Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read this section in conjunction with our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part I, Item 1 of this report and our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto and management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations for the years ended September 30, 2023 and 2022 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on December 22, 2023.
Forward-Looking Statements
This discussion contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potentially,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or the negative of these terms or similar expressions in this report. You should read these statements carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition, or state other forward-looking information. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and financial performance and the assumptions that underlie these statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause a material difference including, but not limited to, those discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2023, filed with the SEC on December 22, 2023, and elsewhere in this report. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s current beliefs and assumptions and based on information currently available to our management. These statements, like all statements in this report, speak only as of their date, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements in light of future developments.
Overview
We are a biopharmaceutical company working to launch the first ophthalmic formulation of bevacizumab approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, for use in retinal indications. Our goal is to launch directly in the United States as the first and only approved ophthalmic bevacizumab for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD, diabetic macular edema, or DME, and branch retinal vein occlusion, or BRVO. Our plans also include seeking approval and launching the product in the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan and other markets, either directly or through a strategic partner. If approved, we expect to receive 12 years of regulatory exclusivity in the United States and up to 10 years of market exclusivity in the European Union.
Bevacizumab is a full-length, humanized anti-VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) recombinant monoclonal antibody, or mAb, that inhibits VEGF and associated angiogenic activity. In March 2022, we submitted a BLA with the FDA for ONS-5010 (LYTENAVA (bevacizumab-vikg)), an investigational ophthalmic formulation of bevacizumab, which we have developed to be administered as an intravitreal injection for the treatment of wet AMD and other retinal diseases. In May 2022, we voluntarily withdrew our BLA to provide additional information requested by the FDA. We re-submitted the BLA to the FDA for ONS-5010 on August 30, 2022, and in October 2022, we received confirmation from the FDA that our BLA had been accepted for filing with a goal date of August 29, 2023 for a review decision by the FDA. On August 29, 2023, we received a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, in which the FDA concluded it could not approve the BLA during this review cycle due to several chemical, manufacturing and control, or CMC, issues, open observations from pre-approval manufacturing inspections, and a lack of substantial evidence. At subsequent Type A meetings with the FDA, we learned that the FDA requires the successful completion of an additional adequate and well-controlled clinical trial evaluating ONS-5010, as well as additional requested CMC data indicated in the CRL to approve ONS-5010 for use in wet AMD.
We agreed to conduct an additional adequate, and well-controlled clinical trial following discussions with the FDA in support of our BLA for ONS-5010. In December 2023, we submitted a Special Protocol Assessment, or SPA, to the FDA for this study (NORSE EIGHT) seeking confirmation that, if successful, it will address the FDA’s requirement for a second adequate and well-controlled clinical trial to support our planned resubmission of the ONS-5010 BLA. In January 2024, we received confirmation that the FDA has reviewed and agreed upon the NORSE EIGHT trial protocol pursuant to the SPA. If the NORSE EIGHT trial is successful, it would satisfy the FDA’s requirement for a second adequate and well-