for determining the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder, (A) shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers, and (B) shares owned by employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer, or (iii) at or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by the board of directors of the corporation and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66-2/3% of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder.

Generally, a business combination includes a merger, asset or stock sale, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. An interested stockholder is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns or, within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status, did own 15% or more of a corporation’s outstanding voting stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws provide that we must indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL. We are expressly authorized to, and do, carry directors’ and officers’ insurance providing coverage for our directors, officers and certain employees for some liabilities. We believe that these indemnification provisions and insurance are useful to attract and retain qualified directors and executive directors.

The limitation on liability and indemnification provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions may also have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. In addition, your investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

Listing

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “OYST.”

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. The transfer agent and registrar’s address is 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021, and its telephone number is (800) 962-4284.

 

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SHARES ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALE

Future sales of substantial amounts of common stock in the public market, including shares issued upon exercise of outstanding options, or the perception that such sales may occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and also could adversely affect our future ability to raise capital through the sale of our common stock or other equity-related securities of ours at times and prices we believe appropriate.

Upon completion of this offering we will have 23,870,480 outstanding shares of common stock based on the number of shares outstanding as of March 31, 2020, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares and no exercise of outstanding options or vesting of outstanding restricted stock units. All of the shares of common stock expected to be sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act unless held by our “affiliates,” as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. The remaining outstanding shares of our common stock will be deemed “restricted securities” as that term is defined under Rule 144. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if their offer and sale is registered under the Securities Act or if the offer and sale of those securities qualify for an exemption from registration, including exemptions provided by Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act, which are summarized below.

Lock-Up Agreements

Our executive officers, directors, and certain stockholders, such directors, executive officers and stockholders beneficially holding an aggregate of 15,447,647 shares, have entered into lock-up agreements with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to dispose of or hedge any of their common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of common stock during the period from the date of this prospectus continuing through the date 75 days, in the case of our non-employee directors and certain stockholders, and 90 days, in the case of our executive officers, after the date of this prospectus, except with the prior consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co. See the section titled “Underwriting” for additional information.

Rule 144

Rule 144, as currently in effect, generally provides that, once we have been subject to the public company reporting requirements of Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act for at least 90 days, a stockholder who is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at any time during the preceding 90 days and who has beneficially owned the shares of our capital stock proposed to be sold for at least six months is entitled to sell such shares in reliance upon Rule 144 without complying with the volume limitation, manner of sale or notice conditions of Rule 144 (subject to any applicable lock-up agreement). If such stockholder has beneficially owned the shares of our capital stock proposed to be sold for at least one year, then such person is entitled to sell such shares in reliance upon Rule 144 without complying with any of the conditions of Rule 144 (subject to any applicable lock-up agreement).

Rule 144 also provides that a stockholder who is deemed to have been one of our affiliates at any time during the preceding 90 days and who has beneficially owned the shares of our common stock proposed to be sold for at least six months is entitled to sell such shares in reliance upon Rule 144, upon expiration of any applicable lock-up agreements and within any three month period, a number of shares that does not exceed the greater of the following:

 

 

1% of the number of shares of our capital stock then outstanding, which will equal 238,705 shares immediately after the completion of this offering based on the number of shares outstanding as of March 31,

 

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2020, assuming no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares and no exercise of outstanding options or vesting of outstanding restricted stock units; or

 

 

the average weekly trading volume of our common stock during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to such sale.

Sales of our capital stock made in reliance upon Rule 144 by a stockholder who is deemed to have been one of our affiliates at any time during the preceding 90 days are also subject to the current public information, manner of sale and notice conditions of Rule 144.

Rule 701

Rule 701 generally provides that, once we have been subject to the public company reporting requirements of Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act for at least 90 days, a stockholder who purchased shares of our common stock pursuant to a written compensatory benefit plan or contract and who is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at any time during the preceding 90 days may sell such shares (to the extent such shares are not subject to a lock-up agreement) in reliance upon Rule 144 without complying with the current public information or holding period conditions of Rule 144. Rule 701 also provides that a stockholder who purchased shares of our common stock pursuant to a written compensatory benefit plan or contract and who is deemed to have been one of our affiliates during the preceding 90 days may sell such shares under Rule 144 without complying with the holding period condition of Rule 144 (subject to any applicable lock-up agreement).

Registration Rights

The holders of up to 14,193,281 shares of our common stock are entitled to certain rights with respect to the registration of such shares under the Securities Act. The registration of these shares of our common stock under the Securities Act would result in these shares becoming eligible for sale in the public market without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of such registration, subject to the Rule 144 limitations applicable to affiliates. See the section titled “Description of Capital Stock—Registration Rights” for a description of these registration rights.

Registration Statement

We have filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register all of the shares of our common stock subject to equity awards outstanding or reserved for issuance under our equity compensation plans. The shares of our common stock covered by such registration statement are eligible for sale in the public market without restriction under the Securities Act, subject to vesting restrictions, the conditions of Rule 144 applicable to affiliates, and any applicable market stand-off agreements and lock-up agreements, as well as our insider trading policy.

 

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MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-U.S. HOLDERS OF OUR COMMON STOCK

The following is a summary of the material U.S. federal income tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock acquired in this offering by a “non-U.S. holder” (as defined below), but does not purport to be a complete analysis of all the potential tax considerations relating thereto. This summary is based upon the provisions of the Code, Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, administrative rulings and judicial decisions, all as of the date hereof. These authorities may be changed, possibly retroactively, so as to result in U.S. federal income tax consequences different from those set forth below. We have not sought, and do not intend to seek, any ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with respect to the statements made and the conclusions reached in the following summary, and there can be no assurance that the IRS or a court will agree with such statements and conclusions.

This discussion is limited to non-U.S. holders that hold our common stock as a “capital asset” within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code (generally, property held for investment). This summary does not address the tax considerations arising under the laws of any non-U.S., state or local jurisdiction or under U.S. federal gift and estate tax rules, and does not address tax considerations applicable to an investor’s particular circumstances, including the impact of the Medicare contribution tax on net investment income or the alternative minimum tax, or to investors that may be subject to special tax rules, including, without limitation:

 

 

banks, insurance companies, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts or other financial institutions;

 

 

tax-exempt organizations or governmental organizations;

 

 

persons subject to the alternative minimum tax or the Medicare surtax on net investment income;

 

 

pension plans and tax-qualified retirement plans;

 

 

controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies and corporations that accumulate earnings to avoid U.S. federal income tax;

 

 

brokers or dealers in securities or currencies;

 

 

traders in securities;

 

 

persons that own, or are deemed to own, more than 5% of our capital stock (except to the extent specifically set forth below);

 

 

certain former citizens or long-term residents of the United States;

 

 

partnerships (or entities or arrangements classified as such for U.S. federal income tax purposes), other pass-through entities and investors therein;

 

 

persons who hold our common stock as a position in a hedging transaction, “straddle,” “conversion transaction” or other risk reduction transaction;

 

 

persons who hold or receive our common stock pursuant to the exercise of any employee stock option or otherwise as compensation;

 

 

persons subject to special tax accounting rules as a result of any item of gross income with respect to our common stock being taken into account in an “applicable financial statement” as defined in Section 451(b) of the Code; or

 

 

persons deemed to sell our common stock under the constructive sale provisions of the Code.

 

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In addition, if a partnership, entity or arrangement classified as a partnership or flow-through entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes holds our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner generally will depend on the status of the partner, upon the activities of the partnership or other entity and on certain determinations made at the partner level. A partner in a partnership or other such entity that will hold our common stock should consult his, her or its tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of the ownership and disposition of our common stock through a partnership or other such entity, as applicable.

You are urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the application of the U.S. federal income tax laws to your particular situation, as well as any tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock arising under the U.S. federal gift or estate tax rules or under the laws of any state, local, non-U.S. or other taxing jurisdiction or under any applicable tax treaty.

Non-U.S. Holder Defined

For purposes of this discussion, you are a “non-U.S. holder” if you are a beneficial owner of our common stock that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is neither a partnership (including any entity or arrangement treated as a partnership and the equity holders therein) nor a “U.S. person”. A U.S. person is any person that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is or is treated as any of the following:

 

 

an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;

 

 

a corporation or other entity taxable as a corporation created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof, or otherwise treated as such for U.S. federal income tax purposes;

 

 

an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or

 

 

a trust (x) whose administration is subject to the primary supervision of a U.S. court and that has one or more U.S. persons who have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (y) that has made a valid election under applicable Treasury Regulations to be treated as a U.S. person.

Distributions

As described in the section titled “Dividend Policy,” we have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock since our inception, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. However, if we do make distributions on our common stock, those payments will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. To the extent those distributions exceed both our current and our accumulated earnings and profits, the excess will constitute a return of capital and will first reduce your basis in our common stock, but not below zero, and then will be treated as gain from the sale of stock as described below under “—Gain on Disposition of Common Stock.”

Subject to the discussions below on effectively connected income and in the sections titled “—Backup Withholding and Information Reporting” and “—Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA),” any dividend paid to you generally will be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax either at a rate of 30% of the gross amount of the dividend or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and your country of residence. In order to receive a reduced treaty rate, you must provide us with a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other appropriate version of IRS Form W-8 certifying qualification for the reduced rate. If you are eligible for a reduced rate of U.S. federal withholding tax

 

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pursuant to an income tax treaty, you may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim for refund with the IRS. You should consult your tax advisor regarding your entitlement to benefits under any applicable tax treaty. If you hold our common stock through a financial institution or other agent acting on your behalf, you will be required to provide appropriate documentation to the agent, which then will be required to provide certification to us or our paying agent, either directly or through other intermediaries.

Dividends received by you that are treated as effectively connected with your conduct of a U.S. trade or business (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by you in the United States) are generally exempt from the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, subject to the discussion below in the sections titled “—Backup Withholding and Information Reporting” and “—Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).” In order to obtain this exemption, you must provide us with a properly executed IRS Form W-8ECI or other applicable IRS Form W-8 properly certifying such exemption. Such effectively connected dividends, although not subject to U.S. federal withholding tax, are taxed at the same rates applicable to U.S. persons, net of certain deductions and credits, subject to an applicable income tax treaty providing otherwise. In addition, if you are a corporate non-U.S. holder, dividends you receive that are effectively connected with your conduct of a U.S. trade or business may also be subject to a branch profits tax at a rate of 30% or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty between the United States and your country of residence. You should consult your tax advisor regarding any applicable tax treaties that may provide for different rules.

Gain on Disposition of Common Stock

Subject to the discussion in the section titled “—Backup Withholding and Information Reporting,” you generally will not be required to pay U.S. federal income tax on any gain realized upon the sale or other disposition of our common stock unless:

 

 

the gain is effectively connected with your conduct of a U.S. trade or business (and, if an applicable income tax treaty so provides, the gain is attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by you in the United States);

 

 

you are an individual who is present in the United States for a period or periods aggregating 183 days or more during the taxable year in which the sale or disposition occurs and certain other conditions are met; or

 

 

we are or become a “United States real property holding corporation” (USRPHC) for U.S. federal income tax purposes at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding your disposition of, or your holding period for, our common stock, unless our common stock is regularly traded on an established securities market and you hold no more than 5% of our outstanding common stock, directly, indirectly and constructively, at all times, during the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of the taxable disposition or your holding period for our common stock.

We believe that we are not currently and will not become a USRPHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and the remainder of this discussion so assumes. However, because the determination of whether we are a USRPHC depends on the fair market value of our U.S. real property interests relative to the fair market value of our U.S. and worldwide real property interests plus our other business assets, there can be no assurance that we will not become a USRPHC in the future. If we are or become a USRPHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding your disposition of, or your holding period for, our common stock, and either our common stock is not regularly traded on an established securities market at the time of your disposition or you hold more than 5% of our outstanding common stock, directly, indirectly or constructively, during the applicable testing period, you will generally be taxed on any gain in the same manner

 

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as gain that is effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business, except that the branch profits tax generally will not apply. You are encouraged to consult your own tax advisors regarding the possible consequences to you if we are, or were to become, a USRPHC.

If you are a non-U.S. holder described in the first bullet point above, you will be required to pay tax on the gain derived from the sale (net of certain deductions and credits) or other disposition of our common stock under the same U.S. federal income tax rates applicable to U.S. persons, and a corporate non-U.S. holder described in the first bullet point above also may be subject to the branch profits tax at a 30% rate, or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty. If you are an individual non-U.S. holder described in the second bullet point above, you will be subject to tax at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on the gain derived from the sale or other disposition of our common stock, which gain may be offset by certain U.S. source capital losses for the year, provided you have timely filed U.S. federal income tax returns with respect to such losses. You should consult your tax advisor regarding any applicable income tax or other treaties that may provide for different rules.

Backup Withholding and Information Reporting

Generally, we or the applicable agent must report annually to the IRS the amount of dividends paid to you and the amount of tax withheld, if any. Pursuant to applicable income tax treaties or other agreements, the IRS may make these reports available to tax authorities in your country of residence.

Payments of dividends on or of proceeds from the disposition of our common stock made to you may also be subject to backup withholding at a current rate of 24% and information reporting unless you establish an exemption, for example, by properly certifying your non-U.S. status on a properly completed IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E or another appropriate version of IRS Form W-8. Notwithstanding the foregoing, backup withholding and information reporting may apply if either we or our paying agent has actual knowledge, or reason to know, that you are a U.S. person.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax; rather, the U.S. federal income tax liability of persons subject to backup withholding will be reduced by the amount of tax withheld. If withholding results in an overpayment of taxes, a refund or credit may generally be obtained from the IRS, provided that the required information is furnished to the IRS in a timely manner.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, Treasury Regulations issued thereunder and official IRS guidance, collectively “FATCA,” generally impose a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% on dividends on, and subject to the proposed Treasury Regulations discussed below, gross proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our common stock paid to a “foreign financial institution” (as specially defined under these rules), unless otherwise provided by the Treasury Secretary or such institution enters into an agreement with the U.S. government to, among other things, withhold on certain payments and to collect and provide to the U.S. tax authorities certain information regarding certain U.S. account holders of such institution (which includes certain equity and debt holders of such institution, as well as certain account holders that are foreign entities with U.S. owners) or otherwise establishes an exemption. FATCA also generally imposes a U.S. federal withholding tax of 30% on dividends on, and subject to the proposed Treasury Regulations, gross proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our common stock paid to a “non-financial foreign entity” (as specially defined under these rules) unless otherwise provided by the Treasury Secretary or such entity provides the withholding agent with a certification identifying the substantial direct and indirect U.S. owners of the entity, certifies that it does not have any substantial U.S. owners, or otherwise establishes an exemption. The withholding tax will apply regardless of

 

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whether the payment otherwise would be exempt from U.S. nonresident and backup withholding tax, including under the other exemptions described above. Under certain circumstances, a non-U.S. holder might be eligible for refunds or credits of such taxes. An intergovernmental agreement between the United States and an applicable foreign country may modify the requirements described in this section. Prospective investors should consult with their own tax advisors regarding the application of FATCA withholding to their investment in, and ownership and disposition of, our common stock.

The Treasury Secretary has issued proposed Treasury Regulations, which, if finalized in their present form, would eliminate withholding under FATCA with respect to payment of gross proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our common stock. In its preamble to such proposed Treasury Regulations, the Treasury Secretary stated that taxpayers may generally rely on the proposed Treasury Regulations until final regulations are issued.

The preceding discussion of U.S. federal tax considerations is for general information only. It is not tax advice to investors in their particular circumstances. Each prospective investor should consult its own tax advisor regarding the particular U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax consequences of purchasing, holding and disposing of our common stock, including the consequences of any proposed change in applicable laws.

 

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UNDERWRITING

We are offering the shares of common stock described in this prospectus through a number of underwriters. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering and as representatives of the underwriters. We have entered into an underwriting agreement with the underwriters. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each underwriter has severally agreed to purchase, at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, the number of shares of common stock listed next to its name in the following table:

 

Name    Number of
Shares
 

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

                   

Cowen and Company, LLC

  

Piper Sandler & Co.

  
  

 

 

 

Total

     2,500,000  
  

 

 

 

The underwriters are committed to purchase all the common shares offered by us if they purchase any shares. The underwriting agreement also provides that if an underwriter defaults, the purchase commitments of non-defaulting underwriters may also be increased or the offering may be terminated.

The underwriters propose to offer the common shares directly to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus and to certain dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $            per share. Any such dealers may resell shares to certain other brokers or dealers at a discount of up to $            per share from the public offering price. After the initial offering of the shares to the public, if all of the common shares are not sold at the public offering price, the underwriters may change the offering price and the other selling terms. Sales of shares made outside of the United States may be made by affiliates of the underwriters.

The underwriters have an option to buy up to 375,000 additional shares of common stock from us to cover sales of shares by the underwriters which exceed the number of shares specified in the table above. The underwriters have 30 days from the date of this prospectus to exercise this option to purchase additional shares. If any shares are purchased with this option to purchase additional shares, the underwriters will purchase shares in approximately the same proportion as shown in the table above. If any additional shares of common stock are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares are being offered.

The underwriting fee is equal to the public offering price per share of common stock less the amount paid by the underwriters to us per share of common stock. The underwriting fee is $            per share. The following table shows the per share and total underwriting discounts and commissions to be paid to the underwriters assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares.

 

     Without
option to
purchase
additional
shares
exercise
     With full
option to
purchase
additional
shares
exercise
 

Per Share

   $                    $                

Total

   $        $    

We estimate that the total expenses of this offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses, but excluding the underwriting discounts and commissions, will be

 

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approximately $625,000. We have also agreed to reimburse the underwriters for certain of their expenses incurred in connection with the offering in an amount up to $25,000.

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the websites maintained by one or more underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in the offering. The underwriters may agree to allocate a number of shares to underwriters and selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the representatives to underwriters and selling group members that may make Internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.

We have agreed that we will not (i) offer, pledge, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, lend, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, or submit to, or file with, the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement under the Securities Act relating to, any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for any shares of our common stock, or publicly disclose the intention to make any offer, sale, pledge, loan, disposition or filing, or (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers all or a portion of the economic consequences associated with the ownership of any shares of common stock or any such other securities (regardless of whether any of these transactions are to be settled by the delivery of shares of common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise), in each case without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co. for a period of 90 days after the date of this prospectus, other than the shares of our common stock to be sold hereunder and any shares of our common stock issued upon the exercise of options granted under our existing equity incentive plans.

Our directors, executive officers and certain stockholders, such directors, executive officers and stockholders beneficially holding an aggregate of 15,447,647 shares, have entered into lock-up agreements with the underwriters prior to the commencement of this offering pursuant to which each of these persons or entities, with limited exceptions, for a period of 75 days, in the case of our non-employee directors and certain stockholders, and 90 days, in the case of our executive officers, after the date of this prospectus, may not (and may not cause any of their direct or indirect affiliates to), without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co., (1) offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of our common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock (including, without limitation, common stock or such other securities which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by such directors, executive officers, managers and members in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and securities which may be issued upon exercise of a stock option or warrant) or (2) enter into any hedging, swap or other agreement or transaction that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of the common stock or such other securities, whether any such transaction described in clause (1) or (2) above is to be settled by delivery of common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise, (3) make any demand for or exercise any right with respect to the registration of any shares of our common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock or (4) publicly disclose the intention to do any of the foregoing.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Piper Sandler & Co., in their sole discretion, may release the securities subject to any of the lock-up agreements with the underwriters described above, in whole or in part at any time, subject to certain conditions.

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “OYST.”

 

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In connection with this offering, the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, which involves making bids for, purchasing and selling shares of common stock in the open market for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock while this offering is in progress. These stabilizing transactions may include making short sales of the common stock, which involves the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of shares of common stock than they are required to purchase in this offering, and purchasing shares of common stock on the open market to cover positions created by short sales. Short sales may be “covered” shorts, which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares referred to above, or may be “naked” shorts, which are short positions in excess of that amount. The underwriters may close out any covered short position either by exercising their option to purchase additional shares, in whole or in part, or by purchasing shares in the open market. In making this determination, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market compared to the price at which the underwriters may purchase shares through the option to purchase additional shares. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the common stock in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchase in this offering. To the extent that the underwriters create a naked short position, they will purchase shares in the open market to cover the position.

The underwriters have advised us that, pursuant to Regulation M of the Securities Act, they may also engage in other activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the common stock, including the imposition of penalty bids. This means that if the representatives of the underwriters purchase common stock in the open market in stabilizing transactions or to cover short sales, the representatives can require the underwriters that sold those shares as part of this offering to repay the underwriting discount received by them.

These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock, and, as a result, the price of the common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If the underwriters commence these activities, they may discontinue them at any time. The underwriters may carry out these transactions on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

In addition, in connection with this offering certain of the underwriters (and selling group members) may engage in passive market making transactions in our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market prior to the pricing and completion of this offering. Passive market making consists of displaying bids on the Nasdaq Global Select Market no higher than the bid prices of independent market makers and making purchases at prices no higher than these independent bids and effected in response to order flow. Net purchases by a passive market maker on each day are generally limited to a specified percentage of the passive market maker’s average daily trading volume in the common stock during a specified period and must be discontinued when such limit is reached. Passive market making may cause the price of our common stock to be higher than the price that otherwise would exist in the open market in the absence of these transactions. If passive market making is commenced, it may be discontinued at any time.

Certain of the underwriters and their affiliates have provided in the past to us and our affiliates and may provide from time to time in the future certain commercial banking, financial advisory, investment banking and other services for us and such affiliates in the ordinary course of their business, for which they have received and may continue to receive customary fees and commissions. In addition, from time to time, certain of the underwriters and their affiliates may effect transactions for their own account or the account of customers, and hold on behalf of themselves or their customers, long or short positions in our debt or equity securities or loans, and may do so in the future.

 

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Selling Restrictions

General

Other than in the United States, no action has been taken by us or the underwriters that would permit a public offering of the securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The securities offered by this prospectus may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, nor may this prospectus or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the offer and sale of any such securities be distributed or published in any jurisdiction, except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Persons into whose possession this prospectus comes are advised to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to the offering and the distribution of this prospectus. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or a solicitation is unlawful.

European Economic Area and the UK

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (each a “Relevant State”), no shares have been offered or will be offered pursuant to the offering to the public in that Relevant State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the shares which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation, except that offers of shares may be made to the public in that Relevant State at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Regulation:

(a)    to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the Prospectus Regulation;

(b)    to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under the Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the underwriters; or

(c)    in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation,

provided that no such offer of shares shall require us or any underwriter to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the Prospectus Regulation and each person who initially acquires any shares or to whom any offer is made will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed to and with each of the underwriters and the Company that it is a “qualified investor” within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation. In the case of any shares being offered to a financial intermediary as that term is used in the Prospectus Regulation, each such financial intermediary will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that the shares acquired by it in the offer have not been acquired on a non-discretionary basis on behalf of, nor have they been acquired with a view to their offer or resale to, persons in circumstances which may give rise to an offer of any shares to the public other than their offer or resale in a Relevant State to qualified investors as so defined or in circumstances in which the prior consent of the underwriters have been obtained to each such proposed offer or resale.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to shares in any Relevant State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any shares, and the expression “Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.

 

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United Kingdom

In addition, in the United Kingdom, this document is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, and any offer subsequently made may only be directed at persons who are “qualified investors” (as defined in the Prospectus Regulation) (i) who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19 (5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the Order) and/or (ii) who are high net worth companies (or persons to whom it may otherwise be lawfully communicated) falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as relevant persons) or otherwise in circumstances which have not resulted and will not result in an offer to the public of the shares in the United Kingdom within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a relevant person should not act or rely on the information included in this document or use it as basis for taking any action. In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity that this document relates to may be made or taken exclusively by relevant persons.

Switzerland

The shares may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of, and has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the shares or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.

Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company or the shares has been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of shares will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of shares has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (CISA). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares.

Canada

The shares may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the shares must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

 

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Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

Japan

The shares have not been and will not be registered pursuant to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Accordingly, none of the shares nor any interest therein may be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any “resident” of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to or for the benefit of a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan in effect at the relevant time.

Hong Kong

The shares have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than (a) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance; or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32) of Hong Kong or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the shares has been or may be issued or has been or may be in the possession of any person for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to shares which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance and any rules made under that Ordinance.

Singapore

Each underwriter has acknowledged that this prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, each underwriter has represented and agreed that it has not offered or sold any shares or caused the shares to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase and will not offer or sell any shares or cause the shares to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, and has not circulated or distributed, nor will it circulate or distribute, this prospectus or any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the shares, whether directly or indirectly, to any person in Singapore other than:

 

  (a)   to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore, as modified or amended from time to time (the “SFA”)) pursuant to Section 274 of the SFA;

 

  (b)   to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA; or

 

  (c)   otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

 

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Where the shares are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

 

  (a)   a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or

 

  (b)   a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor,

securities or securities-based derivatives contracts (each term as defined in Section 2(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the shares pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:

 

  (i)   to an institutional investor or to a relevant person, or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 276(4)(i)(B) of the SFA;

 

  (ii)   where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer;

 

  (iii)   where the transfer is by operation of law;

 

  (iv)   as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA; or

 

  (v)   as specified in Regulation 37A of the Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (Securities and Securities-based Derivatives Contracts) Regulations 2018.

Singapore SFA Product Classification — In connection with Section 309B of the SFA and the CMP Regulations 2018, unless otherwise specified before an offer of shares the company has determined, and hereby notifies all relevant persons (as defined in Section 309A(1) of the SFA), that the shares are ‘‘prescribed capital markets products’’ (as defined in the CMP Regulations 2018) and Excluded Investment Products (as defined in MAS Notice SFA 04-N12: Notice on the Sale of Investment Products and MAS Notice FAA-N16: Notice on Recommendations on Investment Products).

Dubai International Financial Centre

This prospectus relates to an Exempt Offer in accordance with the Markets Rules 2012 of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). This prospectus is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in the Markets Rules 2012 of the DFSA. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with Exempt Offers. The DFSA has not approved this prospectus nor taken steps to verify the information set forth herein and has no responsibility for the prospectus. The shares to which this prospectus relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the shares offered should conduct their own due diligence on the shares. If you do not understand the contents of this prospectus you should consult an authorized financial advisor.

In relation to its use in the DIFC, this prospectus is strictly private and confidential and is being distributed to a limited number of investors and must not be provided to any person other than the original recipient, and may not be reproduced or used for any other purpose. The interests in the shares may not be offered or sold directly or indirectly to the public in the DIFC.

 

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Australia

This prospectus:

 

   

does not constitute a disclosure document or a prospectus under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the “Corporations Act”);

 

   

has not been, and will not be, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), as a disclosure document for the purposes of the Corporations Act and does not purport to include the information required of a disclosure document for the purposes of the Corporations Act; and

 

   

may only be provided in Australia to select investors who are able to demonstrate that they fall within one or more of the categories of investors, available under section 708 of the Corporations Act (“Exempt Investors”).

The shares may not be directly or indirectly offered for subscription or purchased or sold, and no invitations to subscribe for or buy the shares may be issued, and no draft or definitive offering memorandum, advertisement or other offering material relating to any shares may be distributed in Australia, except where disclosure to investors is not required under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act or is otherwise in compliance with all applicable Australian laws and regulations. By submitting an application for the shares, you represent and warrant to us that you are an Exempt Investor.

As any offer of shares under this document will be made without disclosure in Australia under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act, the offer of those securities for resale in Australia within 12 months may, under section 707 of the Corporations Act, require disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D.2 if none of the exemptions in section 708 applies to that resale. By applying for the shares you undertake to us that you will not, for a period of 12 months from the date of issue of the shares, offer, transfer, assign or otherwise alienate those shares to investors in Australia except in circumstances where disclosure to investors is not required under Chapter 6D.2 of the Corporations Act or where a compliant disclosure document is prepared and lodged with ASIC.

Israel

In the State of Israel this prospectus shall not be regarded as an offer to the public to purchase shares of common stock under the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968, which requires a prospectus to be published and authorized by the Israel Securities Authority, if it complies with certain provisions of Section 15 of the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968, including, inter alia, if: (i) the offer is made, distributed or directed to not more than 35 investors, subject to certain conditions (the “Addressed Investors”); or (ii) the offer is made, distributed or directed to certain qualified investors defined in the First Addendum of the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968, subject to certain conditions (the “Qualified Investors”). The Qualified Investors shall not be taken into account in the count of the Addressed Investors and may be offered to purchase securities in addition to the 35 Addressed Investors. The company has not and will not take any action that would require it to publish a prospectus in accordance with and subject to the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968. We have not and will not distribute this prospectus or make, distribute or direct an offer to subscribe for our common stock to any person within the State of Israel, other than to Qualified Investors and up to 35 Addressed Investors.

Qualified Investors may have to submit written evidence that they meet the definitions set out in of the First Addendum to the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968. In particular, we may request, as a condition to be offered common stock, that Qualified Investors will each represent, warrant and certify to us and/or to anyone acting on our behalf: (i) that it is an investor falling within one of the categories listed in the First Addendum to the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968; (ii) which of the categories listed in the First Addendum to the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968 regarding Qualified Investors is applicable to it; (iii) that it will abide by all

 

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provisions set forth in the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968 and the regulations promulgated thereunder in connection with the offer to be issued common stock; (iv) that the shares of common stock that it will be issued are, subject to exemptions available under the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968: (a) for its own account; (b) for investment purposes only; and (c) not issued with a view to resale within the State of Israel, other than in accordance with the provisions of the Israeli Securities Law, 5728—1968; and (v) that it is willing to provide further evidence of its Qualified Investor status. Addressed Investors may have to submit written evidence in respect of their identity and may have to sign and submit a declaration containing, inter alia, the Addressed Investor’s name, address and passport number or Israeli identification number.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

The validity of the issuance of our common stock offered in this prospectus will be passed upon for us by Cooley LLP, New York, New York. Latham & Watkins LLP, Menlo Park, California is acting as counsel for the underwriters.

EXPERTS

The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of our common stock offered by this prospectus. This prospectus, which constitutes a part of the registration statement, does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement, as permitted by the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information with respect to us and our common stock, we refer you to the registration statement, including the exhibits filed as a part of the registration statement. Statements contained in this prospectus concerning the contents of any contract or any other document is not necessarily complete. If a contract or document has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, please see the copy of the contract or document that has been filed. Each statement in this prospectus relating to a contract or document filed as an exhibit is qualified in all respects by the filed exhibit. The SEC maintains an Internet website that contains the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, as well as the exhibits thereto. These documents, along with future reports, proxy statements and other information about us, are available at the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov.

You may read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, and, in accordance with this law, we must file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. These reports, proxy statements and other information are available on the website of the SEC referred to above. We also maintain a website at www.oysterpointrx.com where these materials are available. You may access these materials free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Information contained on, or that can be accessible through, our website is not a part of this prospectus and the inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” information from other documents that we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus.

We incorporate by reference into this prospectus and the registration statement of which this prospectus form a part the information or documents listed below that we have filed with the SEC, and any future filings we will

 

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make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of the initial filing of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part and prior to effectiveness of such registration statement, and until the termination of the offering of the shares covered by this prospectus (other than information furnished under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of Form 8-K):

 

 

our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC on February 27, 2020;

 

 

the information specifically incorporated by reference into our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 from our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on April 22, 2020;

 

 

our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on May 11, 2020;

 

 

our Current Reports on Form 8-K (other than information furnished rather than filed) filed with the SEC on March 30, 2020 and May 11, 2020;

 

 

the description of our common stock which is registered under Section  12 of the Exchange Act, in our registration statement on Form 8-A, filed on October 28, 2019, including any amendment or reports filed for the purposes of updating this description.

We will furnish at no cost to you, on written or oral request, a copy of any or all of the reports or documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, including exhibits to these documents. You should direct any requests for documents to Oyster Point Pharma, Inc., 202 Carnegie Center, Suite 109, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, Attn: Corporate Secretary.

You also may access these filings on our website at www.oysterpointrx.com. We do not incorporate the information on our website into this prospectus or any supplement to this prospectus and you should not consider any information on, or that can be accessed through, our website as part of this prospectus or any supplement to this prospectus (other than those filings with the SEC that we specifically incorporate by reference into this prospectus or any supplement to this prospectus).

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus will be deemed modified, superseded or replaced for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus modifies, supersedes or replaces such statement.

You may read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, and, in accordance with this law, we must file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. These reports, proxy statements and other information are available on the website of the SEC referred to above.

 

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2,500,000 Shares

 

LOGO

 

COMMON STOCK

 

 

J.P. Morgan    Cowen    Piper Sandler

 

                    , 2020

 


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PART II

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS

Item 13. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution

The following table sets forth the expenses to be incurred in connection with the offering described in this Registration Statement, other than underwriting discounts and commissions, all of which will be paid by us. All amounts are estimates except the Securities and Exchange Commission’s registration fee and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.’s filing fee.

 

     Amount to
be Paid
 

SEC Registration Fee

   $ 11,408  

FINRA filing fee

     13,683  

Printing and engraving expenses

     150,000  

Legal fees and expenses

     300,000  

Accounting fees and expenses

     120,000  

Transfer agent and registrar fees

     2,500  

Miscellaneous expenses

     27,409  

Total

   $ 625,000  

Item 14. Indemnification of Directors and Officers

Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law empowers a corporation to indemnify its directors and officers and to purchase insurance with respect to liability arising out of their capacity or status as directors and officers, provided that the person acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in our best interests, and, with respect to any criminal action, had no reasonable cause to believe the person’s actions were unlawful. The Delaware General Corporation Law further provides that the indemnification permitted thereunder shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which the directors and officers may be entitled under the corporation’s bylaws, any agreement, a vote of stockholders or otherwise. The certificate of incorporation of the registrant provides for the indemnification of the registrant’s directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted under the Delaware General Corporation Law. In addition, the bylaws of the registrant require the registrant to fully indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding (whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative) by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or officer of the registrant, or is or was a director or officer of the registrant serving at the registrant’s request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorney’s fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law permits a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director of the corporation shall not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except (1) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (2) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (3) for payments of unlawful dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions or (4) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. The registrant’s certificate of incorporation provides that the registrant’s directors shall not be personally liable to it or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a

 

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director and that if the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of the registrant’s directors shall be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, as so amended.

Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law provides, among other things, that a director who willfully or negligently approves of an unlawful payment of dividends or an unlawful stock purchase or redemption may be held liable for such actions. A director who was either absent when the unlawful actions were approved, or dissented at the time, may avoid liability by causing his or her dissent to such actions to be entered in the books containing minutes of the meetings of the board of directors at the time such action occurred or immediately after such absent director receives notice of the unlawful acts.

As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, the registrant has entered into separate indemnification agreements with each of the registrant’s directors and certain of the registrant’s officers which require the registrant, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities which may arise by reason of their status as directors, officers or certain other employees.

The registrant has obtained and intends to maintain insurance policies under which its directors and officers are insured, within the limits and subject to the limitations of those policies, against certain expenses in connection with the defense of, and certain liabilities which might be imposed as a result of, actions, suits or proceedings to which they are parties by reason of being or having been directors or officers. The coverage provided by these policies may apply whether or not the registrant would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under the provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law.

These indemnification provisions and the indemnification agreements entered into between the registrant and the registrant’s officers and directors may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification of the registrant’s officers and directors for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

The underwriting agreement between the registrant and the underwriters to be filed as Exhibit 1.1 to this registration statement provides for the indemnification by the underwriters of the registrant’s directors and officers and certain controlling persons against specified liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act with respect to information provided by the underwriters specifically for inclusion in the registration statement.

Item 15. Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

The following list sets forth information regarding all unregistered securities sold by us since January 1, 2017. No underwriters were involved in the sales and the certificates representing the securities sold and issued contain legends restricting transfer of the securities without registration under the Securities Act or an applicable exemption from registration.

(a)    In May 2017 and August 2017, we issued and sold convertible promissory notes in an aggregate principal amount of $4.3 million at face value.

(b)    In October 2017, we issued and sold an aggregate of 3,883,000 shares of our Series A preferred stock at a purchase price of $5.67 per share for aggregate proceeds of $22.0 million.

(c)    In February 2019 and April 2019, we issued and sold an aggregate of 6,581,590 shares of our Series B preferred stock at a purchase price of $14.13 per share for aggregate proceeds of $93.0 million.

(d)    From May 2017 through October 16, 2019, we granted to our directors, officers, employees, consultants and other service providers stock options to purchase an aggregate of 2,793,435 shares of common stock upon the exercise of options under our 2016 Plan at exercise prices per share ranging from $0.20 to $14.28, for an aggregate exercise price of $12.4 million.

 

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(e)    From May 2017 through October 2, 2019, we issued and sold to our directors, officers, employees, consultants and other service providers an aggregate of 7,291 shares of common stock upon the exercise of options under our 2016 Plan at an exercise price per share of $1.02, for an aggregate exercise price of $7,437.

The offers, sales and issuances of the securities described in Items (a), (b) and (c) above were exempt from registration under the Securities Act under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act or Regulation D promulgated thereunder as transactions by an issuer not involving a public offering. The recipients of securities in each of these transactions acquired the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof and appropriate legends were affixed to the securities issued in these transactions. Each of the recipients of securities in these transactions was an accredited person and had adequate access, through employment, business or other relationships, to information about the registrant.

The offers, sales and issuances of the securities described in Item (d) and Item (e) above were exempt from registration under the Securities Act under either (1) Rule 701 in that the transactions were under compensatory benefit plans and contracts relating to compensation as provided under Rule 701 or (2) Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act as transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering. The recipients of such securities were the registrant’s directors, officers, employees, consultants or other service providers and received the securities under our 2016 Plan. The recipients of securities in each of these transactions represented their intention to acquire the securities for investment only and not with view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof and appropriate legends were affixed to the securities issued in these transactions.

Item 16. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules

(a)    Exhibits.

See the Exhibit Index immediately preceding the signature page hereto for a list of exhibits filed as part of this registration statement on Form S-1, which Exhibit Index is incorporated herein by reference.

(b)    Financial Statement Schedules.

Schedules have been omitted because the information required to be set forth therein is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.

Item 17. Undertakings

The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to provide to the underwriters at the completion specified in the underwriting agreements, certificates in such denominations and registered in such names as required by the underwriters to permit prompt delivery to each purchaser.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

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The undersigned hereby undertakes that:

(1)    For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act of 1933 shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective.

(2)    For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit

Number

 

Description

 

Form

  File No.     Number    

Filing Date

1.1*

 

Form of Underwriting Agreement, including Form of Lock-up Agreement.

       

3.1

 

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant.

  8-K     001-39112       3.1     November 5, 2019

3.2

 

Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Registrant.

  8-K     001-39112       3.2     November 5, 2019

4.1

 

Form of Common Stock Certificate.

  S-1/A     333-234104       4.2     October 15, 2019

4.2

 

Amended and Restated Investor Rights Agreement among the Registrant and certain of its stockholders, dated February 15, 2019.

  S-1     333-234104       4.1     October 4, 2019

5.1*

 

Opinion of Cooley LLP.

       

10.1^

 

Form of Indemnification Agreement between the Registrant and each of its directors and executive officers.

  S-1     333-234104       10.1     October 4, 2019

10.2^

 

2016 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and forms of agreement thereunder.

  S-1     333-234104       10.2     October 4, 2019

10.3^

 

2019 Equity Incentive Plan and forms of agreements thereunder.

  S-1/A     333-234104       10.3     October 21, 2019

10.4^

 

2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

  S-1/A     333-234104       10.4     October 21, 2019

10.5^

 

Employment Offer Letter between the Registrant and Jeffrey Nau, Ph.D., M.M.S.

  S-1     333-234104       10.5     October 4, 2019

10.6^

 

Employment Offer Letter between the Registrant and Daniel Lochner.

  S-1     333-234104       10.6     October 4, 2019

10.7^

 

Employment Offer Letter between the Registrant and John Snisarenko.

  S-1     333-234104       10.7     October 4, 2019

10.8^

 

Form of Change in Control and Severance Agreement.

  S-1     333-234104       10.8     October 4, 2019

10.9^

 

Outside Director Compensation Policy.

  S-1     333-234104       10.9     October 4, 2019

 

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Exhibit

Number

 

Description

 

Form

  File No.     Number    

Filing Date

10.10^

 

Executive Incentive Compensation Plan.

  S-1     333-234104       10.10     October 4, 2019

10.11#

 

Non-Exclusive Patent License Agreement between the Registrant and Pfizer Inc., dated as of October 18, 2019.

  S-1/A     333-234104       10.11     October 21, 2019

23.1*

 

Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm.

       

23.2*

 

Consent of Cooley LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1).

       

24.1*

 

Power of Attorney (contained in the signature page hereto).

       

 

*   Filed herewith.
#   Certain confidential portions (indicated by brackets and asterisks) have been omitted from this exhibit.
^   Indicates management contract or compensatory plan

 

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Princeton, New Jersey, on May 12, 2020.

 

OYSTER POINT PHARMA, INC.
By:  

/s/ Jeffrey Nau

  Jeffrey Nau, Ph.D., M.M.S.
  President and Chief Executive Officer

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Jeffrey Nau and Daniel Lochner as his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and substitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities (including his or her capacity as a director and/or officer of Oyster Point Pharma, Inc.) to sign any or all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this registration statement and any and all additional registration statements pursuant to Rule 462(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, 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 and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as they, he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their, his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature

  

Title

   Date  

/s/ Jeffrey Nau

  

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

     May 12, 2020  

Jeffrey Nau, Ph.D., M.M.S.

  

(Principal Executive Officer)

  

/s/ Daniel Lochner

  

Chief Financial Officer

     May 12, 2020  

Daniel Lochner

  

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

  

/s/ Michael Ackermann

Michael Ackermann, Ph.D.

  

Chair of the Board

     May 12, 2020  

/s/ Mark Murray

Mark Murray

  

Director

     May 12, 2020  

/s/ Ali Behbahani

Ali Behbahani, M.D.

  

Director

     May 12, 2020  

/s/ William J. Link

William J. Link, Ph.D.

  

Director

     May 12, 2020  

/s/ Clare Ozawa

Clare Ozawa, Ph.D.

  

Director

     May 12, 2020  

 

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Signature

  

Title

   Date  

/s/ Benjamin Tsai

Benjamin Tsai

  

Director

     May 12, 2020  

/s/ Aimee Weisner

Aimee Weisner

  

Director

     May 12, 2020  

 

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