10-K: Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)
Published on September 19, 2024
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
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DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement to be delivered to shareholders in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on December 5, 2024 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 (“Annual Report”) contains statements reflecting assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions or beliefs about future events that are intended as “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements appear in a number of places, including, but not limited to “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” These statements represent our reasonable judgment of the future based on various factors and using numerous assumptions and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results and financial position to differ materially from those contemplated by the statements. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts, and use words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “may,” “should,” “plan,” “project” and other words of similar meaning. In particular, these include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the following:
● | our ability to obtain regulatory approvals or remove regulatory holds for clinical trials and our drug candidates; |
● | expectations regarding clinical development and the timing of clinical trials in the United States and outside of the United States; |
● | projected operating or financial results, including anticipated cash flows to be used in operating activities; |
● | expectations regarding capital expenditures, research and development expenses and the timing of milestone payments required under license agreements; |
● | our beliefs and assumptions relating to our liquidity position, including our ability to obtain additional financing; and |
● | our future dependence on third-party manufacturers or strategic partners to manufacture any of our pharmaceutical drugs and diagnostics that receive regulatory approval, and our ability to identify strategic partners and enter into license, co-development, collaboration or similar arrangements. |
Any or all of our forward-looking statements may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including, but not limited to, the risks described in “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report.
In addition, there may be other factors that could cause our actual results to be materially different from the results referenced in the forward-looking statements, some of which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Many of these factors will be important in determining our actual future results. Consequently, the accuracy of our forward-looking statements cannot be guaranteed. Our actual future results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report, except as otherwise required by applicable law.
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PART I
Item 1. Business.
Rezolute, Inc. (“Rezolute”, the “Company”, “we” or “us”) is a late-stage rare disease company focused on significantly improving outcomes for individuals with hypoglycemia caused by hyperinsulinism (“HI”).
Summary of Clinical Assets
Ersodetug (formerly RZ358)
Our lead clinical asset, ersodetug (formerly RZ358), is a potential treatment for hypoglycemia caused by multiple forms of hyperinsulinism.
Ersodetug is an intravenously administered human monoclonal antibody that binds to a unique site (allosteric) on the insulin receptor in insulin target tissues, such as in the liver, fat, and muscle. The antibody down modulates insulin’s binding, signaling, and action thereby counteracting the effects of elevated insulin in the body, and helping to restore glucose to a more normalized range. Ersodetug shows dose dependent pharmacokinetics with a half-life greater than 2 weeks, which has the potential for twice or even once monthly dosing. Therefore, we believe that ersodetug is ideally suited as a potential therapy for conditions characterized by excessive insulin levels, and it is being developed to treat hyperinsulinism and low blood sugar. As ersodetug acts downstream from the beta cells, it has the potential to be universally effective at treating hypoglycemia related to HI, whether genetic or caused by tumors.
Ersodetug for congenital HI
Congenital HI is the most common cause of recurrent and persistent hypoglycemia in children. Individuals with congenital HI typically present with signs or symptoms of hypoglycemia shortly after birth. Hypoglycemia can result in significant brain injury and death if not recognized and managed appropriately. Additionally, recurrent, or cumulative, hypoglycemia can lead to progressive and irreversible damage over time, including serious and devastating brain injury, seizures, neuro-developmental problems, feeding difficulties, and significant impact on patient and family quality of life. In cases that are unresponsive to medical management, surgical removal of the pancreas may be required. In those with diffuse disease where the whole pancreas is affected, a near-total pancreatectomy can be undertaken, although ongoing medical treatment of hypoglycemia is generally required for several years after surgery, before eventual insulin-dependent diabetes ensues. There are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved therapies for all forms of congenital HI and the current standard of care treatments are suboptimal. The current treatments used by physicians include glucagon, diazoxide, somatostatin analogues and pancreatectomy. We estimate that in the U.S. alone the addressable market for congenital HI is more than 1,500 individuals.
Ersodetug has received Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. and European Union for the treatment of congenital HI, as well as Rare Pediatric Disease Designation in the U.S., a prerequisite for a request for a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher upon Biologics License Application (“BLA”) submission. Based on the multinational Phase 2b clinical trial (“RIZE”) outcomes and the evidence of benefit in this serious condition with substantial unmet medical need, ersodetug was subsequently granted a priority medicines (“PRIME”) designation by the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) and an Innovation Passport designation by the UK Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (“ILAP”) Steering Group for the treatment of congenital HI.
Phase 3 sunRIZE
We are actively enrolling a pivotal Phase 3 clinical study (the “sunRIZE” study) of ersodetug for the treatment of hypoglycemia in participants with congenital HI, an ultra-rare pediatric genetic disorder characterized by excessive production of insulin by the pancreas. If untreated, the elevated insulin levels in patients suffering with congenital HI can induce extreme hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) events, increasing the risk of neurological and developmental complications, including persistent feeding problems, learning disabilities, recurrent seizures, brain damage or even death.
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The sunRIZE study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel arm evaluation of ersodetug in participants 3 months of age and older with congenital HI who are not adequately responding to standard of care medical therapies. Specifically, the study is evaluating the safety and efficacy of ersodetug in participants who are unable to achieve control of low blood sugars (“hypoglycemia” [<70 mg/dL]). The study will determine the ability of ersodetug to correct hypoglycemia as assessed by (i) hypoglycemia events using self-monitored blood glucose (“SMBG”) and (ii) time in hypoglycemia using continuous glucose monitoring (“CGM”) over 24 weeks of treatment.
To date, we have been screening and enrolling participants outside the U.S. because the FDA had imposed an age restriction of 12 years of age and older on ersodetug clinical studies as well as dose level restrictions based on historical rat toxicology findings. On September 4, 2024, FDA lifted those restrictions and now the Company is conducting study start-up activities at sites in the U.S. in anticipation of enrolling U.S. participants in the sunRIZE study in the first part of 2025. Topline results from the study are anticipated to be available in the second half of calendar 2025.
The study will also measure the levels of ersodetug and its effects on other important blood and clinical markers of hypoglycemia, as well as quality of life measures. The primary and key secondary efficacy endpoints are the following:
Primary efficacy endpoint:
● | Change in average weekly occurrence of hypoglycemia events as measured by SMBG after 24 weeks |
Key secondary efficacy endpoint:
● | Change in average daily percent time in hypoglycemia as measured by CGM after 24 weeks |
Approximately 56 participants between 3 months and 45 years of age are intended to be enrolled. Participants between 1 and 45 years of age (approximately 48 participants) will be enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion to receive ersodetug or placebo at dose levels of 5 or 10 mg/kg while on standard of care. Infant participants between 3 months and 1 year of age (approximately 8 participants) will initially be enrolled in open-label fashion to receive ersodetug at a starting dose level of 5 mg/kg, which may be increased to 10 mg/kg at the discretion of the investigator. Thereafter, pending agreement by an independent Data Monitoring Committee, infant patients may be permitted to be enrolled into the randomized, controlled study. Participants will receive ersodetug as an intravenous infusion every 2 weeks over an initial 4-week loading period (3 doses), followed by monthly doses over an additional 16-week maintenance period (4 doses), for a total of 7 doses over the total 24-week treatment period. Following the study period, participants may proceed into an open-label extension program where investigators shall be permitted to: (i) adjust the dose between 5 and 10 mg/kg; (ii) adjust the dosing frequency between 2 and 4 weeks; and (iii) wean or stop other background hypoglycemia therapies.
In summary, the study will be comprised of the following treatment groups:
● | Participants ≥1 year old: 5 mg/kg (n = 16) |
● | Participants ≥1 year old: 10 mg/kg (n = 16) |
● | Participants ≥1 year old: placebo (n = 16) |
● | Initial Infant Participants: starting at 5 mg/kg (n = 8) |
Ersodetug for tumor HI
Tumor HI may be caused by two distinct types of tumors: neuroendocrine islet cell tumors (“ICTs”) and non-islet cell tumors (“NICTs”), both of which lead to hypoglycemia due to excessive activation of the insulin receptor. Insulinomas are the most common type of functional ICT and mediate hypoglycemia through excessive insulin production. NICTs are generally associated with relatively large, solid tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma, fibrosarcoma and mesothelioma, and can cause hypoglycemia by producing and secreting insulin-like paraneoplastic substances such as IGF-2 or related variants that bind to and activate the insulin receptor. This form of hypoglycemia can occur in more than 15 different tumor types.
Current therapies for insulinomas and NICTs can be grouped into two main categories: (a) tumor-directed de-bulking therapies (e.g. surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy), which may indirectly and/or eventually lead to decreased levels of
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circulating insulin and/or insulin-like substances, and therefore control HI and related hypoglycemia; and/or (b) medical therapies that directly treat HI and the associated hypoglycemia. Tumor-directed therapies do not directly treat hypoglycemia caused by insulinomas or NICTs. In many cases, tumor-directed therapies are administered concurrently with medical therapies for hypoglycemia and in other cases successful treatment of hypoglycemia often enables the initiation and/or continuation of tumor-directed therapies, as indicated. During the period from diagnosis to surgical treatment, or if surgery is contraindicated or refused, medical treatments are often necessary to directly manage the HI and hypoglycemia induced by the tumor. Additionally, chronic medical management of refractory hypoglycemia is often necessary for patients who cannot be cured by surgery, such as those with extensive disease of the pancreas, multi-focal insulinomas, inoperable or unresectable benign or malignant insulinomas, metastatic insulinomas, non-pancreatic insulinomas, or NICT hypoglycemia resulting from a variety of other tumors.
A significant unmet need exists for treatment options with improved efficacy and tolerability as normalization of glucose levels is crucial to prevent serious signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia, improve patient quality of life and overall function, and even to ensure patients are fit to receive cancer treatment and to reduce mortality. Unfortunately, some patients are unresponsive to the current standard of care medical therapies for tumor HI and experience debilitating hypoglycemia that is otherwise untreatable. Currently available medical therapies are directed at reducing or eliminating insulin production and/or secretion from tumors, which may be challenging when the tumor is differentiated or dysregulated, and therefore not responding to usual control mechanisms for suppressing insulin production. In some cases, commonly utilized somatostatin analog therapies may even worsen hypoglycemia due to suppression of glucagon. Therefore, currently available medical therapies directed at suppressing insulin production may have limited effectiveness in tumor HI.
While we believe the total addressable market may be larger, the immediately addressable market for the combined indications causing tumor HI is estimated to be approximately 1,500 patients in the U.S. alone, including approximately 500 with islet cell tumor hypoglycemia (“ICTH”) and approximately 1,000 with non-islet cell tumor hypoglycemia (“NICTH”).
On August 5, 2024, we announced FDA clearance of our Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for a Phase 3 registrational study of ersodetug for the treatment of hypoglycemia due to tumor HI. This is the second rare disease program with ersodetug in Phase 3 development. We are initiating start-up activities for the study, which will be primarily conducted in the U.S., and patient enrollment is planned to commence in the first half of calendar 2025.
The Phase 3 registrational study is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 24 participants who have inadequately controlled hypoglycemia because of tumor HI. Eligible participants will be randomized in 1:1 fashion (12 per treatment arm) to receive ersodetug 9 mg/kg per week or matched placebo, as an add-on to standard of care. Up to 24 additional participants may be enrolled into an open-label arm, in participants whose hypoglycemia is being managed by IV glucose in a hospital setting. Following a 6-week pivotal treatment period, all participants may receive ersodetug in open-label extension. The primary endpoint is the change in Level 2 (moderate) and Level 3 (severe) hypoglycemia events by self-monitored blood glucose. Additional endpoints include overall hypoglycemia events, time in hypoglycemia by continuous glucose monitor, patient reported quality of life, hospitalizations, and change in glucose requirements (for open-label hospitalized participants).
Expanded Access Program
Ersodetug has been shown to counteract excessive insulin action downstream, at the insulin-receptor on target organs. The unique mechanism of action of ersodetug makes the therapy a potential universal treatment for any form of hyperinsulinism.
We maintain an EAP for a variety of HI indications for the purpose of making ersodetug available on a compassionate use basis when available therapeutic options have failed, and an individual’s hypoglycemia is unmanageable. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we received and approved an EAP request from Dr. Mary Elizabeth Patti, Director of the Hypoglycemia Clinic at the Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Medical Center-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center, for a patient with intractable hypoglycemia caused by a metastatic insulinoma. Dr. Patti received a single patient IND approval from the FDA's Office of Cardiology, Hematology, Endocrinology and Nephrology - Division of Diabetes, Lipid Disorders, and
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Obesity (“Division”) to treat the patient with ersodetug. Dr. Patti reported that the patient safely achieved correction of hypoglycemia with ersodetug, enabling the patient to wean off continuous intravenous dextrose and several other medications for hypoglycemia, leave the hospital after a prolonged stay, and resume receiving concurrent treatment for his cancer with tumor-directed therapies. The patient remained on ersodetug for more than a year until he eventually passed away due to progression of his underlying malignant/metastatic insulinoma.
We have received and approved several additional requests to date for use of ersodetug in patients with tumor HI caused by metastatic insulinomas and other insulin secreting metastatic cancer (cervical). In the U.S., these requests have all been approved by the Division. These patients have been refractory to usual standard of care therapies for chronic management of hypoglycemia and required continuous high volume/concentration intravenous dextrose or nutritional infusion and were hospitalized and in life-threatening or hospice-bound condition because of uncontrollable hypoglycemia. Further treatment with tumor-directed therapies (e.g., embolization, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) was often deferred as a result of the debilitating hypoglycemia.
Generally, dosing for tumor HI patients has been either 6 mg/kg or 9 mg/kg every 1-2 weeks. In all cases to date, ersodetug has led to substantial improvement in hypoglycemia and has been well tolerated. Within a relatively short period of time after administration of ersodetug, continuous intravenous dextrose was discontinued or substantially reduced and hospitalized patients were able to be discharged and receive maintenance ersodetug doses on an outpatient basis, with durable benefit. In most cases, other background medical therapies for hypoglycemia were able to be weaned or stopped, and patients were able to resume tumor-directed therapies for treatment of their underlying cancer. Patients with metastatic tumor HI often have underlying hepatic injury (abnormal enzymes) at baseline due to hepatic metastases or previous tumor-directed treatments (e.g., partial liver resection or embolization). The patients with hepatic injury that have been treated under the EAP have not exhibited any indication of hepatic toxicity with the use of ersodetug.
RZ402
Our second clinical asset, RZ402, is an oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor (“PKI”) and potential therapy for the chronic treatment of diabetic macular edema (“DME”). DME is a vascular complication of diabetes and a leading cause of blindness in the U.S. and elsewhere. Chronic exposure to high blood sugar levels can lead to inflammation, cell damage, and the breakdown of blood vessel walls. Specifically, in DME, retinal blood vessels at the back of the eye become porous and permeable leading to the unwanted infiltration of fluid into the macula. This fluid leakage creates distorted vision, and if left untreated, blindness.
In May 2024, we completed a Phase 2 multi-center, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, parallel arm study to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of RZ402 administered as a monotherapy over a 12-week treatment period in participants with DME who are naïve to, or have received limited anti-VEGF injections. The study population was comprised of DME patients with mild to moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Eligible participants were randomized equally, to one of three RZ402 active treatment arms at doses of 50, 200, and 400 mg, or a placebo control arm, to receive study drug once daily for 12 weeks, before completing a 4-week follow-up. The study enrolled 94 patients in the U.S. The study met both primary endpoints, demonstrating a significant reduction in central subfield thickness (“CST") in the study eye at all RZ402 dose levels compared to placebo (up to approximately 50 micron improvement), as well as good safety and tolerability. The program is available for partnering and we are actively engaged in conversations with potential partners to take RZ402 into further development.
Intellectual Property
Our success depends on an intellectual property portfolio that supports our future revenue streams and also erects barriers to our competitors. We are maintaining and building our patent portfolio through filing new patent applications; prosecuting existing applications; and licensing patents and patent applications. Furthermore, we seek to protect our ownership of know-how, trade secrets and trademarks through an active program of legal mechanisms including registrations, assignments, confidentiality agreements, material transfer agreements, research collaborations and licenses. While we have confidence in our agreements and security measures, either may be compromised, and we may not have adequate remedies. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or independently discovered by competitors.
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U.S. patents, as well as most foreign patents, are generally effective for 20 years from the date the earliest application was filed. U.S. patents that were issued on applications filed before June 8, 1995, may be effective until 17 years from the issue date, if that is later than the 20-year date. In some cases, the patent term may be extended to recapture a portion of the term lost during regulatory review of the claimed therapeutic or, in the case of the U.S., because of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) delays in prosecuting the application. In the U.S., under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (commonly known as the Hatch-Waxman Act), a patent that covers a drug approved by the FDA may be eligible for patent term extension (for up to five years, but not beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval) as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. The duration and extension of the term of foreign patents varies in accordance with local law. In the EU, Supplementary Protection Certificates, or SPCs, are available to extend a patent term up to five years to compensate for patent protection lost during regulatory review. Although all EU Member States must provide SPCs, SPCs must be applied for and granted on a country-by-country basis. Limited exceptions apply to the protection conferred by the SPC.
As further described in the “XOMA License Agreement” section below, we hold a worldwide, exclusive license from XOMA to patents covering the ersodetug molecule, including 37 issued patents worldwide and in the U.S. (3 U.S.) and pending patent applications with claims directed to compositions of matter and methods of use in therapy. These patents expire between 2030 to 2036. We also are pursuing patent applications relating to formulations of the clinical product candidate. In addition, for certain of our product candidates we also expect to have further exclusivity in the form of data and marketing exclusivity under pharmaceutical regulatory laws, including for example, potentially up to 12 years of exclusivity from the date of first BLA approval of our product candidates.
We also hold a worldwide, exclusive license from ActiveSite to patents covering the RZ402 molecule, certain prodrug forms of RZ402, and uses (as further described in the “ActiveSite License Agreement” section below), including 9 issued international patents and 7 issued U.S. patents. We have additional patents (2 U.S.) and pending patent applications (3 U.S. and 29 international) with claims directed to formulations, solid forms of RZ402, methods of preparing RZ402, and methods of use in therapy. These patents are expected to expire between 2040 and 2043. We also expect to be granted further exclusivity in the form of data and marketing exclusivity under pharmaceutical regulatory laws in various jurisdictions.
Competition
We face competition from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, governmental agencies, and private research organizations in recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientific personnel and consultants and in the development and acquisition of technologies.
There are other companies developing therapies for HI that are potential competitors to ersodetug, including, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, and Zealand Pharma.
There are also companies developing therapies for DME that are potential competitors to our PKI including Curacle, KalVista, Ocuphire Pharma, Oxurion and Verseon.
Government Regulation
Regulation by governmental authorities in the U.S. and other countries is a significant factor in the development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products. All of our potential products will require regulatory approval by governmental agencies prior to commercialization. In particular, pharmaceutical therapies are subject to rigorous preclinical testing and clinical trials and other pre-market approval requirements by the FDA and Regulatory Authorities (as defined below) in foreign countries. Various federal, state and foreign statutes and regulations also govern or influence the manufacturing, safety, labeling, storage, record keeping and marketing of such products.
In addition, we are subject to various federal, state, and local laws, regulations and recommendations relating to safe working conditions; laboratory and manufacturing practices; the experimental use of animals; and the use and disposal of
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hazardous or potentially hazardous substances, including radioactive compounds and infectious disease agents, used in connection with our research, development and manufacturing.
Research and Development
We incurred approximately $55.7 million and $43.8 million in research and development expenses for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. For further discussion of activities related to ersodetug and RZ402 product candidates, please refer to the discussion above. For further discussion of our research and development expenses, please refer to the discussion under the caption Results of Operations under Item 7 of this Annual Report.
Human Capital Management
Employees
As of June 30, 2024, we had 59 full time employees, of which 42 employees were engaged in research and development, manufacturing, clinical operations, regulatory and quality activities and 17 employees were engaged in administrative functions. Of the 59 employees, all were located in the United States. We have a number of employees who hold Ph.D. degrees and other advanced degrees. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and we have experienced no work stoppages nor are we aware of any employment circumstances that are likely to disrupt work at any of our facilities. As part of our measures to attract and retain personnel, we provide a number of benefits to our full-time employees, including health insurance, life insurance, retirement plans, paid holiday and vacation time. In addition, we grant stock options to certain key employees as an added incentive to remain in our employment. We believe that we maintain good relations with our employees.
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are priorities for us. We believe that a rich culture of inclusion and diversity enables us to create, develop and fully leverage the strengths of our workforce. In furtherance of our commitment to inclusion and diversity, on May 30, 2023, we adopted an equity and inclusion policy.
Human Resources, Hiring and Professional Development
The development, attraction and retention of employees is critical to our success. We work diligently to attract the best talent from a diverse range of sources in order to meet the current and future demands of our business. We leverage both formal and informal programs to identify, foster and retain top talent.
Business Ethics
Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is designed to ensure that the conduct of our business is consistent with the highest standards of business ethics. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics serves as a critical tool to help employees recognize and report unethical conduct, while preserving our culture of excellence. Our Board of Directors, management and staff are provided with training regarding our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. On May 30, 2023, we adopted an amended and restated Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. The purpose of amending and restating the prior code was to improve its readability and clarify certain areas of importance, including with respect to compliance with laws, accounting and auditing matters, conflicts of interest, insider trading, confidentiality obligations and the reporting of violations of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
Corporate Information
We were incorporated in Delaware in 2010, and we reincorporated in Nevada in June 2021. We maintain an executive office located at 275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 500, Redwood City, CA 94065 and our phone number is (650) 206-4507. Our website is located at www.rezolutebio.com. We file annual, quarterly, current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains a website that contains our public
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filings and other information regarding the Company, at www.sec.gov. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of, and is not incorporated into this document.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Investors should consider carefully the following risks before deciding to purchase any of our securities. If any of the events or developments described below actually occur, our business, results of operations and financial condition would likely suffer and investors may lose all or part of their investment. In addition, it is also possible that other risks and uncertainties that affect our business may arise or become material in the future.
Risks Related to Our Product Development and Commercialization
Any delays in the commencement or completion, or termination or suspension, of our future clinical trials, if any, could result in increased costs to us, delay or limit our ability to generate revenue and adversely affect our commercial prospects.
Before obtaining approval from the government authorities or professional bodies with authority to grant regulatory approval for our drug candidates in a particular country, such as the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”), the Food and Drug Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“FDA”) and analogous authorities in other jurisdictions outside of the United States (“Regulatory Authorities”), we must conduct extensive clinical studies to demonstrate safety and efficacy. Clinical testing is expensive, time consuming and uncertain as to the outcome. Any delays in the commencement or completion of our ongoing, planned or future clinical trials could significantly increase our costs, slow down our development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. We do not know whether our planned trials will begin on time or at all, or be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement and completion of clinical trials can be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays related to:
● | Regulatory Authorities disagreeing as to the design or implementation of our clinical trials or with our recommended dose for any of our pipeline programs; |
● | obtaining Regulatory Authority authorization to commence a trial or reaching a consensus with such Regulatory Authorities on trial design; |
● | identifying and activating investigators and clinical trial sites to conduct trials; |
● | obtaining approval from one or more independent institutional review boards (“IRB”) or Ethics Committee (“EC”) at each clinical trial site before each trial may be initiated; |
● | IRBs/ECs refusing to approve, suspending or terminating the trial at an investigational site, precluding enrollment of additional subjects, or withdrawing their approval of the trial; |
● | changes to a clinical trial protocol; |
● | clinical sites deviating from trial protocol or dropping out of a trial; |
● | failing to manufacture or obtain sufficient quantities of drug candidate, or, if applicable, combination therapies for use in clinical trials; |
● | patients failing to enroll or remain in our trial at the rate we expect, or failing to return for post-treatment follow-up; |
● | patients choosing an alternative treatment, or participating in competing clinical trials; |
● | lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial; |
● | patients experiencing severe or unexpected drug-related adverse effects; |
● | occurrence of serious adverse events in trials of the same class of agents conducted by other companies; |
● | selecting or being required to use clinical end points that require prolonged periods of clinical observation or analysis of the resulting data; |
● | a facility manufacturing our drug candidates, or any of their components, including without limitation, our own facilities being ordered by Regulatory Authorities to temporarily or permanently shut down due to violations of current good manufacture practices, regulations or other applicable requirements, or infections or cross-contaminations in the manufacturing process; |
● | lack of stability of our clinical trial material or any quality issues that arise with the clinical trial material; |
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● | any changes to our manufacturing process that may be necessary or desired; |
● | our, or our third-party contractors, not performing data collection or analysis in a timely or accurate manner or improperly disclosing data prematurely or otherwise in violation of a clinical trial protocol; |
● | any third-party contractors becoming debarred or suspended or otherwise penalized by Regulatory Authorities or other government or regulatory bodies for violations of regulatory requirements, in which case we may need to find a substitute contractor, and we may not be able to use some or all of the data produced by such contractors in support of our marketing applications; |
● | a clinical trial being suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs/ECs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by a Data Safety Monitoring Board for such trial or by Regulatory Authorities, due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by Regulatory Authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using the product under investigation, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial; or |
● | changes in regulatory requirements and policies and our need to amend clinical trial protocols to comply with these changes and potentially resubmit our clinical trial protocols to IRBs/ECs for reexamination. |
Delays in initiating a new phase of clinical trials resulting from action by FDA or any other Regulatory Authority would delay the approval obtainment and commercialization of our product candidates and our ability to generate revenue, which would have an adverse effect on our business.
Adverse events in our clinical trials may force us to stop development of our product candidates or prevent regulatory approval of our product candidates.
Our product candidates may produce serious adverse events in patients during clinical trials. These adverse events could interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials of our product candidates and could result in the FDA, or other Regulatory Authorities requesting additional preclinical data or denying approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. An IRB/EC, independent Data Safety Monitoring Board, the FDA, other Regulatory Authorities or the Company itself may suspend or terminate clinical trials at any time. We cannot assure you that any of our product candidates will prove safe for human use.
We are exposed to additional risks as we conduct the sunRIZE study outside of the U.S. and may not be successful in meeting the study’s primary endpoint.
Prior to the FDA’s lift of the partial clinical hold in September 2024, we initiated and are advancing the sunRIZE study outside of the U.S. The sunRIZE study may not produce positive results and meet its primary endpoint outside of the U.S. We may need to commence and complete additional clinical trials that satisfy the specified primary endpoint criteria in order to obtain necessary regulatory approvals from the EMA for ersodetug. Conducting clinical trials outside the U.S. also exposes us to additional risks, including risks associated with:
● | additional foreign regulatory requirements; |
● | foreign exchange fluctuations; |
● | compliance with foreign manufacturing, customs, shipment and storage requirements; |
● | potential political or economic instability in the jurisdictions where we initiate clinical trials; |
● | cultural differences in medical practice and clinical research; and |
● | diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries. |
After the completion of our clinical studies, we cannot predict whether or when we will obtain regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates and we cannot, therefore, predict the timing of any future revenue from these product candidates.
Even if we achieve positive clinical results and file for regulatory approval, we cannot commercialize any of our product candidates until the appropriate Regulatory Authorities have reviewed and approved the applications for such product
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candidates. We cannot provide assurance that the Regulatory Authorities will complete their review processes in a timely manner or that we will obtain regulatory approval for any product candidate we develop. Satisfaction of regulatory requirements typically takes many years, is dependent upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product and requires the expenditure of substantial resources. In addition, we may experience delays or rejections based upon additional government regulation from future legislation or administrative action or changes in Regulatory Authority policy during the period of product development, clinical studies and regulatory review.
If we or a Regulatory Authority discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, a Regulatory Authority may impose restrictions on that product, the manufacturing facility or us, including requiring recall or withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing. If we, our product candidates or the manufacturing facilities for our product candidates fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a Regulatory Authority may: issue warning letters or untitled letters; seek an injunction or impose civil or criminal penalties or monetary fines; suspend or withdraw regulatory approval; suspend any ongoing clinical studies; refuse to approve pending applications or supplements to applications filed by us; suspend or impose restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing requirements; or seize or detain products, refuse to permit the import or export of products, or require us to initiate a product recall.
The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit our ability to commercialize our products and generate revenue.
If our product candidates do not meet safety or efficacy requirements, they will not receive regulatory approval and we will be unable to market them.
The process of drug development, regulatory review and approval typically is expensive, takes many years and the timing of any approval cannot be accurately predicted. If we fail to obtain regulatory approval for our current or future product candidates, we will be unable to market and sell such products and therefore may never be profitable.
As part of the regulatory approval process, we must conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials for each product candidate to demonstrate safety and efficacy. The number of preclinical studies and clinical trials that will be required varies depending on the product candidate, the indication being evaluated, the trial results and regulations applicable to any particular product candidate.
The results of preclinical studies and initial clinical trials of our product candidates do not necessarily predict the results of later-stage clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy despite having progressed through initial clinical trials. We cannot assure you that the data collected from the preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates will be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or a foreign Regulatory Authority. In addition, the continuation of a particular study after review by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board does not necessarily indicate that our product candidate will achieve the clinical endpoint.
The FDA and other Regulatory Authorities can delay, limit or deny approval for many reasons, including: a product candidate may not be safe or effective; our manufacturing processes or facility may not meet the applicable requirements; and changes in Regulatory Authority approval policies or adoption of new regulations may require additional clinical trials or work on our end.
Any delay in, or failure to receive or maintain, approval for any of our products could prevent us from ever generating meaningful revenues or achieving profitability.
Our product candidates are prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any product candidate for a target indication, we must demonstrate safety in preclinical studies and effectiveness with substantial evidence gathered in well-controlled clinical studies. With respect to approval in the U.S., to the satisfaction of the FDA and, with respect to approval in other countries, to the satisfaction of Regulatory Authorities in those countries, we must demonstrate that the product candidate is safe and effective for use for that target indication and that the manufacturing facilities, processes and controls are adequate.
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Despite our efforts, our product candidates may not: offer therapeutic benefit or other improvements over existing, comparable therapeutics; be proven safe and effective in clinical studies; meet applicable regulatory standards; be capable of being produced in sufficient quantities at acceptable costs; be successfully commercialized; or obtain favorable reimbursement.
We are not permitted to market any of our other product candidates in the U.S. until we receive approval of a new drug application, or approval of a biologics license application, from the FDA, or in any foreign countries until we receive the requisite approval from such countries. We have not submitted a new drug application or biologics license application or received marketing approval for any of our product candidates.
Preclinical testing and clinical studies are long, expensive and uncertain processes. We may spend several years completing our testing for any particular product candidate, and failure can occur at any stage. Negative or inconclusive results or adverse medical events during a clinical study could also cause us, one or more IRBs/ECs at clinical trial sites, a Data Safety Monitoring Board or the FDA or other Regulatory Authority to terminate a clinical study or require that we repeat it or conduct additional studies. Additionally, data obtained from a clinical study is susceptible to varying interpretations and the FDA or other Regulatory Authorities may interpret the results of our clinical studies less favorably than we do. The FDA and equivalent foreign Regulatory Authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may decide that our data is insufficient to support a marketing application and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies.
Due to our reliance on contract research organizations or other third parties to conduct clinical trials, we may not have complete control over the timing, conduct and expense of our clinical trials.
We rely primarily on third parties to conduct our clinical trials. As a result, we will have less control over the conduct of the clinical trials, the timing and completion of the trials, the required reporting of adverse events and the management of data developed through the trial than would be the case if our own staff conducted all aspects of our clinical trials. Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes and difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties may have staffing difficulties, may undergo changes in priorities or may become financially distressed, adversely affecting their willingness or ability to conduct our trials. We may experience unexpected increased costs that are beyond our control. Problems with the timeliness or quality of the work of a contract research organization may lead us to seek to terminate the relationship and use an alternative service provider. However, making this change may be costly and may delay our trials, and contractual restrictions may make such a change difficult or impossible. Additionally, it may be impossible to find a replacement organization that can conduct our trials in an acceptable manner and at an acceptable cost.
Any failure or delay by our third-party suppliers on which we rely or intend to rely to provide materials necessary to develop and manufacture our drug products may delay or impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates.
We rely upon a small number of third-party suppliers for the manufacture of certain raw materials that are necessary to formulate our drug products for preclinical and clinical testing purposes. We intend to continue to rely on them in the future. We also expect to rely upon third parties to produce materials required for the commercial production of our product candidates if we succeed in obtaining necessary regulatory approvals. If we are unable to arrange for third-party sources, or do so on commercially unreasonable terms, we may not be able to complete development of or market our product candidates. In addition, third-party suppliers that we engage may be adversely impacted by COVID-19.
It is possible that our raw material suppliers may not be able to sell these raw materials at the times we need them or on commercially reasonable terms due to forces outside of our control including, but not limited to, inflation and global conflicts. We do not have any control over the process or timing of the acquisition of these raw materials by our manufacturers. Our third-party manufacturers and suppliers may encounter delays in providing their services as a result of supply chain constraints. Moreover, we currently do not have any agreements for the commercial production of these raw materials. Although we generally do not begin a clinical study unless we believe we have a sufficient supply of a product candidate to complete the clinical study, any significant delay in the supply of raw material components needed to produce a product candidate for a clinical study due to the need to replace a third-party manufacturer could considerably delay completion of our clinical studies, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we or our manufacturers are unable to purchase these raw materials after regulatory approval has been obtained for our product
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candidates, the commercial launch of our product candidates would be delayed or there would be a shortage in supply of such product candidates, which would impair our ability to generate revenues from the sale of our product candidates.
If we successfully commercialize any of our product candidates, we may be required to establish commercial manufacturing capabilities of larger scale. In addition, as our drug development pipeline increases and matures, we will have a greater need for clinical study and commercial manufacturing capacity. We have no experience manufacturing pharmaceutical products on a commercial scale and we may need to rely on third-party manufacturers with capacity for increased production scale to meet our projected needs for commercial manufacturing, the satisfaction of which on a timely basis may not be met.
If we use hazardous and biological materials in a manner that causes injury or violates applicable law, we may be liable for damages.
Our research and development activities involve the controlled use of potentially hazardous substances, including toxic chemical and biological materials. We could be held liable for any contamination, injury or other damages resulting from these hazardous substances. In addition, our operations produce hazardous waste products. While third parties are responsible for disposal of our hazardous waste, we could be liable under environmental laws for any required cleanup of sites at which our waste is disposed. Federal, state, foreign and local laws and regulations govern the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations at any time, or if they change, we may be subject to criminal sanctions and substantial civil liabilities, which may harm our business. Even if we continue to comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding hazardous materials, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or discharge and our resultant liability for any injuries or other damages caused by these accidents.
Guidelines and recommendations published by various organizations may adversely affect the use of any products for which we may receive regulatory approval.
Government agencies issue regulations and guidelines directly applicable to us and to our product candidates. In addition, professional societies, practice management groups, private health or science foundations and organizations involved in various diseases from time to time publish guidelines or recommendations to the medical and patient communities. These various sorts of recommendations may relate to such matters as product usage and use of related or competing therapies. For example, organizations like the American Diabetes Association have made recommendations about therapies in the diabetes therapeutics market. Changes to these recommendations or other guidelines advocating alternative therapies could result in decreased use of any products for which we may receive regulatory approval, which may adversely affect our results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Business
Changes in financial accounting standards or policies have affected, and in the future may affect, our reported financial condition or results of operations; there are inherent limitations to our system of internal controls; changes in corporate governance policies and practices may impact our business.
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). The preparation of our financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires that we make estimates and assumptions that affect the recorded amounts of assets, liabilities and net income during the reporting period. A change in the facts and circumstances surrounding those estimates could result in a change to our estimates and could impact our future operating results. GAAP is subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), the SEC and various bodies formed to interpret and create accounting policies. A change in those policies can have a significant effect on our reported results and may affect our reporting of transactions which are completed before a change is announced. In general, changes to accounting rules or challenges to our interpretation or application of the rules by regulators may have a material adverse effect on our reported financial results or on the way we conduct business.
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Our system of internal and disclosure controls and procedures was designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving its objectives. However, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been or will be detected. As a result, there can be no assurance that our system of internal and disclosure controls and procedures will be successful in preventing all errors, theft and fraud, or in informing management of all material information in a timely manner.
Finally, corporate governance, public disclosure and compliance practices continue to evolve based upon continuing legislative action, SEC rulemaking and policy positions taken by large institutional stockholders and proxy advisors. As a result, the number of rules, regulations and standards applicable to us may become more burdensome to comply with, could increase scrutiny of our practices and policies by these or other groups and increase our legal and financial compliance costs and the amount of time management must devote to governance and compliance activities. For example, the SEC has recently proposed rules requiring that issuers provide significantly increased disclosures concerning cybersecurity matters and the impact of climate changes on their business and has adopted rules requiring public companies to adopt more stringent executive compensation clawback policies. Increasing regulatory burdens and corporate governance requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our Board of Directors and qualified executive officers.
We have a history of losses and may not achieve profitability in the future. We will need substantial additional capital to fund our operations. If we fail to obtain additional capital, we will be unable to sustain operations.
We incurred net losses of $68.5 million and $51.8 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. As of June 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $329.4 million. Cash used in our operating activities amounted to $57.4 million and $44.5 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We expect that the amount of cash used in our operating activities will continue to increase for the next several years. As of June 30, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $70.4 million and investments in marketable debt securities of $56.7 million that is expected to provide us with adequate capital resources to fund planned activities at least through the second quarter of calendar year 2026.
Since our inception, we have not generated meaningful revenue. We expect to continue to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future as we develop and commercialize our product candidate pipeline, and we expect to need additional capital from external sources before we will be able to begin generating revenue, if ever. If we are unable to raise additional capital, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue one or more of our research and development programs. We may be required to cease operations or seek partners for our product candidates at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable and on terms that are less favorable than might otherwise be available. In the absence of additional capital we may also be required to relinquish, license or otherwise dispose of rights to technologies, product candidates or products that we would otherwise seek to develop or commercialize on terms that are less favorable than might otherwise be available. If we are unable to secure additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to reduce costs in order to conserve our cash in amounts sufficient to sustain operations and meet our obligations. These measures could cause significant delays in the development of our product candidates.
We face potential product liability exposure, and, if successful claims are brought against us, we may incur substantial liability.
The use of our product candidates in clinical studies and the sale of any products for which we obtain marketing approval expose us to the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims might be brought against us by consumers, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we could incur substantial liabilities. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in: impairment of our business reputation; withdrawal of clinical study participants; costs of related litigation; distraction of management’s attention from our primary business; 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 clinical trial insurance for our active clinical programs. This product liability insurance coverage for our clinical studies may not be sufficient to reimburse us for all expenses or losses we may suffer. Moreover, insurance
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coverage is becoming increasingly expensive, and, in the future, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. If and when we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates, we intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products; however, we may be unable to obtain this product liability insurance on commercially reasonable terms. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated adverse effects. A successful product liability claim, or series of claims, brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could decrease our cash and adversely affect our business.
We may not be able to use a significant portion of our net operating loss carryforwards, which could adversely affect our profitability.
Federal and state laws impose substantial restrictions on the utilization of net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards in the event that certain ownership changes occur as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”). Due to our financing activities, we experienced ownership changes that have resulted in significant limitations on the future use of our NOL carryforwards. As of June 30, 2024, we have US federal NOL carryforwards of approximately $171.7 million, of which $33.4 million will expire without any opportunity for utilization due to the limitations set forth in IRC Section 382. Assuming that further IRC Section 382 ownership changes do not occur, the remaining $138.3 million of NOL carryforwards consist of approximately (i) $38.0 million that never expire and are currently available to offset taxable income, (ii) $9.6 million that are currently available to offset taxable income but if not utilized will expire in 2031 through 2035, (iii) $11.7 million that becomes available through 2038 and that expire by June 30, 2038 if not utilized, and (iv) $79.0 million that never expire. With respect to $79.0 million of NOL carryforwards that never expire, this amount will become available in varying annual amounts for an aggregate of approximately $13.2 million through fiscal year 2038, and $1.2 million annually thereafter. It is possible that any future ownership changes could result in further limitations on the use of our NOL carryforwards or other tax attributes, which could adversely affect our future financial position, profitability and cash flows.
If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and the trading price of our common stock may decline.
We are subject to Section 404 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Section 404”), and the related rules of the SEC which generally require our management and independent registered public accounting firm to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Section 404 requires an annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Effective April 27, 2020, the SEC adopted amendments to the “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer” definitions in Rule 12b-2 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. The amendments exclude from the “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer” definitions an issuer that is eligible to be a smaller reporting company and that had annual revenues of less than $100 million in the most recent fiscal year for which audited financial statements are available. We determined that our Company does not meet the accelerated or large accelerated filer definitions as of June 30, 2024. For so long as we remain a smaller reporting company and a non-accelerated filer, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to public companies, including, but not limited to, not being required as a non-accelerated filer to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b). An independent assessment by our independent registered public accounting firm of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.
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After remediation of a material weakness identified during the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2024, we have determined that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of June 30, 2024. However, we cannot provide assurance that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remediate any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.
Operations outside the United States may be affected by different local politics, business and cultural factors, different regulatory requirements and prohibitions between jurisdictions.
We intend to seek regulatory approval in foreign countries for all of our potential products prior to commercialization. Pharmaceutical therapies are subject to rigorous preclinical testing and clinical trials and other pre-market approval requirements by Regulatory Authorities in foreign countries. Operations outside the United States may be affected by different local business and cultural factors, different regulatory requirements and prohibitions between jurisdictions, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and local laws prohibiting corrupt payments, and changes in regulatory requirements for financing activities.
Our collection, use, processing, and cross-border transfer of personal information, including individually identifiable health information, is governed by restrictive regulations.
Our business is broadly regulated by U.S. and foreign regulatory authorities, and we must comply with all applicable rules and regulations concerning our use, processing, handling, maintenance, and protection of personal information. In the U.S., the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) imposes requirements at the federal level relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information, while individual states, such as California, have adopted privacy regulations restricting the use of personal information and providing individuals certain rights with respect to the collection and use of their data. Further, the collection and use of personal information in Europe is governed by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the United Kingdom’s implementation of the same, or the GDPR. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and other applicable data protection laws of the EU member states and the United Kingdom, or other applicable privacy rules and regulations in other countries, may result in significant fines and other administrative penalties. We may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to comply with current and future privacy and data protection regulations applicable to our business. This may interrupt or delay our development activities and/or require us to change our business practices, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We could recognize losses on securities held in our marketable debt securities portfolio, particularly if interest rates increase or economic and market conditions deteriorate.
As of June 30, 2024, the fair value of the investments in our marketable debt securities portfolio was approximately $56.7 million. Factors beyond our control can significantly influence the fair value of securities in our portfolio and can cause potential adverse changes to the fair value of these securities. For example, fixed-rate securities acquired by us are generally subject to decreases in market value when interest rates rise. Additional factors include, but are not limited to, rating agency downgrades of the securities or our own analysis of the value of the security, defaults by the issuer with respect to the underlying securities, and continued instability in the credit markets. Any of the foregoing factors could result in credit-related loss and result in realized losses. The process for determining whether allowances are needed for credit-related losses usually requires difficult, subjective judgments about the future financial performance of the issuer and any collateral underlying the security in order to assess the probability of receiving all contractual principal and interest payments on the security.
As of June 30, 2024, we had $79,000 in net unrealized losses in our marketable debt securities. Unrealized losses in our marketable debt securities portfolio may increase in the future due to the aforementioned economic factors. While our goal
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is to hold each security until maturity, that may not be possible in light of our policy to preserve capital and liquidity and because investment in securities with unrealized losses has a diminished utility as a source of liquidity prior to maturity. Selling securities with an unrealized loss would result in the realization of such losses, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Unfavorable global and regional economic, political and health conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our business could be adversely affected by global or regional economic, political and health conditions. Various macroeconomic factors could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, including changes in inflation, interest rates and overall economic conditions and uncertainties, including those resulting from political instability, trade disputes between nations and the current and future conditions in the global financial markets. For example, beginning in fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, much of the world, including the U.S. and the E.U., began to experience inflation levels not seen in more than 30 years. As a result, prices for many of our inputs have risen, in some cases dramatically. If inflation stays at elevated levels or increases, we may not be able to mitigate the impact of the increased costs we will bear, which could have an impact on our results of operations and financial condition. A global financial crisis or global or regional political and economic instability, wars, terrorism, civil unrest, outbreaks of disease (for example, COVID-19), and other unexpected events, such as supply chain constraints or disruptions, could cause extreme volatility in the capital and credit markets and disrupt our business. Business disruptions could include, among others, disruptions to our commercial activities, including due to supply chain or distribution constraints or challenges, clinical enrollment, clinical site availability, patient accessibility, and conduct of our clinical trials, as well as temporary closures of the facilities of suppliers or contract manufacturers in the biotechnology supply chain. In addition, during certain crises and events, patients may prioritize other items over certain or all of their treatments and/or medications, which could have a negative impact on our commercial sales. A severe or prolonged economic downturn, political disruption or adverse health conditions could result in a variety of risks to our business, including our ability to raise capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the political or economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.
Certain Provisions of Nevada law may have anti-takeover effects.
Certain provisions of Nevada law applicable to us could also delay or make more difficult a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving us, including Sections 78.411 through 78.444 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, which prohibit a Nevada corporation from engaging in any business combination with any "interested shareholder" (as defined in the statute) for a period of two years unless certain conditions are met. In addition, our senior management is entitled to certain payments upon a change in control.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our current patent positions and license portfolio may not include all patent rights needed for the full development and commercialization of our product candidates. We cannot be sure that patent rights we may need in the future will be available to license on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.
We typically develop our product candidates using compounds that we have acquired or in-licensed, including the original composition of matter patents and patents that claim the activities and methods for such compounds’ production and use. For example, in 2017 we in-licensed (i) a fully human monoclonal antibody from XOMA Corporation (“XOMA”) as well as (ii) a plasma kallikrein inhibitor portfolio from ActiveSite Pharmaceuticals (“ActiveSite”) and in consideration for such licenses, we will owe milestone payments and royalties as we progress product candidates through development.
As we learn more about the mechanisms of action and new methods of manufacture and use of these product candidates, we may file additional patent applications for these new inventions, or we may need to ask our licensors to file them. We may also need to license additional patent rights or other rights on compounds, treatment methods or manufacturing processes because we learn that we need such rights during the continuing development of our product candidates.
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Although our patents may prevent others from making, using or selling similar products, they do not ensure that we will not infringe the patent rights of third parties. We may not be aware of all patents or patent applications that may impact our ability to make, use or sell any of our product candidates or proposed product candidates. For example, because we sometimes identify the mechanism of action or molecular target of a given product candidate after identifying its composition of matter and therapeutic use, we may not be aware until the mechanism or target is further elucidated that a third-party has an issued or pending patent claiming biological activities or targets that may cover our product candidate. U.S. patent applications filed after November 29, 2000 are confidential in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the first 18 months after such applications’ earliest priority date, and patent offices in other countries often publish patent applications for the first time six months or more after filing. Furthermore, we may not be aware of published or granted conflicting patent rights. Any conflicts resulting from patent applications and patents of others could significantly reduce the coverage of our patents and limit our ability to obtain meaningful patent protection. If others obtain patents with conflicting claims, we may need to obtain licenses to these patents or to develop or obtain alternative technology.
We may not be able to obtain any licenses or other rights to patents, technology or know-how from third parties necessary to conduct our business as described in this Annual Report and such licenses, if available at all, may not be available on commercially reasonable terms. Any failure to obtain such licenses could delay or prevent us from developing or commercializing our drug candidates or proposed product candidates, which would harm our business. Litigation, patent office administrative proceedings or patent interference proceedings may be necessarily brought against us or third parties, as discussed below, to enforce any of our patents or other proprietary rights or to determine the scope and validity or enforceability of the proprietary rights of such third parties.
In addition, we may face claims by third parties that our agreements with employees, contractors, or consultants obligating them to assign intellectual property to us are ineffective, or in conflict with prior or competing contractual obligations of assignment, which could result in ownership disputes. In some instances, there may not be adequate written provisions to address clearly the resolution of intellectual property rights that may arise under our agreements, and we may be limited in our ability to use, make or sell these inventions. Litigation may be necessary to resolve these disputes, and if we are not successful, we may be precluded from using certain intellectual property, or may lose our exclusive rights in that intellectual property. Either outcome could have an adverse impact on our business.
If our or our licensors’ patent positions do not adequately protect our product candidates or any future products, others could compete with us more directly, which would harm our business.
Our commercial success will depend in part on our and our licensors’ ability to obtain additional patents and protect our existing patent positions, particularly those patents for which we have secured exclusive rights, as well as our ability to maintain adequate protection of other intellectual property for our technologies, product candidates and any future products in the U.S. and other countries. If we or our licensors do not adequately protect our intellectual property, competitors may be able to use our technologies and erode or negate any competitive advantage we may have, which could materially harm our business, negatively affect our position in the marketplace, limit our ability to commercialize our product candidates and delay or render impossible our achievement of profitability. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S., and we may encounter significant problems in protecting our proprietary rights in these countries.
The patent positions of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including our own patent position, involve complex legal and factual questions, and, therefore, validity and enforceability cannot be predicted with certainty. Patents may be challenged, deemed unenforceable, invalidated or circumvented. In addition, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and patent scope can be reinterpreted by the courts after issuance. Moreover, many jurisdictions permit third parties to challenge issued patents in administrative proceedings, which may result in further narrowing or even cancellation of patent claims. We cannot predict whether the patent applications we are currently pursuing will be issued as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any patents, if issued, will provide sufficient protection from competitors. We and our licensors will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our proprietary technologies, product candidates and any future products are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets.
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The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, and we cannot ensure that:
● | we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions covered by each of our pending patent applications; |
● | we or our licensors were the first to file patent applications for these inventions; |
● | others will not independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies; |
● | any of our or our licensors’ pending patent applications will result in issued patents; |
● | any of our or our licensors’ patents will be valid or enforceable; |
● | any patents issued to us, or our licensors and collaborators will provide a basis for commercially viable products, will provide us with any competitive advantages or will not be challenged by third parties; |
● | we will develop additional proprietary technologies or product candidates that are patentable; or |
● | the patents of others will not have an adverse effect on our business. |
We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.
We rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary know-how and technological advances, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights. Failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could enable competitors to use our proprietary information to develop products that compete with our products or cause additional, material adverse effects upon our competitive business position.
Litigation regarding patents, patent applications and other proprietary rights may be expensive and time consuming. If we are involved in such litigation, it could cause delays in bringing product candidates to market and harm our ability to operate.
Our commercial success will depend in part on our ability to manufacture, use, sell and offer to sell our product candidates and proposed product candidates without infringing patents or other proprietary rights of third parties. Although we are not currently aware of any litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement related to our product candidates, the pharmaceutical industry is characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Other parties may obtain patents in the future and allege that the use of our technologies infringes these patent claims or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. Likewise, third parties may challenge or infringe upon our or our licensors’ existing or future patents. Proceedings involving our patents or patent applications or those of others could result in adverse decisions regarding the patentability of our inventions relating to our product candidates or the enforceability, validity or scope of protection offered by our patents relating to our product candidates.
Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and divert management’s time and attention in pursuing these proceedings. If we are unable to avoid infringing the patent rights of others, we may be required to seek a license, defend an infringement action or challenge the validity of the patents in court. Patent litigation is costly and time-consuming. We may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion. In addition, if we do not obtain a license, develop or obtain non-infringing technology, fail to defend an infringement action successfully or have our patents declared invalid, we may incur substantial monetary damages; encounter significant delays in bringing our product candidates to market; or be precluded from participating in the manufacture, use or sale of our product candidates or methods of treatment requiring licenses.
17
If our patent and other intellectual property protection is inadequate, future sales and profits may never materialize or competitors could force our products completely out of the market.
Patents which prevent the manufacture or sale of our products may be issued to others. We may have to license those patents and pay significant fees or royalties to the owners of the patents in order to keep marketing our products. This would cause profits from any sales to suffer.
We have been granted patents or licensed patents in the United States, but patent applications that have been, or may in the future be, filed by us may not result in the issuance of additional patents. The scope of any patent issued may not be sufficient to protect our technology. The laws of foreign jurisdictions in which we intend to sell our products may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States.
In addition to patent protection, we also rely on trade secrets, proprietary know-how and technological advances. We enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees and others, but these agreements may not be effective in protecting our proprietary information. Others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information or obtain access to our know-how. Litigation, which is expensive, may be necessary to enforce or defend our patents or proprietary rights and may not end favorably for us. We may also choose to initiate litigation against other parties who we come to believe are infringing these patents. If such litigation is unsuccessful or if the patents are invalidated or canceled, we may have to write off the related intangible assets and such an event could significantly reduce our earnings. Any of our licenses, patents or other intellectual property may be challenged, invalidated, canceled, infringed or circumvented and may not provide any competitive advantage to us.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Exercise or conversion of warrants, stock options and other convertible securities will dilute shareholder’s percentage of ownership.
In addition to pre-funded warrants (“PFWs”), we have issued stock options and other warrants to purchase shares of our common stock. In the future, we may grant additional stock options, warrants and convertible securities. The exercise, conversion or exchange of stock options, warrants and convertible securities will dilute the percentage ownership of our shareholders. The dilutive effect of the exercise or conversion of these securities may adversely affect our ability to obtain additional capital. The holders of these securities may be expected to exercise or convert such stock options, warrants and convertible securities at a time when we would be able to obtain additional equity capital on terms more favorable than such securities or when our common stock is trading at a price higher than the exercise or conversion price of the securities.
Our stock price may be volatile.
The market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including (i) limited trading activity on our common stock, (ii) positive or negative results achieved in our clinical activities, including regulatory determinations, (iii) our ability to obtain financing, (iv) additions or departures of key personnel, (v) the specific terms associated with new debt or equity financings, (vi) our ability to execute our business plan, (vii) loss of any strategic relationship, and (viii) economic and other external factors.
In addition, the securities markets have from time-to-time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Offers or availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.
If our shareholders sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market upon the expiration of any statutory holding period or lockup agreements, under Rule 144, or issued upon the exercise of outstanding PFWs, stock options, warrants or other convertible securities, it could create a circumstance commonly referred to as an “overhang” and in
18
anticipation of which the market price of our common stock could fall. The existence of an overhang, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, also could make more difficult our ability to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate. The shares of our restricted common stock will be freely tradable upon the earlier of: (i) effectiveness of a registration statement covering such shares and (ii) the date on which such shares may be sold without registration pursuant to Rule 144 (or other applicable exemption) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”).
Investor relations activities and supply and demand factors may affect the price of our common stock.
We expect to utilize various techniques such as non-deal road shows and investor relations campaigns in order to generate investor awareness. These campaigns may include personal, video and telephone conferences with investors and prospective investors in which our business practices are described. We may provide compensation to investor relations firms and pay for newsletters, websites, mailings and email campaigns that are produced by third parties based upon publicly-available information concerning us. We do not intend to review or approve the content of such analysts’ reports or other materials based upon analysts’ own research or methods. Investor relations firms should generally disclose when they are compensated for their efforts, but whether such disclosure is made or complete is not under our control. In addition, investors may, from time to time, also take steps to encourage investor awareness through similar activities that may be undertaken at the expense of the investors. Investor awareness activities may also be suspended or discontinued, which may impact the trading market of our common stock.
We have no current plan to pay dividends on our common stock and investors may lose the entire amount of their investment.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, any income derived from our common stock would only come from a rise in the market price of our common stock, which is uncertain and unpredictable. We cannot assure investors of a positive return on their investment.
Changes in U.S. tax law could adversely affect our business.
Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect us or the holders of our common stock. For example, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, we became subject to Internal Revenue Code Section 174 that requires capitalization of the vast majority of research and development costs whereas under prior tax law substantially all of these costs were deductible in the year incurred. Section 174 provides that such newly-capitalized costs may be amortized and become deductible over a period of 5 years for U.S. based costs and 15 years for foreign- based costs.
It cannot be predicted whether, when, in what form, or with what effective dates, new tax laws or regulations may be enacted under existing or new tax laws. This could result in an increase in our tax liability or require changes in our business in order to mitigate any adverse effects of changes in tax laws.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not required for smaller reporting companies.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity.
We have established processes for assessing, identifying and managing cybersecurity risks, which are built into our information technology function and are designed to safeguard our information assets and operations from internal and external cyber threats, including protecting employee and patient information from unauthorized access to or attacks on our networks and systems. These processes include physical, procedural and technical safeguards, response plans, regular tests on our systems, incident simulations and routine reviews of our policies and procedures to identify risks and enhance our practices. We also employ processes to identify material risks from cybersecurity threats associated with our use of third-party service providers.
19
We have engaged external parties, including risk management consultants and computer security firms, to enhance our cybersecurity oversight. In an effort to deter and detect cyber threats, we periodically provide training programs to our employees on issues related to privacy and data protection, cybersecurity risks, and the importance of reporting all incidents immediately. Topics include identifying phishing, password protection, securing confidential data, and mobile security. In addition, we use technology-based tools to mitigate cybersecurity risks and to bolster our employee-based cybersecurity programs. We also perform annual vulnerability assessments, conducted by independent, third-party cybersecurity firms.
Additionally, as part of our overall risk mitigation strategy, the Company obtains certain insurance policies. However, such insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us fully against claims related to security breaches, cyber-attacks and other related breaches.
The Audit Committee of our Board of Directors provides direct cybersecurity risk oversight. Our management provides timely disclosure and related updates to the Audit Committee regarding potential cybersecurity threats, incidents and general risks.
Our management periodically evaluates information provided by its consultants on evolving cybersecurity risks and, based on its assessment of the processes the Company has put in place, does not believe there are currently any known risks from cybersecurity threats that are reasonably likely to materially affect us or our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. Further, we have not had any cybersecurity incidents in 2024.
Item 2. Properties.
In April 2022, we entered into a lease for a new headquarters location at 275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 500, Redwood City California 94065. The leased space contains approximately 9,300 square feet of office space. The lease commenced in October 2022 and provides for average remaining monthly rent of approximately $53,000 through October 2027.
In November 2020, we entered into a lease in Bend, Oregon where the leased space consists of approximately 5,000 square feet of office space and provides for monthly rent of approximately $8,400 through the expiration date in February 2024. In October 2023, we entered into a lease extension for this space, which provides for monthly rent of approximately $9,000 through February 2027.
We believe our current physical properties are sufficient and adequate to meet our current and projected requirements.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
For a discussion of the Company’s legal proceedings, see “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Commitments and Contingencies” in Part II. Item 8 on this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Market Information
Since November 9, 2020, our common stock has traded on Nasdaq under the symbol “RZLT”.
20
Holders
As of September 13, 2024, there were 261 holders of record of our common stock. We believe the number of beneficial owners of our common stock is substantially greater than the number of record holders because a large portion of our outstanding common stock is held of record in broker “street names” for the benefit of individual investors.
Dividends
We have never paid cash dividends and intend to employ all available funds in the development of our business. We have no plans to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
Presented below is information about our equity compensation plans as of June 30, 2024 (shares in thousands):
Shares to be Issued Upon |
Securities |
||||||||
Plan |
Exercise of Outstanding Options: |
Available |
|||||||
Termination |
Number of |
Weighted Average |
For Future |
||||||
Date |
Shares |
Exercise Price |
Issuance |
||||||
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders: |
|||||||||
2015 Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan |
February 23, 2020 |
17 |
$ |
19.86 |
— |
||||
2016 Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan |
October 31, 2021 |
123 |
16.93 |
— |
|||||
2021 Equity Incentive Plan |
March 31, 2031 |
10,276 |
3.51 |
342 |
|||||
2022 Employee Stock Purchase Plan |
Indefinite |
— |
— |
500 |
|||||
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders: |
|||||||||
2019 Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan |
July 31, 2029 |
200 |
14.50 |
— |
|||||
Inducement Stock Option |
January 23, 2029 |
275 |
1.02 |
— |
|||||
Total |
10,891 |
3.82 |
842 |
Item 6. [Reserved]
Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth under the Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements on page ii, the “Risk Factors” set forth in Item 1A, and elsewhere in this Annual Report. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements or the risk factors. You should read the following discussion in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Item 8 of this Annual Report.
Certain figures, such as interest rates and other percentages included in this section have been rounded for ease of presentation. Percentage figures included in this section have not in all cases been calculated on the basis of such rounded figures but on the basis of such amounts prior to rounding. For this reason, percentage amounts in this section may vary slightly from those obtained by performing the same calculations using the figures in our consolidated financial statements or in the associated text. Certain other amounts that appear in this section may similarly not sum due to rounding.
21
Executive Summary
Our priorities going into the second half of 2024 and first half of 2025 are to (i) complete enrollment of ex-U.S. participants in the sunRIZE study, (ii) initiate study start-up activities in the U.S. to enable U.S. participant enrollment in the sunRIZE study, and (iii) continue study start-up activities and begin enrollment for the Phase 3 registrational tumor HI clinical study.
Clinical Development
Our focus as a Company is advancing ersodetug in two Phase 3 clinical studies for congenital HI and tumor HI. To that end, we are actively enrolling the pivotal Phase 3 sunRIZE clinical study of ersodetug, which is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel arm evaluation of ersodetug in participants with congenital HI who are not adequately responding to standard of care medical therapies. To date, in this study we have been screening and enrolling participants outside the U.S. because the U.S. FDA had imposed an age restriction of 12 years of age and older on ersodetug clinical studies as well as dose level restrictions based on historical rat toxicology findings. On September 4, 2024, FDA lifted those restrictions and authorized U.S. inclusion in the ongoing sunRIZE study. Currently, the Company is conducting study start-up activities at sites in the U.S. in anticipation of enrolling U.S. participants in the sunRIZE study in the first part of 2025. Topline results from the study are anticipated to be available in the second half of calendar 2025.
Additionally, we have begun study start-up activities for our Phase 3 registrational tumor HI clinical study which we anticipate to begin enrolling patients in the first half of calendar 2025.
RZ402
In May of 2024 we announced topline results from the Phase 2 proof-of-concept study of RZ402 in patients with DME, which met primary study endpoints, demonstrating a significant reduction in central subfield thickness in the Study Eye at all RZ402 dose levels compared to placebo (up to approximately a 50 micron improvement) and was safe and well-tolerated. The program is available for partnering and we are actively engaged in conversations with potential partners to take RZ402 into further development.
Recent Developments
Exchange Agreement. On March 8, 2024, we entered into a securities exchange agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) with certain of our stockholders (the “Exchanging Shareholders”), whereby we purchased 3,000,000 shares of common stock representing approximately 7% of our outstanding shares with an aggregate fair value of $5,700,000 (the “Retired Shares”) from the Exchanging Shareholders. The Retired Shares were immediately cancelled whereby they will remain as authorized shares for future issuance in accordance with Nevada law. Consideration for the acquisition of the Retired Shares consisted of (i) a cash payment to the Exchanging Shareholders of $3,000, and (ii) the issuance of pre-funded warrants (the “Exchange PFWs”) to the Exchanging Shareholders with an estimated fair value of $5,697,000. The Exchange PFWs do not expire and were exercisable as of June 30, 2024 to purchase an aggregate of 3,000,000 shares of our outstanding common stock at an exercise price of $0.001 per share.
The Exchange PFWs required approval by our shareholders if the exercise of the Exchange PFWs resulted in aggregate beneficial ownership by the holders in excess of 19.99%. Even though the Exchange PFWs only entitled the holders to purchase 7% of our outstanding shares of common stock, the requirement to obtain shareholder approval for ownership in excess of 19.99% resulted in the treatment of the exchange PFWs as a warrant derivative liability of $5.7 million as of the issuance date. The fair value of this warrant derivative liability increased by approximately $2.9 million, for a total of $8.5 million as of May 13, 2024 when the Exchange PFWs were amended to permit equity classification. Accordingly, the derivative liability of $8.5 million was reclassified to shareholders’ equity on May 13, 2024.
2024 Underwritten Offering. On June 13, 2024, we entered into an underwriting agreement for the planned issuance and sale of equity securities in an underwritten public offering (the “2024 Underwritten Offering”). The 2024 Underwritten Offering provided for the issuance of (i) 11,250,000 shares of common stock at a price of $4.00 per share for gross proceeds of $45.0 million, and (ii) pre-funded warrants to purchase 3,750,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $3.999 per pre-funded warrant (the “2024 PFWs”) for gross proceeds of $15.0 million. The Company granted the
22
underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $4.00 per share, less underwriting discounts of 6.0% of the gross proceeds. The underwriters’ option was partially exercised for 1,786,589 shares of common stock for gross proceeds of $7.1 million. Closing occurred on June 24, 2024, whereby the aggregate gross proceeds amounted to $67.1 million. The net proceeds of the 2024 Underwritten Offering amounted to approximately $62.6 million. In July 2024, we utilized approximately $59.7 million of the net proceeds from the 2024 Underwritten Offering to purchase investments in marketable debt securities with maturities that range from October 2024 through December 2025.
2024 Private Placement. In June 2024, we entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “2024 SPA”) with Handok, Inc. and one other investor relating to a private placement (the “2024 Private Placement”), pursuant to which we agreed to sell 1,500,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $4.00 per share. Closing of the 2024 Private Placement occurred in July 2024, whereby we received net proceeds of $6.0 million after deduction of underwriting discounts and other offering costs.
Factors Impacting our Results of Operations
We have not generated any meaningful revenues since our inception in March 2010. Over the last several years, we have conducted private placements and public offerings to raise additional capital, conducted pre-clinical and clinical trials, and conducted other research and development activities on our pipeline of product candidates.
Due to the time required to conduct clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, we anticipate it will be some time before we generate substantial revenues, if ever. We expect to generate operating losses for the foreseeable future; therefore, we expect to continue efforts to raise additional capital to maintain our current operating plans over the next several years. We cannot assure you that we will secure such financing or that it will be adequate for the long-term execution of our business strategy. Even if we obtain additional financing, it may be costly and may require us to agree to covenants or other provisions that will favor new investors over our existing shareholders.
Key Components of Consolidated Statements of Operations
Research and development expenses. Research and development (“R&D”) expenses consist primarily of clinical trial costs, compensation and benefits for our personnel engaged in R&D activities, licensing costs, and consultants and outside services. Our R&D costs include an allocable portion of our cash and share-based compensation, employee benefits, and consulting costs related to personnel engaged in the design and development of product candidates and other scientific research projects. We also allocate a portion of our facilities and overhead costs based on the personnel and other resources devoted to R&D activities.
General and administrative expenses. General and administrative (“G&A”) expenses consist primarily of (i) an allocable portion of our cash and share-based compensation and employee benefits related to personnel engaged in our administrative, finance, accounting, and executive functions, and (ii) an allocable portion of our facilities and overhead costs based on the personnel and other resources devoted to G&A activities. G&A expenses also include travel, legal, auditing, investor relations and other costs primarily related to our operations as a public company.
Interest and other income. Interest and other income consist primarily of interest income earned on marketable debt securities and temporary cash investments, amortization of investment premiums and accretion of investment discounts.
Loss from change in fair value of derivative liabilities. We recognize liabilities for financial instruments that are required to be accounted for as derivatives, as well as embedded derivatives in our debt agreements. Warrant and embedded derivative liabilities are adjusted to fair value at the end of each reporting period until the contracts are settled, expire, or otherwise meet the conditions for equity classification. We also recognize liabilities for embedded derivatives that arose in connection with our legacy debt agreement. Changes in fair value are reflected as gains and losses in our consolidated statements of operations.
23
Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates
Overview
Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, as well as the reported revenue and expenses during the reporting periods. These items are monitored and analyzed for changes in facts and circumstances, and material changes in these estimates could occur in the future. We base our estimates on 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. Changes in estimates are reflected in reported results for the period in which they become known. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
With respect to our significant accounting policies that are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report, we believe that the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.
Investments in Marketable Debt Securities
We account for investments in marketable debt securities as available-for-sale securities whereby they are recorded in our consolidated balance sheets at fair value. Interest income consists of accrued interest earned based on the coupon rate of the security, plus the impact of accreting discounts and amortizing premiums to maturity using the straight-line method which approximates the interest method. Unrealized gains and losses due to subsequent changes in fair value of the investments are reported in shareholders’ equity as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). The individual debt securities in our portfolio are subject to credit risk in the event of default by the issuers. We review the components of our portfolio of available-for-sale debt securities, using both quantitative and qualitative factors, to determine if declines in fair value below amortized cost have resulted from a credit-related loss or other factors. To the extent that declines in fair value are due to a deterioration of credit quality of the issuer, we will recognize an allowance for credit losses related to such investments with a corresponding loss in the consolidated statements of operations. Allowances for credit losses may be reversed in subsequent periods if conditions improve and credit-related losses are no longer expected. For a decline in fair value that is solely due to changes in interest rates, impairment is not recognized if we have the ability and intent to hold the investment until maturity. The cost basis of any securities sold prior to maturity will be determined using the specific identification method.
Research and Development
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Intangible assets related to in-licensing costs under license agreements with third parties are charged to expense unless we are able to determine that the licensing rights have an alternative future use in other research and development projects or otherwise.
Clinical Trial Accruals
Clinical trial costs are a component of research and development expenses. We accrue and charge to expenses clinical trial activities performed by third parties based upon estimates of the percentage of work completed over the life of the individual study in accordance with agreements established with clinical research organizations and clinical trial sites. We determine our estimates through discussions with internal clinical personnel and external service providers as to the progress or stage of completion of trials or services and the agreed-upon fee to be paid for such services.
24
Share-Based Compensation Expense
We measure the fair value of services received in exchange for grants of stock options based on the fair value of the award as of the grant date. We compute the fair value of stock options with time-based vesting using the Black-Scholes Merton (“BSM”) option-pricing model and recognize the cost of the equity awards over the period that services are provided to earn the award. For awards that contain a graded vesting schedule, and the only condition for vesting is a service condition, compensation cost is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period as if the award was, in substance, a single award. We recognize the impact of forfeitures in the period that the forfeiture occurs, rather than estimating the number of awards that are not expected to vest in accounting for share-based compensation. For stock options that are voluntarily surrendered by employees, all unrecognized compensation is immediately recognized in the period the options are cancelled.
Loss from Change in Fair Value of Derivative Liabilities
We recognize warrant derivative liabilities based on assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance set forth by FASB in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments and meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own common shares and whether the warrant holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of the end of each subsequent quarterly period while the warrants are outstanding. Liability classified warrants are valued using the BSM option-pricing model at issuance and for each reporting period when applicable. Changes in fair value are reflected as gains and losses in our consolidated statements of operations. We also recognize liabilities for embedded derivatives that arose in connection with a legacy debt agreement.
Results of Operations
Results of operations for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 reflect net losses of approximately $68.5 million and $51.8 million, respectively. Our consolidated statements of operations for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, along with the changes between fiscal years, are presented below (in thousands, except percentages):
|
Changes |
|
||||||||||
2024 |
|
2023 |
|
Amount |
|
Percent |
|
|||||
Operating expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Research and development: |
$ |
55,743 |
|
$ |
43,813 |
|
$ |
11,930 |
|
27 |
% |
|
General and administrative: |
|
14,680 |
|
12,177 |
|
2,503 |
|
21 |
% |
|||
Total operating expenses |
|
70,423 |
|
55,990 |
|
14,433 |
|
26 |
% |
|||
Operating loss |
|
(70,423) |
|
(55,990) |
|
(14,433) |
|
26 |
% |
|||
Non-operating income (expense): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Interest and other income |
|
4,870 |
|
4,208 |
|
662 |
|
16 |
% |
|||
Loss from change in fair value of warrant derivative liability |
|
(2,850) |
|
— |
|
(2,850) |
|
100 |
% |
|||
Loss from change in fair value of embedded derivative liability |
|
(56) |
|
(5) |
|
(51) |
|
1,020 |
% |
|||
Total non-operating income, net |
|
1,964 |
|
4,203 |
|
(2,239) |
|
(53) |
% |
|||
Net loss |
$ |
(68,459) |
$ |
(51,787) |
$ |
(16,672) |
|
32 |
% |
Presented below is a discussion of the key factors that resulted in changes in our results of operations for these periods.
Revenue. As a clinical stage company, we did not generate any revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023. We are at an early stage of development and do not currently have any commercial products. Our existing product
25
candidates will require extensive additional clinical evaluation, regulatory review, significant marketing efforts and substantial investment before they generate any revenues. We do not expect to be able to market any of our product candidates for several years.
Research and Development Expenses. R&D expenses for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 were as follows (in thousands, except percentages):
|
Increase |
|
||||||||||
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|
Amount |
|
Percent |
|
||||
Total R&D expenses |
$ |
55,743 |
$ |
43,813 |
$ |
11,930 |
|
27 |
% |
The increase of $11.9 million was primarily attributable to a net increase of $8.7 million in costs incurred for our two clinical candidate programs, of which the ersodetug program had an increase in spending of $10.9 million and the RZ402 program had a decrease in spending of $2.2 million.
The increase in ersodetug program costs of $10.9 million primarily was driven by (i) an increase of $3.9 million for higher spending on drug substance and drug product manufacturing and other development activities as we began manufacturing activities for process performance qualification activities, (ii) $5.0 million in milestone payments under our license agreement with XOMA due to the dosing of the first patient in a Phase 3 clinical study, (iii) a $1.3 million increase in other ersodetug costs incurred for toxicology studies to support the efforts to lift the FDA clinical hold and (iv) a $0.7 million increase in clinical trial costs due to the ongoing enrollment of patients in the Phase 3 clinical study. We did not incur any ersodetug milestone related costs during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.
The RZ402 program cost decrease of $2.2 million was primarily attributable to a $3.0 million decrease in milestone payments due under our license agreement with ActiveSite. In February 2023, we dosed the first patient in the RZ402 Phase 2 study, triggering a milestone payment due for $3.0 million to ActiveSite. There were no RZ402 related milestone costs incurred during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. A further decrease in manufacturing preclinical, toxicology and other related costs of $1.2 million resulted in a total decrease of $4.2 million in RZ402 costs. This $4.2 million decrease in RZ402 costs was partially offset by a $2.0 million increase in clinical operation costs related to the ongoing Phase 2 study, for which the final patients completed the protocol in April 2024.
In addition to the net increase of $8.7 million in our clinical candidate programs, we had an increase of $2.6 million in R&D compensation and benefits for our R&D workforce. Cash-based R&D compensation and benefits increased by $2.4 million from $11.7 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 to $14.1 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in the average number of R&D employees from 36 to 42 and an increase in annual performance bonuses. R&D share-based compensation increased by $0.2 million from $3.2 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 to $3.4 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. This increase in share-based compensation was primarily attributable to stock options granted to R&D employees hired during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024.
In addition to the increases in R&D compensation and benefits and our clinical programs noted above for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, an increase of approximately $0.6 million was incurred related to higher facilities costs and employee related travel costs allocable to R&D due to the increased headcount as noted above.
General and Administrative Expenses. G&A expenses for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 were as follows (in thousands, except percentages):
|
Increase |
|
||||||||||
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|
Amount |
|
Percent |
|
||||
Total G&A expenses |
$ |
14,680 |
$ |
12,177 |
$ |
2,503 |
|
21 |
% |
26
The increase in G&A expenses of $2.5 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was primarily attributable to an increase in G&A compensation and benefits related to our administrative workforce of $1.2 million. Cash-based G&A compensation and benefits increased by $1.2 million from $3.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 to $5.0 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. This increase was attributable to an increase in the average number of G&A employees from 12 to 15 and an increase in compensation related to annual performance bonuses. Investor relations expenses and other G&A professional fees increased by $1.1 million from $2.4 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 to $3.5 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. This increase in investor relations expense and other G&A professional fees resulted from pre-commercial planning activities, post regulatory approval market approval planning and other professional fee increases.
In addition to the increases in G&A compensation and benefits and our other professional expenditures noted above for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, an increase of approximately $0.2 million was incurred related to higher facilities costs and employee related travel costs allocable to G&A due to the increased headcount as noted above.
Interest and other income. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, we recognized $4.9 million of interest income compared to $4.2 million of interest income for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023. This increase of $0.7 million was primarily due to our decision in January 2023 to invest an aggregate of approximately $115.0 million in marketable debt securities and an overnight money market mutual fund that provided for interest at a weighted average effective rate of approximately 5.0% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. Even though we had substantially more funds available for investment during the first half of the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, our effective interest rate was less than 2.0% compared to approximately 5.0% after we began investing in marketable debt securities in January 2023. This change in strategy occurred midway through the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 whereby interest income was $1.2 million for the first half of the fiscal year and $3.0 million for the second half of the fiscal year.
Change in Fair Value of Warrant Derivative Liability. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, we recognized a loss of $2.9 million during the period from March 8, 2024 through May 13, 2024 when the Exchange PFWs were classified as liabilities. This loss was due to an increase of $0.95 per share in our stock price, resulting in an increase in the fair value of the derivative liability that was recognized due to shareholder approval provision regarding ownership limitations that prohibited equity classification. This liability existed until May 13, 2024 when the Exchange PFW holders agreed to an amendment that eliminated this provision. Our stock price increased from $1.90 per share on March 8, 2024, to $2.85 per share on May 13, 2024 when the Exchange PFWs were modified. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, the Company did not have any warrant derivative liabilities.
Income Taxes. For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, we did not recognize any income tax benefit due to our net losses and our determination that a full valuation allowance was required for our deferred income tax assets.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Short-term Liquidity Requirements
As of June 30, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $70.4 million, investments in marketable debt securities $56.7 million for a total of $127.1 million. Working capital amounted to approximately $119.0 million as of June 30, 2024. We have incurred cumulative net losses of $329.4 million since our inception and as a clinical stage company we have not generated any meaningful revenue to date.
Accordingly, our primary source of liquidity has historically been from the completion of private placements and public offerings of our equity securities, as well as proceeds from the issuance of debt securities. For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, we received net proceeds from the issuance of equity securities of $62.6 million and $11.6 million, respectively. The completion of equity financings between May 2022 and June 2024 is the primary source of total cash and cash equivalents and investments in marketable debt securities of $127.1 million as of June 30, 2024. In July 2024, we received net proceeds of approximately $6.0 million related to a private placement of 1.5 million shares of common stock. For further information about the key terms and results of our equity financing activities completed in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, please refer to the discussion above under the caption Recent Developments.
27
Expected cash payments related to our existing contractual obligations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025 include approximately (i) $0.7 million under our operating lease agreements, and (ii) a milestone payment to XOMA of $5.0 million that will become due upon dosing of the last patient in our Phase 3 clinical trial for ersodetug. Due to uncertainties in the timing associated with clinical trial activities, it is possible that the milestone payment due upon dosing of the last patient could be delayed beyond June 30, 2025.
Based on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt security investments totaling $127.1 million as of June 30, 2024, plus the July 2024 private placement proceeds of $6.0 million, we believe we have adequate capital resources to meet all of our contractual obligations and conduct all planned activities to advance our clinical trials at least through the second quarter of calendar year 2026.
Long-term Liquidity Requirements
Our most significant long-term contractual obligations consist of additional clinical and regulatory milestone payments up to $30.0 million payable to XOMA and additional milestone payments up to $25.0 million payable to ActiveSite. Of this total, we expect that $5.0 million will be payable to XOMA during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025 as discussed above under the caption Short-term Liquidity Requirements. The remaining $50.0 million is considered a long-term liquidity requirement. Due to uncertainties in the timing associated with clinical trial activities and regulatory approvals, there is even greater uncertainty in forecasting the timing of future clinical and regulatory milestone payments to XOMA and ActiveSite that may be required during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026 and thereafter.
In addition to the clinical and regulatory milestone payments discussed above, upon the future commercialization of ersodetug and RZ402 we will be obligated to pay additional milestone payments and royalties based on the net sales of the related products and alternative indication regulatory approvals to XOMA and ActiveSite for up to an additional $202.5 million. These future milestones include $185.0 million in potential payments to XOMA and $17.5 million to ActiveSite for various sales-based milestones and alternative indication regulatory approvals. No assurance can be provided that commercialization will ever be achieved for either ersodetug or RZ402, whereby none of these future payments may ever be required.
In addition to our licensing obligations, we also have long-term contractual obligations under existing operating lease agreements ranging between approximately $0.2 million to $0.8 million for each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 2026 through 2028. Based on our current forecast, we expect that our existing capital resources will be sufficient to fund our contractual obligations and conduct all planned activities to advance our clinical trials at least through the second quarter of calendar year 2026. Therefore, we will need to obtain additional equity or debt financing in order to fund all of our long-term liquidity requirements.
Presented below is additional discussion about the ongoing requirements pursuant to our license agreements with XOMA and ActiveSite, along with additional information about our ongoing financing activities that impacted our liquidity and capital resources for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024.
XOMA License Agreement
In December 2017, we entered into a license agreement (“XOMA License Agreement”) with XOMA through its wholly-owned subsidiary, XOMA (U.S.) LLC, pursuant to which XOMA granted an exclusive global license to develop and commercialize XOMA 358 (formerly X358 or RZ358, now ersodetug) for all indications. In January 2019, the XOMA License Agreement was amended with an updated payment schedule, as well as revisions to the amount we were required to expend on development of ersodetug and related licensed products, and revised provisions with respect to our diligence efforts in conducting clinical studies.
Upon the achievement of certain clinical and regulatory events, we will be required to make up to $37.0 million in aggregate milestone payments to XOMA. Milestone payments made to date include a $2.0 million payment in January 2022 for the enrollment of the last patient of the Phase 2 clinical study and $5.0 million paid in May 2024 related to the first patient enrollment in a Phase 3 study. We record a liability for milestone payments in our financial statements on the date that we achieve the milestone event. The next milestone payment of $5.0 million will be due upon the enrollment of the last patient in a Phase 3 study, which we believe will occur in the next twelve months. Additionally, upon the future commercialization of ersodetug, we will be required to pay royalties to XOMA based on the net sales of the related
28
products, and milestone payments up to an additional $185.0 million if future annual sales related to ersodetug exceed targets ranging from $100.0 million to $1.0 billion. Through June 30, 2024, no events have occurred that would result in the requirement to make additional milestone payments, and no royalties have been incurred.
ActiveSite License Agreement
In August 2017, we entered into a Development and License Agreement with ActiveSite (“ActiveSite License Agreement”) pursuant to which we acquired the rights to ActiveSite’s PKI portfolio. We are planning to use the PKI Program to develop, file, manufacture, market and sell products for diabetic macular edema and other therapeutic indications. The ActiveSite License Agreement requires various milestone payments ranging from $1.0 million to $10.0 million when milestone events occur, up to an aggregate of $46.5 million of aggregate milestone payments. The first milestone payment for $1.0 million was paid in December 2020 after completion of preclinical work and submission of an IND to the FDA for RZ402. The second milestone payment for $3.0 million became due upon dosing of the first patient in a Phase 2 study in February 2023. Remaining milestone payments under the ActiveSite License Agreement for various clinical and regulatory milestones amount to $25.0 million and milestones after commercial success or alternative indication approvals amount to $17.5 million. We will also be required to pay royalties equal to 2.0% of any sales of products that use the PKI Program. Through June 30, 2024, no events have occurred that would result in the requirement to make additional milestone payments and no royalties have been incurred.
Cash Flows Summary
Presented below is a summary of our operating, investing and financing cash flows for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|
Change |
||||
Net cash provided by (used in): |
|
|
|
||||||
Operating activities |
$ |
(57,368) |
$ |
(44,481) |
$ |
(12,887) |
|||
Investing activities |
|
48,699 |
|
(101,464) |
|
150,163 |
|||
Financing activities |
|
63,029 |
|
11,571 |
|
51,458 |
Cash Flows Used in Operating Activities
For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, cash flows used in operating activities amounted to $57.4 million and $44.5 million, respectively. The key components in the calculation of our cash used in operating activities are as follows (in thousands):
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|
Change |
||||
Net loss |
$ |
(68,459) |
$ |
(51,787) |
$ |
(16,672) |
|||
Non-cash expenses |
|
10,828 |
|
7,655 |
|
3,173 |
|||
Accretion of discounts and amortization of premiums on marketable debt securities, net |
|
(2,837) |
|
(1,370) |
|
(1,467) |
|||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net |
|
3,100 |
|
1,021 |
|
2,079 |
|||
Total |
$ |
(57,368) |
$ |
(44,481) |
$ |
(12,887) |
|||
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, our net loss was $68.5 million compared to $51.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023. For further discussion about changes in our operating results for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, please refer to Results of Operations above.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, our non-cash expenses of $10.8 million primarily consisted of share-based compensation expense of $7.4 million, a loss from change in the fair value of the warrant derivative liability of $2.9 million, and non-cash lease expense of $0.5 million. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, our non-cash expenses of $7.7 million primarily consisted of share-based compensation expense of $7.3 million and non-cash lease expense of $0.4 million.
29
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, non-cash gains consisted of the net impact of accreting discounts and amortizing premiums on investments in marketable debt securities of $2.8 million. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, non-cash gains consisted of the net impact of accreting discounts and amortizing premiums on investments in marketable debt securities of $1.4 million.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, net changes in operating assets and liabilities increased operating cash flow by $3.1 million, primarily driven by an increase accounts payable and other accrued liabilities of $3.2 million, partially offset by an increase in prepaid expenses and other assets of $0.1 million associated with prepayments for clinical trials and manufacturing activities. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, net changes in operating assets and liabilities increased operating cash flow by $1.0 million, primarily driven by an increase accounts payable and other accrued liabilities of $2.3 million, partially offset by an increase in prepaid expenses and other assets of $1.3 million associated with prepayments for clinical trials and manufacturing activities.
Cash Flows Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, net cash provided by investing activities amounted to $48.7 million, primarily related to the proceeds from maturities of marketable debt securities of $115.1 million, partially offset by cash outflows used in to purchase marketable debt securities of $66.4 million. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, our net cash utilized in investing activities amounted to $101.5 million, primarily related to the purchase of $107.3 million of marketable debt securities, partially offset by cash proceeds of $6.0 million of resulting from maturities of marketable debt securities. Additionally, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, our investing activities used $0.2 million for the purchase of furniture and equipment primarily for use in our new office location in Redwood City, California.
Cash Flows Provided by Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 amounted to $63.0 million. This amount consisted of proceeds of $67.1 million from the 2024 Underwritten Offering. The total proceeds from the 2024 Public Underwritten Offering of $67.1 million were partially offset by underwriter discounts of $4.0 million related to this offering and other offering costs of $0.3 million. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, we also received proceeds of $0.2 million from the exercise of employee stock options to purchase approximately 82,000 shares of common stock.
Net cash provided by financing activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 amounted to $11.6 million. This amount consisted of gross proceeds of $12.3 million received from the 2022 Private Placement. The total proceeds from the 2022 Private Placement of $12.3 million were received in July 2022 and were partially offset by payments of $0.8 million for underwriting commissions and other costs related to this offering.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, we did not have any relationships with unconsolidated organizations or financial partnerships, such as structured finance or special purpose entities, which were established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report regarding the impact of certain accounting pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information under this item.
30
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
Page |
|
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firms ( |
32 |
|
Financial Statements: |
||
34 |
||
35 |
||
Consolidated statements of shareholders’ equity for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 |
36 |
|
Consolidated statements of cash flows for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 |
37 |
|
39 |
31
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders
Rezolute, Inc. and subsidiaries
Opinion on the financial statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Rezolute, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of June 30, 2024, the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year ended June 30, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of June 30, 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended June 30, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical audit matters
Critical audit matters are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. We determined that there are no critical audit matters.
/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2024.
Newport Beach, California
September 19, 2024
32
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of Rezolute, Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Rezolute, Inc. (the “Company”) as of June 30, 2023, the related statement of operations, shareholders' equity, and cash flows for year then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of June 30, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for Opinion
The Company's management is responsible for these financial statements. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ Plante & Moran, PLLC
We served as the Company’s auditor from 2013 to 2024.
Cleveland, Ohio
September 14, 2023
33
REZOLUTE, INC.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
June 30, 2024 and 2023
(In Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|||
Assets |
||||||
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ |
|
$ |
|
||
Investments in marketable debt securities |
|
|
||||
Prepaid expenses and other |
|
|
||||
Total current assets |
|
|
|
|
||
Long-term assets: |
||||||
Right-of-use assets |
|
|
|
|
||
Deposits and other |
|
|
||||
Investments in marketable debt securities |
|
|
||||
Property and equipment, net |
|
|
|
|
||
Total assets |
$ |
|
$ |
|
||
Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity |
|
|
|
|
||
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
||
Accounts payable |
$ |
|
$ |
|
||
Accrued liabilities: |
|
|
||||
Accrued clinical and other |
|
|
||||
Compensation and benefits |
|
|
||||
Current portion of operating lease liabilities |
|
|
||||
Total current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
||
Long-term liabilities: |
||||||
Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion |
|
|
|
|
||
Embedded derivative liability |
|
|
||||
Total liabilities |
|
|
|
|
||
Commitments and contingencies (Notes 5, 10 and 11) |
|
|
|
|
||
Shareholders' equity: |
|
|
|
|
||
Preferred stock, $ |
|
|
||||
Common stock, $ |
|
|
|
|
||
Additional paid-in capital |
|
|
|
|
||
Accumulated other comprehensive loss |
( |
( |
||||
Accumulated deficit |
|
( |
|
( |
||
Total shareholders’ equity |
|
|
|
|
||
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity |
$ |
|
$ |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
34
REZOLUTE, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
For the Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2024 and 2023
(In Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
||||
Operating expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|||
Research and development |
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
||
General and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|||
Total operating expenses |
|
|
|
|
|||
Operating loss |
|
( |
|
( |
|||
Non-operating income (expense): |
|
|
|
|
|||
Interest and other income, net |
|
|
|||||
Loss from change in fair value of warrant derivative liability |
( |
— |
|||||
Loss from change in fair value of embedded derivative liability |
( |
( |
|||||
Total non-operating income, net |
|
|
|
|
|||
Net loss |
( |
( |
|||||
Other comprehensive income (loss): |
|||||||
Net unrealized gain (loss) on marketable debt securities |
|
( |
|||||
Comprehensive loss |
$ |
( |
$ |
( |
|||
Net loss per common share: |
|||||||
Basic and diluted |
$ |
( |
$ |
( |
|||
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding: |
|
||||||
Basic and diluted |
|
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
35
REZOLUTE, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity
For the Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2024 and 2023
(In Thousands)
Accumulated |
|||||||||||||||||
Additional |
Other |
Total |
|||||||||||||||
|
Common Stock |
Paid-in |
Comprehensive |
Accumulated |
Shareholders' |
||||||||||||
|
Shares |
|
Amount |
|
Capital |
|
Loss |
|
Deficit |
|
Equity |
||||||
Balances, June 30, 2022 |
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
$ |
— |
$ |
( |
$ |
|
||||||
Gross proceeds from issuance of common stock for cash in 2022 Private Placement |
|
|
|
— |
— |
|
|||||||||||
Underwriting commissions and other equity offering costs |
— |
— |
( |
— |
— |
( |
|||||||||||
Share-based compensation |
— |
— |
|
— |
— |
|
|||||||||||
Net change in accumulated other comprehensive loss |
— |
— |
— |
( |
— |
( |
|||||||||||
Net loss |
|
— |
|
— |
|
— |
|
— |
|
( |
|
( |
|||||
Balances, June 30, 2023 |
|
|
|
( |
( |
|
|||||||||||
Proceeds from issuance of equity securities in 2024 Underwritten Offering, net of underwriting discounts |
|||||||||||||||||
Common stock |
|
|
|
|
— |
— |
|
||||||||||
2024 Pre-Funded Warrants |
— |
— |
|
— |
— |
|
|||||||||||
Other equity offering costs |
— |
— |
( |
— |
— |
( |
|||||||||||
Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options |
|
— |
|
— |
— |
|
|||||||||||
Share-based compensation |
— |
— |
|
— |
— |
|
|||||||||||
Cashless exercise of pre-funded warrants |
|
|
( |
— |
— |
— |
|||||||||||
Acquisition and retirement of treasury shares pursuant to Exchange Agreement |
( |
( |
( |
— |
— |
( |
|||||||||||
Reclassification of warrant derivative liability to equity |
— |
— |
|
— |
— |
|
|||||||||||
Net change in accumulated other comprehensive loss |
— |
— |
— |
|
— |
|
|||||||||||
Net loss |
— |
— |
— |
— |
( |
( |
|||||||||||
Balances, June 30, 2024 |
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
$ |
( |
$ |
( |
$ |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
36
REZOLUTE, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
For the Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2024 and 2023
(In Thousands)
|
2024 |
|
2023 |
|||
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES: |
|
|
|
|
||
Net loss |
$ |
( |
$ |
( |
||
Share-based compensation expense |
|
|
||||
Loss from change in fair value of warrant derivative liability |
|
— |
||||
Loss from change in fair value of embedded derivative liability |
|
|
||||
Non-cash lease expense |
|
|
||||
Accretion of discounts and amortization of premiums on marketable debt securities, net |
( |
( |
||||
Depreciation expense |
|
|
||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
||
Increase in prepaid expenses, deposits, and other assets |
|
( |
|
( |
||
Increase in accounts payable |
|
|
|
|
||
Increase in accrued liabilities |
|
|
||||
Net Cash Used in Operating Activities |
|
( |
|
( |
||
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES |
|
|||||
Purchase of marketable debt securities |
( |
( |
||||
Proceeds from maturities of marketable debt securities |
|
|
||||
Purchase of property and equipment |
— |
|
( |
|||
Total Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities |
|
|
|
( |
||
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES: |
|
|
|
|||
Proceeds from exercise of stock options |
|
— |
||||
Net cash payment pursuant to Exchange Agreement |
( |
— |
||||
Proceeds from issuance of equity securities in 2024 Underwritten Offering, net of underwriting discounts |
||||||
Issuance of common stock |
|
— |
||||
Issuance of pre-funded warrants |
|
— |
||||
Gross proceeds from issuance of common stock in 2022 Private Placement |
— |
|
||||
Payment of commissions and other deferred offering costs |
|
( |
( |
|||
Net Cash Provided by Financing Activities |
|
|
|
|
||
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents |
|
( |
||||
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of fiscal year |
|
|
|
|
||
Cash and cash equivalents at end of fiscal year |
$ |
|
$ |
|
||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
37
REZOLUTE, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, Continued
For the Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2024 and 2023
(In Thousands)
2024 |
|
2023 |
||||
SUPPLEMENTARY CASH FLOW INFORMATION: |
|
|
|
|
||
Cash paid for interest |
$ |
— |
$ |
— |
||
Cash paid for income taxes |
— |
— |
||||
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities |
|
|
||||
Operating lease liabilities incurred in exchange for right-of-use assets |
|