our development. We may consider pursuing growth through the acquisition of technology, assets or other businesses that may enable us to enhance our technologies and capabilities. Proposing, negotiating and implementing these opportunities may be a lengthy and complex process. Other companies, including those with substantially greater financial, marketing, technology, or other business resources, may compete with us for these opportunities or arrangements. We may not be able to identify, secure, or complete any such transactions or arrangements in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis, on acceptable terms, or at all.
We have limited experience with respect to these business development activities. Management and integration of a licensing arrangement, collaboration, joint venture or other strategic arrangement may disrupt our current operations, decrease our profitability, result in significant expenses, or divert management resources that otherwise would be available for our existing business. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of any such transaction or arrangement.
Furthermore, partners, collaborators, or other parties to such transactions or arrangements may fail to fully perform their obligations or meet our expectations or cooperate with us satisfactorily for various reasons and subject us to potential risks, including the followings:
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partners, collaborators, or other parties have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to a transaction or arrangement;
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partners, collaborators, or other parties could independently develop, or develop with third parties, services and products that compete directly or indirectly with our product candidates;
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partners, collaborators, or other parties may stop, delay or discontinue clinical trials as well as repeat clinical trials or conduct new clinical trials by using our intellectual property or proprietary information;
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partners, collaborators, or other parties may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our intellectual property or proprietary information in a way that gives rise to actual or threatened litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to potential liabilities;
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disputes may arise between us and partners, collaborators, or other parties that cause the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of our product candidates, or that result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management’s attention and resources;
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partners, collaborators, or other parties may be terminated and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable services and products; and
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partners, collaborators, or other parties may own or co-own intellectual properties covering our product candidates that results from our collaborating with them, and in such cases, we would not have the exclusive right to commercialize such intellectual properties.
Any such transactions or arrangements may also require actions, consents, approval, waiver, participation or involvement of various degrees from third parties, such as regulators, government authorities, creditors, licensors or licensees, related individuals, suppliers, distributors, shareholders or other stakeholders or interested parties. There is no assurance that such third parties will be cooperative as we desire, or at all, in which case we may be unable to carry out the relevant transactions or arrangements.
We may engage in future acquisitions that could disrupt our business, cause dilution to our stockholders and harm our financial condition and operating results.
In the future, we may acquire companies, assets or technologies in an effort to complement our existing offerings to enhance our market position. We have not made any acquisitions to date and we currently have no plans, proposals or arrangements with respect to any acquisition. Should we choose to pursue an acquisition in the future, we may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. Any future acquisitions we make could subject us to a number of risks, including:
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the purchase price we pay could significantly deplete our cash reserves, impair our future operating flexibility or result in dilution to our existing stockholders;