Company: MLTX
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001821586-25-000006
Chunk: 133

Company: MoonLake Immunotherapeutics
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 133
---
 such disputes may preclude us from exercising exclusive rights, or any rights at all, over that intellectual property;

•we may not be able to maintain the confidentiality of our trade secrets or other proprietary information;

•we may not develop or in-license additional proprietary technologies that are patentable; and

•the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.

Should any of these events occur, they could significantly harm our business and results of operation.

If approved, our product candidates that are regulated as biologics may face competition from biosimilars approved through an abbreviated regulatory pathway.

The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (the “BPCIA”), was enacted as part of the ACA to establish an abbreviated pathway for the approval of biosimilar and interchangeable biological products. The regulatory pathway establishes legal authority for the FDA to review and approve biosimilar biologics, including the possible designation of a biosimilar as “interchangeable” based on its similarity to an approved biologic. Under the BPCIA, a reference biological product is granted 12 years of data exclusivity from the time of first licensure of the product, and the FDA will not accept an 

68

MOONLAKE IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICSFORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2024PART I

application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until four years after the date of first licensure of the reference product. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still develop and receive approval of a competing biologic, so long as their BLA does not reply on the reference product, sponsor’s data or submit the application as a biosimilar application. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation, and meaning are subject to uncertainty, and any new policies or processes adopted by the FDA could have a material adverse effect on the future commercial prospects for our biological products.

We believe that SLK approved in the United States as a biological product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider the subject product candidates to be reference