We believe our success depends in part on the continued funding of, and our ability to participate in, large testing programs in the United States and worldwide, the funding of which may be reduced or discontinued or otherwise be unavailable to us.
We believe it to be in our best interests to meaningfully participate in large testing programs. Moreover many of these programs are funded by governments and other donors, and there can be no assurance that funding will not be reduced or completely discontinued. Participation in these programs also requires alignment and engagement with the many other participants in these programs, including the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Agency for International Development, foreign governments and their agencies, non-governmental organizations, and HIV service organizations. If we are unsuccessful in our efforts to participate in these programs, our operating results could be materially harmed.
Developing testing guidelines could negatively affect sales of our products.
Government agencies may issue diagnostic testing guidelines or recommendations, which can alter the usage of our HIV testing products. New laws or guidelines, or changes to existing laws or guidelines, and the manner in which these new or changed laws and guidelines are interpreted and applied, could impact the degree to which our testing products are used. These developments could affect the frequency of testing, the number of people tested and whether the testing products are used broadly for screening large populations or in a more limited capacity. These factors could in turn affect the level of sales of our products and our results of operations.
We could be exposed to liability if we experience security breaches or other disruptions, which could harm our reputation and business.
We may be subject to cyber-attacks whereby computer hackers may attempt to access our computer systems or our third-party IT service providers’ systems and, if successful, misappropriate personal or confidential information. In addition, a contractor or other third party with whom we do business may attempt to circumvent our security measures or obtain such information, and may purposefully or inadvertently cause a breach involving sensitive information. We will continue to evaluate and implement additional protective measures to reduce the risk and detect cyber incidents, but cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent and the techniques used in such attacks change rapidly. Even though we take cyber-security measures that are continuously reviewed and updated, our information technology networks and infrastructure may still be vulnerable due to sophisticated attacks by hackers or breaches.
Even the most well protected IT networks, systems, and facilities remain potentially vulnerable because the techniques used in security breaches are continually evolving and generally are not recognized until launched against a target and, in fact, may not be detected. Any such compromise of our or our third party’s IT service providers’ data security and access, public disclosure, or loss of personal or confidential business information, could result in legal claims proceedings, liability under laws to protect, privacy of personal information, and regulatory penalties, disrupt our operations, require significant management attention and resources to remedy any damages that result, damage our reputation and customers willingness to transact business with us, any of which could adversely affect our business.
Our ability to efficiently operate our business is reliant on information technology, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security breach of that technology could harm our business.
We rely heavily on complex information technology systems across our operations and on the internet, including for management of inventory, invoices, purchase orders, shipping, interactions with our third-party logistics providers, revenue and expense accounting, consumer call support, and various other processes and transactions. Our ability to effectively manage our business, coordinate the production, distribution and sale of our products, respond to customer inquiries, and ensure the timely and accurate recording and disclosure of financial information depends significantly on the reliability and capacity of these systems and the internet.
If any of the foregoing systems fails to operate effectively, problems with transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems, or disruptions in the operation of the internet, could cause delays in product sales and reduced efficiency of our operations. Significant expenditures could be required to fix any such problem.
If there is an increase in demand for our products, it could require us to expend considerable resources or harm our customer relationships if we are unable to meet that demand.
If there are significant or unexpected increases in the demand for our products, we may not be able to meet that demand without expending additional capital resources. This would increase our capital costs, which could