Our use of viruses, chemicals and other hazardous materials requires us to comply with regulatory requirements and exposes us to significant potential liabilities.
Our development and manufacturing processes involve the use of viruses, chemicals, other (potentially) hazardous materials and produce waste products. Accordingly, we are subject to national, federal, state, and local laws and regulations in the United States and the Netherlands governing the use, manufacture, distribution, storage, handling, treatment, and disposal of these materials. In addition to ensuring the safe handling of these materials, applicable requirements require increased safeguards and security measures for many of these agents, including controlling access and screening of entities and personnel who have access to them, and establishing a comprehensive national database of registered entities. In the event of an accident or failure to comply with environmental, occupational health and safety and export control laws and regulations, we could be held liable for damages that result, and any such liability could exceed our assets and resources, and could result in material harm to our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our resources might be adversely affected if we are unable to validate our manufacturing processes and methods, or develop new processes and methods to meet our product supply needs and obligations.
The manufacture of our AAV gene therapies, including etranacogene dezaparvovec, is complex and requires significant expertise. Even with the relevant experience and expertise, manufacturers of gene therapy products often encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling out and validating initial production, and ensuring that the product meets required specifications. These problems include difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including stability and potency of the product, quality assurance testing, operator error, shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations. In the past, we have manufactured certain batches of product candidates, intended for nonclinical, clinical and process validation purposes that have not met all of our pre-specified quality parameters. To meet our expected future production needs and our regulatory filing timelines for gene therapy product candidates we will need to complete the validation of our manufacturing processes and methods, and we may need to develop and validate new or larger scale manufacturing processes and methods. If we are unable to consistently manufacture our gene therapy product candidates or any approved products in accordance with our pre-specified quality parameters and applicable regulatory standards, it could adversely impact our ability to validate our manufacturing processes and methods, to meet our production needs, to file a BLA or other regulatory submissions, to develop our other proprietary programs, to conserve our cash, or to receive financial payments pursuant to our agreements with third parties.
Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Products
We cannot predict when or if we will obtain marketing approval to commercialize a product candidate.
The development and commercialization of our product candidates, including their design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, purity, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, and distribution, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States, the EMA, and other regulatory agencies of the member states of the European Union, and similar regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate in a specific jurisdiction will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate in that jurisdiction.
The process of obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates in the United States, the European Union, and other countries is expensive and may take many years, if approval is obtained at all. 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 cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. Regulatory authorities may also be delayed in completing their review of any marketing applications submitted by us or our partners. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application, may decide that our data are insufficient for approval, may require additional preclinical, clinical, or other studies and may not complete their review in a timely manner. Further, any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be for only limited indications or be subject to stringent labeling or other restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
Our partner, CSL Behring, is currently pursuing the approval of etranacogene dezaparvovec for which marketing authorization applications are currently under review in the United States and European Union. If CSL Behring experiences delays in obtaining marketing approval in the United States, the European Union, or other countries, the commercial prospects of etranacogene dezaparvovec and our ability to achieve contractual milestone payments and royalties on net sales may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues might be materially impaired.