UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

 

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2020 

OR

For the transition period from            to           

Commission File Number: 001-36620

 

NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

 

 

 

 

(949) 238-8090

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    ☒  Yes    ☐  No

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

 

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐  

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

As of November 13, 2020, there were 1,431,316 shares of the Registrant’s common stock outstanding.

 

 

 

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Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains “forward-looking statements” as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Any statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q about the Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about its strategy, future operations, and development of its product candidates and other statements containing words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “predicts,” “projects,” “targets,” “could,” “may,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements include such identifying words. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to statements regarding:

Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the ability to develop commercially viable product formulations on a timely basis, or at all; the sufficiency of the Company’s cash resources; the ability to obtain necessary regulatory and ethics approvals to commence additional clinical trials; whether data from early clinical trials will be indicative of the data that will be obtained from future clinical trials; whether the results of clinical trials will warrant submission for regulatory approval of any investigational product; whether any such submission will receive approval from the FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and, if the Company is able to obtain such approval for an investigational product, whether it will be successfully distributed and marketed; and the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including economic and other impacts of the pandemic and of and actions taken in response to it by governments, businesses, and individuals. These risks and uncertainties, as well as other risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ significantly from the forward-looking statements contained herein, are described in greater detail in Part II, Item 1A, Risk Factors in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Any forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q speak only as of the date hereof and not of any future date, and the Company expressly disclaims any intent to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

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RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

The following summarizes the principal factors that make an investment in the Company speculative or risky, all of which are more fully described in Part II, Item 1A, Risk Factors in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. This summary should be read in conjunction with the Risk Factors section and should not be relied upon as an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing our business. The occurrence of any of these risks could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or growth prospects or cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements we have made in this report and those we may make from time to time. You should consider all of the risk factors described in our public filings when evaluating our business.

Risks Related to Our Operations

 

Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters

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Risks Related to the Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

 

Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

 

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

 

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

 

 

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NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

FORM 10-Q

FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

Table of Contents

 

 

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PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except share data)

 

 

See accompanying notes to unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

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NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands, except share and per share data)

(Unaudited)

 

 

See accompanying notes to unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

 

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NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands, except share data)

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

 

See accompanying notes to unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

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NOVUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

Note 1. Description of Business

Novus Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering or acquiring, and then developing, therapeutic medicines selectively targeting critical pathways associated with the underlying molecular pathogenesis for patients with severe inflammation and autoimmune diseases. We believe that this approach has the potential to allow us to: develop more precise therapies with a resulting potential for both increased efficacy and safety; identify patients and indications more likely to respond to our treatment approaches; and pursue multiple indications for product candidates. Unless otherwise indicated, references to the terms “Novus,” “our,” “us,” “we”, or the “Company” refer to Novus Therapeutics, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, on a consolidated basis.

On September 14, 2020, the Company acquired Anelixis Therapeutics, Inc. (“Anelixis”), a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company developing a next generation anti-CD40L antibody as a potential treatment for organ and cellular transplantation, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases (see Note 8). Following the acquisition of Anelixis, the Company has continued to maintain its corporate headquarters in Southern California and has research and development facilities in the Boston, Massachusetts area.

Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) and Article 8 of Regulation S-X requirements as set forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information and reflect all adjustments and disclosures, which are, in the opinion of management, of a normal and recurring nature, and considered necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information contained herein. Pursuant to these rules and regulations, the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements do not include all information and notes necessary for a complete presentation of results of operations and comprehensive loss, financial position, and cash flows in conformity with GAAP.

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and notes should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and accompanying notes of Novus for the year ended December 31, 2019 included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by the Company with the SEC on March 16, 2020. The results of operations and comprehensive loss for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of results expected for the full fiscal year or any other future period.

Principles of Consolidation

Novus, a Delaware corporation, owns 100% of the issued and outstanding common stock or other ownership interest in Anelixis Therapeutics, LLC, a Delaware corporation, and Otic Pharma, Ltd., a private limited company organized under the laws of the State of Israel (“Otic”). Otic owns 100% of the issued and outstanding common stock or other ownership interest in its U.S. subsidiary, Otic Pharma, Inc.

The functional currency of the Company’s foreign subsidiary is the U.S. Dollar; however, certain expenses, assets and liabilities are transacted at the local currency. These transactions are translated from the local currency into U.S. Dollars at exchange rates during or at the end of the reporting period. The activities of the Company’s foreign subsidiary are not significant to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

All significant intercompany accounts and transactions among the entities have been eliminated from the condensed consolidated financial statements.

Liquidity and Financial Condition

The Company has experienced recurring net losses and negative cash flows from operating activities since its inception. The Company recorded a net loss of $6.1 million and $16.9 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $114.5 million, working capital of $109.0 million and an accumulated deficit of $74.5 million. Due to continuing operational activities, the Company expects to continue to incur net losses into the foreseeable future. In order to continue these activities, the Company may need to raise additional funds through future public or private debt and equity financings or strategic collaboration and licensing arrangements. The Company’s ability to raise additional

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capital in the equity and debt markets is dependent on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the market demand for the Company’s common stock, which itself is subject to a number of development and business risks and uncertainties, as well as the uncertainty that the Company would be able to raise such additional capital at a price or on terms that are favorable to the Company. If the Company issues equity or convertible debt securities to raise additional funding, its existing stockholders may experience dilution, it may incur significant financing costs, and the new equity or convertible debt securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of its existing stockholders. If the Company issues debt securities to raise additional funding, it would incur additional debt service obligations, it could become subject to additional restrictions limiting its ability to operate its business, and it may be required to further encumber its assets.  

The Company’s management has performed an analysis and concluded that the Company has sufficient cash resources to meet its anticipated cash needs through at least the next 12 months from the date of issuance of the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

September 2020 Stock Purchase Agreement

On September 14, 2020, Novus entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with certain institutional and accredited investors (the “Investors”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, Novus agreed to sell an aggregate of approximately 199,112 shares of Series X¹ non-voting Preferred Stock (“Series X¹ Preferred Stock”) for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $99.1 million (collectively, the “Financing”). Novus has commitments for an additional $9.0 million in equity financing that is contingent upon the satisfaction of certain incremental closing conditions, including stockholders approval of the issuance of the Company’s common stock upon the conversion of the Company’s Series X¹ Preferred Stock and the effective registration of its common stock. Subject to stockholder approval, each share of Series X¹ Preferred Stock is convertible into 55.5556 shares of common stock, as described within this document. The preferences, rights and limitations applicable to the Series X¹ Preferred Stock are set forth in the Certificate of Designation, as filed with the SEC. The Financing is exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder, as a transaction by an issuer not involving a public offering. The Investors have acquired the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof, and appropriate legends have been affixed to the securities issued in this transaction.

Nasdaq Matters

On August 8, 2019, the Company received written notice (the “Notification Letter”) from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) notifying the Company that it was not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirements set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) requires listed securities maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, and Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) provides that a failure to meet the minimum closing bid price requirement exists if the deficiency continues for a period of 30 consecutive business days. Based on the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock for the 30 consecutive business days prior to the date of the Notification Letter, the Company did not meet the minimum closing bid price requirement.

  On October 19, 2020, the Company received written notice from Nasdaq notifying the Company that the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock had been at $1.00 per share or greater for a period of ten consecutive trading days. Accordingly, the Company had regained compliance with Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) and this matter is now closed.

Reverse Stock-Split

On October 5, 2020, Novus effected a reverse stock-split of its issued and outstanding common stock and options for common stock at a ratio of one-for-eighteen. The Company filed an Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware effecting the reverse stock-split. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements and notes, as well as other share and per-share data herein, give retroactive effect to the reverse stock-split for all periods presented.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make informed estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. The most significant estimates in the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements relate to stock-based transactions, accruals for liabilities, operating lease liability, fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a merger, impairment of long lived assets, including goodwill and other intangible assets, and other matters that affect the condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions and the differences may be material to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

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Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash represents cash deposits held at financial institutions. The Company considers all liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less and that can be liquidated without prior notice or penalty to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are held for the purpose of meeting short-term liquidity requirements, rather than for investment purposes. The Company had $10.1 million and $0 cash equivalents at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.

Concentration of Credit Risk and Other Risks and Uncertainties

As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, all of the Company’s long-lived assets were located in the United States.

Financial instruments that are subject to concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash equivalents. The Company’s policy is to invest cash in institutional money market funds to limit the amount of credit exposure. At times, the Company maintains cash equivalents in short‑term money market funds and it has not experienced any losses on its cash equivalents.

The Company’s products will require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and foreign regulatory agencies before commercial sales can commence. There can be no assurance that the Company’s products will receive any of these required approvals. The denial or delay of such approvals may impact the Company’s business in the future. In addition, after approval by the FDA, there is still an ongoing risk of adverse events that did not appear during the product approval process.

The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the pharmaceutical industry, including, but not limited to, new technological innovations, clinical development risk, establishment of appropriate commercial partnerships, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government and environmental regulations, uncertainty of market acceptance of products, product liability, the volatility of its stock price and the need to obtain additional financing.

Our facilities and equipment, including those of our suppliers and vendors, may be affected by natural or man-made disasters. Our administrative office is based in Irvine, California and we manage all our research and development activities through third parties that are located throughout the world. We have taken precautions to safeguard our facilities, equipment and systems, including insurance, health and safety protocols, and off-site storage of computer data. However, our facilities and systems, as well as those of our third-party suppliers and vendors, may be vulnerable to earthquakes, fire, storm, health emergencies, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, power loss, telecommunications failures, physical and software break-ins, software viruses and similar events which could cause substantial delays in our operations, damage or destroy our equipment or inventory, and cause us to incur additional expenses and delay research and development activities. In addition, the insurance coverage we maintain may not be adequate to cover our losses in any circumstance and may not continue to be available to use on acceptable terms, or at all.

Business Combinations

Accounting for acquisitions requires extensive use of estimates and judgment to measure the fair value of the identifiable tangible and intangible assets acquired, including in-process research and development and liabilities assumed. Additionally, the Company must determine whether an acquired entity is considered a business or a set of net assets because the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of net assets acquired can only be recognized as goodwill in a business combination. The Company accounted for the acquisition of Anelixis as a business combination under the acquisition method of accounting. Consideration paid to acquire Anelixis was measured at fair value and included the exchange of Anelixis’ common stock. The allocation of the purchase price resulted in recognition of intangible assets related to goodwill and in-process research and development. Acquired in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) is recognized at fair value and initially characterized as an indefinite-lived intangible asset, irrespective of whether the acquired IPR&D has an alternative future use. The operating activity for Anelixis, the acquiree for accounting purposes, was immediately integrated with Novus post-acquisition, therefore it is not practical to segregate results of operations related specifically to Anelixis since the date of acquisition.

During the measurement period, which extends no later than one year from the acquisition date, the Company may record certain adjustments to the carrying value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed with the corresponding offset to goodwill. After the measurement period, all adjustments are recorded in the consolidated statements of operations as operating expenses or income.

Reportable Segments

Operating segments under GAAP are defined as components of an enterprise about which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”), or decision-making group, in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing performance. The CODM is the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and the Company has determined that it operates in one business segment, which is the development of therapeutic medicines selectively targeting critical pathways associated with the underlying molecular pathogenesis for patients with severe inflammation and autoimmune diseases, or who have undergone organ or cell transplantation.

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Goodwill

Goodwill represents the difference between the consideration transferred and the fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed under the acquisition method of accounting. Goodwill is not amortized but is evaluated for impairment annually as of October 1^st or if indicators of impairment exist that would, more likely than not, reduce the fair value from its carrying amount. The Company determined that no impairment existed as of September 30, 2020. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recognized $1.9 million of goodwill impairment which was included in the consolidated statements of operations.

         

Long-Lived Assets

Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets. Additions, major renewals and improvements are capitalized, and repair and maintenance costs are charged to expense as incurred. Leasehold improvements are amortized over the remaining life of the initial lease term or the estimated useful lives of the assets, whichever is shorter.

The carrying value of long-lived assets, including operating lease right-of-use assets and intangible assets, is evaluated whenever events or changes in business circumstances or the Company’s planned use of long-lived assets indicate, based on undiscounted future operating cash flows, that their carrying amounts may not be fully recoverable or that their useful lives are no longer appropriate. When an indicator of impairment exists, undiscounted future operating cash flows of long-lived assets are compared to their respective carrying value. If the carrying value is greater than the undiscounted future operating cash flows of long-lived assets, the long-lived assets are written down to their respective fair values and an impairment loss is recorded. Fair value is determined primarily using the discounted cash flows expected to be generated from the use of assets. Significant management judgment is required in the forecast of future operating results that are used in the preparation of expected cash flows. No impairments of tangible assets have been identified during the periods presented.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses include personnel and facility-related expenses, outside contracted services including clinical trial costs, manufacturing and process development costs, research costs and other consulting services and non-cash stock-based compensation. Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Amounts due under contracts with third parties may be either fixed fee or fee for service, and may include upfront payments, monthly payments and payments upon the completion of milestones or receipt of deliverables. Non-refundable advance payments under agreements are capitalized and expensed as the related goods are delivered or services are performed.

The Company contracts with third parties to perform various clinical trial activities in the on-going development of potential products. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows to its vendors. Payments under the contracts depend on factors such as the achievement of certain events, successful enrollment of patients, and completion of portions of the clinical trial or similar conditions. The Company’s accrual for clinical trials is based on estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to contracts with clinical trial centers and clinical research organizations. These contracts may be terminated by the Company upon written notice and the Company is generally only liable for actual effort expended by the organizations to the date of termination, although in certain instances the Company may be further responsible for termination fees and penalties, as well as reasonable shutdown costs. The Company estimates its research and development expenses and the related accrual as of each balance sheet date based on the facts and circumstances known to the Company at that time. There have been no material adjustments to the Company’s prior‑period accrued estimates for clinical trial activities through September 30, 2020.

Net Loss Per Share

Basic net loss per common share is calculated by dividing the net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, without consideration for potentially dilutive securities. Diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares and potentially dilutive securities outstanding for the period determined using the treasury-stock and if-converted methods. For purposes of the diluted net loss per share calculation, preferred stock, convertible notes and accrued interest, stock options, warrants and restricted stock units are considered to be potentially dilutive securities and are excluded from the calculation of diluted net loss per share because their effect would be anti-dilutive. Therefore, basic and diluted net loss per share was the same for the periods presented due to the Company’s net loss position.

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The computation of diluted earnings per share excludes stock options, warrants, and restricted stock units that are anti-dilutive. As of September 30, 2020 and 2019, common share equivalents of 1,828,531 shares and 487,274 shares were anti-dilutive, respectively.   

Stock-based Compensation

The Company recognizes compensation expense for all stock-based awards based on the grant-date estimated fair value.

The fair value of stock options is determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, using assumptions that are subjective and require significant judgment and estimation by management. The risk-free rate assumption was based on observed yields from governmental zero-coupon bonds with an equivalent term. The expected volatility assumption was based on historical volatilities of a group of comparable industry companies whose share prices are publicly available. The peer group was developed based on companies in the pharmaceutical industry. The expected term of stock options represents the weighted-average period that the stock options are expected to be outstanding. Because the Company does not have historical exercise behavior, it determined the expected life assumption using the simplified method for options granted to employees, which is an average of the options ordinary vesting period and the contractual term for options granted to nonemployees. The expected dividend assumption was based on the Company’s history and expectation of dividend payouts. The Company has not paid and does not expect to pay dividends at any time in the foreseeable future. The Company recognizes forfeitures on an actual basis and as such did not estimate forfeitures to calculate stock-based compensation.

Restricted Stock Units (“RSU”) and Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units (“PRSU”) are measured and recognized based on the quoted market price of our common stock on the date of grant.

The Company’s 2014 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2014 Plan”) and 2014 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP” and, together with the 2014 Plan, the “Plans”) each provide for an annual increase in shares available for grant, beginning with the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019 and continuing for each fiscal year until, and including, the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024.       

In March 2020, the board of directors approved an increase of 518,693 shares issuable under the 2014 Plan and 129,673 shares issuable under the ESPP. The number of shares reserved for issuance under the 2014 Plan and ESPP were 421,648 and 433,394 shares, respectively, as of September 30, 2020.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements  

No new accounting pronouncement issued or effective during the fiscal period had or is expected to have a material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements or disclosures.

Note 3. Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets

Prepaid expenses and other current assets consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

 

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Note 4. Accrued Expenses and Other Liabilities

Accrued expenses and other liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

 

Note 5. Commitments and Contingencies

Operating Leases

The Company leases office space under a single operating lease. Total rental expense for the operating lease in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss was $50,000 and $47,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, and $143,000 and $142,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.  

The Company has an operating lease for 5,197 square feet of office space in Irvine, California, that expires on September 30, 2021, as amended. Additionally, the Company has operating leases for four serviced office spaces in Burlington, Massachusetts that expire on June 30, 2021. The Burlington, Massachusetts office leases are considered short-term leases and are not recorded on the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

The Company determines if a contract contains a lease at inception. Our office leases have a remaining term ranging from nine months to one year and do not include options to extend the leases for additional periods.

Operating lease assets and liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date. Operating lease liabilities represent the present value of lease payments not yet paid. Operating lease assets represent our right to use an underlying asset and are based upon the operating lease liabilities as adjusted for prepayments or accrued lease payments, initial direct costs, lease incentives, and impairment of operating lease assets. To determine the present value of lease payments not yet paid, we estimate incremental secured borrowing rates corresponding to the maturities of the leases. As we have no outstanding debt nor committed credit facilities, secured or otherwise, we estimate this rate based on prevailing financial market conditions, comparable company and credit analysis, and management’s judgment.

Our Irvine lease contains rent escalations over the lease term. We recognize expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Additionally, tenant incentives used to fund leasehold improvements are recognized when earned and reduce our right-of-use asset related to the lease. These are amortized through the right-of-use asset as reductions of expense over the lease term. Our lease agreement does not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.

While we do not currently have any lease agreement with lease and non-lease components, we elected to account for lease and non-lease components as separate components.

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We have elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all applicable classes of underlying assets. Short-term disclosures include only those leases with a term greater than one month and 12 months or less, and expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less, that do not include an option to purchase the underlying asset that we are reasonably certain to exercise, are not recorded on the balance sheet.

 

The components of lease expense were as follows:

 

 

Other information related to leases was as follows (in thousands, except lease term and discount rate):

 

 

Future payments under noncancelable operating leases having initial or remaining terms of one year or more are as follows for the remaining fiscal year and thereafter (in thousands):

 

Years ending

 

 

Future payments under short term leases with an initial term of 12 months or less total approximately $16,000 for the remainder of 2020, and approximately $33,000 for 2021.

Grants and Licenses

ALS Therapy Development Foundation, Inc. License Agreement

In May 2015, Anelixis executed a License Agreement (the “Agreement”), which is an exclusive patent rights agreement with ALS Therapy Development Foundation, Inc. (“ALSTDI”), for certain patents and “know-how” of ALSTDI. This agreement continues until the licensee terminates the agreement with ninety days written notice. The Agreement requires license fees payable to ALSTDI, subject to the achievement of certain milestones and other conditions.

The first and second milestones of the Agreement are the dosing of the first subjects in a first toxicity study in non-human primates and the dosing of the first patient in a Phase I Clinical Trial, respectively. Both of these milestones were achieved as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. The fee due for the achievement of these milestones was $1,000,000 each. During 2018 and 2017, Anelixis issued $1,000,000 worth of its common stock in lieu of making a cash payment. There were no milestones achieved during 2019 and the nine months ended September 30, 2020.

The Agreement was amended and restated in February 2020, and a first amendment to the restated license agreement was executed in September 2020. As amended in September 2020, the remaining milestone payments for a first licensed product total $6.0 million. In the event that the Company develops a second licensed product, the Company is obligated to pay up to

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$2.5 million in additional milestone payments.

In addition to the milestone payments, the Company is required to pay ALSTDI an amended annual license maintenance fee of $100,000 beginning on the earlier of January 1, 2022, the Company’s first sublicense, or change in control, as defined in the Agreement.  

Furthermore, the Company shall pay ALSTDI fees based on reaching certain levels of annual net sales of any product produced with the patent rights. A royalty of 4% will be due on aggregate net sales. Upon the first calendar year of reaching $500 million in aggregate net sales, the Company shall pay ALS TDI a one-time milestone payment of $15,000,000. Upon the first calendar year of reaching $1 billion in aggregate net sales, the Company is obligated to pay ALSTDI a one-time milestone payment of $30,000,000.

Israeli Innovation Authority Grant

From 2012 through 2015, the Company received grants in the amount of approximately $537,000 from the Israeli Innovation Authority (previously the Office of Chief Scientist) of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry designated for investments in research and development. The grants are linked to the U.S. Dollar and bear annual interest of LIBOR. The grants are to be repaid out of royalties from sales of the products developed by the Company from its investments in research and development. Because the Company has not yet earned revenues related to these investments and cannot estimate potential royalties, no liabilities related to these grants have been recorded as of each period presented. Repayment of the grant is contingent upon the successful completion of the Company’s research and development programs and generating sales. The Company has no obligation to repay these grants, if the research and development program fails, is unsuccessful or aborted or if no sales are generated. The Company has not yet generated sales as of September 30, 2020; therefore, no liability was recorded for the repayment in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements.

Otodyne License Agreement

In November 2015, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with Scientific Development and Research, Inc. and Otodyne, Inc. (collectively, the “Licensors”) granting the Company exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize OP0201, a potential first-in-class treatment option for patients at risk for or with otitis media (middle ear inflammation with or without infection), which is often caused by Eustachian tube dysfunction (“ETD”). Under the terms of the agreement, the Company is obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to seek approval for and commercialize at least one product for otitis media in the U.S. and key European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom). The Company is responsible for prosecuting, maintaining, and enforcing all related intellectual property and will be the sole owner of improvements.   

In December 2015, the Licensors completed transfer of all technology, including the active Investigational New Drug application for OP0201 to the Company. The Company is obligated to pay up to $42.1 million in development and regulatory milestones if OP0201 is approved for three indications in the United States, two in Europe, and two in Japan. The Company is also obligated to pay up to $36.0 million in sales-based milestones, beginning with sales exceeding $1.0 billion in a calendar year. The Company is also obligated to pay a tiered royalty for a period up to eight years, on a country-by-country basis. The royalty ranges from a low-single to mid-single percentage of net sales. The Company made a $300,000 milestone payment in March 2019 related to the first patient enrolled in a phase 2 study. There were no milestones achieved during the nine months ended September 30, 2020. The Company is currently assessing development options for this program in light of the failure to achieve the primary efficacy endpoint in the Company’s Phase 2a study of OP0201 in acute otitis media.

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Legal Matters

The Company is involved in various lawsuits and claims arising in the ordinary course of business, including actions with respect to intellectual property, employment, and contractual matters. In connection with these matters, the Company assesses, on a regular basis, the probability and range of possible loss based on the developments in these matters. A liability is recorded in the financial statements if it is believed to be probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Because litigation is inherently unpredictable and unfavorable results could occur, assessing contingencies is highly subjective and requires judgments about future events. The Company regularly reviews outstanding legal matters to determine the adequacy of the liabilities accrued and related disclosures. The amount of ultimate loss may differ from these estimates. Each matter presents its own unique circumstances, and prior litigation does not necessarily provide a reliable basis on which to predict the outcome, or range of outcomes, in any individual proceeding. Because of the uncertainties related to the occurrence, amount, and range of loss on any pending litigation or claim, the Company does not consider a liability probable and is currently unable to predict their ultimate outcome, and, with respect to any pending litigation or claim where no liability has been accrued, to make a meaningful estimate of the reasonably possible loss or range of loss that could result from an unfavorable outcome. In the event that opposing litigants in outstanding litigation proceedings or claims ultimately succeed at trial and any subsequent appeals on their claims, any potential loss or charges in excess of any established accruals, individually or in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations, and/or cash flows in the period in which the unfavorable outcome occurs or becomes probable, and potentially in future periods.

Legal Proceedings

On September 22, 2014, Tokai, the legal predecessor of the Company, completed the initial public offering of its common stock (the “IPO”). On July 25, 2017, a purported stockholder of Tokai filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, entitled Peter B. Angelos v. Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 1:17-cv-11365-MLW. The lawsuit was filed against Tokai, Jodie P. Morrison, Lee H. Kalowski, Seth L. Harrison, Timothy J. Barberich, David A. Kessler, Joseph A. Yanchik, III, and the underwriters of the IPO. The lawsuit alleges that Tokai made false and misleading statements and omissions about its clinical trials for galeterone, in violation of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The lawsuit seeks, among other things, unspecified compensatory damages, interest, costs, and attorneys’ fees.

On September 7, 2018, plaintiff filed an amended complaint. Defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint on October 15, 2018. Plaintiff opposed defendants’ motion on November 19, 2018, defendants filed a reply in support of their motion on December 17, 2018, and plaintiff filed a sur-reply in support of his opposition on January 8, 2019. On February 18, 2020, the court held a hearing on defendants’ motion to dismiss. The court also ordered the parties to confer and notify it by March 10, 2020, if they reached an agreement to settle the case. On March 10, 2020, pursuant to the court’s order, the parties advised the court they did not agree on a settlement. On July 15, 2020, plaintiff filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority, and on July 21, 2020, defendants filed a response. On October 9, 2020, the court entered an order granting defendants’ motion to dismiss and dismissing the action in its entirety. Judgment was entered on October 14, 2020. On November 12, 2020, plaintiff filed a notice of appeal.

Indemnifications

In the normal course of business, the Company enters into contracts and agreements that contain a variety of representations and warranties and provide for general indemnification. The Company’s exposure under these agreements is unknown because it involves future claims that may be made against the Company but have not yet been made. To date, the Company has not paid any claims or been required to defend any action related to its indemnification obligations. However, the Company may record charges in the future because of these indemnification obligations. No amounts associated with such indemnifications have been recorded to date.

Contingencies

From time to time, the Company may have certain contingent liabilities that arise in the ordinary course of business activities. The Company accrues a liability for such matters when it is probable that future expenditures will be made, and such expenditures can be reasonably estimated. There have been no contingent liabilities requiring accrual at September 30, 2020.

Note 6. Stockholders’ Equity

Equity Distribution Agreement

On July 23, 2018, the Company filed a prospectus and prospectus supplement (the “2018 Prospectus”) under which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, pursuant to an equity distribution agreement with Piper Jaffray & Co., up to $9.8 million in shares of its common stock. As of December 31, 2019 and September 30, 2020, 1,401 shares have been sold under the 2018 Prospectus for gross proceeds of approximately $110,000.  

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2019 Equity Offering

On April 30, 2019, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain investors pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell, in a registered direct offering, an aggregate 191,617 shares of its common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $10.7 million under its effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-226286), which became effective on July 31, 2018.  In a concurrent private placement, the Company also agreed, pursuant to the securities purchase agreement, to issue to such investors Series A warrants to purchase up to 191,617 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $72.00 with a term of eighteen months (the “Series A Warrants”) and Series B warrants to purchase up 191,617 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $724.00 with a term of five years (the “Series B Warrants”). The Series B Warrants become exercisable only upon the exercise of the Series A Warrants. In addition, the Company agreed to issue to the placement agent warrants to purchase up to 9,580 shares of common stock representing 5.0% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock sold in this offering. The placement agent warrants have substantially the same terms as the Series A Warrants issued to the investors in the concurrent private placement, except that the placement agent warrants have an exercise price equal to $69.66 or 125% of the offering price per share and will expire on April 30, 2024. The registered direct offering and the concurrent private placement are referred to collectively herein as the “2019 Equity Offering.”

All the warrants issued in connection with the 2019 Equity Offering contained put options that allow the holders of the warrants the right to receive, for each warrant share that would have been issuable upon an exercise immediately prior to the occurrence of an effective change in control event defined as a fundamental transaction, the number of shares of common stock of the successor or acquiring corporation or of the Company, if it is the surviving corporation, and any additional consideration receivable as a result of such fundamental transaction by a holder of the number of shares of common stock for which this warrant is exercisable immediately prior to such fundamental transaction.  The Company evaluated the embedded put option contained in the warrants under the guidance of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and concluded that the requirements for contingent exercise provisions as well as the settlement provision for scope exception in ASC 815-10-15-74 has been met.  Accordingly, the put options contained in the warrants were not bi-furcated and accounted for as freestanding derivative instruments.

Warrant Exercise Transactions

On January 10, 2020 and January 15, 2020, the Company entered into warrant exercise agreements (the “Exercise Agreements”) with the holders (the “Holders”) of its Series A Warrants and Series B Warrants (collectively, the “Warrants”), issued in the 2019 Equity Offering, pursuant to which the Holders agreed to exercise in cash their Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 383,234 shares of the Company’s common stock at a reduced exercise price of $12.87 per share, plus an additional $2.25 per share for the issuance of the private placement warrants for gross proceeds (before placement agent fees and expenses) to the Company of approximately $5.8 million (the “Exercise Transaction”).

Under the Exercise Agreements, the Company also agreed to issue to the Holders new warrants to purchase up to 383,234 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $12.96 per share, with an exercise period of five and a half years (the “Private Placement Warrants”). The Private Placement Warrants transaction subsequently closed and the Private Placement Warrants were issued on January 14, 2020 with respect to the Warrants exercised on January 10, 2020 and on or about January 17, 2020, with respect to the Warrants exercised on January 15, 2020. In addition, the Company agreed to issue to the placement agent warrants to purchase up to 19,161 shares of common stock, representing 5.0% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock issued in the Exercise Transaction. The placement agent warrants have substantially the same terms as the Private Placement Warrants issued to the Holders, except that the placement agent warrants have an exercise price equal to $18.90. A warrant inducement expense of $4.8 million was recorded which was determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and was calculated as the difference between the fair value of the Warrants prior to, and immediately after, the reduction in the exercise price on the date of repricing in addition to the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants issued.

On September 15, 2020, the Holders exercised approximately 44,643 warrants in a cashless transaction in exchange for 20,834 shares of the Company’s common stock.

As of September 30, 2020, 367,335 warrants were exercisable into common stock. The shares of common stock underlying the registered direct and private placement warrants are registered for offer and sale under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), pursuant to the Company’s effective registration statements on Forms S-1.

The following table shows the warrant activity:

 

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Anelixis Acquisition

On September 14, 2020, the Company acquired Anelixis, after which Anelixis became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Under the terms of the acquisition, the Company issued to the stockholders of Anelixis 175,488 shares of Novus common stock and 140,026 shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock. In addition to the common stock and preferred stock issued in connection with the acquisition of Anelixis, certain outstanding warrants issued by Anelixis were not settled upon completion of the acquisition, and instead were assumed and then replaced with Novus warrants. As part of the acquisition, the Company assumed and replaced options for the purchase of 1,346,398 shares of common stock with an estimated total fair value of approximately $6.1 million and 55,583.875 warrants for Series X¹ Preferred Stock with an estimated fair value of approximately $12.9 million. The estimated fair value of the assumed and replaced options and warrants attributed to pre-merger services were approximately $3.3 million and $12.9 million, respectively, and is included in other consideration amounts transferred and added to goodwill (see Note 8).

As of September 30, 2020, 55,583.875 warrants were exercisable into Series X¹ Preferred Stock. The shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock underlying the assumed and replaced warrants in connection with the Anelixis acquisition are expected to be converted into shares of Novus common stock upon shareholder approval.

The following table shows the warrant activity:

 

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Common Stock Exchange Agreement

On February 13, 2020, the Company entered into an exchange agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) with Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P., Biotechnology Value Fund II, L.P. and Biotechnology Value Trading Fund OS, L.P. (the “Exchanging Stockholders”), pursuant to which the Exchanging Stockholders exchanged (the “Exchange”) 210,888 shares of the Company’s common stock for 3,796 shares of newly designated Series X Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Series X Preferred Stock”). The Company agreed to reimburse the Exchanging Stockholders for their expenses in connection with the Exchange up to a total of $25,000, which was recorded as operating expense in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. The Exchange was completed on February 19, 2020.

On February 13, 2020, in connection with the Exchange, the Company filed a Certificate of Designation setting forth the preferences, rights and limitations of the Series X Preferred Stock with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware. The number of shares so designated shall be 10,000 and Series X Preferred Stock shall have a par value of $0.001 per share. Each share of Series X Preferred Stock will be convertible into 55.5556 shares of common stock at the option of the holder at any time; subject to certain limitations, including, that the holder will be prohibited from converting Series X Preferred Stock into common stock if, as a result of such conversion, the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own a number of shares of common stock above a conversion blocker, which is initially set at 9.99% of the total common stock then issued and outstanding immediately following the conversion of such shares of Series X Preferred Stock. In the event of the Company’s liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of Series X Preferred Stock will participate pari passu with any distribution of proceeds to holders of common stock. Holders of Series X Preferred Stock are entitled to receive dividends on shares of Series X Preferred Stock equal (on an as-if-converted-to-common stock basis) to and in the same form as dividends actually paid on the common stock or other junior securities of the Company. Shares of Series X Preferred Stock will generally have no voting rights, except as required by law and except that the consent of a majority of the holders of the outstanding Series X Preferred Stock will be required to amend the terms of the Series X Preferred Stock.

SEC Accounting Series Release No. 268, Presentation in Financial Statements of “Redeemable Preferred Stocks” (“ASR 268”) requires equity instruments with redemption features that are not solely within the control of the issuer to be classified outside of permanent equity, often referred to as classification in “temporary equity”).The Company evaluated Series X Preferred Stock redemption features and concluded that there are no redemption features with the Series X Preferred Stock that are not solely within the control of the Company and permanent equity classification was appropriate.        

Series X Preferred Stock has two (2) separate and distinct embedded features. They are: (1) optional conversion by holder and (2) redemption put feature upon fundamental transaction.

Each share of Series X Preferred Stock shall be convertible into 55.5556 shares of common stock, at the option of the holder, at any time after the date of issuance.  The Company evaluated the embedded optional conversion feature in accordance with the guidance under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and determined it is exempt from derivative accounting as the embedded feature is deemed to be indexed to the Company’s own stock and classified in stockholder’s equity if freestanding. Further, because the conversion ratio is fixed and equal to the ratio of the original exchange of 55.5556 common stock to each share of Series X Preferred Stock, the Company concluded that there is no intrinsic value to the beneficial conversion feature.  

Each share of Series X Preferred Stock contains redemption put features that allow the holders of the Series X Preferred Stock the right to receive, in lieu of the right to receive conversion shares, for each conversion share that would have been issuable upon such conversion immediately prior to the occurrence of an effective change in control (“Fundamental Transaction”), the same kind and amount of securities, cash or property as it would have been entitled to receive upon the occurrence of such Fundamental Transaction if it had been, immediately prior to such Fundamental Transaction, the holder of one share of common stock.  The Company evaluated the redemption put feature contained in each Series X Preferred Stock under the guidance of ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and concluded that the embedded redemption put feature do not meet the definition of a derivative, if freestanding, under ASC 815 as net settlement could not be achieved.  Accordingly, the redemption put features contained in the Series X Preferred Stock were not bi-furcated and accounted for as freestanding derivative instruments.

On June 1, 2020 and June 10, 2020, the Exchanging Stockholders converted a total of 3,285 shares of Series X Preferred Stock into 182,500 shares of common stock. As of September 30, 2020, 511 shares of Series X Preferred Stock remain outstanding.

September 2020 Stock Purchase Agreement

On September 14, 2020, Novus entered into the Purchase Agreement with the Investors. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, Novus agreed to sell an aggregate of approximately 199,112 shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $99.1 million, or net proceeds of approximately $95.2 million after deducting offering costs, in the Financing. Novus has commitments for an additional $9 million in equity financing that is contingent upon the satisfaction of certain incremental closing conditions, including stockholders approval of the issuance of the Company’s common stock upon the conversion of the Company’s X¹ Preferred Stock and the effective registration of its common stock. Subject to stockholder approval, each share of Series X¹ Preferred Stock is convertible into 55.5556 shares of Common Stock, as described below. The preferences, rights and limitations applicable to the Series X¹ Preferred Stock are set forth in the Certificate of Designation, as filed with the SEC. The Financing is

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exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder, as a transaction by an issuer not involving a public offering. The Investors have acquired the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof, and appropriate legends have been affixed to the securities issued in this transaction.

The Company records shares of preferred stock at their respective fair values on the dates of issuance, net of issuance costs. Holders of Series X¹ Preferred Stock do not have voting rights and are entitled to receive dividends on shares of X¹ Preferred Stock on an as-if converted to common stock basis equal to dividends actually paid on shares of common stock.  The shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock shall automatically be converted into shares of common stock equal to the conversion ratio of 55.5556 upon stockholder approval of the conversion of the Series X¹ Preferred Stock into shares of common stock in accordance with the listing rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market.

  The Company has applied the guidance in ASC 480-10-S99-3A, SEC Staff Announcement: Classification and Measurement of Redeemable Securities, and has therefore classified the Series X¹ Preferred Stock outside of stockholders’ equity because, if conversion to common stock is not approved by the stockholders, the Series X¹ Preferred Stock will be redeemable at the option of the holders for cash equal to the closing price of the common stock on the last trading day prior to the holder’s redemption request.  If, in the unlikely event that, the conversion to common stock is not approved by the stockholders and majority of the Series X¹ Preferred Stock holders elect to exercise their redemption rights to receive cash equal to the closing price of the common stock the on last trading day prior to the holder’s redemption request, such event would result in a material deterioration of the Company’s liquidity and will raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.  However, the Company believes stockholders’ approval for the conversion to common stock is probable to mitigate the risk of raising substantial doubt for the Company to continue as a going concern.  

 

The Company analyzed the conversion provision related to the Series X¹ Preferred Stock and determined there was not a contingent beneficial conversion feature (“BCF”) that would be recognized when the contingency of stockholder approval is resolved.

Stock-Based Compensation

Total stock-based compensation expense was recognized in our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss as follows (in thousands):

 

 

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, PRSUs awarded to employees totaling 3,055 shares vested and resulted in the recognition of $204,765 in stock-based compensation expense.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company incurred the following types of share-based compensation expenses:

Amortization of outstanding stock-based compensation expenses for outstanding equity-based awards through September 30, 2020 was noted to be approximately $92,940 and $726,455 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively.  During the same periods, the Company modified the terms of equity-based awards to former employees whereby the unvested portions of these awards became fully vested on an accelerated basis at their termination date and/or at September 30, 2020.  Further, the Company amended the periods in which specific individuals of the Company’s former board of directors may exercise their vested equity-based awards up to 18 months subsequent to their termination date in lieu of the standard 90 days.  These modifications were individually evaluated under ASC 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation resulting in the Company recognizing additional compensation expenses of approximately $0.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020. As part of the merger with Anelixis, the Company assumed and replaced 1,346,398 shares of equity-based options.  The pre-merger merger related service cost of these assumed and replaced options was allocated as additional purchase consideration and included in goodwill, whereas post-merger related services costs for the options will be amortized to stock-based compensation prospectively from the merger effective

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date of September 14, 2020.  Lastly, the Company granted to certain directors and employees preferred equity-based awards where each preferred option award when exercised into its preferred stock may be converted to 55.5556 shares of the Company’s common stock.  

Below is the summary of the stock-based compensation expenses the Company incurred for three and nine months ended September 30, 2020:

 

 

Note 7. Restructuring Expense

On June 11, 2020, following the announcement regarding the topline results from the phase 2a clinical trial of OP0201, Novus announced that its board of directors approved a plan to reduce the size of its workforce. The workforce reduction, which was completed in June 2020, was designed to reduce the Company’s operating expenses while it is conducting a review of development and strategic alternatives.

On September 3, 2020, the board of directors (the “Board”) of the Company accepted the resignation of Gregory Flesher as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. Mr. Flesher’s resignation was effective as of the close of business on September 4, 2020. The resignation of Mr. Flesher was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. Concurrent with his resignation, Mr. Flesher entered into a consulting agreement with the Company pursuant to which he will provide consulting and transition-support services as requested by the Company at an hourly rate consistent with his target compensation.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, Novus incurred $1.8 million and $2.3 million, respectively, in expenses related to the workforce reduction and expects to pay these amounts in the next nine months.

Total liability for restructuring expenses and their utilization are summarized as follows (in thousands):

 

Note 8. Business Acquisition

On September 14, 2020, the Company acquired Anelixis pursuant to that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated September 14, 2020 (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among Novus, Nautilus Merger Sub 1, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Novus (“First Merger Sub”), Nautilus Merger Sub 2, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of Novus (“Second Merger Sub”), and Anelixis. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, First Merger Sub merged with and into Anelixis, pursuant to which Anelixis was the surviving entity and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Novus (the “First Merger”). Immediately following the First Merger, Anelixis merged with and into Second Merger Sub, pursuant to which Second Merger Sub was the surviving entity (the “Second Merger,” together with the First Merger, the “Merger”). The Merger is intended to qualify as a tax-free reorganization for U.S. federal income tax purposes.  Following the acquisition of Anelixis, the Company has continued to maintain its corporate headquarters in Southern California and maintain research and development facilities in the Boston area.

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Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, at the closing of the Merger, Novus issued to the stockholders of Anelixis 175,488 shares of the common stock of Novus, par value $0.001 per share and 140,026 shares of newly designated Series X¹ Preferred Stock. Subject to stockholder approval, each share of Series X¹ Preferred Stock is convertible into approximately 55.5556 shares of common stock. The preferences, rights and limitations applicable to the Series X¹ Preferred Stock are set forth in the Certificate of Designation, as filed with the SEC.

In addition to the common stock and preferred stock issued, certain outstanding warrants issued and equity awards granted by Anelixis were not settled upon completion of the merger, and instead were assumed and then replaced with Novus warrants and equity awards. The amounts for the assumed and replaced warrants and equity awards attributed to pre-merger services are included in other consideration amounts transferred and added to goodwill.

Concurrently and in connection with the execution of the Merger Agreement, the Company entered into the Purchase Agreement with certain institutional and accredited investors. Pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell an aggregate of approximately 199,112 shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $99.1 million in the Financing (collectively, the “Financing”). Novus has commitments for an additional $9.0 million in equity financing that is contingent upon the satisfaction of certain incremental closing conditions, including stockholders’ approval of the issuance of the Company’s common stock upon the conversion of the Company’s Series X¹ Preferred Stock and the effective registration of its common stock. The merger was a pre-requisite in order for the Financing to transpire; without the merger, those certain institutional and accredited investors would not have purchased the Company’s Series X¹ convertible preferred stock.

Acquisition Consideration

 

The following table summarizes the fair value of purchase price consideration to acquire Anelixis (in thousands):

 

Preliminary Purchase Price Allocation

The following is an allocation of purchase price as of the September 14, 2020 acquisition closing date based upon a preliminary estimate of the fair value of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed by the Company in the acquisition (in thousands):

 

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Acquisition costs of approximately $2.2 million were included in general and administrative expenses in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

Identifiable Intangible Assets

Through its acquisition of Anelixis, the Company acquired intangible assets that consisted of in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) with an estimated fair value of $32.4 million, related to its clinical development program of AT-1501. The estimated fair value of the IPR&D was determined by management based on external valuation specialists’ analysis of replacement costs to recreate AT-1501 in its current clinical stage. The replacement cost method contemplates the cost to recreate the utility of AT-1501 but in a form that is not a replica of AT-1501. In this method, the replacement cost is determined and reduced for depreciation of the asset. In this context, depreciation has three components: (i) physical deterioration, (ii) functional obsolescence, and (iii) economic obsolescence.  

Goodwill

Under the acquisition method of accounting, goodwill of approximately $44.5 million would be generated after accounting for Anelixis’ assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and intangible assets identified and valued.

Pro Forma Information (Unaudited)

The following unaudited pro forma combined financial information is presented to illustrate the estimated effects of the Merger based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of Novus and Anelixis after giving effect to the Merger and the Merger-related pro forma adjustments.

The unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 combine the historical statements of operations of Novus and Anelixis, giving effect to the Merger as if it had occurred on January 1, 2019, the first day of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

The unaudited pro forma combined financial information has been presented for informational purposes only. The unaudited pro forma combined financial information does not purport to represent the actual results of operations that Novus and Anelixis would have achieved had the companies been combined during the periods presented in the unaudited pro forma combined financial statements and is not intended to project the future results of operations that the combined company may achieve after the Merger. The unaudited pro forma combined financial information does not reflect any potential cost savings that may be realized as a result of the Merger and also does not reflect any restructuring or integration-related costs to achieve those potential cost savings. Additionally, the unaudited pro forma combined financial information does not reflect any merger-related expenses, which totaled approximately $2.2 million and were removed from general and administrative expenses in the pro forma calculations below.

 

 

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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The unaudited interim financial statements and this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read together with our audited financial statements and accompanying notes for the year ended December 31, 2019 included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 16, 2020, as amended. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please see Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors for a discussion of certain risk factors applicable to our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Operating results are not necessarily indicative of results that may occur for the full fiscal year or any other future period. Unless otherwise indicated, references to the terms “Novus”, the “Company”, “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to Novus Therapeutics, Inc. References to the term “Tokai” refer to Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the legal predecessor of the Company.

ABOUT NOVUS THERAPEUTICS

Overview

Novus Therapeutics, Inc. (“Novus” or the “Company”) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing life-changing, targeted medicines for patients undergoing organ or cellular transplantation, as well as those living with immunological diseases. Our lead product candidate, AT-1501, is a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb), designed to target CD40 Ligand (“CD40L,” also called CD154), a molecule expressed on the surface of human immune system T cells. The central role of CD40/CD40L signaling in generating pro-inflammatory responses makes it an attractive candidate for therapeutic intervention in autoimmune disease, induction and maintenance of transplant tolerance, and neuroinflammation. Blocking the activation of the CD40L pathway ameliorates disease progression and pathology in preclinical models of autoimmunity and prevents acute and long-term allograft transplant rejection in multiple animal species.

We plan to develop AT-1501 in up to four indications: prevention of kidney allograft rejection, prevention of islet cell allograft rejection, treatment of autoimmune nephritis, and treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS”). AT-1501 successfully completed a Phase 1 study in healthy subjects and a cohort of subjects with ALS.

In September 2020, we acquired Anelixis Therapeutics, Inc., the company that owned or controlled the intellectual property related to AT-1501, a humanized IgG1 anti-CD40L antibody lacking Fc effector function. AT-1501 is designed to inhibit signaling via CD40L, a costimulatory type II membrane receptor expressed on activated T cells and CD40, a receptor expressed on Antigen Presenting Cells (“APC”s). Interactions between B cell expressing CD40, and activated CD4+ “helper” T cells expressing CD40L, play a critical role in promoting germinal center formation, clonal expansion, antibody production, and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines that amplify immune response. The role of CD40 in B cells has been extensively characterized and has been shown to be essential for productive primary and secondary humoral immune responses to T cell dependent antigens. Anti CD40L antibodies also inhibit both CD40 as well as CD11 costimulatory receptors on antigen presenting cells, thus inhibiting the pro-inflammatory polarization of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes. Blocking the ligand also polarizes CD4+ lymphocytes to FoxP3 positive Tregs, a specialized subpopulation of T cells that act to suppress immune response, which functionally secrete IL10 and other cytokines creating a more tolerogenic environment. Finally, blocking the CD-CD40L pathway has not been shown to cause systemic lymphopenia.

Our business strategy is to optimize the clinical and commercial value of AT-1501 and become a global biopharmaceutical company with a focused autoimmune franchise.

AT-1501 is designed to negate the risk of thrombolytic events by introducing structural modifications that have been shown in preclinical models to eliminate binding to the Fcγ receptors associated with platelet activation without altering binding of AT-1501 to CD40L. In non-human primate studies, dosing of AT-1501 up to 200 mg/kg per week for 26 weeks, demonstrated no adverse events regarding coagulation, platelet activation or thromboembolism.

We have completed a single ascending dose Phase 1 study of AT-1501 in healthy volunteers and people with ALS. In this study, the doses of AT-1501 studied were well tolerated in healthy subjects and adults with ALS, and demonstrated a safety profile comparable to placebo.  AT-1501 demonstrated low ADA responses that were not dose related, linear dose proportionality across the dose ranges, and a half-life of up to 26 days.

We plan to develop AT-1501 in up to four indications: prevention of kidney allograft rejection, prevention of islet cell allograft rejection, autoimmune nephritis, and ALS. We selected our indications based on preclinical and clinical data that was generated with either our molecule or historical anti CD40L molecules.

 

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Kidney transplantation: prevention of allograft rejection

Kidney transplantation is the most common type of solid organ transplantation with an estimated 23,000 kidneys having been transplanted in the U.S. in 2019. While 10-15% of all renal transplants are re-transplants, over 90,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for a kidney transplant and in 2014, nearly 5,000 Americans died waiting for a kidney with another nearly 4,000 becoming too sick to receive a transplant. AT-1501 seeks to address challenges associated with current immunosuppressive transplantation regimens using calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based therapies. The ability to prevent acute and chronic transplant rejection without the need for CNIs has the potential to transform the clinical management of preventing graft rejection by mitigating the adverse events associated with CNIs and improving long-term graft survival. Several historical studies have described the effects of anti CD40L antibodies in nonhuman primate models of renal transplant and shown that anti CD40L therapy can prevent both acute rejection and long-term rejection in nonhuman primates.

Islet cell transplantation (ICT): prevention of allograft rejection

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a T cell mediated autoimmune disease with progressive loss of insulin producing pancreatic beta cells and affects over one million persons in U.S. Of these individuals, an estimated 70,000 people have a particularly hard to control T1D called Brittle Diabetes which is in part characterized by extreme swings in blood glucose levels and impaired awareness of hypoglycemia. Impaired awareness of hypoglycemia for people with Type I Diabetes is associated with severe hypoglycemic events which can lead to significant symptoms and even death. Pancreatic islet cell transplantation is gaining attention as a therapeutic option for type 1 diabetes mellitus because it can restore physiological insulin secretion, minimize the risk of hypoglycemic unawareness, and reduce the risk of death due to severe hypoglycemia; however, the progressive loss of islet cells and islet cell function over time often leads to the need for multiple donors to achieve insulin independence. The replacement of CNIs in islet cell transplant could thus potentially transform treatment options for people living with high risk type 1 diabetes. CD40L blockade can abolish many effector mechanisms of inflammation, prevent and intervene in the progression of autoimmunity, and instill transplant tolerance. AT-1501 thus seeks to address the challenges associated with current immunosuppressive transplantation regimens using CNI-based therapies, by replacing the CNIs with AT-1501. Historical studies in nonhuman primate models of islet cell transplantation showed that treatment with anti-CD40L antibodies induces long term islet cell function and graft survival even as a monotherapy in the absence of any additional immunosuppressive agents.

Autoimmune Nephritis

Autoimmune Nephritis refers to a group of autoimmune disorders associated with inflammation and eventual destruction of the kidney. These disorders include Lupus Nephritis (“LN”) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (“FSGS”). Systemic lupus erythematosus, or “SLE,” is one of the largest autoimmune populations globally with an estimated 65,000 to 120,000 patients in the United States. Up to 40 percent of people with SLE develop LN, and may experience kidney dysfunction, dialysis and end stage renal disease. FSGS is also an orphan disease with a prevalence of 40,000 people in the US and variable progression to end stage renal failure. FSGS results from renal podocyte injury associated with immune complex formation in the glomeruli. There are currently no European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) or U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved treatments for LN or FSGS although immunosuppressants such as systemic steroids and CNIs are prescribed off-label. In historical preclinical animal models of lupus nephritis, anti CD40L antibodies ameliorated disease progression, improved kidney function, reduced immune cell infiltrate into the kidney, and improved survival. Systemic biomarkers of SLE such as anti dsDNA antibodies have also been reduced with anti CD40L treatment in animal models. Similar data has been described in preclinical models of FSGS. FSGS models using historical anti CD40L treatments have shown ameliorated kidney function as measured by a reduction in proteinuria and were associated with a decrease in immune cell infiltrate into the glomeruli.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis  

ALS is a progressive, paralytic disorder characterized by degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Novus has received an orphan drug designation for AT-1501 for the treatment of ALS, which would provide seven years of regulatory exclusivity, if approved.

While the exact pathogenic mechanism of ALS is still not fully understood, there is strong evidence indicating that this neuroinflammation plays an important role in the disease’s pathogenesis.AT-1501 is designed to block CD40L binding to CD40, thereby potentially inhibiting neuroinflammatory pathways leading to disease progression in ALS. In vitro proof-of-concept studies have shown that AT-1501 binds to CD40L in human cells and blocks CD40L binding on APCs and activated T cells.  The potential for therapeutic benefit of CD40L blockage in treating ALS has been demonstrated in a SOD1 mouse model of ALS, where a murine anti CD40L antibody, MR1, prolonged survival and delayed the onset of neurological disease progression. These clinical manifestations are believed to be due to reduced immune cell infiltration of macrophages into skeletal muscle and their destroying denervated nerves. The plasticity of the nervous system to repair itself in the absence of this immune cell attack results in improved neuromuscular junction occupancy and improved muscle function. Blocking CD40L signaling also prevents pro-inflammatory polarization of lymphocytes, reduced neuroinflammation and improved motor neuron survival in rodent ALS models. In October

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2020, we initiated a Phase 2, open-label, multi-center study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of multiple doses of AT‑1501 in adult subjects with ALS.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Legacy Operations and Acquisition of Anelixis Therapeutics, Inc.

On September 14, 2020, the Company completed the acquisition of Anelixis Therapeutics, Inc. (“Anelixis”), a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company developing a next generation anti-CD40L antibody as a potential treatment for organ and cellular transplantation, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Concurrent with the acquisition of Anelixis, Novus entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of non-voting convertible preferred stock (the “Preferred Stock”) in a private placement to a group of institutional accredited investors. The private placement resulted in gross proceeds to Novus of approximately $99.1 million before deducting placement agent and other offering expenses. The proceeds from the private placement will be used to fund the Company’s operations, including to advance Phase 2 clinical trials of AT-1501, a humanized IgG1 anti-CD40L antibody with high affinity for CD40L, in renal transplantation, islet cell transplantation, autoimmune nephritis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Prior to our acquisition of Anelixis, we had been focused on developing novel products for patients with disorders of the ear, nose, and throat (“ENT”). In June 2020, we announced that our lead program did not achieve statistical significance for the primary efficacy endpoints in the treatment of acute otitis media. As a result of this failure to achieve the primary study endpoint and expected need to reformulate the investigational drug, we suspended the clinical development of our legacy ENT assets while we assess alternate development strategies, including out-licensing or a sale of these assets. Following the June 2020 announcement, we significantly curtailed development expenses as we sought to identify strategic alternatives that would maximize stockholder value. As a result of these activities, we acquired Anelixis and raised additional capital in September 2020, as described above.

Other Developments

Equity Distribution Agreement

On July 23, 2018, the Company filed a prospectus supplement (the “2018 Prospectus”) under which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, through Piper Jaffray, up to $9.8 million in shares of its common stock. Piper Jaffray has sold 1,401 shares of the Company’s common stock under the 2018 Prospectus.

2019 Equity Offering

On April 30, 2019, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering, an aggregate 191,617 shares of its common stock to certain investors for gross proceeds of approximately $10.7 million under its effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-226286).  In a concurrent private placement, the Company also agreed to issue to such investors Series A warrants to purchase up to 191,617 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $72.00 with a term of eighteen months (the “Series A Warrants”) and Series B warrants to purchase up 191,6172 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $72.00 with a term of five years (the “Series B Warrants”). The Series B Warrants become exercisable only upon the exercise of the Series A Warrants. In addition, the Company agreed to issue to H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, the placement agent for the transaction, warrants to purchase up to 9,580 shares of common stock. The placement agent warrants have substantially the same terms as the Series A Warrants, except that the placement agent warrants have an exercise price equal to $69.6375 and will expire on April 20, 2014. We refer to the registered direct offering and the concurrent private placement collectively as the “2019 Equity Offering.”

Warrant Exercise Transaction

On January 10, 2020 and January 15, 2020, the Company entered into warrant exercise agreements (the “Exercise Agreements”) with the holders (the “Holders”) of its Series A Warrants and Series B Warrants (collectively, the “Warrants”), issued in the 2019 Equity Offering, pursuant to which the Holders agreed to exercise in cash their Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 383,234 shares of the Company’s common stock at a reduced exercise price of $12.87 per share, plus an additional $2.25 per share for the issuance of the private placement warrants for gross proceeds (before placement agent fees and expenses) to the Company of approximately $5.8 million (the “Exercise Transaction”).

Under the Exercise Agreements, the Company also agreed to issue to the Holders new warrants to purchase up to 383,234 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $12.96 per share, with an exercise period of five and a half years (the “Private Placement Warrants”). The Private Placement Warrants transaction subsequently closed and the Private Placement Warrants were issued on January 14, 2020 with respect to the Warrants exercised on January 10, 2020 and on or about January 17, 2020, with respect to the Warrants exercised on January 15, 2020. In addition, the Company agreed to issue to the placement agent warrants to purchase up to 1,916 shares of common stock, representing 5.0% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock issued in the Exercise Transaction. The placement agent warrants have substantially the same terms as the Private Placement Warrants issued to the Holders,

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except that the placement agent warrants have an exercise price equal to $18.90. A warrant inducement expense of $4.8 million was incurred which was determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and was calculated as the difference between the fair value of the Warrants prior to, and immediately after, the reduction in the exercise price on the date of repricing in addition to the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants issued.

Common Stock Exchange Agreement

On February 13, 2020, the Company entered into an exchange agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) with Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P., Biotechnology Value Fund II, L.P. and Biotechnology Value Trading Fund OS, L.P. (the “Exchanging Stockholders”), pursuant to which the Exchanging Stockholders exchanged (the “Exchange”) 210,888 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, for 3,796 shares of newly designated Series X Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Series X Preferred Stock”). The Company agreed to reimburse the Exchanging Stockholders for their expenses in connection with the Exchange up to a total of $25,000, which was recorded as operating expense in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. The Exchange was completed on February 19, 2020.

On February 13, 2020, in connection with the Exchange, the Company filed a Certificate of Designation setting forth the preferences, rights and limitations of the Series X Preferred Stock with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware. Each share of Series X Preferred Stock will be convertible into 55.5556 shares of common stock at the option of the holder at any time; subject to certain limitations, including, that the holder will be prohibited from converting Series X Preferred Stock into common stock if, as a result of such conversion, the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own a number of shares of common stock above a conversion blocker, which is initially set at 9.99% of the total common stock then issued and outstanding immediately following the conversion of such shares of Series X Preferred Stock. In the event of the Company’s liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of Series X Preferred Stock will participate pari passu with any distribution of proceeds to holders of common stock. Holders of Series X Preferred Stock are entitled to receive dividends on shares of Series X Preferred Stock equal (on an as-if-converted-to-common stock basis) to and in the same form as dividends actually paid on the common stock or other junior securities of the Company. Shares of Series X Preferred Stock will generally have no voting rights, except as required by law and except that the consent of a majority of the holders of the outstanding Series X Preferred Stock will be required to amend the terms of the Series X Preferred Stock.

On June 1, 2020 and June 10, 2020, the Exchanging Stockholders converted a total of 3,285 shares of Series X Preferred Stock into 182,500 shares of common stock. As of September 30, 2020, 511 shares of Series X Preferred Stock remain outstanding.

September 2020 Stock Purchase Agreement

On September 14, 2020, Novus entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with certain institutional and accredited investors (the “Investors”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, Novus agreed to sell an aggregate of approximately 199,112 shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $99.1 million (collectively, the “Financing”). Novus has commitments for an additional $9.0 million in equity financing that is contingent upon the satisfaction of certain incremental closing conditions, including stockholders approval of the issuance of the Company’s common stock upon the conversion of the Company’s X¹ Preferred Stock and the effective registration of its common stock. Subject to stockholder approval, each share of Series X¹ Preferred Stock is convertible into 1,000 shares of Common Stock, as described below. The preferences, rights and limitations applicable to the Series X¹ Preferred Stock are set forth in the Certificate of Designation, as filed with the SEC. The Financing is exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder, as a transaction by an issuer not involving a public offering. The Investors have acquired the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof, and appropriate legends have been affixed to the securities issued in this transaction.

Reverse Stock-Split

On October 5, 2020, the Company effected a reverse stock-split of its issued and outstanding common stock and options for common stock at a ratio of one-for-eighteen. The Company filed an Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware effecting the reverse stock-split. The discussion in this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations gives retroactive effect to the reverse stock-split for all periods presented.

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COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global disruptions have adversely affected our business and operations, including, but not limited to, the operations of third parties upon whom we rely.  In response to public health directives and orders related to COVID-19 and based on guidance from public health officials, we have implemented work-from-home policies for our employees. The effects of executive and similar government orders, shelter-in-place orders and our work-from-home policies may negatively impact our productivity and disrupt our business. The magnitude of such effects which will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global disruptions have caused significant volatility in financial and credit markets. We have utilized a range of financing methods to fund our operations in the past; however, current conditions in the financial and credit markets may limit the availability of funding or increase the cost of funding. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the global situation, it is not possible to predict the extent to which these conditions could adversely affect our liquidity and capital resources in the future.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND SIGNIFICANT JUDGMENTS AND ESTIMATES

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our condensed consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). The preparation of these condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. There have been no significant and material changes in our critical accounting policies and significant judgments and estimates during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, as compared to those disclosed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed by the Company with the SEC on March 16, 2020.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Comparison of the Three Months Ended September 30, 2020 and 2019

The following table provides comparative unaudited results of operations for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):

 

 

Research and Development Expenses

The decrease in research and development expenses of $894,000 for the three month period was primarily due to decreases in clinical costs and formulation development costs of $589,000 and $147,000, respectively, as well as decreases in personnel costs of $242,000, consulting services of $183,000, and travel and meetings expense of $12,000. The decreases were offset by an increase in stock-based compensation costs of $279,000. These decreases were made following the completion of our Phase 2a study of our legacy lead program in acute otitis media and the subsequent suspension of development as we assessed strategic options. We expect our research and development costs to increase in future periods as we proceed with the development of AT-1501.

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General and Administrative Expenses

The increase in general and administrative expenses of $2.3 million for the three month period was primarily due to increases in merger related costs of $2.2 million incurred in the third quarter, stock-based compensation costs of $373,000, and general operating costs of $48,000. The increases were partially offset by decreases in litigation costs of $106,000, personnel costs of $151,000, costs associated with operating a publicly traded company of $40,000, and travel and meetings expense of $25,000 due to the ongoing pandemic. Following the completion of Anelixis acquisition, we expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in future periods, as we have a larger headcount and incur expenses relating to the development of a larger product pipeline.

Restructuring Expense

On September 3, 2020, the board of directors (the “Board”) of the Company accepted the resignation of Gregory Flesher as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. Mr. Flesher’s resignation was effective was of the close of business on September 4, 2020. The resignation of Mr. Flesher was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. Additionally, following the acquisition of Anelixis, the severance terms of certain terminated employees were modified. The Company incurred charges totaling $1.8 million for the estimated cash payments related to employee separation costs, including severance and post-employment health benefits for the three months ended September 30, 2020.

Other Income, Net

The change in other income, net was due to a decrease in interest income of $31,000, offset by a decrease in realized losses on foreign currency translation of $7,000, and a decrease of $1,000 in value added tax (“VAT”) paid in Israel for the three months ended September 30, 2020.

Pro Forma Comparison of the Three Months Ended September 30, 2020 and 2019

The following table provides pro forma combined financial information presented to illustrate the estimated effects of the Anelixis acquisition based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of the Company and Anelixis after giving effect to the acquisition. This pro forma information is not necessarily indicative either of the combined results of operations that actually would have been realized by us had the Anelixis acquisition been consummated at the beginning of the period for which the pro forma information is presented, or of future results. Additionally, the pro forma combined financial information does not reflect any merger-related expenses.

 

Revenue

The decrease in revenue of $130,000 for the three month period was due to the difference in amount the Company earned during this phase of the research grant. The Company had a $944,000 research grant agreement, which contained four research and productivity milestones. The current phase, which earned the Company $120,000, was the fourth and final phase of this agreement.

Research and Development Expenses

The decrease in research and development expenses of $488,000 for the three month period was primarily due to decreases in clinical costs and formulation development costs of $385,000 and $236,000, respectively, as well as decreases in consulting services

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of $183,000, and travel and meetings expense of $12,000. The decreases were offset by an increase in stock-based compensation costs of $279,000, personnel costs of $28,000, and $21,000 in general operating costs. As noted above, we expect research and development expenses to increase in future periods. As noted above, we expect research and development expense to increase in future periods.

General and Administrative Expenses

The increase in general and administrative expenses of $157,000 for the three month period was primarily due to an increase in stock-based compensation costs of $372,000. The increase was offset by decreases in litigation costs of $106,000, personnel costs of $30,000, costs associated with operating a publicly traded company of $24,000 and general operating costs of $29,000, and travel and meetings expense of $26,000. As noted above, we expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in future periods. As noted above, we expect our general and administrative expense to increase in future periods.

Restructuring Expense

On September 3, 2020, the Board of the Company accepted the resignation of Gregory Flesher as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. Mr. Flesher’s resignation is effective was of the close of business on September 4, 2020. The resignation of Mr. Flesher was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. Additionally, following the acquisition of Anelixis, the severance terms of certain terminated employees were modified.  The Company incurred charges totaling $1.8 million for the estimated cash payments related to employee separation costs, including severance and post-employment health benefits for the three months ended September 30, 2020.

Other Income, Net

The change in other income, net was due to a decrease in interest income of $31,000, offset by a decrease in realized losses on foreign currency translation of $7,000, and a decrease of $1,000 in value added tax (“VAT”) paid in Israel for the three months ended September 30, 2020.

Comparison of the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 and 2019

The following table provides comparative unaudited results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):

  

Research and Development Expenses

The decrease in research and development expenses of $3.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2019, was primarily due to decreases in clinical costs and formulation development costs of $1.7 million and $1.8 million, respectively, as well as decreases in personnel costs of $197,000, consulting services of $138,000, travel and meetings expense of $81,000, and miscellaneous operating costs of $3,000. The decreases were partially offset by an increase stock-based compensation costs of $261,000. These decreases were made following the completion of our Phase 2a study of our legacy lead program in acute otitis media and the subsequent suspension of development as we assessed strategic options. We expect our research and development costs to increase in future periods as we proceed with the development of AT-1501.

General and Administrative Expenses

The increase in general and administrative expenses of $1.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was primarily due to increases in merger related costs of $2.2 million incurred in the third quarter, stock-based compensation costs of $187,000, and general operating costs of $3,000. The increases were partially offset by decreases in litigation costs of $266,000, costs associated with operating a publicly traded company of $384,000, personnel costs of

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$88,000, and travel and meetings expense of $33,000 due to the ongoing pandemic. Following the completion of Anelixis acquisition, we expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in future periods, as we have a larger headcount and incur expenses relating to the development of a larger product pipeline.

Restructuring Expense

On June 11, 2020, following the prior announcement of topline results of the Phase 2a Clinical Trial of OP0201 in acute otitis media, the Board of the Company approved a reduction in force. The restructuring was completed on June 30, 2020. Additionally, on September 3, 2020, the Board of the Company accepted the resignation of Gregory Flesher as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. Mr. Flesher’s resignation is effective was of the close of business on September 4, 2020. The resignation of Mr. Flesher was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. Furthermore, following the acquisition of Anelixis, the severance terms of certain terminated employees were modified. The Company incurred charges totaling $2.3 million for the estimated cash payments related to employee separation costs, including severance and post-employment health benefits.

Other Income, Net

The change in other income (expense), net was primarily related to an increase in interest income of $6,000, a decrease of $13,000 in realized losses on foreign currency translation, and a decrease of $3,000 in value added tax (“VAT”) paid in Israel for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. 

Warrant Inducement Expense

The Company recognized warrant inducement expense of $4.8 million as a result of the Warrant Exercise Transaction in addition to the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants issued. (See Note 6 to the condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this filing).

Pro Forma Comparison of the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 and 2019

The following table provides pro forma combined financial information presented to illustrate the estimated effects of the Anelixis acquisition based on the historical financial statements and accounting records of the Company and Anelixis after giving effect to the acquisition. This pro forma information is not necessarily indicative either of the combined results of operations that actually would have been realized by us had the Anelixis acquisition been consummated at the beginning of the period for which the pro forma information is presented, or of future results. Additionally, the pro forma combined financial information does not reflect any merger-related expenses.

 

Revenue

The decrease in revenue of $130,000 for the nine month period was due to the difference in amount the Company earned during the current phase of the research grant. The Company had a $944,000 research grant agreement, which contained four research and productivity milestones. The current phase, which earned the Company $120,000, was the fourth and final phase of this agreement.

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Research and Development Expenses

The decrease in research and development expenses of $2.5 million for the nine month period was primarily due to decreases in clinical costs and formulation development costs of $1.3 million and $1.9 million, respectively, as well as decreases in consulting services of $138,000, and travel and meetings expense of $81,000. The decreases were offset by an increase in stock-based compensation costs of $261,000, personnel costs of $645,000, and $29,000 in general operating costs. As noted above, we expect research and development expenses to increase in future periods. As noted above, we expect research and development expenses to increase in future periods. As noted above, we expect research and development expense to increase in future periods.

General and Administrative Expenses

The decrease in general and administrative expenses of $596,000 for the nine month period was primarily due to decreases in litigation costs of $267,000, costs associated with operating a publicly traded company of $255,000, personnel costs of $54,000, general operating costs of $174,000, and travel and meetings expense of $33,000. The decreases were offset by an increase in stock-based compensation costs of $187,000. As noted above, we expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in future periods. As noted above, we expect our general and administrative expense to increase in future periods.

Restructuring Expense

On June 11, 2020, following the prior announcement of topline results of the Phase 2a Clinical Trial of OP0201 in acute otitis media, the Board of the Company approved a reduction in force. The restructuring was completed on June 30, 2020. Additionally, on September 3, 2020, the Board of the Company accepted the resignation of Gregory Flesher as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. Mr. Flesher’s resignation is effective was of the close of business on September 4, 2020. The resignation of Mr. Flesher was not the result of any dispute or disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. Furthermore, following the acquisition of Anelixis, the severance terms of certain terminated employees were modified. The Company incurred charges totaling $2.3 million for the estimated cash payments related to employee separation costs, including severance and post-employment health benefits.

Other Income, Net

The change in other income, net was primarily related to an increase in interest income of $6,000, a decrease of $13,000 in realized losses on foreign currency translation, and a decrease of $3,000 in value added tax (“VAT”) paid in Israel for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.

Warrant Inducement Expense

The Company recognized warrant inducement expense of $4.8 million as a result of the Warrant Exercise Transaction in addition to the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants issued. (See Note 6 to the condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this filing).

Pro Forma Comparison as of September 30, 2020 and 2019

 

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Total Assets

 

The increase in total assets of $4.0 million from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 is primarily due to an increase in cash and cash equivalents of $5.1 million. The increase was offset by decreases in accounts receivable of $250,000, prepaid and other current assets of $561,000, net balance of property and equipment of $5,000, operating lease asset of $133,000 and other assets of $196,000.

Total Liabilities

 

The increase in total liabilities of $730,000 from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 is was primarily due to increases in accrued severance expense of $803,000, accrued expenses and other liabilities of $276,000 and the current portion of operating lease liability of $11,000. The increases were offset by decreases in accounts payable of $215,000 and the non-current portion of operating lease liability of $144,000.

Total Stockholders’ Equity

 

The increase in total equity of $3.3 million from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 is primarily due to an increase in additional paid in capital of $18.3 million, offset by a decrease in accumulated deficit of $15.0 million.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

As of September 30, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $114.5 million, consisting of readily available cash and cash equivalents in bank accounts. While we believe our cash is not subject to excessive risk, we maintain significant amounts of cash at one or more financial institutions that are in excess of federally insured limits. To date, our operations have been financed primarily by net proceeds from the sale of preferred and common stock, the sale of warrants, and the issuance of convertible promissory notes.

We do not have any approved products for commercial sale and have never generated revenue from product sales, and have incurred significant net losses since our inception and expect to continue to incur net operating losses for the foreseeable future. We do not expect to receive any revenue from any product candidates that we develop unless and until we obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our product candidates or enter into collaborative arrangements with third parties. Our primary use of cash is to fund operating expenses, which consist of research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses. Cash used to fund operating expenses is impacted by the timing of when we pay or prepay these expenses. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we expand our clinical program with AT-1501, continue the research and development of, and seek marketing approval for, our product candidates. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution.

We will continue to require additional financing in order to advance our product candidates through clinical development, to manufacture, obtain regulatory approval for and to commercialize our product candidates, to develop, acquire or in-license other potential product candidates, and to fund operations for the foreseeable future. Therefore, we will seek to raise additional capital through equity offerings, debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. Adequate additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms on a timely basis, or at all. Any such failure to raise capital as and when needed could have a negative impact on our financial condition and on our ability to pursue our business plans and strategies, and may cause us to delay the scope of or suspend one or more of our clinical trials, research and development programs or commercialization efforts, out-license intellectual property rights to our product candidates or sell unsecured assets, or a combination of the above. Any of these actions could materially harm our business. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders’ ownership interests will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect our stockholders’ rights. Debt financing, if available, would result in fixed payment obligations and may involve agreements that include restrictive covenants that limit our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends, that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. Please see Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors for additional risks associated with our substantial capital requirements and the challenges we may face in raising capital.

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We plan to continue to fund losses from operations and capital funding needs through cash on hand and future equity or debt financings, as well as potential additional collaborations or strategic partnerships with other companies. The sale of additional equity or convertible debt could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations.

On April 30, 2019, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain investors pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell, in a registered direct offering, an aggregate 191,617 shares of its common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $10.7 million under its effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-226286), which became effective on July 31, 2018.  In a concurrent private placement, the Company also agreed pursuant to the securities purchase agreement to issue to such investors Series A warrants to purchase up to 191,617 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $72.00 with a term of eighteen months (the “Series A Warrants”) and Series B warrants to purchase up 191,617 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $72.00 with a term of five years (the “Series B Warrants”). The Series B Warrants become exercisable only upon the exercise of the Series A Warrants. In addition, the Company agreed to issue to the placement agent warrants to purchase up to 9,580 shares of common stock representing 5.0% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock sold in this offering. The placement agent warrants have substantially the same terms as the Series A Warrants issued to the investors in the concurrent private placement, except that the placement agent warrants have an exercise price equal to $69.66, or 125% of the offering price, per share and will expire on April 30, 2024. We refer to the registered direct offering and the concurrent private placement collectively as the “2019 Equity Offering.”

On January 10, 2020 and January 15, 2020, the Company entered into warrant exercise agreements (the “Exercise Agreements”) with the holders (the “Holders”) of its Series A Warrants and Series B Warrants (collectively, the “Warrants”), issued in the 2019 Equity Offering, pursuant to which the Holders agreed to exercise in cash their Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 383,234 shares of the Company’s common stock at a reduced exercise price of $12.87 per share, plus an additional $2.25 per share for the issuance of the private placement warrants for gross proceeds (before placement agent fees and expenses) to the Company of approximately $5.8 million (the “Exercise Transaction”).

Under the Exercise Agreements, the Company also agreed to issue to the Holders new warrants to purchase up to 383,234 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $12.96 per share, with an exercise period of five and a half years (the “Private Placement Warrants”). The Private Placement Warrants transaction subsequently closed and the Private Placement Warrants were issued on January 14, 2020 with respect to the Warrants exercised on January 10, 2020 and on or about January 17, 2020, with respect to the Warrants exercised on January 15, 2020. In addition, the Company agreed to issue to the placement agent warrants to purchase up to 1,961 shares of common stock, representing 5.0% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock issued in the Exercise Transaction. The placement agent warrants have substantially the same terms as the Private Placement Warrants issued to the Holders, except that the placement agent warrants have an exercise price equal to $18.90.

On September 14, 2020, Novus entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with certain institutional and accredited investors (the “Investors”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, Novus agreed to sell an aggregate of approximately 199,112 shares of Series X¹ Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $99.1 million (collectively, the “Financing”). Novus has commitments for an additional $9.0 million in equity financing that is contingent upon the satisfaction of certain incremental closing conditions, including stockholders approval of the issuance of the Company’s common stock upon the conversion of the Company’s X¹ Preferred Stock and the effective registration of its common stock. Subject to stockholder approval, each share of Series X¹ Preferred Stock is convertible into approximately 55.5556 shares of Common Stock. If stockholder approval for conversion is not obtained by March 13, 2021, then conversions of the Series X¹ Preferred Stock would be settled in cash at the then-current value of the Common Stock. The preferences, rights and limitations applicable to the Series X¹ Preferred Stock are set forth in the Certificate of Designation, as filed with the SEC. The Financing is exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder, as a transaction by an issuer not involving a public offering. The Investors have acquired the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof, and appropriate legends have been affixed to the securities issued in this transaction.

Our primary uses of capital have been directed towards the research and development of our product candidates, compensation of employees, and costs associated with operating as a public company. We expect to incur substantial expenditures in the foreseeable future in order to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

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Cash Flows

The following table provides a summary of our net cash flow activity (in thousands):

 

 

Comparison of the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 and 2019

Net cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 consisted primarily of our net loss of $16.9 million, partially offset by non-cash items consisting primarily of stock-based compensation and depreciation and amortization totaling $1.7 million, as well as warrant inducement expense of $4.8 million. Additionally, cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 reflected a net increase in cash from changes in operating assets and liabilities of $4.6 million, due to an increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses and a decrease in prepaid expenses and other asset, offset by a decrease in operating lease liability.

Net cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 consisted primarily of our net loss of $11.9 million, partially offset by non-cash items consisting primarily of stock-based compensation and depreciation and amortization totaling $1.2 million. Additionally, cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 reflected a net decrease in cash from changes in operating assets and liabilities of $1.2 million, due to an increase in our prepaid expenses and other current assets of $178,000, a decrease in our accounts payable and other accrued expenses of $1.1 million and a decrease in our operating lease liability of $121,000, offset by a decrease in our other assets of $181,000.

Net cash provided by investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 consisted of cash and cash equivalents received from the acquisition of Anelixis.

There was no cash provided by or used in the Company’s investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

Net cash provided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was comprised of $95.2 million in net proceeds from the 2020 Purchase Agreement for the sale of 199,112 shares of Series X¹ preferred stock and $5.2 million in net proceeds from the exercise of warrants by stockholders to purchase approximately 0.4 million shares of common stock.

Net cash provided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was comprised of $9.6 million in net proceeds from the 2019 Equity Offering for the sale of approximately 0.2 million shares of common stock and $107,000 in net proceeds from the 2018 Prospectus for the sale of approximately 1,388 shares of common stock.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND COMMITMENTS

Contractual Obligations

Per §229.303 of Regulation S-K, the Company, designated a Smaller Reporting Company as defined in §229.10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K, is not required to provide the disclosure required by this Item.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

Per §229.305 of Regulation S-K, the Company, designated a Smaller Reporting Company as defined in §229.10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K, is not required to provide the disclosure required by this Item.

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Item 4. Controls and Procedures.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of September 30, 2020, our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of September 30, 2020 in alerting them in a timely manner to material information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed with the SEC.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended September 30, 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

Information pertaining to legal proceedings is provided under the heading “Legal Proceedings” in Note 5, Commitments and Contingencies, to the condensed consolidated financial statements and is incorporated by reference herein.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

An investment in shares of our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, as well as the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our other public filings. The occurrence of any of these risks could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or growth prospects or cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements we have made in this report and those we may make from time to time. You should consider all of the risk factors described in our public filings when evaluating our business.

Unless otherwise indicated, references to the terms “Novus”, the “Company”, “we”, “our”, and “us” refer to Novus Therapeutics, Inc.

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Risks Related to Our Operations

Our short operating history and the Anelixis acquisition may make it difficult to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We are an early development stage pharmaceutical company. Our ongoing operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing the Company, business planning, raising capital, acquiring and developing technology, identifying potential product candidates.  We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully manufacture drug product in large enough quantities and with stability to support additional clinical trials, execute pivotal clinical trials, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. It can take many years to develop a new medicine from the time it is discovered to when it is available for treating patients. Consequently, any predictions made about our future success or viability based on our short operating history to date may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history. In addition, as a result of the acquisition of Anelixis our future business, prospects, financial position and operating results could be significantly different than those in historical periods or projected by our management.

In addition, as an early stage business, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. To successfully market any of our product candidates, we will need to transition from a company with a clinical development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.

We are required to use reasonable best efforts to solicit stockholder approval for the conversion of the Series X1 Preferred Stock.

Pursuant to the Anelixis Agreement, the Company is required to hold a special meeting of stockholders for the purpose of obtaining stockholder approval to allow for the conversion of shares of newly designated Series X¹ Preferred Stock issued to the stockholders of Anelixis into shares of common stock in accordance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5635(a). If such stockholder approval is not received, the Company is required to convene additional stockholder meetings every 90 days thereafter until such approval is obtained, which could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect that we will continue to incur losses over the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

We have incurred significant annual net operating losses in every year since our inception. We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales to date, and we continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. If OP0201 or any future product candidates we develop are not successfully developed and approved, we may never generate any revenue from sales of products. The Company has experienced recurring net losses and negative cash flows from operating activities since its inception. The Company’s net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 is $16.9 million. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $114.5 million, working capital of $109.0 million and an accumulated deficit of $74.5 million. We have not generated any revenues from product sales, have not completed the development of any product candidate and may never have a product candidate approved for commercialization. We expect it will be several years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization. We have financed our operations to date primarily through sales of equity. We have devoted substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to research and development, including preclinical studies and our clinical trials. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year and will depend, in part, on the rate at which we incur expenses and our ability to generate revenue. Net losses and negative cash flows have had, and will continue to have, an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.

Although we raised approximately $99.1 million in gross offering proceeds from our September 2020 financing, we anticipate that we will continue to incur significant expenses as we:

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To become and remain profitable, we must develop and eventually commercialize a product or products with significant market potential. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing clinical trials of our product candidates, obtaining marketing approval for these product candidates and manufacturing, marketing and selling those products for which we obtain marketing approval. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of the Company, could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our nonclinical and clinical development efforts, and expand our business or continue our operations and may require us to raise additional capital that may dilute the ownership interest of common stockholders. A decline in the value of the Company could also cause stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.

Our product candidates are in the early stages of clinical development and may not be successfully developed. If we are unable to successfully develop and commercialize these or any other product candidate, or if we experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We currently do not have any products that have gained regulatory approval. We have invested substantially all our efforts and financial resources in product development, including funding our formulation and device development, manufacturing, nonclinical studies, and clinical trials. A significant portion of our financial resources were devoted to the development of products for patients with disorders of the ear, nose, and throat, particularly our surfactant-based product for the treatment of OM; however, in June 2020 topline results from our phase 2a clinical trial of OP0201 nasal aerosol in infants and children with acute otitis media did not meet the primary efficacy endpoints in the trial and our board of directors initiated a review of strategic alternatives that resulted in the acquisition of Anelixis, a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company with a single product candidate in clinical development (AT-1501) and a second candidate in pre-clinical development (AT-2001). Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for several years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more drug candidates. As a result, our business is substantially dependent on our ability to successfully complete the development of and obtain regulatory approval for one of our or potential future additional product candidates.

We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the pharmaceutical area. For example, to execute our business plan, we will need to successfully:

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If we are unsuccessful in accomplishing these objectives, we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize our or other product candidates, and our business will suffer.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken in response to it may result in additional disruptions to our business operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our business and its operations, including but not limited to ongoing or planned research and development activities, have been adversely affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has also caused significant disruption in the operations of third parties upon whom we rely. The COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken by governments, businesses, and individuals in response to it, including executive orders, shelter-in-place orders and work-from-home policies, have had effects that have and may continue to negatively impact productivity and disrupt our business. For example, in response to public health directives and orders, we have ceased all non-essential business travel and implemented work-from-home policies for all of our employees, resulting in reduced productivity. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.

Quarantines, shelter-in-place, executive and similar government orders, or the perception that such orders, shutdowns or other restrictions on the conduct of business operations could occur, related to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases, could also impact personnel at the third parties on whom we are highly dependent for clinical trials as well as formulation and device development in the United States and other countries, or the timing, availability or cost of materials we use or require to conduct our business.

If COVID-19 continues to spread in the United States and elsewhere, we may experience additional disruptions that could severely impact our business and development activities, including, but not limited to:

Drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, including failure to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. We may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the formulation and commercialization of our product candidates.

Given the early stage of development for our product candidates, the risk of failure is high. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, we must conduct nonclinical trials, and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Formulation and device development, nonclinical and clinical testing are all expensive activities, difficult to design and implement, and can take years to complete. Failure can occur at any time during the development program, including during the clinical trial process. Further, the results of nonclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates, as well as earlier generation formulations may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. Interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Moreover, nonclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in nonclinical and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products. There is a risk that additional nonclinical and/or clinical safety studies will be required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside

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the United States. and/or that subsequent studies will not match results seen in prior studies. It is impossible to predict when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective, safe and well-tolerated in humans or will receive regulatory approval.

We may experience delays in our clinical trials, and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin or enroll subjects on time, need to be redesigned or be completed on schedule, if at all. There can be no assurance that the FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory bodies will approve investigational new drug applications and allow us to start clinical trials for any of our product candidates in the future, including for islet cell transplant. Once a clinical trial has commenced, there is also no assurance that the FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory body will not put any of our product candidates on clinical hold. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidates. Clinical trials may be delayed, suspended or prematurely terminated for a variety of reasons, such as:

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If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive, or if there are safety concerns, we may:

Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our nonclinical studies or clinical trials will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant nonclinical or clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates or may allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations.

If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented and expenses for the development of our product candidates could increase.

We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy. We do not know whether the ongoing or planned clinical trials will enroll subjects in a timely fashion, require redesign of essential trial elements or be completed on its projected schedule. In addition, competitors may have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that treat related or the same indications as our product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’ product candidates. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials would result in significant delays and could require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether.

Patient enrollment is affected by other factors including:

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Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates, which would cause the value of the Company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.

If serious adverse events or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our product candidates, we may need to abandon or limit our development of some of our product candidates.

If our product candidates are associated with undesirable effects in nonclinical or clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to interrupt, delay or abandon their development or limit development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. Any occurrences of clinically significant adverse events with our product candidates may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

AT-1501 is an early‑product candidate, and the side effect profile in humans has not been fully established. Currently unknown, drug-related side effects may be identified through ongoing and future clinical trials and, as such, these possible drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment, the ability of enrolled subjects to complete the trial, or result in potential product liability claims.

Although we have raised significant capital, we will require additional funding to be able to complete the development of our lead drug candidate. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we may be forced to significantly alter our business strategy, substantially curtail our current operations, or liquidate and cease operations altogether.

We expect our expenses to increase in parallel with our ongoing activities, particularly as we incur expenses relating to the exploration of strategic options intended to maximize shareholder value, seek to identify new clinical candidates and potentially seek to partner, out-license or otherwise monetize our drug candidates. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we may be forced to significantly alter our business strategy, substantially curtail our current operations, or liquidate and cease operations altogether. Our funding needs may fluctuate significantly based on a number of factors, such as:

Identifying potential product candidates and conducting formulation development, nonclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain marketing approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of products that we do not expect to be commercially available for several years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Even if we generate positive clinical data, additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital to fund our planned operations, we may be forced to significantly alter our business strategy, substantially curtail our current operations, or liquidate and cease operations altogether.

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Our future success depends on our ability to retain executives and key employees and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel in the future.

We are highly dependent on the product development, clinical and business development expertise of the principal members of our management, scientific and clinical team. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our executives and key employees, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees. Our recent acquisition of Anelixis and the resulting integration of the company may increase the likelihood that employees depart in the foreseeable future.

Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing, sales and marketing personnel is critical to our success. Due to the small size of the Company and the limited number of employees, each of our executives and key employees serves in a critical role. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of, and commercialize products. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating drug product, nonclinical development, clinical development, regulatory strategy, and commercial strategy. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by employers other than us and may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to provide services to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.

Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters

If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, or the approvals may be for a narrow indication, we may not be able to commercialize our product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue may be materially impaired.

Our product candidates must be approved by the FDA pursuant to a new drug application in the United States and by other regulatory authorities outside the United States prior to commercialization in the respective regions. The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and outside the United States, is expensive and takes several years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate. We have not received approval to market any of our product candidates from regulatory authorities in any country. We have no experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals for ALS-related products and may engage third-party consultants to assist in this process. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive nonclinical and clinical data, and other supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product formulation and manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional nonclinical, clinical or other data. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from nonclinical and clinical trials could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a product candidate. Changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application, may also cause delays in or prevent the approval of an application.

Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be for fewer or more limited indications than requested or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable or its market potential significantly impaired. In addition, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.

In order to market and sell our products in the EU and other international jurisdictions outside of the United States, we or our third-party collaborators must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and may require additional nonclinical, clinical or health outcome data. In addition, the time required to obtain approval may differ substantially amongst international jurisdictions. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition to regulatory approval,

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in many countries outside the United States, it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country.

If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.

Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval will be subject to extensive post-marketing regulatory requirements and could be subject to post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our products, when and if any of them are approved.

Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their testing, manufacture, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution, are subject to comprehensive regulation that are specific to those defined by regulatory authorities in the countries where the product is approved. In the United States and other countries that follow the International Conference on Harmonization, these requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing requirements, cGMP requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, including periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping.

The FDA, or other regulatory authorities, may also impose requirements for costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. The FDA closely regulates the post-approval marketing and promotion of drugs to ensure drugs are marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding use of their products and if we promote our products beyond their approved indications, we may be subject to enforcement action for off-label promotion. Violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act relating to the promotion of prescription drugs may lead to investigations alleging violations of federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws.

In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:

Non-compliance with EU requirements regarding safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population, can also result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with the EU’s requirements regarding the protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.

Legislation regulating the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and affect the prices we may obtain.

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In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes intended to contain healthcare costs and modify the regulation of drug and biologic products.  These and other regulatory changes could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.

We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures and regulations will be adopted in the future. Any of these measures and regulations could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures and affect our product development, testing, marketing approvals and post-market activities.

Laws, restrictions, and other regulatory measures are also imposed by healthcare laws and regulations in international jurisdictions and in those jurisdictions we face the same issues as in the United States regarding difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval and commercialization of our product candidates and which may affect the prices we may obtain.

In some countries, particularly the countries of the EU, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product candidate to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be harmed, possibly materially.

Our business operations and relationships with healthcare providers, physicians, third-party payers, and customers will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other broadly applicable healthcare laws, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, program exclusion, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payers will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we receive marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we would market, sell and distribute the products for which we receive marketing approval. Even though we will not control referrals of healthcare services or bill directly to Medicare, Medicaid or other third-party payers, federal and state healthcare laws are and will be applicable to our business. Such laws include, but are not limited to federal false claims, false statements and civil monetary penalties laws, including the federal civil False Claims Act (“FCA”), the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), patient data privacy and security regulation, including, in the United States, HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH”), the federal transparency requirements under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, and analogous state, local or foreign law.

Pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been prosecuted under these laws for a variety of promotional and marketing activities, such as: providing free trips, free goods, sham consulting fees and grants and other monetary benefits to prescribers; reporting to pricing services inflated average wholesale prices that were then used by federal programs to set reimbursement rates; engaging in off-label promotion; and submitting inflated best price information to the Medicaid Rebate Program to reduce liability for Medicaid rebates. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations.

If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional oversight and reporting obligations, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, that person or entity may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

Laws, restrictions, and other regulatory measures are also imposed by anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, and other healthcare laws and regulations in international jurisdictions, and in those jurisdictions we face the same issues as in the United State regarding exposure to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, program exclusion, contractual damages, reputational harm, and diminished profits and future earnings.

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We depend on our information technology systems and those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants. Our internal computer systems, or those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, disruptions, or incidents, which could result in a material disruption of our development programs or loss of data or compromise the privacy, security, integrity or confidentiality of sensitive information related to our business and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, store and transmit large amounts of confidential information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information. Our internal technology systems and infrastructure, and those of our current or future third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access or use resulting from malware, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures, denial-of-service attacks, cyber-attacks or cyber-intrusions over the Internet, hacking, phishing and other social engineering attacks, persons inside our organizations (including employees or contractors), loss or theft, or persons with access to systems inside our organization. Attacks on information technology systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and they are being conducted by increasingly sophisticated and organized foreign governments, groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. In addition to extracting or accessing sensitive information, such attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the security, confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. The prevalent use of mobile devices that access sensitive information also increases the risk of data security incidents which could lead to the loss of confidential information or other intellectual property. While to our knowledge we have not experienced any material system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations or the operations of third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors and consultants, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and significant reputational, financial, legal, regulatory, business or operational harm. The costs to us to mitigate, investigate and respond to potential security incidents, breaches, disruptions, network security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and while we have implemented security measures to protect our data security and information technology systems, our efforts to address these problems may not be successful, and these problems could result in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service and other harm to our business and our competitive position.

For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or planned clinical trials for our product candidates could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any real or perceived security breach affects our systems (or those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants), or results in the loss of or accidental, unlawful or unauthorized access to, use of, release of, or other processing of personally identifiable information or damage to our data or applications or other data or applications relating to our technology or product candidates, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liabilities and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed. Such a breach may require notification to governmental agencies, the media or individuals pursuant to various foreign, domestic (federal and state) privacy and security laws, if applicable, including HIPAA, as amended by HITECH, and its implementing rules and regulations, as well as regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission and state breach notification laws. In addition, our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyberattacks and other related incidents.

Any failure or perceived failure by us or any third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants to comply with our privacy, confidentiality, data security or similar obligations, or any data security incidents or other security breaches that result in the accidental, unlawful or unauthorized access to, use of, release of, processing of, or transfer of sensitive information, including personally identifiable information, may result in negative publicity, harm to our reputation, governmental investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory fines, litigation or public statements against us, could cause third parties to lose trust in us or could result in claims by third parties, including those that assert that we have breached our privacy, confidentiality, data security or similar obligations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations. To the extent we maintain individually identifiable health information, we could be subject to fines and penalties (including civil and criminal) under HIPAA for any failure by us or our business associates to comply with HIPAA’s requirements. Moreover, data security incidents and other security breaches can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm. While we have implemented data security measures intended to protect our information, data, information technology systems, applications and infrastructure, there can be no assurance that such measures will successfully prevent service interruptions or data security incidents.

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European data collection is governed by restrictive regulations governing the collection, use, processing and cross-border transfer of personal information.

We may collect, process, use or transfer personal information from individuals located in the European Economic Area in connection with our business, including in connection with conducting clinical trials in the EEA. Additionally, if any of our product candidates are approved, we may seek to commercialize those products in the European Economic Area. The collection and use of personal health data in the European Economic Area is governed by the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (the “GDPR”), along with other European Union and country-specific laws and regulations. The United Kingdom and Switzerland have also adopted data protection laws and regulations. These legislative acts (together with regulations and guidelines) impose requirements relating to having legal bases for processing personal data relating to identifiable individuals and transferring such data outside of the European Economic Area, including to the United States, providing details to those individuals regarding the processing of their personal data, keeping personal data secure, having data processing agreements with third parties who process personal data, responding to individuals’ requests to exercise their rights in respect of their personal data, reporting security breaches involving personal data to the competent national data protection authority and affected individuals, appointing data protection officers or corporate representatives, conducting data protection impact assessments and record-keeping. The GDPR imposes additional responsibilities and liabilities in relation to personal data that we process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new data protection rules. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and related national data protection laws of the member states of the European Economic Area and other states in the European Economic Area may result in substantial fines, other administrative penalties and civil claims being brought against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. European data protection authorities may interpret the GDPR and national laws differently and may impose additional requirements, which adds to the complexity of processing personal data in or from the EEA or United Kingdom. Guidance on implementation and compliance practices are often updated or otherwise revised.

If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could harm our business.

We may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our nonclinical or clinical development or production efforts. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

Risks Related to the Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

Even if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community. In addition, physicians, patients and third-party payers may prefer other novel products to ours. If our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:

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If our current product candidates, or a future product candidate receives marketing approval and we, or others, later discover that the product is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, the ability to market the product could be compromised.

Clinical trials are conducted in carefully defined subsets of patients who have agreed to enter into clinical trials. Consequently, it is possible that our clinical trials may indicate an apparent beneficial effect of a product candidate that is greater than the actual positive effect in a broader patient population or alternatively fail to identify undesirable side effects. If, following approval of a product candidate, we, or others, discover that the product is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, any of the following events could occur:

Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our operations and business. The commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.

We currently have no marketing and sales force. If we are unable to establish effective marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be able to effectively market and sell our product candidates, if approved, or generate product revenues.

We currently do not have a marketing or sales team for the marketing, sales and distribution of any of our product candidates that are able to obtain regulatory approval. In order to commercialize any product candidates, we must build on a territory-by-territory basis marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services, and we may not be successful in doing so. If our product candidates receive regulatory approval, we intend to establish an internal sales and marketing team with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize our product candidates, which will be expensive and time-consuming, will require significant attention of our executive officers to manage and may nonetheless fail to effectively market and sell our product candidates. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of any of our products that we obtain approval to market. With respect to the commercialization of all or certain of our product candidates, we may choose to collaborate, either globally or on a territory-by-territory basis, with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements when needed on acceptable terms or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our product candidates that receive regulatory approval, or any such commercialization may experience delays or limitations. If we are not successful in commercializing our product candidates, either on our own or through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future product revenue will suffer, and we may incur significant additional losses.

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing competing products before or more successfully than we do.

The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to our current product candidates and will face competition with respect to any product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. There are several large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell products or are pursuing the development of products for the treatment of the disease indications for which we are developing our product candidates. Some of these competitive products and therapies are based on scientific approaches that are the same as or similar to our approach, and others are based on entirely different approaches. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.

Specifically, there are a number of companies developing competing anti CD40 and anti CD40L therapeutics, including Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Astellas, Abbvie, Sanofi, UCB, Viela Bio, Bristol Myers Squibb and Kiniksa. All of these companies are larger than Novus and have significantly greater resources to develop their drug candidates.

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If approved, we expect that AT-1501 will face competition from numerous FDA-approved therapeutics for the prevention of transplant rejection, including PROGRAF^®, ASTAGRAF XL^®, ENVARSUS XR^®, NULOJIX^®, CELLCEPT^®, MYFORTIC^®, and numerous other branded and generic immunosuppressive agents. Multiple companies are working on islet cell and kidney transplant solutions that may ultimately potentially negate the need for immunosuppressive agents in these indications altogether.

Although there are currently no drug therapies approved in the United States for the treatment or prevention of LN or FSGS, many compounds are in different stages of development for these indications, and numerous other branded and generic medicines are already being used “off-label” to treat them.

We expect that AT-1501 will face competition from FDA-approved therapeutics for the treatment of ALS including RADICAVA^®, riluzole, and numerous other branded and generic immunosuppressive agents. Multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including but not limited to Biogen, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Orion Pharma, Orphazyme, AZTherapies, Voyager Therapeutics, Apic Bio, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics, Cytokinetics and Amylyx Pharmaceuticals are also working on competing ALS pharmaceutical, gene therapy and cell therapy approaches.

Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third-party payers seeking to encourage the use of generic products.

Generic products are currently available, with additional products expected to become available over the coming years, potentially creating pricing pressure. If our product candidates achieve marketing approval, we expect that they will be priced at a significant premium over competitive generic products.

Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, conducting nonclinical studies, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and other early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

The insurance coverage and reimbursement status of newly approved products is uncertain. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for new or current products could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

The availability and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payers is essential for most patients to be able to afford expensive treatments. Sales of our product candidates will depend substantially, both domestically and internationally, on the extent to which the costs of our product candidates will be paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payers. If reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment.

There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. In the United States, the principal decisions about reimbursement for new medicines are typically made by CMS, as CMS decides whether and to what extent a new medicine will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare. Private payers tend to follow CMS to a substantial degree. It is difficult to predict what CMS will decide with respect to reimbursement for fundamentally novel products such as ours, as there is no body of established practices and precedents for these new products. Reimbursement agencies in Europe may be more conservative than CMS. Outside the United States, international operations are generally subject to extensive governmental price controls and other market regulations, and we believe the increasing emphasis on cost-containment initiatives in Europe, Canada, and other countries has and will continue to put pressure on the pricing and usage of our product candidates. In many countries, the prices of medical products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. In general, the prices of medicines under such systems are substantially lower than in the United States. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for medicines but monitor and control company profits. Additional foreign price controls or other changes in pricing regulation could restrict the amount that we are able to charge for our product candidates. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for our products may be reduced compared with the United States and may be insufficient to generate commercially reasonable revenues and profits.

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Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payers, in the United States and internationally, to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and level of reimbursement for new products approved and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our product candidates. Increased expense is incurred to cover costs of health outcome focused research used to generate data necessary to justify the value of our products in order to secure reimbursement. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any of our product candidates, due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products into the healthcare market.

In addition, many private payers contract with commercial vendors who sell software that provide guidelines that attempt to limit utilization of, and therefore reimbursement for, certain products deemed to provide limited benefit to existing alternatives. Such organizations may set guidelines that limit reimbursement or utilization of our products.

Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend against claims that our product candidates or products caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in decreased demand for any product candidates or products that we may develop; injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention; withdrawal of clinical trial participants; significant costs to defend the related litigation; substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients; loss of revenue; reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy; and the inability to commercialize any products that we may develop.

We currently hold $[5.0] million in product liability insurance coverage in the aggregate, with a per incident limit of $[5.0] million, which may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We may need to increase our insurance coverage as we expand our clinical trials or if we commence commercialization of our product candidates. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.

Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

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

We have utilized, and intend to continue utilizing, third parties to formulate, manufacture, package, and distribute clinical supplies of our drug candidates. We have no experience in manufacturing and do not have any manufacturing facilities. Currently, we rely on third parties for the manufacturing of drug substance and drug product for nonclinical and clinical activities. Our manufacturing vendors utilize proprietary cell culture media, cell lines, buffers, manufacturing equipment, manufacturing supplies, and storage buffers for the manufacturing of AT-1501 and other product candidates. These materials are custom-made and available from only a limited number of sources. Although we believe that our third-party suppliers maintain a significant supply of these materials and equipment on hand, any sustained disruption in this supply equipment failure could adversely affect our operations. We do not have any long-term agreements in place with our current suppliers. If we are required to change manufacturers, we may experience delays associated with finding an alternate manufacturer that is properly qualified to produce supplies of our products and product candidates in accordance with regulatory requirements and our specifications. Any delays or difficulties in obtaining or in manufacturing, packaging or distributing approved product candidates could negatively impact our clinical trials.

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We expect to rely on third-party manufacturers or third-party collaborators for the manufacture of commercial supply of any other product candidates for which our collaborators or we obtain marketing approval. Despite drug substance and product risk management, this reliance on third parties presents a risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts. In addition, the operations of these third parties have been and may continue to be significantly disrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Any delay or performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers of drug substance or drug products could delay clinical development or marketing approval. We do not currently have arrangements in place for redundant supply. If suppliers cannot supply us with our requirements, we may be required to identify alternative manufacturers, which would lead us to incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement.

Formulations and devices used in early studies are not final formulations and devices for commercialization. Additional changes may be required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities on specifications and storage conditions. These may require additional studies and may result in a delay in our clinical trials and commercialization activities.

We also expect to rely on other third parties to label, store, and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our distributors could delay clinical development or marketing approval of our product candidates or commercialization of our products, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue.

We may be unable to establish any agreements with third-party manufacturers or to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including:

The third parties we rely on for manufacturing and packaging are also subject to regulatory review, and any regulatory compliance problems with these third parties could significantly delay or disrupt our clinical or commercialization activities. Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products. Additionally, macro-economic conditions may adversely affect these third parties, causing them to suffer liquidity or operational problems. If a key third-party vendor becomes insolvent or is forced to lay off workers assisting with our projects, our results and development timing could suffer.

Our product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.

Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates or products may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.

We depend on CROs and other contracted third parties to perform nonclinical and clinical testing and certain other research and development activities. As a result, the outcomes of the activities performed by these organizations will be, to a certain extent, beyond our control.

The nature of outsourcing a substantial portion of our business will require that we rely on CROs and other contractors to assist us with research and development, clinical testing activities, patient enrollment, data collection, and regulatory submissions to the FDA or other regulatory bodies. As a result, our success will depend partially on the success of these third parties in performing their responsibilities. Although we intend to pre-qualify our CROs and other contractors and we believe that the contractors selected will be fully capable of performing their contractual obligations, we cannot directly control the adequacy and timeliness of the resources and expertise that they apply to these activities. Additionally, macro-economic conditions may affect our development partners and vendors, which could adversely affect their ability to timely perform their tasks. If our contractors do not perform their obligations in an adequate and timely manner, the pace of clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our drug candidates could be significantly delayed, and our prospects could be adversely affected.

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Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our technology and products or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and products may be impaired.

Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in relevant countries with respect to our proprietary technology and products. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and internationally that are related to our novel technologies and product candidates. This patent portfolio includes issued patents and pending patent applications covering pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use.

The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions, and under the laws of certain jurisdictions, patents or other intellectual property rights may be unavailable or limited in scope. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our discovery and nonclinical development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.

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

The risks described pertaining to our patents and other intellectual property rights also apply to the intellectual property rights that we license, and any failure to obtain, maintain and enforce these rights could have a material adverse effect on our business. In some cases, we may not have control over the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of the patents that we license, and our licensors may fail to take the steps that we believe are necessary or desirable in order to obtain, maintain and enforce the licensed patents. Any inability on our part to protect adequately our intellectual property may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial position.

The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In certain situations, non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, we have acquired rights to AT-1501 and other product candidates through a license agreement with The ALS Therapy Development Institute, and may in the future enter into other license agreements with third parties for other intellectual property rights or assets. These license agreements may impose various diligence, milestone payment, royalty, and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, or we are subject to a bankruptcy, we may be required to make certain payments to the licensor, we may lose the exclusivity of our license, or the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products covered by the license. Additionally, the milestone and other payments associated with these licenses will make it less profitable for us to develop our drug candidates than if we had developed the licensed technology internally.

In some cases, patent prosecution of our licensed technology may be controlled solely by the licensor. If our licensors fail to obtain and maintain patent or other protection for the proprietary intellectual property we license from them, we could lose our rights to the intellectual property or our exclusivity with respect to those rights, and our competitors could market competing products using the intellectual property. In certain cases, we may control the prosecution of patents resulting from licensed technology. In the event we breach any of our obligations related to such prosecution, we may incur significant liability to our licensing partners. If disputes

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over intellectual property and other rights that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.

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

Our commercial success depends upon our ability, and the ability of our collaborators, to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products and technology, including interference or derivation proceedings before the USPTO. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future.

If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our products and technology. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing technology or product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business.

Because competition in our industry is intense, competitors may infringe or otherwise violate our issued patents, patents of our licensors or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent’s claims narrowly, or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. We may also elect to enter into license agreements in order to settle patent infringement claims or to resolve disputes prior to litigation, and any such license agreements may require us to pay royalties and other fees that could be significant. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure.

We may need to license certain intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.

A third party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights, that are important or necessary to the development of our products. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties on commercially reasonable terms, or our business could be harmed, possibly materially. If we were not able to obtain a license, or are not able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, our business could be harmed, possibly materially.

We may need to license certain intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.

A third party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights, that are important or necessary to the development of our products. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties on commercially reasonable terms, or our business could be harmed, possibly materially. If we were not able to obtain a license, or are not able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, our business could be harmed, possibly materially.

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If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

In addition to seeking patents for some of our technology and product candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. Any NDAs or similar agreements entered into by the Company may not be with all relevant parties, or adequately protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets. Moreover, to the extent we enter into such agreements, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate them, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed.

We may be subject to claims of misappropriation of trade secrets from former employers of Company personnel.

Many of our employees and certain of our directors were previously employed at or affiliated with research foundations or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. Although we try to ensure that our employees and directors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees or directors have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee’s or director’s former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Our stock price could be volatile as holders of our preferred stock become able to convert their shares to common stock and sell these shares in the open market.

We expect our stock price to be volatile, and the market price of our common stock may drop unexpectedly.

The market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations. Market prices for securities of early-stage pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, 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:

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.

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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.

If we fail to establish and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our operating results and our ability to operate our business could be harmed.

Ensuring that we will have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

If we are unable to successfully maintain internal controls over financial reporting, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting, and our stock price, may be adversely affected and we may be unable to maintain compliance with the applicable stock exchange listing requirements. Additionally, as we become a larger company, we will become subject to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires our independent auditors to document and test our internal controls. These additional requirements are costly, and our auditors may identify control deficiencies.

Implementing any appropriate changes to our internal controls may distract the officers and employees of the Company, entail substantial costs to modify its existing processes and take significant time to complete. These changes may not, however, be effective in maintaining the adequacy of the internal controls of the Company, and any failure to maintain that adequacy, or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, could increase operating costs and harm the business. In addition, investors’ perceptions that the internal controls of the Company are inadequate or that we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis may harm the stock price of the Company.

Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of the Company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

Provisions in our corporate charter and bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of the Company that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which our stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because the board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by stockholders to replace or remove the current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of the board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:

Moreover, because the Company is incorporated in Delaware, it is governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of its outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.

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We do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

We expect to retain our future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain, if any, for any stockholders for the foreseeable future.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

None.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.

None.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

None.

Item 5. Other Information.

None.

Item 6. Exhibits.

The exhibits filed or furnished as part of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are set forth on the Exhibit Index, which Exhibit Index is incorporated herein by reference.

 

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Exhibit Index

 

 

 

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SIGNATURES

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 thereunto duly authorized.

 

 

 

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Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATIONS

I, David-Alexandre C. Gros, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Novus Therapeutics, Inc.;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 31.2

CERTIFICATIONS

I, Jon S. Kuwahara, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Novus Therapeutics, Inc.;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 32.1

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,

AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO

SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

In connection with the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Novus Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) for the period ended September 30, 2020 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), the undersigned, David-Alexandre C. Gros, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, hereby certifies, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that to the best of his knowledge:

(1) the Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934; and

(2) the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

 

 

 

Exhibit 32.2

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,

AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO

SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

In connection with the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Novus Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) for the period ended September 30, 2020 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), the undersigned, Jon S. Kuwahara, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, hereby certifies, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that to the best of his knowledge:

(1) the Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934; and

(2) the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.