manufacturers that we may engage in the future must comply with cGMP requirements. Manufacturers of pharmaceutical products often encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling up and validating initial production and contamination controls. These problems include difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including stability of the product, quality assurance testing, operator error, shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations. Furthermore, if microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our products or product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities in which our products and product candidates are made, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination.
Compliance with these regulatory standards often requires significant expense and effort. If we or our suppliers are unable to comply with the applicable regulatory standards or take satisfactory corrective steps in response to adverse results of an inspection, this could result in enforcement action, including, among others, the issue of a public warning letter, a shutdown of or restrictions on our or our suppliers’ manufacturing operations, delays in approving our drug products and refusal to permit the import or export of our drug products. Any adverse regulatory action taken against us could subject us to significant liability and harm our business and prospects.
Our operations are concentrated in Morrisville, North Carolina and interruptions affecting us or our suppliers due to natural or man-made disasters or other unforeseen events could materially and adversely affect our operations and result in losses that may not be covered by insurance.
Most of our current operations are concentrated in Morrisville, North Carolina. In addition, our inventory and certain equipment necessary for the manufacturing of our raw materials and for encapsulating and packaging our products is held in a limited number of locations. Our, and our suppliers’ operations could be subject to the impact of natural or man-made disasters and other business disruptions, which include, but are not limited to, hurricanes, flooding, typhoons, tornados, wildfires and fires, drought, extreme heat, earthquakes, water shortages, blizzards and other extreme weather conditions, as well as power outages, telecommunications, transportation or other infrastructure failure, cybersecurity incidents or physical security breaches, public health emergencies, such as pandemics and epidemics, and geopolitical conflicts, including acts of terrorism, war and civil disorder or unforeseen events, resulting in significant damage to our facilities, to our inventory or to equipment which is necessary for our operations, which could significantly disrupt or curtail or require us to cease our operations. It would be difficult, costly and time-consuming to transfer resources from one facility to another, to repair or replace our facility or to replace inventory or equipment in the event that it is significantly damaged. In addition, our insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. The cost of insurance has increased significantly, including as a result of the impact of climate change and inflation, and we may not be able to obtain sufficient coverage at a reasonable cost to protect us against losses from such disasters or unforeseen events. In addition, if one of our suppliers experiences a similar disaster or unforeseen event, we could face significant loss of our inventory and significant delays in obtaining our supplies or be required to source supplies from an alternative supplier and may incur substantial costs as a result. Any significant uninsured loss, prolonged or repeated disruption to operations or inability to operate, experienced by us or by our suppliers, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to information technology systems failures, security breaches, loss or leakage of data, technological malfunctions or other disruptions, which could result in, among other things, material disruption of our operations, financial losses, the inability to process transactions, the unauthorized release of confidential information and reputational risk, restrictions on accessing critical information and potential exposure to liability, all of which would negatively impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our use of technology, infrastructure and data is critical to our continued operations. We are susceptible to operational, financial and information security risks resulting from security breaches, loss or leakage of data, technological malfunctions or other disruptions. Successful security breaches or technological malfunctions affecting us, our CROs, CMOs, suppliers or other third-party service providers can result in, among other things, material disruption of our operations, including our product development programs, financial losses, the inability to process transactions, the unauthorized release of confidential information, proprietary or other business information (including personal data), reputational risk, restrictions on accessing critical information and potential exposure to liability.