Preferred routes depend upon current, and may be affected by subsequent discoveries and test results, availability of financial resources, and other factors, and cannot be identified with certainty. There are numerous third-party patents in fields in which we work, and we may need to obtain licenses under patents of others to pursue a preferred development route of one or more of our product candidates. The need to obtain a license would decrease the ultimate value and profitability of an affected product. If we cannot negotiate such a license, we might have to pursue a less desirable development route or terminate the program altogether.
Government Regulation
The research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, packaging, labeling, storage, record-keeping, distribution, import, export, promotion, advertising, marketing, sale, pricing, and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products are extensively regulated by governmental authorities in the United States and other countries. The processes for obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and in foreign countries and jurisdictions, along with compliance with applicable statutes and regulations and other requirements, both pre-approval and post-approval, require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. The regulatory requirements applicable to product development, approval and marketing are subject to change, and regulations and administrative guidance often are revised or reinterpreted by the agencies in ways that may have a significant impact on our business.
Licensure and Regulation of Biological Products in the United States
In the United States, the FDA regulates human drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDCA, and in the case of biological products, also under the Public Health Service Act, or the PHSA, and their implementing regulations. The failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements may result in FDA refusal to approve any pending applications or delays in development and may subject an applicant to administrative or judicial sanctions, such as issuance of warning letters, or the imposition of fines, civil penalties, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, and injunctions and/or civil or criminal prosecution brought by the FDA and the U.S. Department of Justice or other governmental entities.
The FDA must approve product candidates for therapeutic indications before they may be marketed in the United States. For biological products, such as our product candidate, leronlimab, the FDA must approve a BLA. An applicant seeking approval to market and distribute a new biologic in the United States generally must satisfactorily complete each of the following steps:
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completion of pre-clinical laboratory tests, animal studies and formulation studies according to good laboratory practices, or GLP, regulations or other applicable regulations;
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submission to the FDA of an IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may begin and must be updated when certain changes are made;
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approval by an independent institutional review board, or IRB, or ethics committee representing each clinical trial site before each clinical trial may be initiated;
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performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials in accordance with applicable IND regulations, good clinical practices, or GCPs, and other clinical-trial related regulations to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the investigational product for each proposed indication;
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preparation and submission to the FDA of a BLA requesting marketing approval for one or more proposed indications, including payment of application user fees;
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review of the BLA by an FDA advisory committee, where applicable;
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satisfactory completion of one or more FDA inspections of the manufacturing facility or facilities at which the biologic is produced to assess compliance with cGMP requirements to assure that the facilities, methods and controls are adequate to preserve the product’s identity, strength, quality and purity;
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satisfactory completion of any FDA audits of clinical trial sites to assure compliance with GCPs and the integrity of the clinical data submitted in support of the BLA; and