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8-K - FORM 8-K - INFINITY PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.d452166d8k.htm

Exhibit 99.1

Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to other information included in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in evaluating Infinity and our business. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected. These risk factors restate and supersede the risk factors set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2012.

Risks Related to Our Stage of Development as a Company

Our results to date do not guarantee that any of our product candidates will be safe or effective, or receive regulatory approval.

The risk of failure of our current drug candidates is high. To date, the data supporting our clinical development strategy for our drug candidates are derived solely from laboratory and preclinical studies and limited early-to-mid-stage clinical trials. Later clinical trials may not yield data consistent with earlier clinical trials, as was the case with our randomized Phase 2 clinical trial of saridegib in patients with pancreatic cancer, which we elected to discontinue in January 2012 following a preliminary analysis of data that did not confirm what was observed in the single-arm, Phase 1b portion of the study. Similarly, clinical responses seen in patients enrolled at early stages of a clinical trial may not be replicated in patients enrolled in that trial at a later time. In addition, adverse events observed in a small number of patients in early clinical trials may be seen in a greater number of patients in later studies and have greater statistical significance than previously anticipated. In the event that our clinical trials do not yield data consistent with earlier experience, it may be necessary for us to change our development strategy or abandon development of that drug candidate, either of which could result in delays, additional costs and a decrease in our stock price. It is impossible to predict when or if any of our drug candidates will prove safe or effective in humans or receive regulatory approval. These drug candidates may not demonstrate in patients the chemical and pharmacological properties ascribed to them in laboratory studies or early-stage clinical trials, and they may interact with human biological systems or other drugs in unforeseen, ineffective or harmful ways. If we are unable to discover or successfully develop drugs that are safe and effective in humans, we will not have a viable business.

We have a history of operating losses, expect to incur significant and increasing operating losses in the future, and may never be consistently profitable.

We have a limited operating history for you to evaluate our business. We have no approved products and have generated no product revenue from sales. We have primarily incurred operating losses. As of September 30, 2012, we had an accumulated deficit of $276.0 million. We expect to continue to spend significant resources to fund the research and development of IPI-145, retaspimycin HCl, and our other drug candidates. While we may have net income in future periods as the result of non-recurring collaboration revenue, we expect to incur substantial operating losses over the next several years as our clinical trial and drug manufacturing activities increase. As a result, we expect that our accumulated deficit will also increase significantly.

Our drug candidates are in varying stages of preclinical and clinical development and may never be approved for sale or generate any revenue. We will not be able to generate product revenue unless and until one of our drug candidates successfully completes clinical trials and receives regulatory approval. Since even our most advanced drug candidate requires substantial additional clinical development, we do not expect to receive revenue from our drug candidates for several years, if at all. Even if we eventually generate revenues, we may never be profitable, and if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

We may be unable to raise the substantial additional capital that we will need to sustain our operations.

We will need substantial additional funds to support our planned operations. In the absence of additional funding or business development activities and based on our current operating plans, we expect that our current cash and investments are sufficient to fund our planned operations into 2014. In the absence of changes to our current operating plans, we will need to raise additional funds by that date. Our need to raise additional funds may be accelerated if our research and development expenses exceed our current expectation, if we acquire a third party or if we acquire or license rights to additional drug candidates or new technologies from one or more third parties. Our need to raise additional funds may also be accelerated for other reasons, including if:

 

   

our drug candidates require more extensive clinical or preclinical testing than we currently expect;


   

we advance more of our drug candidates than expected into costly later stage clinical trials;

 

   

we advance more preclinical drug candidates than expected into early stage clinical trials;

 

   

we acquire additional business, technologies, products or product candidates;

 

   

the cost of acquiring raw materials for, and of manufacturing, our drug candidates is higher than anticipated;

 

   

we are required, or consider it advisable, to acquire or license intellectual property rights from one or more third parties; or

 

   

we experience a loss in our investments due to general market conditions or other reasons.

Historically, we relied on our strategic alliance with Mundipharma International Corporation Limited, or Mundipharma, and Purdue Pharmaceutical Products L.P., or Purdue, for a significant portion of our research and development funding needs. Mundipharma and Purdue provided us approximately $260 million in research and development funding during the term of our strategic alliance. Following the termination of the strategic alliance agreements with Mundipharma and Purdue on July 17, 2012, we will no longer be receiving funding from Mundipharma or Purdue and will have to use other resources available to us to help fund our research and development expenses. Our efforts to raise sufficient capital to replace the funding we previously received under the terminated strategic alliance agreements may not be successful.

We may seek additional funding through public or private financings of equity or debt securities, but such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all, particularly in light of current market conditions. In addition, the terms of such financings may result in, among other things, dilution for stockholders or the incurrence of indebtedness that may impact our ability to make capital expenditures or incur additional debt. We may also seek additional funds through arrangements with collaborators or other third parties, or through project financing. These arrangements would generally require us to relinquish or encumber rights to some of our technologies or drug candidates, and we may not be able to enter into such arrangements on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are unable to obtain additional funding on a timely basis, we may be required to curtail or terminate some or all of our product development programs or to scale back, suspend or terminate our business operations.

If we are not able to attract and retain key personnel and advisors, we may not be able to operate our business successfully.

We are highly dependent on our management team, particularly Adelene Perkins and Julian Adams, and the other members of our executive leadership team. All of these individuals are employees-at-will, which means that neither Infinity nor the employee is obligated to a fixed term of service and that the employment relationship may be terminated by either Infinity or the employee at any time, without notice, and whether or not cause or good reason exists for such termination. The loss of the services of any of these individuals might impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives. We do not maintain “key person” insurance on any of our employees.

Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and business personnel is also critical to our success. We may not be able to attract and retain these personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. This competition is particularly intense near our headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development strategy. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by other entities, have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with third parties that limit their availability to us, or both.

We may not be able to execute our business strategy if we are unable to enter into alliances with other companies that can provide capabilities or funding for the development and commercialization of our drug candidates.

As part of our business strategy, we have historically entered, and expect to enter in the future, alliances with major biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies to jointly develop specific drug candidates and to jointly commercialize them if they are approved. In these alliances, we would expect our alliance partner to provide substantial funding, as well as significant capabilities in development, marketing and sales. We may not be successful in entering into any such alliances on favorable terms, if at all. Even if we do succeed in securing such alliances, we may not be able to maintain them if, for example, development or approval of a drug candidate is delayed or sales of an approved drug are disappointing. Furthermore, any delay in entering into alliances could delay the development and commercialization of our drug candidates and reduce their competitiveness, even if they reach the market. Any such delay related to our alliances could adversely affect our business.


If an alliance partner terminates or fails to perform its obligations under agreements with us, the development and commercialization of our drug candidates could be delayed or terminated.

If any future alliance partner does not devote sufficient time and resources to its alliance arrangements with us, we may not realize the potential commercial benefits of the arrangement, and our results of operations may be adversely affected. In addition, if any alliance partner were to breach or terminate its arrangements with us, the development and commercialization of the affected drug candidate could be delayed, curtailed or terminated because we may not have sufficient financial resources or capabilities to continue development and commercialization of the drug candidate on its own, and we may find it difficult to attract a new alliance partner for such drug candidate.

Much of the potential revenue from any alliance we may enter into in the future will likely consist of contingent payments, such as royalties payable on sales of any successfully developed drugs. Any such contingent revenue will depend upon our, and our alliance partner’s, ability to successfully develop, introduce, market and sell new products. In some cases, we will not be involved in these processes, and we will depend entirely on our alliance partners. Any of our future alliance partners may fail to develop or effectively commercialize these products because it:

 

   

decides not to devote the necessary resources because of internal constraints, such as limited personnel with the requisite scientific expertise, limited cash resources or specialized equipment limitations, or the belief that other drug development programs may have a higher likelihood of obtaining regulatory approval or may potentially generate a greater return on investment;

 

   

does not have sufficient resources necessary to carry the drug candidate through clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization; or

 

   

cannot obtain the necessary regulatory approvals.

In addition, we entered into a development and license agreement with Intellikine, Inc., or Intellikine, in 2010 under which we obtained rights to discover, develop and commercialize pharmaceutical products targeting the delta and/or gamma isoforms of PI3K, including IPI-145. In January 2012, Intellikine was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, or Takeda, acting through its Millennium business unit. We refer to our PI3K program licensor as Millennium. While our agreement with Millennium precludes Millennium from developing or commercializing products directed to the PI3K delta and/or gamma isoforms that meet certain selectivity criteria, Millennium may research, develop and commercialize such products that it was researching, developing or commercializing on its own or with a third party prior to its acquisition of Intellikine. Additionally, Millennium or other potential competitors may develop products directed to other isoforms of PI3K that could be competitive with our PI3K program.

If any future alliance partner fails to develop or effectively commercialize our drug candidates, we may not be able to develop and commercialize that drug independently, and our financial condition and operations would be negatively impacted.

We may encounter difficulties in managing organizational change, which could adversely affect our operations.

Our ability to manage changes to our organization effectively depends upon the continual improvement of our processes and procedures, and the preservation of our corporate culture. We may not be able to implement improvements in an efficient or timely manner, or maintain our corporate culture through organizational change. If we do not meet these challenges, we may be unable to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies or respond to competitive pressures, which in turn may give rise to inefficiencies that would increase our losses or delay our programs.

We may undertake strategic acquisitions in the future and any difficulties from integrating acquired businesses, technologies, products and product candidates could adversely affect our business and our stock price.

We may acquire additional businesses, technologies, products or product candidates that complement or augment our existing business. We may not be able to integrate any acquired business, technology, product or product candidate successfully or operate any acquired business profitably. Integrating any newly acquired business, technology, product or product candidate could be expensive and time-consuming. Integration efforts often place a significant strain on managerial, operational and financial resources and could prove to be more difficult or expensive than we expect. The diversion of the attention of our management to, and any delay or difficulties encountered in connection with, any future acquisitions we may consummate could result in the disruption of our ongoing business or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies that could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, suppliers, collaborators, employees and others with whom we have business dealings. We may need to raise additional funds through public or private debt or equity financings to acquire any businesses, technologies, products or product candidates, which may result in, among other things, dilution for stockholders or the incurrence of indebtedness.

As part of our efforts to acquire businesses, technologies, products and product candidates or to enter into other significant transactions, we conduct business, legal and financial due diligence in an effort to identify and evaluate material risks involved in the


transaction. We will also need to make certain assumptions regarding acquired product candidates, including, among other things, development costs, the likelihood of receiving regulatory approval and the market for such product candidates. If we are unsuccessful in identifying or evaluating all such risks or our assumptions prove to be incorrect, we might not realize some or all of the intended benefits of the transaction. If we fail to realize intended benefits from acquisitions we may consummate in the future, our business, and financial results could be adversely affected.

In addition, we will likely incur significant expenses in connection with our efforts, if any, to consummate acquisitions. These expenses may include fees and expenses for investment bankers, attorneys, accountants and other advisers in connection with our efforts, and could be incurred whether or not an acquisition is consummated. Even if we consummate a particular acquisition, we may incur as part of such acquisition substantial closure costs associated with, among other things, elimination of duplicate operations and facilities. In such case, the incurrence of these costs could adversely affect our financial results for particular quarterly or annual periods.

Our investments are subject to risks that may cause losses and affect the liquidity of these investments.

As of September 30, 2012, we had approximately $189.4 million in cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities. We historically have invested these amounts in money market funds, corporate obligations, U.S. government-sponsored enterprise obligations, U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities meeting the criteria of our investment policy, which is focused on the preservation of our capital. Corporate obligations may include obligations issued by corporations in countries other than the Unites States, including some issues that have not been guaranteed by governments and government agencies. Our investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, market and interest rate risks and instability in the global financial markets. We may realize losses in the fair value of these investments or a complete loss of these investments. In addition, should our investments cease paying or reduce the amount of interest paid to us, our interest income would suffer. These market risks associated with our investment portfolio may have a material adverse effect on our financial results and the availability of cash to fund our operations.

The estimates and judgments we make, or the assumptions on which we rely, in preparing our condensed consolidated financial statements could prove inaccurate.

Our condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of our assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Such estimates and judgments include those related to revenue recognition, accrued expenses, assumptions in the valuation of stock-based compensation and income taxes. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experience, facts and circumstances known to us and on various assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates and judgments, or the assumptions underlying them, may change over time or prove inaccurate. If this is the case, we may be required to restate our financial statements as we did in 2011, which could in turn subject us to securities class action litigation. Defending against such potential litigation relating to a restatement of our financial statements would be expensive and would require significant attention and resources of our management. Moreover, our insurance to cover our obligations with respect to the ultimate resolution of any such litigation may be inadequate. As a result of these factors, any such potential litigation could have a material adverse effect on our financial results and cause our stock price to decline.

Under our strategic alliance termination agreements, Mundipharma and Purdue continue to have the right to audit research and development expenses incurred by us during the term of our former strategic alliance, in order to verify the research and development funding amounts previously paid by Mundipharma and Purdue. Mundipharma has requested such an audit in the context of discussions regarding renegotiation of our strategic alliance agreements and such an audit is currently ongoing. If, as a result of any audit, it is determined that Mundipharma and Purdue have overpaid research and development expenses, we will be required to refund the amount of such overpayment, plus interest, and if such amount is material we may be required to restate prior period revenue.

If we are not able to maintain effective internal controls under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our business and stock price could be adversely affected.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us, on an annual basis, to review and evaluate our internal controls, and requires our independent auditors to attest to the effectiveness of our internal controls. Any failure by us to maintain the effectiveness of our internal controls in accordance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as such requirements exist today or may be modified, supplemented or amended in the future, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and stock price.


Risks Related to the Development and Commercialization of Our Drug Candidates

All of our drug candidates remain subject to clinical testing and regulatory approval. This process is highly uncertain and we may never be able to obtain marketing approval for any of our drug candidates.

To date, we have not obtained approval from the FDA or any foreign regulatory authority to market or sell any of our drug candidates. Our drug candidates are subject to extensive governmental regulations relating to development, clinical trials, manufacturing and commercialization. Rigorous preclinical testing and clinical trials and an extensive regulatory approval process are required in the United States and in many foreign jurisdictions prior to the commercial sale of medicinal products like our drug candidates. For example, retaspimycin HCl, is being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical trials, which are intended to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the drug candidate in a particular disease indication. In addition, we are conducting a Phase 2 and a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate IPI-145, the lead compound in our PI3K inhibitor program. We intend to commence a second Phase 2 trial of IPI-145 in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis in the first half of 2013, subject to receiving applicable regulatory clearances to commence the trial. If any of these trials are successful, we will need to conduct further clinical trials and apply for regulatory approval before we may market or sell any of our drug products. Satisfaction of these and other regulatory requirements is costly, time consuming, uncertain and subject to unanticipated delays. It is possible that none of the drug candidates we are developing, or may in the future develop, either alone or in collaboration with strategic alliance partners, will obtain marketing approval. In connection with the clinical trials of our current and future drug candidates, we face, among other risks, risks that:

 

   

the drug candidate may not prove to be safe or effective;

 

   

the results of later trials may not confirm positive results from earlier preclinical studies or clinical trials; and

 

   

the results may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities.

For example, in June 2012 we voluntarily stopped our Phase 2, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluating saridegib in patients with metastatic or locally advanced, inoperable chondrosarcoma and our exploratory Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating saridegib in patients with myelofibrosis after the studies showed that treatment with saridegib was similar to placebo or did not satisfy our pre-specified criteria for trial expansion. As a result, we terminated our development of saridegib.

We have limited experience in conducting and managing the clinical trials necessary to obtain regulatory approvals, including approval by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory agencies. The time required to complete clinical trials and for regulatory review by the FDA and other countries’ regulatory agencies is uncertain and typically takes many years. Some of our drug candidates may be eligible for the FDA’s programs that are designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of certain drugs, but we cannot provide any assurance that any of our drug candidates will qualify for one or more of these programs. Even if a drug candidate qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the drug candidate no longer meets the conditions for qualification.

Our analysis of data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities is subject to confirmation and interpretation by regulatory authorities, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. We may also encounter unanticipated delays or increased costs due to changes in government regulation from future legislation or administrative action or changes in FDA and other regulatory policy during the period of product development, clinical trials and FDA and other regulatory review.

Any delay in obtaining or failure to obtain required approvals could materially adversely affect our ability to generate revenues from the particular drug candidate. Furthermore, the uses for which any regulatory authority may grant approval to market a product may be limited, thus placing limitations on the manner in which we may market the product and limiting its market potential.

Our drug candidates must undergo rigorous clinical trials prior to receipt of regulatory approval. Any problems in these clinical trials could delay or prevent commercialization of our drug candidates.

We cannot predict whether we will encounter problems with any of our ongoing or planned clinical trials that will cause us or regulatory authorities to delay or suspend clinical trials or to delay the analysis of data from ongoing clinical trials. Any of the following could delay the clinical development of our drug candidates:

 

   

unexpected or unfavorable results of discussions with the FDA or comparable foreign authorities regarding the scope or design of our clinical trials;

 

   

delays in receiving, or the inability to obtain, required approvals from institutional review boards or other reviewing entities at clinical sites selected for participation in our clinical trials;

 

   

delays in enrolling patients into clinical trials;


   

a lower than anticipated retention rate of patients in clinical trials;

 

   

the need to repeat clinical trials as a result of inconclusive or negative results or unforeseen complications in testing;

 

   

inadequate supply, delays in distribution or deficient quality of, or inability to purchase drug product or other materials necessary to conduct our clinical trials;

 

   

unfavorable FDA or other foreign regulatory inspection and review of a clinical trial site or records of any clinical or preclinical investigation;

 

   

serious and unexpected drug-related side effects experienced by participants in our clinical trials, which may occur even if they were not observed in earlier trials or only observed in a limited number of participants;

 

   

a finding that the trial participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

 

   

the placement by the FDA or a foreign regulatory authority of a clinical hold on a trial; or

 

   

any restrictions on, or post-approval commitments with regard to, any regulatory approval we ultimately obtain that render the drug candidate not commercially viable.

We may suspend, or the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities may require us to suspend, clinical trials of a drug candidate at any time if we or they believe the patients participating in such clinical trials, or in independent third party clinical trials for drugs based on similar technologies, are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or for other reasons.

The delay, suspension or discontinuation of any of our clinical trials, or a delay in the analysis of clinical data for our drug candidates, for any of the foregoing reasons, could adversely affect our efforts to obtain regulatory approval for and to commercialize our drug candidates, increase our operating expenses, and have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

Our inability to enroll sufficient numbers of patients in our clinical trials, or any delays in patient enrollment, can result in increased costs and longer development periods for our drug candidates.

Clinical trials require sufficient patient enrollment, which is a function of many factors, including:

 

   

the size of the patient population;

 

   

the nature of the trial protocol;

 

   

the number of clinical trial sites and the proximity of patients to those sites;

 

   

the availability of effective treatments for the relevant disease;

 

   

the eligibility criteria for the trial;

 

   

the commitment of clinical investigators to identify eligible patients; and

 

   

competing studies or trials.

Our failure to enroll patients in a clinical trial could delay the initiation or completion of the clinical trial beyond current expectations. In addition, the FDA or other foreign regulatory authority could require us to conduct clinical trials with a larger number of subjects than has been projected for any of our drug candidates. As a result of these factors, we may not be able to enroll a sufficient number of patients in a timely or cost-effective manner.

Furthermore, enrolled patients may drop out of a clinical trial, which could impair the validity or statistical significance of the clinical trial. A number of factors can influence the patient discontinuation rate, including, but not limited to:

 

   

the inclusion of a placebo arm in a trial;

 

   

possible inactivity or low activity of the drug candidate being tested at one or more of the dose levels being tested;

 

   

the occurrence of adverse side effects, whether or not related to the drug candidate; and

 

   

the availability of numerous alternative treatment options, including clinical trials evaluating competing drug candidates, that may induce patients to discontinue their participation in the trial.

A delay in our clinical trial activities could adversely affect our efforts to obtain regulatory approval for and to commercialize our drug candidates, increase our operating expenses, and have a material adverse effect on our financial results.


If we are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostics for our drug candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, we may not realize the full commercial potential of our drug candidates.

An important component of our business strategy is to develop companion diagnostics for each of our drug candidates. For example, we are prospectively evaluating a molecular subpopulation of patients in our clinical trial evaluating retaspimycin HCl plus docetaxel in smokers with non-small cell lung cancer, for which development of an appropriate diagnostic test may be an important component of our future development and commercial strategy. There has been limited success to date industry wide in developing companion diagnostics. To be successful, we will need to address a number of scientific, technical and logistical challenges. Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation by the FDA and similar regulatory authorities outside the United States as medical devices and require separate regulatory approval prior to commercialization. We have limited experience in the development of diagnostics and may not be successful in developing appropriate diagnostics to pair with any of our drug candidates that receive marketing approval. Given our limited experience in developing diagnostics, we expect to rely, in part, on third parties for their design and manufacture. If we, or any third parties that we engage to assist us, are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostics for our drug candidates, or experience delays in doing so, the development of our drug candidates may be adversely affected, our drug candidates may not receive marketing approval and we may not realize the full commercial potential of any drug candidates that receive marketing approval.

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily.

We rely on third parties such as contract research organizations, medical institutions and external investigators to enroll qualified patients, conduct our clinical trials and provide services in connection with such clinical trials, and we intend to rely on these and other similar entities in the future. Our reliance on these third parties for clinical development activities reduces our control over these activities. Accordingly, these third party contractors may not complete activities on schedule, or may not conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or the trial design. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may be required to replace them. Replacing a third party contractor may result in a delay of the affected trial and unplanned costs. If this were to occur, our efforts to obtain regulatory approval for and to commercialize our drug candidates may be delayed.

In addition, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocol for the trial. The FDA requires us to comply with certain standards, referred to as good clinical practices, for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. Our reliance on third parties that we do not control does not relieve us of these responsibilities and requirements. If any of our trial investigators or third party contractors does not comply with good clinical practices, we may not be able to use the data and reported results from the trial. If this were to occur, our efforts to obtain regulatory approval for and to commercialize our drug candidates may be delayed.

Manufacturing difficulties could delay or preclude commercialization of our drug candidates and substantially increase our expenses.

Our drug candidates require precise, high quality manufacturing. The third party manufacturers on which we rely may not be able to comply with the FDA’s current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs, and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures and the implementation and operation of systems to control and assure the quality of products. The FDA and foreign regulatory authorities may, at any time, audit or inspect a manufacturing facility to ensure compliance with cGMPs and other quality standards. Any failure by our contract manufacturers to achieve and maintain high manufacturing and quality control standards could result in the inability of our drug candidates to be released for use in one or more countries. In addition, such a failure could result in, among other things, patient injury or death, product liability claims, penalties or other monetary sanctions, the failure of regulatory authorities to grant marketing approval of our drug candidates, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of drug candidates or products, operating restrictions and/or criminal prosecution, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supply of our drug candidates and seriously hurt our business.

Contract manufacturers may also encounter difficulties involving production yields or delays in performing their services. We do not have control over third party manufacturers’ performance and compliance with applicable regulations and standards. If, for any reason, our manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be unable to replace such third party manufacturers in a timely manner and the production of our drug candidates would be interrupted, resulting in delays in clinical trials and additional costs. Switching manufacturers may be difficult because the number of potential manufacturers is limited and, depending on the type of material manufactured at the contract facility, the change in contract manufacturer must be submitted to and/or approved by the FDA and


comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States. In addition, a new manufacturer would have to be educated in, or develop substantially equivalent processes for, production of our drug candidates after receipt of regulatory approval. It may be difficult or impossible for us to find a replacement manufacturer on acceptable terms quickly, or at all.

To date, our drug candidates have been manufactured for preclinical testing and clinical trials primarily by third party manufacturers. If the FDA or other regulatory agencies approve any of our drug candidates for commercial sale, we expect that we would continue to rely, at least initially, on third party manufacturers to produce commercial quantities of our approved drug candidates. These manufacturers may not be able to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any approved drug candidates in a timely or economical manner, or at all. Significant scale-up of manufacturing might entail changes in the manufacturing process that have to be submitted to or approved by the FDA or other regulatory agencies. If contract manufacturers engaged by us are unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for a drug candidate, or we are unable to establish our own manufacturing capabilities, the commercial launch of any approved products may be delayed or there may be a shortage in supply.

We have commercialization rights to all product candidates in our portfolio, but we currently have limited marketing, sales and distribution experience and capabilities.

We currently have global commercialization rights for products arising out of our all of our development programs. In order to successfully commercialize our drug candidates, we will need to, and we intend to, establish adequate marketing, sales and distribution capabilities for commercialization in the United States, and to seek a qualified partner with these capabilities for commercialization outside the United States. We may not successfully establish these capabilities or have sufficient resources to do so. If we do not establish adequate marketing, sales and distribution capabilities or engage a qualified partner, our ability to successfully commercialize any drug candidates that we successfully develop will be adversely affected, as will our financial results. Even if we do develop such capabilities, we will compete with other companies that have more experienced and well-funded marketing, sales and distribution operations, and we will incur additional expenses.

If physicians and patients do not accept our future drugs, we may not be able to generate significant revenues from product sales.

Even if any of our drug candidates obtains regulatory approval, that product may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients and the medical community for a variety of reasons including:

 

   

timing of our receipt of any marketing approvals, the terms of any such approvals and the countries in which any such approvals are obtained;

 

   

timing of market introduction of competitive drugs;

 

   

lower demonstrated clinical safety and efficacy compared to other drugs;

 

   

lack of cost-effectiveness;

 

   

lack of reimbursement from managed care plans and other third-party payors;

 

   

inconvenient or difficult administration;

 

   

prevalence and severity of side effects;

 

   

potential advantages of alternative treatment methods;

 

   

safety concerns with similar drugs marketed by others;

 

   

the reluctance of the target population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe those therapies;

 

   

the success of our physician education programs; and

 

   

ineffective sales, marketing and distribution support.

If any of our approved drugs fails to achieve market acceptance, we would not be able to generate significant revenue from those drugs, which may adversely impact our ability to become profitable.


Even if we receive regulatory approvals for marketing our drug candidates, we could lose our regulatory approvals and our business would be adversely affected if we, our strategic alliance partners, or our contract manufacturers fail to comply with continuing regulatory requirements.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies continue to review products even after they receive initial approval. If we receive approval to commercialize any of our drug candidates, the manufacturing, marketing and sale of these drugs will be subject to continuing regulation, including compliance with quality systems regulations, GMPs, adverse event requirements, and prohibitions on promoting a product for unapproved uses. Enforcement actions resulting from our failure to comply with government and regulatory requirements could result in fines, suspension of approvals, withdrawal of approvals, product recalls, product seizures, mandatory operating restrictions, criminal prosecution, civil penalties and other actions that could impair the manufacturing, marketing and sale of our drug candidates and our ability to conduct our business.

If our drug candidates exhibit harmful side effects after approval, our regulatory approvals could be revoked or otherwise negatively impacted, and we could become subject to costly and damaging product liability claims.

Even if we receive regulatory approval for any of our drug candidates, we will have tested them in only a small number of patients during our clinical trials. If our applications for marketing are approved and more patients begin to use our products, new risks and side effects associated with our products may be discovered or previously observed risks and side effects may become more prevalent and/or clinically significant. In addition, supplemental clinical trials that may be conducted on a drug following its initial approval may produce findings that are inconsistent with the trial results previously submitted to regulatory authorities. As a result, regulatory authorities may revoke their approvals, or we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials, make changes in labeling of our product, reformulate our product or make changes and obtain new approvals for our and our suppliers’ manufacturing facilities. We also might have to withdraw or recall our products from the marketplace. Any safety concerns with respect to a product may also result in a significant drop in the potential sales of that product, damage to our reputation in the marketplace, or result in us becoming subject to lawsuits, including class actions. Any of these results could decrease or prevent any sales of our approved product or substantially increase the costs and expenses of commercializing and marketing our product.

We are subject to uncertainty relating to reimbursement policies that could hinder or prevent the commercial success of our drug candidates.

Our ability to commercialize our product candidates successfully will depend in part on the coverage and reimbursement levels set by governmental authorities, private health insurers and other third-party payors. As a threshold for coverage and reimbursement, third-party payors generally require that drug products have been approved for marketing by the FDA. Third-party payors also are increasingly challenging the effectiveness of and prices charged for medical products and services. We may not obtain adequate third-party coverage or reimbursement for our drug candidates or we may be required to sell our drug candidates at prices that are below our expectations.

We expect that private insurers will consider the efficacy, cost effectiveness and safety of our drug candidates in determining whether, and at what level, to approve reimbursement for our drug candidates. Obtaining these approvals can be a time consuming and expensive process. Our business would be materially adversely affected if we do not receive approval for reimbursement of our drug candidates from private insurers on a timely or satisfactory basis. Our business could also be adversely affected if private insurers, including managed care organizations, the Medicare and Medicaid programs or other reimbursing bodies or payors limit the indications for which our drug candidates will be reimbursed to a smaller set than we believe our drug candidates are effective in treating.

In some foreign countries, particularly Canada and the countries of Europe, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to strict governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take six to 12 months or longer after the receipt of regulatory approval and product launch. To obtain favorable reimbursement for the indications sought or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our drug candidates to other available therapies. If reimbursement for our products is unavailable in any country in which reimbursement is sought, limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business would be materially harmed.

We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our drug candidates and our future products due to the potential healthcare reforms discussed below, as well as the trend toward programs aimed at reducing health care costs, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative proposals.

Healthcare reform measures could hinder or prevent our product candidates’ commercial success.

The U.S. government and other governments have shown significant interest in pursuing healthcare reform, as evidenced by the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. This healthcare reform law increases the number of individuals who receive health insurance coverage and closes a gap in drug coverage under Medicare Part D as established under the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement Act of 2003; each of these reforms could


potentially increase our future revenue from any of our drug candidates that are approved for sale. The law, however, also implements cost containment measures that could adversely affect our future revenue. These measures include increased drug rebates under Medicaid for brand name prescription drugs and extension of these rebates to Medicaid managed care. The legislation also extends 340B discounted pricing on outpatient drugs to children’s hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural health centers; this expansion reduces the amount of reimbursement received for drugs purchased by these new 340B-covered entities.

Additional provisions of the health care reform law may negatively affect our future revenue and prospects for profitability. Along with other pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers of brand name prescription drugs, we would be assessed a fee based on our proportionate share of sales of brand name prescription drugs to certain government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. As part of the health care reform law’s provisions closing a funding gap that currently exists in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program (commonly known as the “donut hole”), we will also be required to provide a 50% discount on brand name prescription drugs sold to beneficiaries who fall within the donut hole.

In the aftermath of the healthcare reform law, private health insurers and managed care plans are likely to continue challenging the prices charged for medical products and services. These cost-control initiatives could decrease the price we might establish for any of our drug candidates, which would result in lower product revenue or royalties payable to us.

In addition, in some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the health care system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products profitably. These proposed reforms could result in reduced reimbursement rates for any of our drug candidates, which would adversely affect our business strategy, operations and financial results.

Our business could be harmed if we are unable to comply with applicable “fraud and abuse” and other laws and regulations where our drug candidates may ultimately be sold.

As our pipeline of drug candidates matures, we are becoming increasingly subject to extensive and complex laws and regulations, including but not limited to healthcare “fraud and abuse” and patient privacy laws and regulations by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. These laws and regulations include:

 

   

the federal healthcare program anti-kickback law, which prohibits, among other things, persons from soliciting, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, to induce either the referral of an individual, for an item or service or the purchasing or ordering of a good or service, for which payment may be made under federal healthcare programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs;

 

   

federal false claims laws which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent, and which may apply to entities like us which provide coding and billing advice to customers;

 

   

the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which prohibits executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters and which also imposes certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information;

 

   

the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which, among other things, strictly regulates drug product marketing, prohibits manufacturers from marketing drug products for off-label use and regulates the distribution of drug samples; and

 

   

state law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including commercial insurers, and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by federal laws, thus complicating compliance efforts.

If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Any penalties, damages, fines, curtailment or restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our financial results. We are developing and implementing a corporate compliance program designed to ensure that we will market and sell any drug candidates that we successfully develop in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, but we cannot guarantee that this program will protect us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.


Risks Related to Our Field

Our competitors and potential competitors may develop products that make ours less attractive or obsolete.

In building our product development pipeline, we have intentionally pursued targets with applicability across multiple therapeutic areas and indications. This approach gives us several product opportunities in oncology, inflammatory disease and pain, which are highly competitive and rapidly changing segments of the pharmaceutical industry. Many large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, governmental agencies and other public and private research organizations are pursuing the development of novel drugs that target various diseases in these segments. We currently face, and expect to continue to face, intense and increasing competition as new products enter the market and advanced technologies become available. Moreover, there are a number of large pharmaceutical companies currently marketing and selling products in these segments including Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the Roche Group and its subsidiary Genentech, Novartis AG and Pfizer, Inc. In addition to currently approved drugs, there are a significant number of drugs that are currently under development and may become available in the future for the treatment of various forms of cancer, inflammatory diseases and pain. We are also aware of a number of companies seeking to develop drug candidates directed to the same biological targets that our own drug candidates are designed to inhibit. Specifically, we believe the following companies are developing compounds that target Hsp90, which is the target of retaspimycin HCl: Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., Novartis AG, Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., Debiopharm Group, Exelixis, Inc., and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd. Also, we believe that Gilead Sciences, Inc., Amgen Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline are developing drugs that target the delta and/or gamma isoforms of PI3K. In addition, many companies are developing product candidates directed to disease targets such as Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase, or BTK, Janus Kinase, or JAK, and Spleen Tyrosine Kinase, or Syk, in the fields of hematology-oncology and inflammation, including in the specific diseases for which we are currently developing IPI-145, or for which we may develop IPI-145 or other PI3K inhibitors in the future.

Many of our competitors have:

 

   

significantly greater financial, technical and human resources than us, and may be better equipped to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize drug candidates;

 

   

more extensive experience in preclinical testing and clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products; and/or

 

   

drug candidates that have been approved or are in later-stage clinical development than our own drug candidates.

Our competitors may commence and complete clinical testing of their product candidates, obtain regulatory approvals, and begin commercialization of their products sooner than we and/or our strategic alliance partners may for our own drug candidates. These competitive products may have superior safety or efficacy, have more attractive pharmacologic properties, or may be manufactured less expensively than our drug candidates. If we are unable to compete effectively against these companies on the basis of safety, efficacy or cost, then we may not be able to commercialize our drug candidates or achieve a competitive position in the market. This would adversely affect our ability to generate revenues.

We may have significant product liability exposure that may harm our business and our reputation.

We face exposure to significant product liability or other claims if any of our drug candidates is alleged to have caused harm. These risks are inherent in the testing, manufacturing and marketing of human medicinal products. Although we do not currently commercialize any products, claims could be made against us based on the use of our drug candidates in clinical trials. We currently have clinical trial insurance and will seek to obtain product liability insurance prior to the commercial launch of any of our drug candidates. Our insurance may not, however, provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. Furthermore, clinical trial and product liability insurance is becoming increasingly expensive. As a result, we may be unable to maintain current amounts of insurance coverage or obtain additional or sufficient insurance at a reasonable cost. If we are sued for any injury caused by our products or product candidates, our liability could exceed our insurance coverage and our total assets, and we would need to divert management attention to our defense. Claims against us, regardless of their merit or potential outcome, may also generate negative publicity or hurt our ability to recruit investigators and patients to our clinical trials, obtain physician acceptance of our products, or expand our business.

We work with hazardous materials that may expose us to liability.

Our activities involve the controlled storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials, including infectious agents, corrosive, explosive and flammable chemicals, and various radioactive compounds. We are subject to certain federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. We incur significant costs to comply with these laws and regulations. In addition, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these


materials. In the event of an accident, regulatory authorities may curtail our use of these materials, and we could be liable for any civil damages that result. These damages may exceed our financial resources or insurance coverage, and may seriously harm our business. Additionally, an accident could damage, or force us to shut down, our operations.

Security breaches may disrupt our operations and harm our operating results.

Our network security and data recovery measures may not be adequate to protect against computer viruses, break-ins, and similar disruptions from unauthorized tampering with our computer systems. The misappropriation, theft, sabotage or any other type of security breach with respect to any of our proprietary and confidential information that is electronically stored, including research or clinical data, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Additionally, any break-in or trespass of our facilities that results in the misappropriation, theft, sabotage or any other type of security breach with respect to our proprietary and confidential information, including research or clinical data, or that results in damage to our research and development equipment and assets, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

Our success depends substantially upon our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our drug candidates.

We own or hold exclusive licenses to a number of U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications directed to our drug candidates. Our success depends on our ability to obtain patent protection both in the United States and in other countries for our drug candidates, their methods of manufacture and methods of their use. Our ability to protect our drug candidates from unauthorized or infringing use by third parties depends substantially on our ability to obtain and enforce our patents.

Due to evolving legal standards relating to the patentability, validity and enforceability of patents covering pharmaceutical inventions and molecular diagnostics and the claim scope of these patents, our ability to obtain and enforce patents that may issue from any pending or future patent applications is uncertain and involves complex legal, scientific and factual questions. The standards that the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, and its foreign counterparts use to grant patents are not always applied predictably or uniformly and are subject to change. To date, no consistent policy has emerged regarding the breadth of claims allowed in pharmaceutical or molecular diagnostics patents. Thus, we cannot guarantee that any patents will issue from any pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us. Even if patents do issue, we cannot guarantee that the claims of these patents will be held valid or enforceable by a court of law, will provide us with any significant protection against competitive products, or will afford us a commercial advantage over competitive products.

The U.S. Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the America Invents Act, which will become effective in March 2013. The America Invents Act reforms United States patent law in part by changing the standard for patent approval for certain patents from a “first to invent” standard to a “first to file” standard and developing a post-grant review system. This new law changes United States patent law in a way that may severely weaken our ability to obtain patent protection in the United States. Additionally, recent judicial decisions establishing new case law and a reinterpretation of past case law, as well as regulatory initiatives, may make it more difficult for us to protect our intellectual property.

If we do not obtain adequate intellectual property protection for our products in the United States, competitors could duplicate them without repeating the extensive testing that we had been required to undertake to obtain approval of the products by the FDA. Regardless of any patent protection, under the current statutory framework the FDA is prohibited by law from approving any generic version of any of our products for up to five years after it has approved our product. Upon the expiration of that period, or if that time period is altered, the FDA could approve a generic version of our product unless we have patent protection sufficient for us to block that generic version. Without sufficient patent protection, the applicant for a generic version of our product would only be required to conduct a relatively inexpensive study to show that its product is bioequivalent to our product, and would not have to repeat the studies that we conducted to demonstrate that the product is safe and effective. In the absence of adequate patent protection in other countries, competitors may similarly be able to obtain regulatory approval in those countries of products that duplicate our products. The laws of some foreign jurisdictions do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as in the United States. Many companies have encountered significant difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Some of our development efforts are performed in China, India, and other countries outside of the United States through third party contractors. We may not be able to monitor and assess intellectual property developed by these contractors effectively; therefore, we may not be able to appropriately protect this intellectual property and could thus lose valuable intellectual property rights. In addition, the legal protection afforded to inventors and owners of intellectual property in countries outside of the United States may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as in the United States, and we may, therefore, be unable to acquire and protect intellectual property developed by these contractors to the same extent as if these development activities were being conducted in the United States. If we encounter difficulties in protecting our intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions, our business prospects could be substantially harmed.


In addition, we rely on intellectual property assignment agreements with our strategic alliance partners, vendors, employees, consultants, scientific advisors and other collaborators to grant us ownership of new intellectual property that is developed by them. These agreements may not result in the effective assignment to us of that intellectual property. As a result, our ownership of key intellectual property could be compromised.

Patent interference, opposition or similar proceedings relating to our intellectual property portfolio are costly, and an unfavorable outcome could prevent us from commercializing our drug candidates.

Patent applications in the United States are maintained in confidence for up to 18 months after their filing. In some cases, however, patent applications remain confidential in the PTO for the entire time prior to issuance as a U.S. patent. Similarly, publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries. Consequently, we cannot be certain that we were the first to invent, or the first to file patent applications on, our drug candidates or their therapeutic use. In the event that a third party has also filed a U.S. patent application relating to our drug candidates or a similar invention, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the PTO or the third party to determine priority of invention in the United States. An adverse decision in an interference proceeding may result in the loss of rights under a patent or patent application. In addition, the cost of interference proceedings could be substantial.

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

The PTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process. There are situations in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. If we fail to comply with these requirements, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case, which could decrease our revenue from that product.

Claims by third parties of intellectual property infringement are costly and distracting, and could deprive us of valuable rights we need to develop or commercialize our drug candidates.

Our commercial success will depend on whether there are third party patents or other intellectual property relevant to our potential products that may block or hinder our ability to develop and commercialize our drug candidates. We may not have identified all U.S. and foreign patents or published applications that may adversely affect our business either by blocking our ability to manufacture or commercialize our drugs or by covering similar technologies that adversely affect the applicable market. In addition, we may undertake research and development with respect to potential products, even when we are aware of third party patents that may be relevant to such potential products, on the basis that we may challenge or license such patents. For example, in our Hsp90 inhibitor program, we are conducting clinical trials evaluating the administration of retaspimycin HCl in combination with docetaxel and everolimus. We are aware of issued patents and published applications directed to combinations of Hsp90 inhibitors with a variety of therapeutic agents. We are also aware of patents and patent applications directed to methods of treating various disorders using a variety of Hsp90 inhibitors. We are in the process of evaluating the scope and validity of these patents and applications to determine whether we need to obtain one or more licenses. There are no assurances that such licenses will be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If such licenses are not available, we may become subject to patent litigation and, while we cannot predict the outcome of any of litigation, it may be expensive and time consuming. If we are unsuccessful in litigation concerning patents owned by third parties, we may be precluded from selling our products.

While we are not currently aware of any litigation or third party claims of intellectual property infringement related to our drug candidates, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Other parties may obtain patents and claim that the use of our technologies infringes these patents or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. We could incur substantial costs and diversion of management and technical personnel in defending against any claims that the manufacture and sale of our potential products or use of our technologies infringes any patents, or defending against any claim that we are employing any proprietary technology without authorization. The outcome of patent litigation is subject to uncertainties that cannot be adequately quantified in advance, including the demeanor and credibility of witnesses and the identity of the adverse party, especially in pharmaceutical patent cases that may turn on the testimony of experts as to technical facts upon which experts may reasonably disagree. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may be required to:

 

   

pay substantial damages;


   

stop developing, manufacturing and/or commercializing the infringing drug candidates or approved products;

 

   

develop non-infringing products, technologies and methods; and

 

   

obtain one or more licenses from other parties, which could result in our paying substantial royalties or the granting of cross-licenses to our technologies.

If any of the foregoing were to occur, we may be unable to commercialize the affected products, or we may elect to cease certain of our business operations, either of which could severely harm our business.

We may undertake infringement or other legal proceedings against third parties, causing us to spend substantial resources on litigation and exposing our own intellectual property portfolio to challenge.

Competitors may infringe our patents. To prevent infringement or unauthorized use, we may need to file infringement suits, which are expensive and time-consuming. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that one or more of our patents is invalid, unenforceable, or both. Even if the validity of our patents is upheld, a court may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the ground that the other party’s activities are not covered by our patents. In this case, third parties may be able to use our patented technology without paying licensing fees or royalties. Policing unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult, and we may not be able to prevent misappropriation of our proprietary rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect such rights as fully as in the United States. In addition, third parties may affirmatively challenge our rights to, or the scope or validity of, our patent rights.

Confidentiality agreements may not adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.

In order to protect our proprietary technology, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our vendors, strategic alliance partners, employees, consultants, scientific advisors, clinical investigators and other collaborators. We generally require each of these individuals and entities to execute a confidentiality agreement at the commencement of a relationship with us. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information, and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure or misuse of confidential information or other breaches of the agreements.

In addition, we may rely on trade secrets to protect our technology, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. Trade secrets are, however, difficult to protect. Others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information, and in such case we could not assert any trade secret rights against such party. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets is difficult, expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts outside of the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to seek to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights and could result in a diversion of management’s attention, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

If we fail to obtain necessary or useful licenses to intellectual property, we could encounter substantial delays in the research, development and commercialization of our drug candidates.

We may decide to license third party technology that we deem necessary or useful for our business. We may not be able to obtain these licenses at a reasonable cost, or at all. If we do not obtain necessary licenses, we could encounter substantial delays in developing and commercializing our drug candidates while we attempt to develop alternative technologies, methods and drug candidates, which we may not be able to accomplish. Furthermore, if we fail to comply with our obligations under our third party license agreements, we could lose license rights that are important to our business. For example, if we fail to use diligent efforts to develop and commercialize compounds and products licensed under our development and license agreement with Millennium, we could lose our license rights under that agreement, including rights to IPI-145.

Risks Associated with Our Common Stock

Our common stock may have a volatile trading price and low trading volume.

The market price of our common stock has been and could continue to be subject to significant fluctuations. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

 

   

the results of our current and any future clinical trials of our drug candidates;

 

   

the results of preclinical studies and planned clinical trials of our discovery-stage programs;


   

product portfolio decisions resulting in the delay or termination of our product development programs;

 

   

future sales of, and the trading volume in, our common stock, including the sale by entities associated with Purdue of the shares of our common stock that they currently own;

 

   

our entry into key agreements, including those related to the acquisition or in-licensing of new programs, or the termination of key agreements, including our development and license agreement with Millennium;

 

   

the results and timing of regulatory reviews relating to the approval of our drug candidates;

 

   

the initiation of, material developments in, or conclusion of litigation to enforce or defend any of our intellectual property rights;

 

   

the initiation of, material developments in, or conclusion of litigation to defend product liability claims;

 

   

the failure of any of our drug candidates, if approved, to achieve commercial success;

 

   

the results of clinical trials conducted by others on drugs that would compete with our drug candidates;

 

   

issues in manufacturing our drug candidates or any approved products;

 

   

the loss of key employees;

 

   

changes in estimates or recommendations, or publication of inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, by securities analysts who cover our common stock;

 

   

future financings through the issuance of equity or debt securities or otherwise;

 

   

changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;

 

   

our cash position and period-to-period fluctuations in our financial results; and

 

   

general and industry-specific economic conditions.

Moreover, the stock markets in general have experienced substantial volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may also adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

In the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, as our stock price may be, holders of that stock have occasionally brought securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders were to bring a lawsuit of this type against us, even if the lawsuit is without merit, negative publicity could be generated and we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. A stockholder lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management.

We do not anticipate paying cash dividends, so you must rely on stock price appreciation for any return on your investment.

We anticipate retaining any future earnings for reinvestment in our research and development programs. Therefore, we do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the future. As a result, only appreciation of the price of our common stock will provide a return to stockholders. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock.

Our stockholder rights plan, anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents, and Delaware law may make an acquisition of us difficult.

We are a party to a stockholder rights plan, also referred to as a poison pill, which is intended to deter a hostile takeover by making any unsolicited proposed acquisition of us more expensive and less desirable to the potential acquirer.

In addition, we are incorporated in Delaware. Anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law and our organizational documents may make a change in control more difficult. Also, under Delaware law, our board of directors may adopt additional anti-takeover measures. For example, our charter authorizes our board of directors to issue up to 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, of which only 99,000 shares have been designated to date, and to determine the terms of those shares of stock without any further action by our stockholders. If our board of directors exercises this power, it could be more difficult for a third party to acquire a majority of our outstanding voting stock. Our charter and by-laws also contain provisions limiting the ability of stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders.


Our stock incentive plan generally permits our board of directors to provide for acceleration of vesting of options granted under that plan in the event of certain transactions that result in a change of control. If our board of directors uses its authority to accelerate vesting of options, this action could make an acquisition more costly, and it could prevent an acquisition from going forward.

Under Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may not engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock until the holder has held the stock for three years unless, among other possibilities, the board of directors approves the transaction. Our board of directors could use this provision to vote against any such transaction. The existence of the foregoing provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

Our executive officers, directors and major shareholders may be able to exert significant control over the company, which may make an acquisition of us difficult.

Our executive officers, directors, their respective affiliates and entities associated with Purdue currently control approximately 31% of our outstanding common stock. These stockholders have the ability to influence our company through this ownership position. For example, as a result of this concentration of ownership, these stockholders, if acting together, may have the ability to affect the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election and removal of directors and any merger or similar transaction. This concentration of ownership may, therefore, harm the market price of our common stock by:

 

   

delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of Infinity;

 

   

impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving Infinity; or

 

   

discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of Infinity.