UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

 

(Mark One)

FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2015

OR

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM              TO             

Commission File Number 000-22873

 

ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

 

 

(720) 940-2200

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Sections 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x    No  ¨

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

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

FORM 10-Q

FOR THE QUARTER ENDED JUNE 30, 2015

 

 

 

 

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PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

BALANCE SHEETS

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

See accompanying Notes to Financial Statements

 

 

 

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ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(unaudited)

 

 

See accompanying Notes to Financial Statements

 

 

 

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ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(unaudited)

 

 

 

See accompanying Notes to Financial Statements

 

 

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ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(unaudited)

 

 

 

See accompanying Notes to Financial Statements

 

 

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ARCA BIOPHARMA, INC.

 

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(unaudited)

 

(1) The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business

ARCA biopharma, Inc., or the Company or ARCA, a Delaware corporation, is headquartered in Westminster, Colorado. The Company is a biopharmaceutical company principally focused on developing genetically-targeted therapies for cardiovascular diseases. The Company’s lead product candidate, Gencaro™ (bucindolol hydrochloride), is a pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator that ARCA is evaluating in a clinical trial for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, or AF, in patients with heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction, or HFREF. The Company has identified common genetic variations in receptors in the cardiovascular system that it believes interact with Gencaro’s pharmacology and may predict patient response to the drug.

The Company is testing this hypothesis in a Phase 2B/3 clinical trial of Gencaro, known as GENETIC-AF. The AF indication for Gencaro was chosen based on clinical data from a prior Phase 3 heart failure (HF) trial of Gencaro in 2,708 HF patients, or the BEST trial, which suggested that Gencaro may be successful in reducing or preventing AF. GENETIC-AF is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind clinical trial designed to compare the safety and efficacy of Gencaro to an active comparator in HFREF patients with a current or recent history of paroxysmal (AF episodes lasting 7 days or less) or persistent AF and having a beta-1 389 arginine homozygous genotype, the genotype the Company believes responds most favorably to Gencaro. The primary endpoint of GENETIC-AF is time to recurrent symptomatic AF/atrial flutter (AFL) or all-cause mortality.

ARCA has created an adaptive design for GENETIC-AF and is seeking to enroll approximately 200 HFREF patients in the Phase 2B portion of the study. The GENETIC-AF Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) will analyze certain data from the Phase 2B portion of the trial and recommend, based on a comparison to the pre-trial statistical assumptions, whether the trial should proceed to Phase 3 and enroll an additional 420 patients.  The DSMB will make their recommendation based on analysis of certain trial data after 200 patients have completed 24 weeks of follow-up, the period for measuring the primary end-point of the trial.  The DSMB interim analysis will focus on available data regarding the primary endpoint, AF/AFL event rates, AF burden, and safety. Should the DSMB interim analysis conclude the data is consistent with the pre-trial statistical assumptions and indicates potential for achieving statistical significance for the Phase 3 endpoint, the DSMB may recommend that the study proceed to Phase 3. The DSMB may also recommend changes to the study design before potentially proceeding to Phase 3, or it may recommend that the study not proceed to Phase 3. The Company, in consultation with the trial’s Steering Committee and the DSMB, will make the final determination on the trial’s development steps. The Company believes the Phase 2B enrollment of 200 patients could be completed by the end of 2016, with the DSMB interim analysis finishing in the first half of 2017.  

If the Company proceeds with the Phase 3 portion of the GENETIC-AF, it will need to raise additional capital to complete the Phase 3 portion of the GENETIC-AF clinical trial and submit for FDA approval. If the Company is unable to obtain additional funding or is unable to complete a strategic transaction, it may have to discontinue development activities on Gencaro or discontinue its operations.

On January 27, 2009, the Company completed a business combination, or the Merger, with Nuvelo, Inc. (Nuvelo). Immediately following the Merger, the Company changed its name from Nuvelo, Inc. to ARCA biopharma, Inc.  

Liquidity and Going Concern

The Company devotes substantially all of its efforts towards obtaining regulatory approval and raising capital necessary to fund its operations and it is subject to a number of risks associated with clinical research and development, including dependence on key individuals, the development of and regulatory approval of commercially viable products, the need to raise adequate additional financing necessary to fund the development and commercialization of its products, and competition from larger companies. The Company has not generated revenue to date and has incurred substantial losses and negative cash flows from operations since its inception.  The Company has historically funded its operations through issuances of common and preferred stock.  

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In June 2015 and February 2014, the Company raised approximately $34 million and $7.9 million in net proceeds, respectively, to provide additional funds for the Phase 2B/3 GENETIC-AF trial and the Company’s ongoing operations.  The Company is enrolling patients in the Phase 2B portion of the GENETIC-AF trial, and the Company believes that its current cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund its operations, at its projected cost structure, through at least the end of 2017.  However, in light of the significant uncertainties regarding clinical development timelines and costs for developing drugs such as Gencaro, the Company expects to raise additional capital to finance the completion of GENETIC-AF and the Company’s future operations.  If the Company is delayed in completing or is unable to complete additional funding and/or a strategic transaction, the Company may discontinue its development activities or operations.

The Company’s liquidity, and its ability to raise additional capital or complete any strategic transaction, depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

The sale of additional equity or convertible debt securities would likely result in substantial additional dilution to the Company’s stockholders. If the Company raises additional funds through the incurrence of indebtedness, the obligations related to such indebtedness would be senior to rights of holders of the Company’s capital stock and could contain covenants that would restrict the Company’s operations. The Company also cannot predict what consideration might be available, if any, to the Company or its stockholders, in connection with any strategic transaction. Should strategic alternatives or additional capital not be available to the Company, or not be available on acceptable terms, the Company may be unable to realize value from its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business which may, among other alternatives, cause the Company to further delay, substantially reduce or discontinue operational activities to conserve its cash resources.

The significant uncertainties surrounding the clinical development timelines and costs and the need to raise a significant amount of capital raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time.  These financial statements have been prepared with the assumption that the Company will continue as a going concern and will be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result from the inability of the Company to continue as a going concern. The Company may not be able to raise sufficient capital on acceptable terms, or at all, to continue development of Gencaro or to otherwise continue operations and may not be able to execute any strategic transaction.

On February 18, 2015, the Company received notification from Nasdaq of potential delisting of its shares from the Nasdaq Capital Market because the closing bid price of its common stock had not met the minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share during the preceding 30 days.  On July 15, 2015, Nasdaq notified the Company that it had regained compliance with the applicable minimum bid price rule. Accordingly, the matter related to the notice received by the Company on February 18, 2015 was closed.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited financial statements of the Company were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X.  Accordingly, these financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for complete financial statements.  In the opinion of management, these financial statements include all normal and recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of these interim financial statements.  The results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2015 are not necessarily indicative of results expected for the full year ending December 31, 2015.  The Company has generated no revenue to date and its activities have consisted of seeking regulatory approval, research and development, exploring strategic alternatives for further developing and commercializing Gencaro, and raising capital. These unaudited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and footnotes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2014 included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Amounts presented are rounded to the nearest thousand, where indicated, except per share data and par values.

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Concentrations of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents. The Company has no off-balance-sheet concentrations of credit risk, such as foreign exchange contracts, option contracts, or foreign currency hedging arrangements. The Company maintains cash and cash equivalent balances in the form of bank demand deposits and money market fund accounts with financial institutions that management believes are creditworthy. Such balances may at times exceed the insured amount.

Accrued Expenses

As part of the process of preparing its financial statements, the Company is required to estimate accrued expenses. This process involves identifying services that third parties have performed on the Company’s behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for these services as of the balance sheet date. Examples of estimated accrued expenses include contract service fees, such as fees payable to contract manufacturers in connection with the production of materials related to the Company’s drug product, and professional service fees, such as attorneys, consultants, and clinical research organizations. The Company develops estimates of liabilities using its judgment based upon the facts and circumstances known at the time.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued FASB Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-10, Development Stage Entities (Topic 915): Elimination of Certain Financial Reporting Requirements, Including an Amendment to Variable Interest Entities Guidance in Topic 810, Consolidation which removes Topic 915 from the FASB Accounting Standards Codification and removes from GAAP the concept of a development stage entity along with the associated incremental financial reporting requirements for development stage entities.  The ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2014, with early adoption being permitted for annual or interim periods for which financial statements have not been issued.  The Company early-adopted this guidance as of June 30, 2014 and as a result, removed references to being a development stage entity and inception-to-date results from these financial statements.

In August 2014, the FASB issued FASB Accounting Standards Update (“ASU No. 2014-15”), Presentation of Financial Statements – Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern.  ASU No. 2014-15 will be effective for fiscal years and interim periods ending after December 15, 2016, with early adoption being permitted for annual and interim periods for which financial statements have not been issued. ASU 2014-15 requires that management evaluate at each annual and interim reporting period whether there is a substantial doubt about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the date that the financial statements are issued.  The significant uncertainties surrounding the clinical development timelines and costs and the need to raise a significant amount of capital raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time.  The Company does not expect a significant impact on the financial position, results of operations or disclosures upon adoption of this guidance.

In April 2015, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2015-05: Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer's Accounting for Fees Paid in a Cloud Computing Arrangement ("ASU 2015-05"). The amendments in this update provide guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, the update specifies that the customer should account for the software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. The update further specifies that the customer should account for a cloud computing arrangement as a service contract if the arrangement does not include a software license. ASU 2015-05 will be effective for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2015. The Company is currently assessing the future impact of this update to the financial statements.

 

(2) Net Loss Per Share

The Company calculates basic earnings per share by dividing loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted average common shares outstanding during the period, excluding common stock subject to vesting provisions. Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period increased to include, if dilutive, the number of additional common shares that would have been outstanding if the potential common shares had been issued. The Company’s potentially dilutive shares include stock options, restricted stock units and warrants for common stock.

 

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Because we reported a net loss for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, all potentially dilutive shares of common stock have been excluded from the computation of the dilutive net loss per share for all periods presented.  As of June 30, 2015, the only outstanding warrants in-the-money were issued in June 2015, which are not exercisable until December 2015, and no material outstanding stock options were in-the-money, other than the options granted in 2015.  See Notes 7 and 8 for further details.  Such potentially dilutive shares of common stock consist of the following:

 

 

 

 

(3) Fair Value Disclosures

As of June 30, 2015, the Company had $44.0 million of cash equivalents consisting of money market funds with maturities of 90 days or less. The Company has the ability to liquidate these investments without restriction.  The Company determines fair value for these money market funds and equity securities with Level 1 inputs through quoted market prices.  There were no transfers of assets between fair value hierarchy levels during the three month period ended June 30, 2015.

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (exit price). Inputs used to measure fair value are classified into the following hierarchy:

Fair Value of Other Financial Instruments

The carrying amount of other financial instruments, including cash, accounts payable, and short-term notes payable approximated fair value due to their short maturities.

 

(4) Property and Equipment

 

Property and equipment consist of the following (in thousands):

 

For the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, depreciation and amortization expense was $9,000 and $5,000, respectively.

 

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(5) Related Party Arrangements

Transactions with the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer

The Company has entered into unrestricted research grants with its President and Chief Executive Officer’s academic research laboratory at the University of Colorado, or the Lab. Funding of any unrestricted research grants is contingent upon the Company’s financial condition, and can be deferred or terminated at the Company’s discretion. Total expense under these arrangements for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014 was $180,000 and $171,000 respectively.  

 

(6) Commitments and Contingencies

The Company has or is subject to the following commitments and contingencies:

Employment Agreements

The Company maintains employment agreements with several key executive employees. The agreements may be terminated at any time by the Company with or without cause upon written notice to the employee, and entitle the employee to wages in lieu of notice for periods not exceeding one calendar year from the date of termination without cause or by the employee for good reason. Certain of these agreements also provide for payments to be made under certain conditions related to a change in control of the Company.

Operating Lease

On August 1, 2013 the Company entered into a lease agreement for approximately 5,300 square feet of office facilities in Westminster, Colorado which has served as the Company’s primary business office since October 1, 2013.  The lease has a three year term and expires on September 30, 2016.  Below is a summary of the future minimum lease payments committed for the Company’s facility in Westminster, Colorado as of June 30, 2015 (in thousands):

 

 

 

Rent expense for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014 was $40,000 and $39,000, respectively.

Duke University

In November 2013, the Company entered into a clinical research agreement with Duke University (Duke) to serve as the clinical research organization for the Company’s GENETIC-AF clinical study.  Under the agreement the Company is responsible to pay Duke for their work managing certain aspects of the clinical study.  Upon completion of the clinical study, the agreement will terminate.  The agreement can be terminated earlier by the Company for any reason with 90 days written notice to Duke.  In the event of an early termination, the Company and Duke would coordinate efforts for an orderly wind-down of the study, and the Company would be responsible to pay Duke for time and effort incurred through the date of termination and through the wind-down period.  

 

Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Engineering Consultants, LLC, or CPEC

ARCA has licensed worldwide rights to Gencaro, including all preclinical and clinical data from Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Engineering Consultants, LLC, or CPEC, who has licensed rights in Gencaro from Bristol Myers Squib (BMS). CPEC is a licensing subsidiary of Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Endo Pharmaceuticals), holding ownership rights to certain clinical trial data of Gencaro.  Under the terms of its license agreement with CPEC, the Company will incur milestone and royalty obligations upon the occurrence of certain events.  If the FDA grants marketing approval for Gencaro, the license agreement states that the Company will owe CPEC a milestone payment of $8.0 million within six months after FDA approval. The license agreement states that a milestone payment of up to $5.0 million in the aggregate shall be paid upon regulatory marketing approval in Europe and Japan.  The license agreement also states that the Company’s royalty obligation ranges from 12.5% to 25% of revenue from the related product based on achievement of specified product sales levels, including a 5% royalty that CPEC is obligated to pay under its original license agreement for Gencaro. The agreement states that the Company has the right to buy down the royalties to a range of 12.5% to 17% by making a payment to CPEC within six months of regulatory approval.

 

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(7) Equity Financings and Warrants

2015 Equity Financing

Private Investment in Public Entity (PIPE) Transaction

On June 16, 2015, the Company sold an aggregate of 42,021,579 security units, made up of an aggregate 42,021,579 shares of the Company’s common stock and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 16,808,632 shares of the Company’s common stock, at a purchase price of $0.8805 per unit, for aggregate net proceeds of approximately of $34 million.

The common stock and warrants were sold in units consisting of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.4 shares of common stock.  The warrants will become exercisable on December 13, 2015, expire seven years from the date of issuance, and have an exercise price of $0.8716 per share.  The warrants provide for cashless exercise and settlement in unregistered shares if there is no effective registration statement registering, or the prospectus contained therein is not available for the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the warrants at the time of exercise.  The Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-3 registering the shares of common stock, including the shares of common stock underlying the warrants, issued in the transaction for public resale was declared effective on July 20, 2015.

2014 Equity Financing

Registered Direct Offering

On February 7, 2014, the Company sold an aggregate of 5,116,228 shares of the Company’s common stock and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,279,057 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $1.70 per share of Common Stock, for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $7.9 million.

 

The common stock and warrants were sold in units consisting of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.25 shares of common stock.  The warrants were exercisable upon issuance, expire five years from the date of issuance, and have an exercise price of $2.125 per share, equal to 125% of the closing bid price of ARCA’s common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market on February 3, 2014.  The offering was effected as a takedown off the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-3, as amended, which became effective on April 4, 2011, pursuant to a prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 4, 2014.  The warrants provide for cashless exercise and settlement in unregistered shares if there is no effective registration statement registering, or the prospectus contained therein is not available for the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the warrants at the time of exercise.

Warrants

Warrants to purchase shares of common stock were granted as part of various financing and business agreements. All outstanding warrants were recorded in additional paid-in capital at their estimated fair market value at the date of grant using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model.

As of June 30, 2015, these warrants, by year of expiration, are summarized below:

 

 

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(8) Share-based Compensation

For the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company recognized the following non-cash, share-based compensation expense in the statements of operations (in thousands):

 

 

 

Stock option transactions for the six month period ended June 30, 2015 under the Company’s stock incentive plans were as follows:

 

Stock award transactions for the six month period ended June 30, 2015 under the Company’s stock incentive plans were as follows:

 

 

(9) Income Taxes

In accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, a valuation allowance should be provided if it is more likely than not that some or all of the Company’s deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company’s ability to realize the benefit of its deferred tax assets will depend on the generation of future taxable income. Due to the uncertainty of future profitable operations and taxable income, the Company has recorded a full valuation allowance against its net deferred tax assets. The Company believes its tax filing positions and deductions related to tax periods subject to examination will be sustained upon audit and, therefore, has no reserve for uncertain tax positions.

 

 

 

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ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the following: the timing and results of any clinical trials, including GENETIC-AF, the ongoing Gencaro trial for the prevention of atrial fibrillation, the potential for genetic variations to predict individual patient response to Gencaro, Gencaro’s potential to treat atrial fibrillation, future treatment options for patients with atrial fibrillation, and the potential for Gencaro to be the first genetically-targeted atrial fibrillation prevention treatment, the potential for rNAPc2 to be developed for, or to effectively treat hemorrhagic fever viruses, including the Ebola virus, our ability to obtain additional funding or enter into a strategic or other transaction, the extent to which our issued and pending patents may protect our products and technology, the potential of such product candidates to lead to the development of safe or effective therapies, our ability to enter into collaborations, our ability to maintain listing of our common stock on a national exchange, our future operating expenses, our future losses, our future expenditures, and the sufficiency of our cash resources to maintain operations. Actual results and performance could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors discussed herein and elsewhere. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in ARCA’s filings with the SEC, including without limitation the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-187508), and subsequent filings. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including “will,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimates,” “expect,” “should,” “may,” “potential” and similar expressions. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

The terms “ARCA,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms refer to ARCA biopharma, Inc.

Overview

We are a biopharmaceutical company principally focused on developing genetically-targeted therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Our lead product candidate, Gencaro™ (bucindolol hydrochloride), is a pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator that we are evaluating in a clinical trial for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, or AF, in patients with heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction, or HFREF. We have identified common genetic variations in receptors in the cardiovascular system that we believe interact with Gencaro’s pharmacology and may predict patient response to the drug.

We are testing this hypothesis in a Phase 2B/3 clinical trial of Gencaro, known as GENETIC-AF. We are pursuing this indication for Gencaro because data from a prior Phase 3 HF trial of Gencaro in 2,708 heart failure, or HF, patients, or the BEST trial, which suggested that Gencaro may be successful in reducing or preventing AF.

In April 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, designated as a Fast Track development program the investigation of Gencaro™ for the prevention of atrial fibrillation/atrial flutter in a genetically targeted heart failure population (heart failure patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction).  

Fast Track drug development designation was included in the FDA Modernization Act of 1997, or FDAMA, as a formal process to enhance interactions with the FDA during drug development. A drug development program with Fast Track designation is eligible for consideration for some or all of the following programs for expediting development and review: scheduled meetings to seek FDA input into development plans, priority review of the New Drug Application, or NDA, the option of submitting portions of an NDA for review prior to submission of the complete application and potential accelerated approval.

AF is a disorder in which the normally regular and coordinated contraction pattern of the heart’s two small upper chambers, or the atria, becomes irregular and uncoordinated. The irregular contraction pattern associated with AF causes blood to pool in the atria, predisposing the formation of clots potentially resulting in stroke. In addition, AF increases the risk of stroke and may also contribute to worsening heart failure.  

AF is considered an epidemic cardiovascular disease. The estimated number of individuals with AF globally in 2010 was 33.5 million.  According to the 2015 American Heart Association report on Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, the estimated number of individuals with AF in the United States in 2010 ranged from 2.7 million to 6.1 million people.  The approved therapies for the treatment or prevention AF have certain disadvantages in HFREF patients, such as toxic or cardiovascular adverse effects, and most of the approved drugs for AF are contra indicated or have warnings in their prescribing information for such patients. We believe there is an unmet medical need for new AF treatments that have fewer side effects than currently available therapies and are more effective, particularly in HFREF patients.

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GENETIC-AF is a Phase 2B/3 multi-center, randomized, double-blind clinical trial comparing the safety and efficacy of Gencaro to an active comparator, the beta-blocker Toprol XL (metoprolol succinate), in HFREF patients with a current or recent history of paroxysmal (AF episodes lasting 7 days or less) or persistent AF who have a beta-1 389 arginine homozygous genotype, the genotype we believe responds most favorably to Gencaro.  The primary endpoint of GENETIC-AF, time to recurrent symptomatic AF/atrial flutter, or AFL, or all-cause mortality, will be measured over a twenty-four week period after a patient has established a normal heart rhythm.

We believe data from the BEST trial indicate that Gencaro may have a genetically regulated effect in reducing or preventing AF, whereas we believe the therapeutic benefit of Toprol XL does not appear to be enhanced in patients with this genotype. A retrospective analysis of data from the BEST trial shows that the entire cohort of patients in the BEST trial treated with Gencaro had a 41% reduction in the risk of new onset AF (time-to-event) compared to placebo (p = 0.0004). In the BEST DNA substudy, patients with the beta-1 389 arginine homozygous genotype experienced a 74% (p = 0.0003) reduction in risk of AF when receiving Gencaro, based on the same analysis. The beta-1 389 arginine homozygous genotype was present in about 47% of the patients in the BEST pharmacogenetic substudy, and we estimate it is present in about 50% of the U.S. general population.

We have created an adaptive design for GENETIC-AF and are seeking to enroll approximately 200 HFREF patients in the Phase 2B portion of the study who have recently experienced at least one episode of paroxysmal or persistent AF and who have the beta-1 389 arginine homozygous genotype that we believe responds most favorably to Gencaro. In addition to measuring the primary endpoint of recurrent symptomatic AF/AFL or all-cause mortality, an additional efficacy measure in the Phase 2B portion of GENETIC-AF will be AF burden, defined as a patient’s percentage of time in AF per day, regardless of symptoms. At least 150 patients in the Phase 2B portion of the trial will have either a newly or previously implanted Medtronic device that measures and records AF burden. The GENETIC-AF Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, will analyze certain data from the Phase 2B portion of the trial and recommend, based on a comparison to our pre-trial statistical assumptions, whether the trial should proceed to Phase 3 and seek to enroll an additional 420 patients.  The DSMB will make their recommendation based on analysis of certain trial data after 200 patients have completed 24 weeks of follow-up, the period for measuring the primary end-point of the trial.  The DSMB interim analysis will focus on available data regarding the primary end point, AF/AFL event rates, AF burden, and safety. Should the DSMB interim analysis conclude that the interim data is consistent with pre-trial statistical assumptions and indicates potential for achieving statistical significance for the Phase 3 endpoint, the DSMB may recommend that the study proceed to Phase 3.  The DSMB may also recommend changes to the study design before the trial proceeds to Phase 3, or it may recommend that the study not proceed to Phase 3. Based on the DSMB recommendation, and other factors, including input from the trial’s Steering Committee, the Company will make the final determination on the trial’s development steps.  The full Phase 2B/3 trial is designed for 90 percent power at a p-value of less than 0.01 significance level to detect a 25 percent reduction in the risk of AF recurrence or death in patients in the Gencaro arm compared to patients in the Toprol XL arm.  In consultation with the GENETIC-AF Steering Committee, we implemented amendments to the trial protocol in March 2015 which we believe may expand the eligible target population, increase the patient screening and enrollment rate, and simplify trial procedures.  We have undertaken these protocol amendments because patient enrollment in the trial had not met our original projections.  Under the revised protocol, patients in sinus rhythm who have experienced symptomatic AF in the past 120 days are now eligible for inclusion in the trial, as are patients with AF episodes lasting 7 days or less, or paroxysmal AF.  Previously, these patients were not eligible to be enrolled in the trial. We believe this expanded target population has the potential to improve trial screening and enrollment rates and could broaden the potential commercial market for Gencaro, should it achieve regulatory approval in the future.  The amendments to the protocol do not fundamentally alter or impact the original endpoints of the clinical trial.  Based on the projected impact of the expanded patient population and the current enrollment rate, we now project that the enrollment of 200 patients for the Phase 2B portion of the trial may be completed by the end of 2016, with the DSMB interim analysis finishing in the first half of 2017. During the second quarter, existing investigative clinical sites began adopting the revised protocol.  Although, the majority of our active clinical sites are currently operating under the revised protocol, we do not yet know how these protocol changes will impact enrollment or if our new enrollment projections will prove to be accurate.  We met with the FDA, prior to implementation, to confirm the acceptability of the amendments to the protocol and received no objections.

Our GENETIC-AF clinical trial of Gencaro requires a companion diagnostic test to identify the patient’s receptor genotype.  We have an agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America, or LabCorp, to provide the companion diagnostic test and services to support our GENETIC-AF trial.  LabCorp has developed the genetic test and obtained an Investigational Device Exemption, or IDE, from the United States Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, for the companion diagnostic test which is being used in our GENETIC-AF clinical trial.  

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Medtronic, Inc., or Medtronic, a leader in medical technologies to improve the treatment of chronic diseases, including cardiac rhythm disorders, is collaborating with us on the GENETIC-AF trial. Under the collaboration with Medtronic, ARCA is conducting a substudy that includes continuous monitoring of the cardiac rhythms of at least 150 patients enrolled during the Phase 2B portion of the trial.  The collaboration is administered by a joint ARCA-Medtronic committee. Medtronic uses its proprietary CareLink System to collect and analyze the cardiac rhythm data from the implanted Medtronic devices and the data will be used by the DSMB as part of the interim analysis. Medtronic will support the reimbursement process for U.S. patients enrolled in the Phase 2B portion, and will provide financial support of unreimbursed costs for a certain number of U.S. patients in the Phase 2B portion up to a certain maximum amount per patient. If GENETIC-AF proceeds to Phase 3, we will seek to enroll an additional 100 patients, with Medtronic devices for monitoring and recording AF burden, in the substudy.  Medtronic will provide the agreed upon CareLink System cardiac rhythm data collection and analysis for the Phase 3 portion of the substudy and support the reimbursement process.

We have been granted patents in the United States, Europe, and other jurisdictions for methods of treating AF and HF patients with Gencaro based on genetic testing, which, if we are granted patent term extension, may provide market exclusivity for these uses of Gencaro into approximately 2030 in the United States and Europe.

To support the continued development of Gencaro, in June 2015, we completed a private placement that raised approximately $34 million of net proceeds as additional funds for the Phase 2B portion of the GENETIC-AF trial and to support our ongoing operations.  We are seeking to enroll approximately 200 HFREF patients in the Phase 2B portion of the GENETIC-AF trial, and we believe that our current cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operations, at our projected cost structure, through at least the end of 2017.  However, changing circumstances may cause us to consume capital significantly faster or slower than we currently anticipate.  We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we currently anticipate.  If we proceed to the Phase 3 portion of GENETIC-AF, we will be required to raise additional funds.

Results of Operations

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development, or R&D, expense is comprised primarily of clinical development, manufacturing process development, and regulatory activities and costs. Our R&D expense continues to be almost entirely generated by our activities relating to the development of Gencaro.

R&D expense for the three months ended June 30, 2015 was $1.7 million compared to $1.4 million for the corresponding period of 2014, an increase of approximately $0.3 million.  R&D expense for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was $3.5 million compared to $2.7 million for the corresponding periods of 2014, an increase of approximately $0.7 million.  The increase in our R&D expense in the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2015 is due, primarily, to the increased clinical expense of our GENETIC-AF clinical trial.

Clinical expense increased approximately $320,000 for the three months and $495,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2015. The cost increases in the three and six month periods are primarily due to clinical trial cost activities, as well as increased personnel costs.  During the comparative three and six month periods of 2014 we had minimal clinical development activities and costs as our GENETIC-AF clinical trial was just being initiated.  During the third quarter of 2014, we reduced the scope of work of our primary contract research organization, or CRO, hired additional clinical personnel, and assumed greater managerial responsibility for certain aspects of the GENETIC-AF clinical trial.   These changes will reduce the amounts paid to our primary CRO, but will increase our personnel and other costs as we have assumed those project responsibilities.  We do not expect this reorganization of responsibilities to materially change the overall projected cost of the clinical trial.

Manufacturing process development costs was relatively unchanged for the three month period and increased $176,000 for the six month period ended June 30, 2015 compared to the corresponding periods of 2014.  The increase is a result of production of clinical trial materials to be used in our GENETIC-AF clinical trial and related product testing.    

We expect R&D expense in 2015 to be higher than 2014 as we activate new clinical sites and enroll additional patients in our GENETIC-AF clinical trial and incur incremental costs associated with transitioning to the protocol amended in the first quarter of 2015.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses, or G&A, primarily consist of personnel costs, consulting and professional fees, insurance, facilities and depreciation expenses, and various other administrative costs.

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G&A expense was $1.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015 as compared to $1.0 million for the corresponding period in 2014, a decrease of $34,000.  The net decrease for the three month period is comprised primarily of decreased travel, facility and insurance costs, partially offset by increased personnel costs.  G&A expense was $2.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 as compared to $2.1 million for the corresponding period in 2014, a decrease of $79,000.  The net decrease for the six month period is comprised primarily of decreased non-cash, stock-based compensation expense, decreased legal services, insurance and facility costs, partially offset by increased personnel costs.    

G&A expenses in 2015 are expected to be higher than in 2014 as we increase administrative activities to support our GENETIC-AF clinical trial.

Interest and Other Income

Interest and other income was $2,000 and $3,000 in the three and six months ended June 30, 2015, respectively, and $2,000 and $4,000 in the three and six months ended June 30, 2014, respectively. We expect interest income to continue to be nominal for 2015, but increase slightly due to the additional $34 million from our June 2015 financing, offset by low investment yields and utilization of our cash and cash equivalents to fund our operations.

Interest Expense

Interest expense was $2,000 and $3,000 in the three and six months ended June 30, 2015, respectively, and $1,000 and $2,000 in the three and six months ended June 30, 2014, respectively. Based on our current capital structure, interest expense for the remainder of 2015 is expected to be minimal.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Cash and Cash Equivalents

 

 

As of June 30, 2015, we had total cash and cash equivalents of approximately $44.1 million, as compared to $15.4 million as of December 31, 2014. The net increase of $28.7 million in the six month period reflects the $34 million of net proceeds from our private placement in June 2015, less approximately $5.5 million of cash used to fund operating activities and approximately $138,000 in payments on a vendor financing arrangement during the six months ended June 30, 2015.

Cash Flows from Operating, Investing and Financing Activities

 

 

Net cash used in operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2015 increased approximately $62,000 compared with the same period in 2014.  This is primarily due to reduced outflows related to a higher net loss in 2015, as discussed in more detail above, offset by changes in operating assets and liabilities.

Net cash used in investing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was $7,000 for the purchase of property and equipment.

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Net cash provided by financing activities was $34.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 representing approximately $34 million of net proceeds from our private placement completed in June 2015, less approximately $138,000 in payments on a vendor financing arrangement.  Net cash provided by financing activities was $8.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014 representing approximately $7.9 million of net proceeds from our stock offering completed in February 2014, plus approximately $338,000 of net proceeds from common stock issued for warrant exercises, less approximately $128,000 in payments on a vendor financing arrangement.  

Sources and Uses of Capital

Our primary sources of liquidity to date have been capital raised from issuances of shares of our preferred and common stock and funds provided by the merger with Nuvelo. The primary uses of our capital resources to date have been to fund operating activities, including research, clinical development and drug manufacturing expenses, license payments, and spending on capital items.

On June 10, 2015, we entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement, or Purchase Agreement, with a group of institutional investors in connection with a private placement of our common stock and warrants to purchase shares of common stock. On June 16, 2015, pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, we sold 42,021,579 units at price of $0.8805 per unit, for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $34 million. Each unit consisted of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.4 shares of common stock.  The warrants issued in the private placement will first be exercisable December 13, 2015, expire seven years from the date of issuance and have an exercise price of $0.8716 per share, equal to 120% of the closing bid price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 10, 2015, less $0.125. Our Registration Statement on Form S-3 registering the shares of common stock, including the shares of common stock underlying the warrants, issued in the transaction for public resale was declared effective on July 20, 2015.  Pursuant to our engagement agreement with our sole placement agent for the transaction, we paid our placement agent a fee for its services in the transaction equal to 7% of the gross financing proceeds received by us.

On February 7, 2014, we sold to certain investors an aggregate of 5,116,228 shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,279,057 shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $1.70 per share of common stock, for aggregate net proceeds to us of approximately $7.9 million.

The common stock and warrants were sold in units consisting of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.25 shares of common stock.  The warrants were exercisable upon issuance, expire five years from the date of issuance, and have an exercise price of $2.125 per share, equal to 125% of the closing bid price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market on February 3, 2014. The offering was effected as a takedown off our Registration Statement on Form S-3, as amended, which became effective on April 4, 2011, pursuant to a prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 4, 2014. The warrants provide for cashless exercise and settlement in unregistered shares if there is no effective registration statement registering, or the prospectus contained therein is not available for, the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the warrants at the time of exercise.

In addition to the cash compensation paid to the placement agent in conjunction with the 2014 transaction, and pursuant to the placement agency agreement, we issued warrants to the placement agent to purchase 153,486 shares of our common stock, which have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.  The warrants issued to the placement agent have substantially the same terms as the warrants issued to the purchasers in the offering, except that such warrants expire on April 4, 2016, and were restricted from transfer for a period of 180 days from the date of commencement of sales in connection with the offering.  

We initiated our GENETIC-AF Phase 2B/3 clinical trial during 2014.  Our ability to execute our GENETIC-AF Phase 2B trial in accordance with our projected time line depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

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In order to increase the pool of patients eligible for enrollment in GENETIC-AF, consistent with the adaptive design nature of the trial, we consulted with the GENETIC-AF Steering Committee and implemented amendments to the trial protocol in March 2015.  We have undertaken these protocol amendments because patient enrollment in the trial had not met our original projections.  Under the revised protocol, patients in sinus rhythm who have experienced symptomatic AF in the past 120 days are now eligible for inclusion in the trial, as are patients with paroxysmal AF.  Previously, these patients were not eligible to be enrolled in the trial.  Based on the projected impact of this expanded patient population and the current enrollment rate, we now anticipate that the enrollment of 200 patients for the Phase 2B portion of the trial may be completed by the end of 2016, with the DSMB interim analysis finishing in the first half of 2017.  During the second quarter, existing investigative clinical sites began adopting the revised protocol.  Although, the majority of our active clinical sites are currently operating under the revised protocol, we do not yet know how these protocol changes will impact enrollment or if our new enrollment projections will prove to be accurate.

We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents, including the net proceeds from our equity financing completed in June 2015, will be sufficient to fund our operations, at our projected cost structure, through at least the end of 2017.  However, our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our current and forecasted operations could vary materially.  If we elect to proceed to the Phase 3 portion of GENETIC-AF, the sale of additional equity or convertible debt securities or a strategic transaction or collaboration will be necessary for us to complete the Phase 3 of the GENETIC-AF clinical trial and submit for FDA approval of Gencaro.  Such financing would likely result in additional dilution to our existing stockholders. If we raise additional funds through the incurrence of indebtedness, the obligations related to such indebtedness would be senior to rights of holders of our capital stock and could contain covenants that would restrict our operations.  

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

A critical accounting policy is one that is both important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operation and requires our management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 of “Notes to Financial Statements” included within our 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following is a discussion of the accounting policies that we believe involve the most difficult, subjective or complex judgments and estimates.

Accrued Expenses

As part of the process of preparing our financial statements, we are required to estimate accrued expenses. This process involves identifying services that third parties have performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for these services as of the balance sheet date. Examples of estimated accrued expenses include contract service fees, such as fees payable to contract manufacturers in connection with the production of materials related to our drug product, and professional service fees, such as attorneys, consultants, and clinical research organizations. We develop estimates of liabilities using our judgment based upon the facts and circumstances known at the time.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not participated in any transactions with unconsolidated entities, such as special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements.

Indemnifications

In the ordinary course of business, we enter into contractual arrangements under which we may agree to indemnify certain parties from any losses incurred relating to the services they perform on our behalf or for losses arising from certain events as defined within the particular contract. Such indemnification obligations may not be subject to maximum loss clauses. We have entered into indemnity agreements with each of our directors, officers and certain employees. Such indemnity agreements contain provisions, which are in some respects broader than the specific indemnification provisions contained in Delaware law. We also maintain an insurance policy for our directors and executive officers insuring against certain liabilities arising in their capacities as such.

 

ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Not applicable.

 

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ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

As required by Rule 13a-15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, an evaluation was carried out under the supervision and with the participation of management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the quarter covered by this report. Based on the foregoing, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable level of assurance.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during our most recent fiscal quarter that would materially affect or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

 

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PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

None

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors

An investment in ARCA’s securities involves certain risks, including those set forth below and elsewhere in this report. In addition to the risks set forth below and elsewhere in this report, other risks and uncertainties not known to ARCA, that are beyond its control or that ARCA deems to be immaterial may also materially adversely affect ARCA’s business operations. You should carefully consider the risks described below as well as other information and data included in this report.

Risks Related to Our Business and Financial Condition

If we encounter ongoing difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our trials could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

The GENETIC-AF clinical trial requires that we identify and enroll a large number of patients with the condition under investigation and the trial will enroll only those patients having a specific genotype, and certain patients who have or are willing to have a Medtronic device implanted for monitoring and recording AF burden data. Because of the rigorous enrollment criteria, we may not be able to enroll a sufficient number of patients to complete our clinical trial in a timely manner. To date, we have enrolled fewer patients in the trial than we had originally projected to enroll at this point.

Patient enrollment is affected by factors including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we continue to have difficulty enrolling a sufficient number of patients in our GENETIC-AF trial, we may need to delay or terminate our GENETIC-AF trial, which would have a negative impact on our business. Our projected clinical trial timeline assumes that we significantly increase the rate of patient enrollment from the enrollment rate under the prior version of the protocol.  If our projections are inaccurate, the trial will take significantly longer than we project.  For instance, in the second quarter of 2014, and in the first quarter of 2015, we made material modifications to certain entry criteria and policies for the GENETIC-AF trial that we believe may increase the rate of patient screening and enrollment.  We do not yet know how these protocol changes will impact the enrollment rate or if our new enrollment projections will prove to be accurate. Delays in enrolling patients in our clinical trials would also adversely affect our ability to generate any product, milestone and royalty revenues under collaboration agreements, if any, and could impose significant additional costs on us or on any future collaborators.

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We will need to raise substantial additional funds through public or private equity transactions and/or complete one or more strategic transactions, to continue development of Gencaro. If we are unable to raise such financing or complete such a transaction, we may not be able to continue operations.

In light of the expected development timeline to potentially obtain FDA approval for Gencaro, if at all, the substantial additional costs associated with the development of Gencaro, including the costs associated with the GENETIC-AF clinical trial, and the substantial cost of commercializing Gencaro, if it is approved, we will need to raise substantial additional funding through public or private equity transactions or a strategic combination or partnership. If we are delayed in obtaining funding or are unable to complete a strategic transaction, we may discontinue our development activities on Gencaro or discontinue our operations. Even if we are able to fund continued development and Gencaro is approved, we expect that we will need to complete a strategic transaction or raise substantial additional funding through public or private debt or equity securities to successfully commercialize Gencaro.

We believe our cash and cash equivalents balance as of June 30, 2015 will be sufficient to fund our operations, at our projected cost structure, through at least the end of 2017. Changing circumstances may cause us to consume capital significantly faster or slower than we currently anticipate. We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we currently anticipate.

Our liquidity, and our ability to raise additional capital or complete any strategic transaction, depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

The sale of additional equity or convertible debt securities would likely result in substantial dilution to our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through the incurrence of indebtedness, the obligations related to such indebtedness would be senior to rights of holders of our capital stock and could contain covenants that would restrict our operations. We also cannot predict what consideration might be available, if any, to us or our stockholders, in connection with any strategic transaction. Should strategic alternatives or additional capital not be available to us, or not be available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to realize value from our assets and discharge our liabilities in the normal course of business which may, among other alternatives, cause us to further delay, substantially reduce or discontinue operational activities to conserve our cash resources.

If we are not able to successfully develop, obtain FDA approval for, and provide for the commercialization of Gencaro in a timely manner, we may not be able to continue our business operations.

We currently have no products that have received regulatory approval for commercial sale. The process to develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize potential product candidates is long, complex and costly. We are screening and enrolling patients in our Phase 2B clinical study of Gencaro in 200 HFREF patients with AF, and the trial could expand to a Phase 3 clinical study of approximately 420 HFREF additional patients with AF.  We began screening patients for the Phase 2B portion of GENETIC-AF in April 2014 and enrolled our first patient in June 2014.   We implemented amendments to the trial protocol in March 2015 which we believe may expand the eligible target population, increase the patient screening and enrollment rate, and simplify trial procedures.  We do not yet know how these protocol changes will impact enrollment or if our new enrollment projections will prove to be accurate.  The complex nature of the disease indication and the genotype required for the trial result in stringent enrollment criteria, which may cause GENETIC-AF to enroll more slowly and take longer than we currently project.  

Failure to demonstrate that a product candidate, including Gencaro, is safe and effective, or significant delays in demonstrating such safety and efficacy, would adversely affect our business. Failure to obtain marketing approval of Gencaro from appropriate regulatory authorities, or significant delays in obtaining such approval, would also adversely affect our business and could, among other things, preclude us from completing a strategic transaction or obtaining additional financing necessary to continue as a going concern.

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Even if approved for sale, a product candidate must be successfully commercialized to generate value. We do not currently have the capital resources or management expertise to commercialize Gencaro and, as a result, will need to complete a strategic transaction, or, alternatively, raise substantial additional funds to enable commercialization of Gencaro, if it is approved. Failure to successfully provide for the commercialization of Gencaro, if it is approved, would damage our business.

Our clinical trials for our product candidates may not yield results that will enable us to further develop our products and obtain regulatory approvals necessary to sell them.

We will receive regulatory approval for our product candidates only if we can demonstrate in carefully designed and conducted clinical trials that the product candidate is safe and effective. We do not know whether any current or future clinical trials, including the GENETIC-AF clinical trial for Gencaro, will demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals or will result in marketable products.

For example, GENETIC-AF is designed as an adaptive trial. The DSMB will analyze certain trial data from the Phase 2B portion and recommend whether the trial should proceed to Phase 3 and seek to enroll an additional 420 patients.  The DSMB interim analysis will focus on data regarding the primary end point of the trial, AF/AFL event rates, AF burden, and safety.  Should the DSMB interim analysis conclude the data is consistent with the pre-trial statistical assumptions and that the data indicates potential for achieving statistical significance for the Phase 3 endpoint, then the DSMB may recommend that the study proceed to Phase 3.  The DSMB may also recommend changes to the study design before potentially proceeding to Phase 3, or it may recommend that the study not proceed to Phase 3. The Company, in consultation with the trial’s Steering Committee and the DSMB, will make the final determination on the trial’s next development steps. If we do not see sufficient efficacy and safety in the Phase 2B portion of the trial, we will not initiate the Phase 3 portion of the trial.

Clinical trials are lengthy, complex and expensive processes with uncertain results. We have spent, and expect to continue to spend, significant amounts of time and money in the clinical development of our product candidates. We have never conducted a Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trial and have limited staff with the requisite experience to do so. We therefore rely on contract research organizations, or CROs, to conduct certain aspects of our clinical trial. During the third quarter of 2014 we reduced the scope of our primary CRO’s work and we have assumed those responsibilities for our GENETIC-AF clinical trial. While certain of our employees have experience in designing and administering clinical trials, these employees have no such experience as employees of ARCA.

The results we obtain in preclinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of results that are obtained in later studies. We may suffer significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after seeing promising results in earlier studies. Based on results at any stage of clinical trials, we may decide to repeat or redesign a trial or discontinue development of one or more of our product candidates. If we fail to adequately demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our products under development, we will not be able to obtain the required regulatory approvals to commercialize our product candidates, and our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially adversely affected.

Administering our product candidates to humans may produce undesirable side effects. These side effects could interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials of our product candidates and could result in the FDA or other regulatory authorities denying approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications.

If clinical trials for a product candidate are unsuccessful, we will be unable to commercialize the product candidate. If one or more of our clinical trials are delayed, we will be unable to meet our anticipated development timelines. Either circumstance could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

We are relying on contract research organizations to conduct substantial portions of our GENETIC–AF clinical trial, and as a result, we will be unable to directly control the timing, conduct and expense of all aspects of the clinical trial.

We do not currently have sufficient staff with the requisite experience to conduct our clinical trial and are therefore relying on third parties to conduct certain aspects of our clinical trial. We have contracted with Duke University, as our CRO to conduct components of our GENETIC-AF trial. As a result of this contract, we have less control over many details and steps of the trial, the timing and completion of the trial, the required reporting of adverse events and the management of data developed through the trial than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff. Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties, such as CROs, may have staffing difficulties, may undergo changes in priorities or may become financially distressed, adversely affecting their willingness or ability to conduct our trial. We may experience unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. Problems with the timeliness or quality of the work of a CRO 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 ongoing 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 clinical trials in an acceptable manner and at an acceptable cost.

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Even though we are using a CRO to conduct components of our clinical trial, we have to devote substantial resources and rely on the expertise of our employees to manage the work being done by the CRO. We have never conducted a clinical trial and the inability of our current staff to adequately manage any CRO that we engage may exacerbate the risks associated with relying on a CRO.

We may not achieve our projected development goals in the time frames we announce and expect.

We set goals for, and make public statements regarding, the timing of certain accomplishments, such as, the commencement and completion of clinical trials, particularly with respect to steps for commencing and continuing GENETIC-AF, the disclosure of trial results, the obtainment of regulatory approval and the sale of drug product, which we sometimes refer to as milestones. These milestones may not be achieved, and the actual timing of these events can vary dramatically due to a number of factors such as delays or failures in our clinical trials, disagreements with any collaborative partners, the uncertainties inherent in the regulatory approval process and manufacturing scale-up and delays in achieving manufacturing or marketing arrangements sufficient to commercialize our products. FDA approval of Gencaro, if it occurs, is expected to require years of additional clinical development, including the completion of genetic trials. There can be no assurance that our GENETIC-AF trial will fully enroll or be completed, or that we will make regulatory submissions or receive regulatory approvals as planned. If we fail to achieve one or more of these milestones as planned, our business will be materially adversely affected.

If we are not able to maintain the requirements for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, we could be delisted, which could have a materially adverse effect on our ability to raise additional funds as well as the price and liquidity of our common stock.

Our common stock is currently listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. To maintain the listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market we are required to meet certain listing requirements, including, among others, (i) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, (ii) a market value of publicly held shares (excluding shares held by our executive officers, directors and 10% or more stockholders) of at least $1 million and (iii) either: (x)  stockholders’ equity of at least $2.5 million; or (y)  a total market value of listed securities of at least $35 million.

During 2012 our stock price fell below the Nasdaq Capital Market’s minimum bid price requirements and we became subject to delisting from the exchange. On March 4, 2013 we executed a 1 for 6 reverse split of our common stock and have subsequently regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirements. On February 18, 2015, we received notification from Nasdaq of potential delisting of our shares from the Nasdaq Capital Market because the closing bid price of our common stock had not met the minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share during the preceding 30 days.  On July 15, 2015, Nasdaq notified us that we had regained compliance with the applicable minimum bid price rule. Accordingly, the matter related to the notice we received on February 18, 2015 was closed.  There can be no assurance that the market price per share will remain in excess of the $1.00 minimum bid price for a sustained period of time.  Although we have regained compliance with the Nasdaq listing standards, our Board may still elect to execute a reverse split of our common stock in 2015, which was approved at our 2015 Annual Meeting, if in the Board’s judgment, such a split is considered to be in the best interest of the Company’s stockholders.  However, the effect of a reverse stock split on the market price of our common stock cannot be predicted with any certainty, and the history of similar stock split combinations for companies in like circumstances is varied. It is possible that the per share price of our common stock after the reverse stock split will not rise in proportion to the reduction in the number of shares of common stock outstanding resulting from the reverse stock split, effectively reducing our market capitalization, and there can be no assurance that the market price per post-reverse split share will either exceed or remain in excess of the $1.00 minimum bid price for a sustained period of time. The market price of our common stock may vary based on other factors that are unrelated to the number of shares outstanding, including our future performance.

The delisting of our common stock from a national exchange could impair the liquidity and market price of the common stock.  It could also materially, adversely affect our access to the capital markets, and any limitation on market liquidity or reduction in the price of the common stock as a result of that delisting could adversely affect our ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all.

In future periods, if we do not meet the minimum stockholders’ equity, minimum closing bid price requirements, or any other listing requirements, we would be subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Capital Market.

As of August 7, 2015, the closing price of our common stock was $1.00 per share, and the total market value of our listed securities was approximately $63.2 million. As of June 30, 2015, we had stockholders’ equity of $43.8 million.

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We expect to depend on existing and future collaborations with third parties for the development of some of our product candidates. If those collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to complete the development of these product candidates.

We currently have a collaboration agreement with Medtronic, Inc., or Medtronic, for the support of our GENETIC-AF trial. Medtronic can terminate its collaboration with us for various reasons including uncured material breach of the collaboration by us, an ARCA bankruptcy, if, after FDA communication, it is reasonably concluded that the FDA will not allow GENETIC-AF to enroll or proceed, or if Medtronic’s obligations under the collaboration agreement are unilaterally expanded. We may seek additional third party collaborators for the development of Gencaro or other product candidates.

Under our current arrangement with Medtronic, as amended, we have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that they dedicate to the development of Gencaro. This is also likely to be true in any future collaboration with third parties. Our ability to benefit from these arrangements will depend on our collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements.

Collaborations involving our product candidates pose the following risks to us:

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We face a number of challenges in seeking additional collaborations. Collaborations are complex and any potential discussions may not result in a definitive agreement for many reasons. For example, whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration, and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors, such as the design or results of our clinical trials, the potential market for our product candidates, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering our product candidates to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to ownership or the coverage of our intellectual property, and industry and market conditions generally. If we were to determine that additional collaborations for our Gencaro development is necessary and were unable to enter into such collaborations on acceptable terms, we might elect to delay or scale back the development or commercialization of Gencaro in order to preserve our financial resources or to allow us adequate time to develop the required physical resources and systems and expertise ourselves.

Collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of our product candidates in the most efficient manner, or at all. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators. If a present or future collaborator of ours were to be involved in a business combination, the continued pursuit and emphasis on our product development or commercialization program could be delayed, diminished or terminated.

Our GENETIC-AF clinical trial requires the use of a third-party diagnostic services provider to administer the genetic test needed to identify the patient receptor genotypes of clinical trial participants, and as a result, we will be unable to directly control the timing, conduct and expense of the genetic test.

Our GENETIC-AF clinical trial of Gencaro requires a companion diagnostic test that identifies the patient’s receptor genotype.  The trial will only enroll those patients with the receptor that has the potential for enhanced efficacy, the beta-1 389 Arg receptor as detected by a beta-1 389 Arg/Arg genotype. Accordingly, the GENETIC-AF trial requires the use of a third-party diagnostic service to perform the genetic testing. There has been limited experience in our industry in prospective development of companion diagnostics required to perform the required molecular profiling. We entered into an agreement with LabCorp to provide the diagnostic services of the genetic test needed to support our GENETIC-AF trial. To provide those services, LabCorp obtained from the FDA an Investigational Device Exemption, or IDE, for the companion diagnostic test being used in our GENETIC-AF clinical trial.

The FDA and similar regulatory authorities outside the United States regulate companion diagnostics. Companion diagnostics require separate or coordinated regulatory approval prior to commercialization. Changes to regulatory advice could delay our development programs or delay or prevent eventual marketing approval for our product candidates that may otherwise be approvable. In July 2011, the FDA issued draft guidance that stated that if safe and effective use of a therapeutic depends on an in vitro diagnostic, the FDA generally will not approve the therapeutic unless the FDA approves or clears this “in vitro companion diagnostic device” at the same time that the FDA approves the therapeutic. The approval or clearance of the companion diagnostic would occur through the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. In 2014, the FDA issued guidance on in vitro companion diagnostic devices.   It is difficult to predict how FDA will implement the guidance. For example, the guidance allows for flexibility by the FDA in the case of therapeutic products to treat serious conditions for which no alternative treatment exists and the benefits of using the companion diagnostic outweigh the risk, but it is unclear how this discretion will be applied by the agency. The FDA’s evolving position on the topic of companion diagnostics could affect our clinical development programs that utilize companion diagnostics. In particular, the FDA may limit our ability to use retrospective data, otherwise disagree with our approaches to trial design, biomarker qualification, clinical and analytical validity, and clinical utility, or make us repeat aspects of a trial or initiate new trials.

Given our limited experience in developing diagnostics, we expect to rely primarily on third parties for the design and manufacture of the companion diagnostics for our product candidates. If we, or any third parties that we engage to assist us, are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostics for our product candidates that require such diagnostics, or experience delays in doing so, the development of our product candidates may be adversely affected, our product candidates may not receive marketing approval and we may not realize the full commercial potential of any products that receive marketing approval. As a result, our business could be materially harmed.

We will need to establish a collaborative arrangement with a third-party diagnostics services provider to obtain marketing clearance or approval of the companion genetic test. There is no guarantee that the FDA will grant timely clearance or approval of the genetic test, if at all, and failure to obtain such timely clearance or approval would adversely affect our ability to market Gencaro.

The drug label we intend to seek for Gencaro would identify the patient receptor genotype for which the drug is approved. Accordingly, we believe developing a genetic test that is simple to administer and widely available will be critical to the successful commercialization of Gencaro and also to the ability to conduct our GENETIC-AF clinical trial. The genetic test will be subject to regulation by the FDA and by comparable agencies in various foreign countries. The process of complying with the requirements of the FDA and comparable agencies is costly, time consuming and burdensome.

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Despite the time and expense expended, regulatory clearance or approval is never guaranteed. If regulatory clearance or approval is delayed, or if one or more third-party diagnostic services providers are unable to obtain FDA approval of the genetic test at all or in parallel with the approval of Gencaro, or are unable to commercialize the test successfully and in a manner that effectively supports the commercial efforts for Gencaro, or if the information concerning the differential response to Gencaro resulting from certain genetic variation is not included in the approval label for Gencaro, the commercial launch of Gencaro may be significantly and adversely affected.

Regulatory approval is required for the genetic test to be used in the GENETIC-AF trial and to support the commercialization of the test, if approved. Delays or failures in obtaining such regulatory approval, including any required validation analyses may prevent a third-party diagnostics provider from commercializing such genetic test and will adversely affect our business, operating results and prospects.

Before a genetic test can be used commercially, including in conjunction with Gencaro, if it is approved for marketing, the third-party diagnostics provider must obtain FDA Premarket Approval, or PMA, for such test. The FDA may require additional validation of the genetic test we are using in GENETIC-AF prior to any approval of Gencaro or the genetic test. We anticipate the genetic test will be required as a condition to prescribing Gencaro. There is no guarantee the FDA will approve the anticipated PMA submission for the genetic test. Even if the genetic test is eventually approved, performing additional validation work necessary to support the PMA, if required, for current or future genetic test products, including one associated with Gencaro, would require additional time and expense and the outcome would be uncertain. Moreover, such delays or increased costs or failures could adversely affect our business, operating results and prospects for commercializing the genetic test.

If a third-party diagnostics provider responsible for the genetic test or certain of its third-party suppliers fails to comply with ongoing FDA or other foreign regulatory authority requirements, or if there are unanticipated problems with the genetic test, these products could be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from use in a trial or from the market.

Any diagnostic for which a third-party diagnostics provider obtains clearance or approval, and the manufacturing processes, reporting requirements, post-approval clinical data and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continued regulatory review, oversight and periodic inspections by the FDA and other domestic and foreign regulatory bodies. With respect to the genetic test, to the extent applicable, any third-party diagnostics provider and certain of its suppliers will be required to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation, or QSR, and International Standards Organization, or ISO, requirements which cover the methods and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, storage and shipping of any product for which clearance or approval is obtained. Regulatory bodies, such as the FDA, enforce the QSR and other regulations through periodic inspections. The failure by a third-party diagnostics provider, or certain of its third-party manufacturers or suppliers, as the case may be, to comply with applicable statutes and regulations administered by the FDA and other regulatory bodies, or the failure to timely and adequately respond to any adverse inspectional observations or product safety issues, could result in, among other things, enforcement actions. If any of these actions were to occur, it could harm our reputation and cause product sales and profitability of Gencaro to suffer and may prevent us from generating revenue or utilizing the genetic test further in any clinical trial. Even if regulatory clearance or approval is granted, such clearance or approval may be subject to limitations on the intended uses for which the product may be marketed and reduce our potential to successfully commercialize the product and generate revenue from the product.

Future sales of Gencaro may suffer if its marketplace acceptance is negatively affected by the genetic test.

The genetic test is an important component of the commercial strategy for Gencaro in addition to being required for our GENETIC-AF trial. We believe that the genetic test helps predict patient response to Gencaro, and that this aspect of the drug is important to its ability to compete effectively with current therapies. The genetic test adds an additional step in the prescribing process, an additional cost for the patient and payors, the risk that the test results may not be rapidly available and the possibility that it may not be available at all to hospitals and medical centers. Although we anticipate that Gencaro, if approved in a timely manner, would be the first genetically-targeted cardiovascular drug, Gencaro will be one of a number of successful drugs in the beta-blocker class currently on the market. Prescribers may be more familiar with these other beta-blockers, and may be resistant to prescribing Gencaro as an AF therapy in patients with HF. Any one of these factors could affect prescriber behavior, which in turn may substantially impede market acceptance of the genetic test, which could cause significant harm to Gencaro’s ability to compete, and in turn harm our business.

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Our management and our independent registered public accountant, in their report on our financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2014, have concluded that due to our need for additional capital, and the uncertainties surrounding our ability to raise such funding, substantial doubt exists as to our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 were prepared assuming that we will continue as a going concern. The going concern basis of presentation assumes that we will continue in operation for the foreseeable future and will be able to realize our assets and discharge our liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result from our inability to continue as a going concern. Our management and our independent registered public accountants concluded as of December 31, 2014 that due to our need for additional capital and the uncertainties surrounding our ability to raise such funding, substantial doubt exists as to our ability to continue as a going concern.  We believe our cash and cash equivalents balance as of June 30, 2015 will be sufficient to fund our operations, at our projected cost structure, through at least the end of 2017. Changing circumstances may cause us to consume capital significantly faster or slower than we currently anticipate.  If we elect to proceed to the Phase 3 portion of GENETIC-AF, we will be required to raise additional funds to complete the Phase 3 portion of GENETIC-AF clinical trial and submit for FDA approval of Gencaro.

We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we currently anticipate. We may be forced to reduce our operating expenses and raise additional funds to meet our working capital needs, principally through the additional sales of our securities or debt financings. However, we cannot guarantee that will be able to obtain sufficient additional funds when needed or that such funds, if available, will be obtainable on terms satisfactory to us. If we are unable to raise sufficient additional capital or complete a strategic transaction, we may be unable to continue to fund our operations, develop Gencaro or our other product candidates, or realize value from our assets and discharge our liabilities in the normal course of business. If we cannot raise sufficient funds, we may have to liquidate our assets, and might realize significantly less than the values at which they are carried on our financial statements, and stockholders may lose all or part of their investment in our common stock.

Our failure to raise substantial additional funding or enter into a strategic transaction may materially and adversely affect our business.

Unless we are able to raise substantial additional funding for the development of Gencaro through other means, we will need to complete a strategic transaction to continue the development of Gencaro through Phase 3 of clinical development, the regulatory submission process, the commercialization phase, and to continue our other operations.  The strategic transactions that we may consider include a potential combination or partnership. Our board of directors and management team have and will continue to devote substantial time and resources to obtaining additional capital or the consideration and implementation of any such strategic transaction. In addition, conditions in the financial markets may lead to an increased number of biotechnology companies that are also seeking to enter into strategic transactions, which may limit our ability to negotiate favorable terms for any such transaction. Further, our current employees do not have experience in the strategic transaction process, and our previous efforts to enter into a strategic transaction have not been successful. As a result of these and other factors, there is substantial risk that we may not be able to complete a strategic transaction on favorable terms, or at all. The failure to complete such a strategic transaction may materially and adversely affect our business.

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We may be limited in our ability to access sufficient funding through a private equity or convertible debt offering.

Nasdaq rules impose restrictions on our ability to raise funds through a private offering of our common stock, convertible debt or similar instruments without obtaining stockholder approval. Under Nasdaq rules, an offering of more than 20% of our total shares outstanding for less than the greater of book or market value requires stockholder approval unless the offering qualifies as a “public offering” for purposes of the Nasdaq rules. As of June 30, 2015 we had approximately 63.2 million shares of common stock outstanding, 20% of which is approximately 12.6 million shares. In addition, our ability to raise capital through the sale of our capital stock or convertible securities is limited by the number of authorized shares of common stock under our certificate of incorporation, which is currently 100 million shares.  Our outstanding shares as of June 30, 2015, plus our shares reserved for issuance under our 2013 Equity Plan and our contingently issuable shares for common stock options, restricted stock units and common stock warrants, accounts for approximately 91.6 million shares, resulting in less than 8.4 million shares available for future issuance.  To the extent we seek to raise funds through a private offering of stock, convertible debt or similar instruments, we are limited in how much funding we could raise privately without requiring a stockholder vote.  SEC rules impose restrictions on our ability to raise funds through the registered offering of our securities pursuant to our “shelf” registration statement on Form S-3. Under SEC rules, we are prohibited from selling securities under such registration statement if the aggregate market value of the securities sold thereunder in any twelve-month period exceeds one-third of the market value of our outstanding common stock held by non-affiliates. In addition, we are currently subject to certain contractual rights of investors arising from our public and private equity financing transactions that limit the nature and price of future public and private financing transactions that we may effect. For example, in January 2013, we entered into separate subscription agreements with certain institutional investors in connection with a private investment in public equity, pursuant to which we sold shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase shares of our common stock to the investors. In connection with this transaction, we agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, we would not, while the warrants issued in such financing are outstanding, effect or enter into an agreement to effect any issuance of common stock or securities convertible into, exercisable for or exchangeable for common stock in a “variable rate transaction,” which means a transaction in which we issue or sell any convertible securities either (A) at a conversion price, exercise price or exchange rate or other price that is based upon and/or varies with the trading prices of, or quotations for, the shares of common stock at any time after the initial issuance of such convertible securities, or (B) with a conversion, exercise or exchange price that is subject to being reset at some future date after the initial issuance of the convertible securities or upon the occurrence of the specified or contingent events directly or indirectly related to our business or the market for our common stock. The restrictions imposed by the terms of our previous offerings, and that could be imposed in future offerings, may limit our access to capital on agreeable terms and delay or make impossible certain otherwise available equity financing opportunities and could severely restrict our access to the capital necessary to conduct our business.   

Unless we are able to generate sufficient product revenue, we will continue to incur losses from operations and will not achieve or maintain profitability. We are years away from commercializing a product and generating product revenue.

Our historical losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital, among other things. We are years away from commercializing a product and generating any product revenue. As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future. Even if we ultimately receive regulatory approval for Gencaro or our other product candidates, sales of such products may not generate sufficient revenue for it to achieve or maintain profitability. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing therapeutic drugs, we may experience larger than expected future losses and may never reach profitability.

Our product candidates are subject to extensive regulation, which can be costly and time-consuming, and unsuccessful or delayed regulatory approvals could increase our future development costs or impair our future revenue.

The preclinical and clinical development, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, labeling, storage, recordkeeping, and subsequent advertising, promotion, sale, marketing, and distribution, if approved, of our product candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and elsewhere. These regulations also vary in important, meaningful ways from country to country. We are not permitted to market a potential drug in the United States until we receive approval of an NDA from the FDA for such drug. We have not received an NDA approval from the FDA for Gencaro or any of our other product candidates. There can be no guarantees with respect to our product candidates that clinical studies will adequately support a NDA, that the products will receive necessary regulatory approvals, or that they will prove to be commercially successful.

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To receive regulatory approval for the commercial sale of any product candidates, we must demonstrate safety and efficacy in humans to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities through preclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials of the product candidates. This process is expensive and can take many years, and failure can occur at any stage of the testing. Our failure to adequately demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates will prevent regulatory approval and commercialization of such products. In 2008, we submitted and the FDA accepted our NDA filing for Gencaro for the treatment of chronic HF. In 2009, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, in which the FDA stated that it could not approve the Gencaro NDA in its current form and specified actions required for approval of the NDA, including conducting an additional Phase 3 clinical trial of Gencaro in patients with HF. We have initiated a clinical study of Gencaro in HFREF patients to assess its efficacy in reducing or preventing AF. This trial has been initiated as a Phase 2B study in approximately 200 patients and, depending on the outcome of the Phase 2B portion, may be expanded to a Phase 3 study with up to an estimated additional 420 patients. We believe the Phase 2B enrollment of 200 patients could be completed by the end of 2016, with the DSMB interim analysis finishing in the first half of 2017. This product candidate will require years of clinical development. Even if we conduct additional studies in accordance with further FDA guidance and submit or file a new or amended NDA, the FDA may ultimately decide that the NDA does not satisfy the criteria for approval.

In the event that we or our collaborators conduct preclinical studies that do not comply with Good Laboratory Practices or GLP or incorrectly design or carry out human clinical trials in accordance with Good Clinical Practices, or GCP, or those clinical trials fail to demonstrate clinical significance, it is unlikely that we will be able to obtain FDA approval for product development candidates. Our inability to successfully initiate and effectively complete clinical trials for any product candidate on schedule, or at all, will severely harm our business. Significant delays in clinical development could materially increase product development costs or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, impairing our ability to effectively commercialize any future product candidate. We do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, will need to be redesigned or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, any approvals we may obtain may not cover all of the clinical indications for which we seek approval or permit us to make claims of superiority over currently marketed competitive products. Also, an approval might contain significant limitations in the form of narrow indications, warnings, precautions or contraindications with respect to conditions of use. If the FDA determines that a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS, is necessary to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks, we may be required to include as part of the NDA a proposed REMS that may include a package insert directed to patients, a plan for communication with healthcare providers, restrictions on a drug’s distribution, or a Medication Guide, to provide better information to consumers about the drug’s risks and benefits. Finally, an approval could be conditioned on our commitment to conduct further clinical trials, which we may not have the resources to conduct or which may negatively impact our financial situation.

The manufacture and tableting of Gencaro is done by third party suppliers, who must also meet current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, requirements and pass a pre-approval inspection of their facilities before we can obtain marketing approval.

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All of our product candidates are prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. The results from preclinical animal testing and early human clinical trials may not be predictive of results obtained in later human clinical trials. Further, although a new product may show promising results in preclinical or early human clinical trials, it may subsequently prove unfeasible or impossible to generate sufficient safety and efficacy data to obtain necessary regulatory approvals. The data obtained from preclinical and clinical studies are susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval, and the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and elsewhere exercise substantial discretion in the drug approval process. The numbers, size and design of preclinical studies and clinical trials that will be required for FDA or other regulatory approval will vary depending on the product candidate, the disease or condition for which the product candidate is intended to be used and the regulations and guidance documents applicable to any particular product candidate. The FDA or other regulators can delay, limit or deny approval of any product candidate for many reasons, including, but not limited to:

 

 

 

 

 

In light of widely publicized events concerning the safety of certain drug products, regulatory authorities, members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, medical professionals and the general public have raised concerns about potential drug safety issues. These events have resulted in the withdrawal of certain drug products, revisions to certain drug labeling that further limit use of the drug products and establishment of risk management programs that may, for instance, restrict distribution of drug products. The increased attention to drug safety issues may result in a more cautious approach by the FDA to clinical trials and approval. Data from clinical trials may receive greater scrutiny with respect to safety and the product’s risk/benefit profile, which may make the FDA or other regulatory authorities more likely to terminate clinical trials before completion, or require longer or additional clinical trials that may result in substantial additional expense, and a delay or failure in obtaining approval or approval for a more limited indication than originally sought. Aside from issues concerning the quality and sufficiency of submitted preclinical and clinical data, the FDA may be constrained by limited resources from reviewing and determining the approvability of the Gencaro NDA in a timely manner.

In pursuing clinical development of Gencaro for an AF indication, we will be required to amend the Gencaro HF NDA or prepare a new NDA. The FDA could approve Gencaro, but without including some or all of the prescribing information that we have requested. For instance, the FDA could approve Gencaro for AF in a more limited patient population or include additional warnings in the drug’s label. This, in turn, could substantially and detrimentally impact our ability to successfully commercialize Gencaro and effectively protect our intellectual property rights in Gencaro.

If our product candidates receive regulatory approval, we would be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and restrictions, which may result in significant expenses and limit our ability to develop and commercialize other potential products.

If a product candidate of ours is approved by the FDA or by another regulatory authority, we would be held to extensive regulatory requirements over product manufacturing, testing, distribution, labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting and other reporting to regulatory authorities, storage, advertising, marketing, promotion, distribution, and record keeping. Regulatory approvals may also be subject to significant limitations on the indicated uses or marketing of the product candidates. Potentially costly follow-up or post-marketing clinical studies may be required as a condition of approval to further substantiate safety or efficacy, or to investigate specific issues of interest to the regulatory authority. Previously unknown problems with the product candidate, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, may result in additional regulatory controls or restrictions on the marketing or use of the product or the need for post marketing studies, and could include suspension or withdrawal of the products from the market.

Furthermore, our third-party manufacturers and the manufacturing facilities that they use to make our product candidates are regulated by the FDA. Quality control and manufacturing procedures must continue to conform to cGMP after approval. Drug manufacturers and their subcontractors are required to register their facilities and products manufactured annually with the FDA and certain state agencies and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA, state and/or other foreign authorities. Any subsequent discovery of problems with a product, or a manufacturing or laboratory facility used by us or our collaborators, may result in restrictions on the product, or on the manufacturing or laboratory facility, including a withdrawal of the drug from the market or suspension of manufacturing. Any changes to an approved product, including the way it is manufactured or promoted, often require FDA approval before the product, as modified, can be marketed. We and our third-party manufacturers will also be subject to ongoing FDA requirements for submission of safety and other post-market information.

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The marketing and advertising of our drug products by our collaborators or us will be regulated by the FDA, certain state agencies or foreign regulatory authorities. Violations of these laws and regulations, including promotion of our products for unapproved uses or failing to disclose risk information, are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions and may result in the issuance of enforcement letters or other enforcement action by the FDA, U.S. Department of Justice, state agencies, or foreign regulatory authorities that could jeopardize our ability to market the product.

In addition to the FDA, state or foreign regulations, the marketing of our drug products by us or our collaborators will be regulated by federal, state or foreign laws pertaining to health care “fraud and abuse,” such as the federal anti-kickback law prohibiting bribes, kickbacks or other remuneration for the order or recommendation of items or services reimbursed by federal health care programs. Many states have similar laws applicable to items or services reimbursed by commercial insurers. Violations of these laws are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including, in some instances, imprisonment and exclusion from participation in federal and state health care programs, including the Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Affairs healthcare programs. Because of the far-reaching nature of these laws, we may be required to discontinue one or more of our practices to be in compliance with these laws. Health care fraud and abuse regulations are complex, and even minor irregularities can potentially give rise to claims that a statute or prohibition has been violated. Any violations of these laws, or any action against us for violations of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We could also become subject to false claims litigation under federal statutes, which can lead to civil money penalties, restitution, criminal fines and imprisonment, and exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state health care programs. These false claims statutes include the False Claims Act, which allows any person to bring a suit on behalf of the federal government alleging submission of false or fraudulent claims, or causing to present such false or fraudulent claims, under federal programs or contracts claims or other violations of the statute and to share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. These suits against pharmaceutical companies have increased significantly in volume and breadth in recent years. Some of these suits have been brought on the basis of certain sales practices promoting drug products for unapproved uses. This new growth in litigation has increased the risk that a pharmaceutical company will have to defend a false claim action, pay fines or restitution, or be excluded from the Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs and other federal and state healthcare programs as a result of an investigation arising out of such action. We may become subject to such litigation and, if we are not successful in defending against such actions, those actions may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We could also become subject to false claims litigation and consumer protection claims under state statutes, which also could lead to civil monetary penalties, restitution, criminal fines and imprisonment, and exclusion from participation in state health care programs. Of note, over the past few years there has been an increased focus on the sales and marketing practices of the pharmaceutical industry at both the federal and state level. Additionally, the law or regulatory policies governing pharmaceuticals may change. New statutory requirements may be enacted or additional regulations may be adopted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates or limit our ability to commercialize our products. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or elsewhere.

If we, our collaborators or our third-party manufacturers fail to comply with applicable continuing regulatory requirements, our business could be seriously harmed because a regulatory agency may:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reliance on third parties to commercialize Gencaro could negatively impact our business. If we are required to establish a direct sales force in the United States and are unable to do so, our business may be harmed.

Commercialization of Gencaro, particularly the establishment of a sales organization, will require substantial additional capital resources. We currently intend to pursue a strategic partnership alternative for the commercialization of Gencaro, if it is approved, and we have suspended our efforts to build internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities. If we elect to rely on third parties to sell Gencaro and any other products, then we may receive less revenue than if we sold such products directly. In addition, we may have little or no control over the sales efforts of those third parties.  If we are unable to complete a strategic transaction, we would be unable to commercialize Gencaro or any other product candidate without substantial additional capital. Even if such capital were secured, we would be required to build internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities to market Gencaro in the United States. None of our current employees have experience in establishing and managing a sales force.

In the event we are unable to sell Gencaro and other selected product candidates, either directly or through third parties via a strategic transaction, the commercialization of Gencaro, if it is approved, may be delayed indefinitely.

We are dependent on our key personnel.

The success of our business is highly dependent on the principal members of our board of directors and executive management, including our President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael R. Bristow. The loss of the services of any such individual might seriously harm our product development, partnering and financing efforts. Recruiting and training personnel with the requisite skills is challenging and we compete for talent with companies that are larger and have more financial resources.

We have no manufacturing capacity which puts us at risk of lengthy and costly delays of bringing our products to market.

We do not currently operate manufacturing facilities for clinical or commercial production of our product candidates, including their active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API. We have no experience in drug formulation or manufacturing, and we lack the resources and the capabilities to manufacture any of our product candidates on a clinical or commercial scale. We do not intend to develop facilities for the manufacture of product candidates for clinical trials or commercial purposes in the foreseeable future. We have contracted with Groupe Novasep to manufacture commercial quantities of the API for Gencaro. For drug production, we have contracted with Patheon, Inc. to manufacture the Gencaro tablets. In addition, we have contracted with a separate service provider for packaging and distribution of our clinical trial materials.  These contract manufacturers may not perform as agreed or may not remain in the contract manufacturing business for the time required to successfully produce, store and distribute our products. In addition, these manufacturers may have staffing difficulties, may not be able to manufacture our products on a timely basis or may become financially distressed. In the event of errors in forecasting production quantities required to meet demand, natural disaster, equipment malfunctions or failures, technology malfunctions, strikes, lock-outs or work stoppages, regional power outages, product tampering, war or terrorist activities, actions of regulatory authorities, business failure, strike or other difficulty, we may be unable to find an alternative third-party manufacturer in a timely manner and the production of our product candidates would be interrupted, resulting in delays and additional costs, which could impact our ability to commercialize and sell our product candidates. We or our contract manufacturers may also fail to achieve and maintain required manufacturing standards, which could result in patient injury or death, product recalls or withdrawals, an order by governmental authorities to halt production, delays or failures in product testing or delivery, stability testing failures, cost overruns or other problems that could seriously hurt our business. Contract manufacturers also often encounter difficulties involving production yields, quality control and quality assurance, as well as shortages of qualified personnel. In addition, our contract manufacturers are subject to ongoing inspections and regulation by the FDA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and corresponding foreign and state agencies and they may fail to meet these agencies’ acceptable standards of compliance. If our contract manufacturers fail to comply with applicable governmental regulations, such as quality control, quality assurance and the maintenance of records and documentation, we may not be able to continue production of the API or finished product. If the safety of any API or product supplied is compromised due to failure to adhere to applicable laws or for other reasons, this may jeopardize our regulatory approval for Gencaro and other product candidates, and we may be held liable for any injuries sustained as a result. Upon the occurrence of one of the aforementioned events, the ability to switch manufacturers may be difficult for a number of reasons, including:

 

 

 

 

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Transitioning from a clinical development stage company will require successful completion of a number of steps, many of which are outside of our control and, consequently, we can provide no assurance of our successful and timely transition from a clinical development stage company.

We are a clinical development stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. To date we have not generated any product revenue and have historically funded our operations through investment capital. Our future growth depends on our ability to emerge from the clinical development stage and successfully commercialize or provide for the commercialization of Gencaro and our other product candidates which in turn, will depend, among other things, on our ability to:

 

 

 

 

 

Any one of these factors or other factors discussed in this report could affect our ability to successfully commercialize Gencaro and other product candidates, which could impact our ability to earn sufficient revenues to transition from a clinical development stage company and continue our business.

If approved by the FDA, Gencaro will be entering a competitive marketplace and may not succeed.

Gencaro is a new type of beta-blocker and vasodilator being developed for AF. While we anticipate that this drug, if approved, would be the first genetically-targeted cardiovascular drug, and potentially the only beta-blocker approved for AF, Gencaro will be one of a number of accepted treatments for AF. In addition, our proposed prescribing information for Gencaro is expected to include a requirement for genetic testing of the patient to ascertain if they have the genotype that we believe responds most favorably to Gencaro. This additional step will add incremental cost and procedures to prescribing Gencaro, which could make it more difficult to compete against existing therapies.

Our commercial opportunity may be reduced or eliminated if competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than Gencaro. If products with any of these properties are developed, or any of the existing products are better marketed, then prescriptions of Gencaro by physicians and patient use of Gencaro could be significantly reduced or rendered obsolete and noncompetitive. Further, public announcements regarding the development of any such competing drugs could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and the value of our assets.

Future sales of our products may suffer if they are not accepted in the marketplace by physicians, patients and the medical community.

Gencaro or our other product candidates may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients and the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of Gencaro or our other product candidates will depend on a number of factors, such as its effectiveness and tolerability, as compared with competitive drugs. Also, prevalence and severity of side-effects could negatively affect market acceptance of Gencaro or our other product candidates. Failure to achieve market acceptance of Gencaro would significantly harm our business.

If we are unable to obtain acceptable prices or adequate reimbursement from third-party payors for Gencaro, or any other product candidates that we may seek to commercialize, then our revenues and prospects for profitability will suffer.

Our or any strategic partner’s ability to commercialize Gencaro, or any other product candidates that we may seek to commercialize, is highly dependent on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for these product candidates will be available from:

 

 

 

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Many patients will not be capable of paying for our potential products themselves and will rely on third-party payors to pay for their medical needs. A primary current trend in the U.S. health care industry is toward cost containment. Large private payors, managed-care organizations, group purchasing organizations and similar organizations are exerting increasing influence on decisions regarding the use of, and reimbursement levels for, particular treatments. Such third-party payors, including Medicare, are challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, and many third-party payors limit reimbursement for newly approved health care products.

Cost-control initiatives could decrease the price we might establish for products, which could result in product revenues lower than anticipated. If the prices for our product candidates decrease, or if governmental and other third-party payors do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement levels, then our revenue and prospects for profitability will suffer.

Health care reform measures could materially and adversely affect our business.

The business and financial condition of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are affected by the efforts of governmental and third-party payors to contain or reduce the costs of health care. The U.S. Congress has enacted legislation to reform the health care system. While we anticipate that this legislation may, over time, increase the number of patients who have insurance coverage for pharmaceutical products, it also imposes cost containment measures that may adversely affect the amount of reimbursement for pharmaceutical products. These measures include increasing the minimum rebates for products covered by Medicaid programs and extending such rebates to drugs dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations as well as expansion of the 340(B) Public Health Services drug discount program. In addition, such legislation contains a number of provisions designed to generate the revenues necessary to fund the coverage expansion, including new fees or taxes on certain health-related industries, including medical device manufacturers. Each medical device manufacturer has to pay an excise tax (or sales tax) in an amount equal to 2.3% of the price for which such manufacturer sells its medical devices. Such excise taxes may impact any potential sales of the genetic test if it is approved for marketing. In foreign jurisdictions there have been, and we expect that there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory proposals aimed at changing the health care system. For example, in some countries other than the United States, pricing of prescription drugs is subject to government control and we expect to see continued efforts to reduce healthcare costs in international markets.

Some states are also considering legislation that would control the prices of drugs, and state Medicaid programs are increasingly requesting manufacturers to pay supplemental rebates and requiring prior authorization by the state program for use of any drug for which supplemental rebates are not being paid. Managed care organizations continue to seek price discounts and, in some cases, to impose restrictions on the coverage of particular drugs. Government efforts to reduce Medicaid expenses may lead to increased use of managed care organizations by Medicaid programs. This may result in managed care organizations influencing prescription decisions for a larger segment of the population and a corresponding constraint on prices and reimbursement for drugs. It is likely that federal and state legislatures and health agencies will continue to focus on additional health care reform in the future although we are unable to predict what additional legislation or regulation, if any, relating to the health care industry or third-party coverage and reimbursement may be enacted in the future or what effect such legislation or regulation would have on our business. We or any strategic partner’s ability to commercialize Gencaro, or any other product candidates that we may seek to commercialize, is highly dependent on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for these product candidates will be available from government payors, such as Medicare and Medicaid, private health insurers, including managed care organizations, and other third-party payors, and any change in reimbursement levels could materially and adversely affect our business. Further, the pendency or approval of future proposals or reforms could result in a decrease in our stock price or limit our ability to raise capital or to obtain strategic partnerships or licenses.

Our competitors may be better positioned in the marketplace and thereby may be more successful than us at developing, manufacturing and marketing approved products.

Many of our competitors currently have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, managing manufacturing and marketing approved products than us. Other early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. In addition, these third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring therapies and therapy licenses complementary to our programs or advantageous to our business. We expect that our ability to compete effectively will depend upon our ability to:

 

 

 

 

 

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If we fail to identify and license or acquire other products or product candidates, then we may be unable to expand our business, and the acquisition or licensing of other products or product candidates may put a strain on our operations and will likely require us to seek additional financing.

One of our strategies is to license or acquire clinical-stage products or product candidates and further develop them for commercialization. The market for licensing and acquiring products and product candidates is intensely competitive and many of our competitors may have greater resources than we do. If we undertake any additional acquisitions, whether of product candidates or other biopharmaceutical companies, the process of integrating an acquired product candidate or complementary company into our business may put a strain on our operations, divert personnel, financial resources and management’s attention. In 2015, we expect our research and development activities will be dedicated to Gencaro. If we are not able to substantially expand our research and development efforts, or identify, or license or acquire other products or product candidates or complete future acquisitions, then we will likely be unable expand our pipeline of product candidates. In addition, any future acquisition would give rise to additional operating costs and will likely require us to seek additional financing. Future acquisitions could result in additional issuances of equity securities that would dilute the ownership of existing stockholders. Future acquisitions could also result in the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or the amortization of expenses related to other intangible assets, any of which could adversely affect our operating results.

We would be subject to applicable regulatory approval requirements of the foreign countries in which we market our products, which are costly and may prevent or delay us from marketing our products in those countries.

In addition to regulatory requirements in the United States, we would be subject to the regulatory approval requirements in each foreign country where we market our products. In addition, we might be required to identify one or more collaborators in these foreign countries to develop, seek approval for and manufacture our products and any companion genetic test for Gencaro. If we decide to pursue regulatory approvals and commercialization of our product candidates internationally, we may not be able to obtain the required foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all, and any failure to do so may cause us to incur additional costs or prevent us from marketing our products in foreign countries, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If our internal control over financial reporting is not considered effective, our business and stock price could be adversely affected.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of each fiscal year, and to include a management report assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 10-K for that fiscal year. Our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all error and all fraud.  We continue to operate with a small staff for financial reporting. Though the process and design of our internal controls over financial reporting have not been altered, the small number of staff involved in financial reporting may limit our ability to properly segregate internal control procedures which could result in deficiencies or material weaknesses in our internal controls in the future. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud involving a company have been, or will be, detected. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and we cannot assure you that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, controls may become ineffective because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected. We cannot assure you that we or our independent registered public accounting firm will not identify a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting would require management to consider our internal control over financial reporting as ineffective. If our internal control over financial reporting is not considered effective, we may experience a loss of public confidence, which could have an adverse effect on our business and on the market price of our common stock.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property and Other Legal Matters

If product liability lawsuits are successfully brought against us, then we will incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of Gencaro or other product candidates.

We face product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials, and may face exposure to claims by an even greater number of persons once we begin marketing and distributing our products commercially. If we cannot successfully defend against product liability claims, then we will incur substantial liabilities.

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Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

We have obtained limited product liability insurance coverage. Such coverage, however, may not be adequate or may not continue to be available to us in sufficient amounts or at an acceptable cost, or at all. We may not be able to obtain commercially reasonable product liability insurance for any product candidate.

Defending against claims relating to improper handling, storage or disposal of hazardous chemicals, radioactive or biological materials could be time consuming and expensive.

Our research and development of product candidates may involve the controlled use of hazardous materials, including chemicals, radioactive and biological materials. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or discharge and any resultant injury from the materials. Various laws and regulations govern the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous materials. We may be sued or be required to pay fines for any injury or contamination that results from our use or the use by third parties of these materials. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental regulations may impair our research, development and production efforts.

The loss of any rights to market key products would significantly impair our operating results.

We have licensed from CPEC, who has licensed rights in Gencaro from Bristol Meyers Squibb, or BMS, the exclusive rights to Gencaro for all therapeutic and diagnostic uses in any country until the later of (i) 10 years from the first commercial sale of Gencaro in such country, or (ii) the termination of our commercial exclusivity in such country. This license includes a sublicense to us from BMS. We are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize Gencaro, including obtaining regulatory approvals. Our ability to develop and commercialize Gencaro is dependent on numerous factors, including some factors that are outside of our control. CPEC has the right to terminate our license if we materially breach our obligations under the license agreement and fail to cure any such breach within the terms of the license.

If our license agreement with CPEC is terminated for reasons related to non-payment of fees, or for any other breach, then we would have no further rights to develop and commercialize Gencaro for any indication. The termination of this license, or of any other agreement which enables us to market a key product or product candidate, could significantly and adversely affect our business.

Certain intellectual property licensed by us is the subject of additional licensing arrangements to which the party that has licensed rights to us is subject. If such parties were to breach the terms of such licenses or such licenses were otherwise to terminate, our and our partners’ rights to use such technology and develop and commercialize their products such as the genetic test may terminate and our business would be materially harmed.

Third parties may own or control patents or patent applications that we may be required to license to commercialize our product candidates or that could result in litigation that would be costly and time consuming.

Our or any strategic partner’s ability to commercialize Gencaro and other product candidates depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell these drugs without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. A number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and research institutions have or may be granted patents that cover technologies similar to the technologies owned by or licensed to us. We may choose to seek, or be required to seek, licenses under third party patents, which would likely require the payment of license fees or royalties or both. We may also be unaware of existing patents that may be infringed by Gencaro, the genetic testing we intend to use in connection with Gencaro or our other product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be other currently pending applications that may later result in issued patents that are infringed by Gencaro or our other product candidates. Moreover, a license may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

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There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries generally. If a third party claims that we are infringing on its technology, then our business and results of operations could be harmed by a number of factors, including:

 

 

 

 

We may also be forced to bring an infringement action if we believe that a competitor is infringing our protected intellectual property. Any such litigation will be costly, time-consuming and divert management’s attention, and the outcome of any such litigation may not be favorable to us.

Our intellectual property rights may not preclude competitors from developing competing products and our business may suffer.

Our competitive success will depend, in part, on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our inventions, technologies and discoveries, including intellectual property that we license. The patent positions of biotechnology companies involve complex legal and factual questions, and we cannot be certain that our patents and licenses will successfully preclude others from using our technology. Consequently, we cannot be certain that any of our patents will provide significant market protection or will not be circumvented or challenged and found to be unenforceable or invalid. In some cases, patent applications in the United States and certain other jurisdictions are maintained in secrecy until patents issue, and since publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain of the priority of inventions covered by pending patent applications. Moreover, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of invention or in opposition proceedings in a foreign patent office, any of which could result in substantial cost to us, even if the eventual outcome is favorable. There can be no assurance that a court of competent jurisdiction would hold any claims in any issued patent to be valid. An adverse outcome could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require disputed rights to be licensed from third parties or require us to cease using such technology. Regardless of merit, the listing of patents in the FDA Orange Book for Gencaro may be challenged as being improperly listed. We may have to defend against such claims and possible associated antitrust issues. We could also incur substantial costs in seeking to enforce our proprietary rights against infringement.

While the composition of matter patents on the compound that comprises Gencaro have expired, we hold the intellectual property concerning the interaction of Gencaro with the polymorphisms of the beta-1 and alpha-2C receptors. We have obtained patents that claim methods involving Gencaro after a patient’s receptor genotype has been determined. Our NDA requested a label that will include a claim that efficacy varies based on receptor genotype and a recommendation in the prescribing information that prospective patients be tested for their receptor genotype. We believe that under applicable law, a generic bucindolol label would likely be required to include this recommendation as it pertains directly to the safe or efficacious use of the drug. Such a label may be considered as inducing infringement, carrying the same liability as direct infringement. If the label with the genotype information for Gencaro is not approved, or if generic labels are not required to copy the approved label, competitors could have an easier path to introduce competing products and our business may suffer. The approved label may not contain language covered by the patents, or we may be unsuccessful in enforcing them.

We may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights in some foreign countries, as our patents are limited by jurisdiction and many countries do not offer the same level of legal protection for intellectual property as the United States.

We require our employees, consultants, business partners and members of our scientific advisory board to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of employment, consulting or business relationships with us. These agreements provide that all confidential information developed or made known during the course of the relationship with us be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties except in specific circumstances. In the case of employees, the agreements provide that all inventions resulting from work performed for us, utilizing the property or relating to our business and conceived or completed by the individual during employment shall be our exclusive property to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Third parties may breach these and other agreements with us regarding our intellectual property and we may not have adequate remedies for the breach. Third parties could also fail to take necessary steps to protect our licensed intellectual property, which could seriously harm our intellectual property position.

If we are not able to protect our proprietary technology, trade secrets and know-how, then our competitors may develop competing products. Any issued patent may not be sufficient to prevent others from competing with us. Further, we have trade secrets relating to Gencaro, and such trade secrets may become known or independently discovered. Our issued patents and those that may issue in the future, or those licensed to us, may be challenged, opposed, invalidated or circumvented, which could allow competitors to market similar products or limit the patent protection term of our product candidates. All of these factors may affect our competitive position.

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If the manufacture, use or sale of our products infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, we could face costly litigation, which could cause us to pay substantial damages or licensing fees and limit our ability to sell some or all of our products.

Extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights has been common in the biopharmaceutical industry. Litigation may be necessary to assert infringement claims, enforce patent rights, protect trade secrets or know-how and determine the enforceability, scope and validity of certain proprietary rights. Litigation may even be necessary to defend disputes of inventorship or ownership of proprietary rights. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property lawsuits, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office interference proceedings, and related legal and administrative proceedings (e.g., a reexamination) in the United States and internationally involve complex legal and factual questions. As a result, such proceedings are costly and time-consuming to pursue, and their outcome is uncertain.

Regardless of merit or outcome, our involvement in any litigation, interference or other administrative proceedings could cause us to incur substantial expense and could significantly divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Any public announcements related to litigation or interference proceedings initiated or threatened against us could cause our stock price to decline. Adverse outcomes in patent litigation may potentially subject us to antitrust litigation which, regardless of the outcome, would adversely affect our business. An adverse determination may subject us to the loss of our proprietary position or to significant liabilities, or require us to seek licenses that may include substantial cost and ongoing royalties. Licenses may not be available from third parties, or may not be obtainable on satisfactory terms. An adverse determination or a failure to obtain necessary licenses may restrict or prevent us from manufacturing and selling our products, if any. These outcomes could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Stock Price Volatility

Our stock price is expected to be volatile.

The price of our common stock has been subject to significant fluctuations. Additionally, the market prices for securities of early-stage pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences companies have historically been particularly volatile. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, stockholders have often instituted class action securities litigation against those companies. Such litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management attention and resources, which could significantly harm our profitability and reputation.

Future sales or the possibility of future sales of our common stock may depress the market price of our common stock.

Sales in the public market of substantial amounts of our common stock could depress prevailing market prices of our common stock. As of June 30, 2015, approximately 63.2 million shares of common stock were outstanding.  Upon the effectiveness of our Registration Statement on Form S-3 related to the resale of the shares of common stock issued in our June 2015 private placement, all of these shares are freely transferable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for shares held by our directors, officers and other affiliates and unregistered shares held by non-affiliates. The sale of these additional shares, or the perception that such sales may occur, could depress the market price of our common stock.

As of June 30, 2015, approximately 9.4 million shares of our common stock were issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants, and an additional 16.8 million shares of our common stock will be issuable upon exercise of outstanding warrants issued in our June 2015 private placement in December 2015. Once a warrant is exercised, if the shares of our common stock issued upon the exercise of any such warrant are not available for sale in the open market without further registration under the Securities Act, then the holder can arrange for the resale of shares either by invoking any applicable registration rights, causing the shares to be registered under the Securities Act and thus freely transferable, or by relying on an exemption to the Securities Act. If these registration rights, or similar registration rights that may apply to securities we may issue in the future, are exercised, it could result in additional sales of our common stock in the market, which may have an adverse effect on our stock price.

As of June 30, 2015, there were approximately 1.8 million shares of our common stock which may be issued upon the exercise of outstanding stock options and the vesting of restricted stock units, and we anticipate that we will continue to issue stock option and restricted stock unit awards to our employees and consultants in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and thereafter. If and when these options are exercised and these restricted stock units are vested, such shares will be available for sale in the open market without further registration under the Securities Act. The existence of these outstanding options and restricted stock units may negatively affect our ability to complete future equity financings at acceptable prices and on acceptable terms. The exercise of those options and vesting of the restricted stock units, and the prompt resale of shares of our common stock received, may also result in downward pressure on the price of our common stock.

In the absence of a significant strategic transaction, we will need to raise significant additional capital to finance the research, development and commercialization of Gencaro. If future securities offerings occur, they would dilute our current stockholders’ equity interests and could reduce the market price of our common stock.

We do not expect to pay cash dividends, and accordingly, stockholders must rely on stock appreciation for any return on their investment.

We anticipate that we will retain our earnings, if any, for future growth and therefore 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.

We have implemented anti-takeover provisions that could discourage, prevent or delay a takeover, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders.

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

 

 

 

 

 

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Specifically, our certificate of incorporation provides that all stockholder action must be effected at a duly called meeting and not by a written consent. The bylaws provide, however, that our stockholders may call a special meeting of stockholders only upon a request of stockholders owning at least 50% of our outstanding common stock. These provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could discourage potential acquisition proposals and could delay or prevent a change in control. We designed these provisions to reduce our vulnerability to unsolicited acquisition proposals and to discourage certain tactics that may be used in proxy fights. These provisions, however, could also have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares. As a consequence, they also may inhibit fluctuations in the market price of our shares that could result from actual or rumored takeover attempts. Such provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our management.

We are permitted to issue shares of our preferred stock without stockholder approval upon such terms as our board of directors determines. Therefore, the rights of the holders of our common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of our preferred stock that may be issued in the future. In addition, the issuance of preferred stock could have a dilutive effect on the holdings of our current stockholders.

We are subject to the Delaware anti-takeover laws regulating corporate takeovers. These anti-takeover laws prevent a Delaware corporation from engaging in a merger or sale of more than 10% of its assets with any stockholder, including all affiliates and associates of the stockholder, who owns 15% or more of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock, for three years following the date that the stockholder acquired 15% or more of the corporation’s stock unless:

 

 

 

The provisions of our governing documents and current Delaware law may, collectively:

 

 

 

 

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION

Not applicable.

 

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ITEM 6. EXHIBITS

The following documents are filed as part of this quarterly report on Form 10-Q. The Company will furnish a copy of any exhibit listed to requesting stockholders upon payment of the Company’s reasonable expenses in furnishing those materials.

 

 

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SIGNATURE

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

 

Dated: August 11, 2015

 

 

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

The following documents are filed as part of this quarterly report on Form 10-Q. The Company will furnish a copy of any exhibit listed to requesting stockholders upon payment of the Company’s reasonable expenses in furnishing those materials.

 

 

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