potentially expand our label claims to include, among others, platelets collected from pooled random donors, storage of INTERCEPT-treated platelets for up to seven days rather than five days, and a new processing set for triple dose collections. Our failure to obtain FDA and foreign regulatory approvals of new platelet and plasma product configurations could significantly limit product revenues from sales of the platelet and plasma systems. In any event, delays in receipt or failure to receive approvals, the loss of previously received approvals, or the failure to comply with any other existing or future regulatory requirements, could reduce our sales and negatively impact our profitability potential and future growth prospects. In addition, if the FDA or other regulatory or accrediting body were to mandate safety interventions, including the option of pathogen reduction technology, when we had not received approval for all operational configurations, the market to which we could sell our products may be limited until we obtain such approvals, if ever, or may be permanently impaired if competing options are more broadly available.
We have no experience selling to hospitals or expertise complying with regulations governing finished biologics, and our inability to successfully commercialize the INTERCEPT Blood System for Cryoprecipitation in the U.S would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Our ability to successfully commercialize our INTERCEPT Blood System for Cryoprecipitation in the U.S. will depend on our ability to do the following, among other things:
| • | | achieve market acceptance and generate product sales through execution of sales agreements on commercially reasonable terms; |
| • | | enter into and maintain sufficient manufacturing arrangements for the U.S. market with our third-party manufacturers of the pathogen reduced-cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex and its derivative product, pathogen-reduced plasma, cryoprecipitate reduced; |
| • | | create market demand through our education, marketing and sales activities, including the ability to demonstrate to the transfusion community and other health care constituencies that pathogen reduction, including pathogen reduced-cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex for the treatment and control of bleeding, and the INTERCEPT Blood System is safe, effective and cost effective; |
| • | | hire, train, deploy, support and maintain a qualified U.S.-based commercial organization and field sales force; |
| • | | comply with requirements established by the FDA, including post-marketing requirements and label restrictions; and |
| • | | comply with other U.S. healthcare regulatory requirements. |
In addition, our ability to commercialize pathogen reduced-cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex and its derivative product, pathogen-reduced plasma, cryoprecipitate reduced in the U.S. will initially be limited to the four states of California, Texas, Louisiana and Wisconsin. Our ability to sell this product in other states is dependent on the approval of manufacturing site BLAs by the FDA and we cannot be sure that the sites will receive such authorizations in a timely manner, if at all.
While we are working on implementing the infrastructure we believe will be necessary to market pathogen reduced-cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex and its derivative product, pathogen-reduced plasma, cryoprecipitate reduced directly to hospitals, we have no experience selling to hospitals nor do we have experience or expertise complying with regulations governing finished biologics. If we are unable to successfully market this product to hospitals or comply with such unique regulations, our ability to monetize and deliver such product will be negatively impacted.
We operate a complex global commercial organization, with limited experience in many countries. We have limited resources and experience complying with regulatory, legal, tax and political complexities as we expand into new and increasingly broad geographies.
We are responsible for worldwide sales, marketing, distribution, maintenance and regulatory support of the INTERCEPT Blood System. If we fail in our efforts to develop or maintain such internal competencies or establish acceptable relationships with third parties to support us in these areas on a timely basis, our ability to commercialize the INTERCEPT Blood System may be irreparably harmed.
We have a wholly-owned subsidiary, headquartered in the Netherlands, dedicated primarily to selling and marketing the platelet and plasma systems in Europe, the CIS and the Middle East. Our commercial activities for the U.S., Latin and South America and Asia are based out of our headquarters in Concord, California with certain support from our European headquarters in the Netherlands, with certain individuals servicing Latin and South America and Asia, domiciled outside of the U.S. Given the relatively concentrated customer base in the U.S., coupled with the FDA guidance document on platelet safety requiring all blood centers to comply by March 2021 by using a relatively small number of options, including INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets, should blood centers deploy INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets rapidly, our resources may be inadequate to fulfill the demands, which could result in a loss of product revenues or customer contracts, or both. We will need to maintain and may need to increase our competence and size in a number of functions, including sales, deployment and product support, marketing, regulatory, inventory and logistics, customer service, credit and collections, risk management, and quality assurance systems in order to successfully support our commercialization activities in all of the jurisdictions we currently sell and market, or anticipate selling and marketing, our products. Many of these competencies require compliance with U.S., E.U., South American, Asian and local standards and practices, including regulatory, legal and tax requirements, some of which we have limited experience. In this regard, should we obtain regulatory approval in an increased number of geographies, we will need to ensure that we maintain a sufficient number of personnel or develop new business processes to ensure ongoing compliance with the multitude of regulatory requirements in those territories. Hiring, training and retaining new personnel is costly, time consuming and distracting to existing employees and management. We have limited experience operating on a global scale and we may be unsuccessful complying with the variety and complexity of laws and regulations in a timely manner, if at all. In addition, in some cases, the cost of obtaining approval and maintaining compliance with certain regulations and laws may exceed the product revenue that we recognize from such a territory, which would adversely affect our results of operations and could adversely affect our financial condition. Furthermore, we may choose to seek alternative ways to sell or treat blood components with our products. These may include new business models,