EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1514946
Filing Year: 2021
Filename: 1514946_10-K_2021_0001078782-21-000365.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business
Overview
Axim Biotechnologies, Inc., a Nevada corporation, is a preclinical stage research and development company focused on changing diagnosis and treatment for oncology and SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19. Axim’s COVID-19 rapid neutralizing antibody test ImmunoPass is the first rapid diagnostic test measuring levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that are believed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering human host cells. Additionally, the Company is developing rapid diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer and proprietary small molecules drugs to treat cancer and block metastasis.
We were originally incorporated in the State of Nevada on November 18, 2010, under the name AXIM International, Inc. On July 24, 2014, we changed our name to AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. to better reflect our business operations. On August 7, 2014, we incorporated a wholly owned Nevada subsidiary named Axim Holdings, Inc. to help facilitate the business operations of the Company.
Our principal executive office is located at 6191 Cornerstone Court, E. Suite 114, San Diego, CA 92121. Our telephone number is (858) 923-4422 and our website is www.aximbiotech.com. Unless expressly noted, none of the information on our website is part of this prospectus or any prospectus supplement. Our common stock is quoted on the OTCQB Marketplace operated by the OTC Markets Group, Inc., under the ticker symbol “AXIM.”
Historical Business Operations
Prior to our acquisition of Sapphire Biotech, Inc. in March 2020, as further discussed below, our business primarily focused on the research, development and production of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products, genetically controlled botanical products, and extraction and purification of cannabinoids technologies based on our proprietary technologies. Our research and development efforts centered aroud the development of a delivery system for cannabinoids for the treatment of certain conditions and diseases, as well as novel cannabinoid extraction techniques.
On May 11, 2015, we entered into a 50 year, worldwide, exclusive intellectual property licensing agreement with CanChew Biotechnologies, LLC (“CanChew”), pursuant to which, in exchange for 5,826,706 restricted shares of our common stock, we received the right to a royalty fee of approximately 2-3% of all gross proceeds derived from products produced under such agreement.
In October 2017, we formed a wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands for purposes of holding pharmaceutical licenses as required by the Netherlands regulations and laws.
On October 16, 2018, we formed a wholly owned disregarded entity, Marina Street, LLC, as part of improvement of internal control over cash management and bank activities.
On June 11, 2019, we entered into an operating agreement as a 1/3 member of KAM Industries, LLC (“Kam”), a Wyoming Limited Company. On June 18, 2019, KAM entered into a Joint Venture Agreement to receive a percentage of the industrial hemp harvest yield on a parcel of land in Wayne County, North Carolina owned by FarmShare, LLC, with whom KAM contracted to purchase a percentage of the hemp harvest for the 2019 growing season. Pursuant to the agreement, in 2020 we received our 1/3 share of the hemp harvested from the 2019 growing season. The agreement then expires unless renewed for 2020 with an additional payment.
On May 6, 2020, we entered into an agreement by and among the Company, CanChew, CanChew License Company (“CanCo”), Medical Marijuana, Inc., Dr. George A. Anastassov (“Dr. Anastassov”), Dr. Philip A. Van Damme (“Dr. Van Damme”), Lekhram Changoer (“Mr. Changoer”), Sanammad Foundation, Netherlands and Sanammad Foundation, US (collectively, the “Sanammad Parties”), pursuant to which we divested substantially all of our cannabis-related intellectual property and business, including our 100% interest in CanCo and CanChew.
Acquisition of Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
On March 17, 2020, we entered into a Share Exchange Agreement (the “Share Exchange Agreement”) with Sapphire and all of its stockholders, pursuant to which, upon closing of the transaction, we: (i) acquired 100% of Sapphire’s outstanding capital, consisting of 100,000,000 shares of common stock and zero shares of preferred Stock; and (ii) assumed all of the outstanding debt of Sapphire. The outstanding debt included two convertible notes in the principal amounts of $310,000 and $190,000, respectfully.
In exchange for 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Sapphire, we issued and aggregate of 54,000,000 newly issued shares of the common stock of the company to Sapphire’s existing stockholders (the “Share Exchange”). As a result of the Share Exchange, Sapphire became a 100% owned subsidiary of the Company, which on a going forward basis will result in consolidated financial reporting by the Company to include the results of Sapphire.
Our principal corporate headquarters are located at 6191 Cornerstone E. Suite 114, San Diego, CA 92121. Our website address is www.aximbiotech.com. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not a part of this prospectus. The trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.
Current Operations Following Acquisition of Sapphire
Oncology
AXIM acquired Sapphire in order to develop and commercialize a unique therapeutic approach designed to disrupt cancer growth and block metastatic spread. Prior to our acquisition of Sapphire, it acquired an exclusive license to the technology around SBI-183, an anti-metastatic compound developed by Dr. Douglas Lake at Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University to inhibit QSOX1. Dr. Douglas Lake is a co-founder of Sapphire.
Oncology Strategy
We continue to advance our mission of improving global cancer care through the development of novel therapeutics for controlling metastatic cancer spread, and diagnostics for early cancer detection, response to treatment, and for monitoring post-treatment recurrence. We aspire to be the leader in QSOX1-targeted metastatic cancer therapies, and have undertaken the development of a potent QSOX1 inhibitor to be used as a platform drug for a variety of indications.
We have been investigating the enzyme Quiescin Sulfhydryl Oxidase 1 (“QSOX1”), a master regulator of extracellular matrix remodeling, and its overexpression by tumor cells. QSOX1 is a tumor-derived enzyme that is important for cancer growth, invasion and metastasis. Overexpression of QSOX1 has been unambiguously linked to promoting tumor invasion and metastasis. One of the Company’s co-founders, Dr. Douglas Lake, has discovered that a small molecule SBI-183 inhibited the enzymatic activity of QSOX1, and as a result, suppressed tumor cell invasion in vitro and metastasis of breast tumor cells in vivo. Through our medicinal chemistry efforts, we synthesized multiple structural analogs of SBI-183 and unveiled SPX-1009 as a lead compound that demonstrated ten-fold improvement in suppressing invasion and metastasis in several cancer models.
Through our medicinal chemistry efforts, we have synthesized multiple structural analogs of SBI-183, and we unveiled SPX-1009 as a lead compound that demonstrated ten-fold improvement in suppressing invasion and metastasis in several cancer models.
We believe that our therapeutic drug development strategy targeting the metastatic spread is a unique, novel and pioneering approach to saving lives. Our near-term objective is to demonstrate the ability of our lead anti-QSOX1 drug candidates to suppress tumor growth and metastasis and to advance them into pre-clinical studies.
Additionally, we believe that QSOX1 has a significant potential to be developed into an important biomarker for a cancer test. We currently anticipate that ongoing diagnostic product development in 2021 will result in a commercial prototype in early 2022 of a universal companion diagnostic to measure the efficacy of any ongoing cancer treatments based on measuring QSOX1 levels. Ultimately, we aim to develop a rapid lateral flow blood test that makes possible the early detection of cancer.
We believe that Sapphire is the first to discover the over-expression of QSOX1 as a biomarker for cancer in blood. We have filed a patent application claiming many discoveries related to QSOX1, including a rapid diagnostic test, which we have developed into a lateral flow device capable of measuring levels of QSOX1. Our equivalent of a liquid biopsy test is a non-invasive, rapid blood test that will measure QSOX1 over-expression. Liquid biopsy refers to the process of testing the blood for the presence of a disease biomarker. Most so-called “liquid biopsy” companies test blood for circulating tumor cells (“CTCs”) and DNA sequences. The disease biomarker we test for is an enzyme. We seek to prove that measuring QSOX1 over-expression, even before the tumor is formed, will enable detection of cancer at an earlier stage than liquid biopsy companies whose tests detect the CTC’s and DNA, usually after the tumor is formed and is shedding cells.
On January 13, 2020, Sapphire entered into an agreement with Skysong Innovations, LLC (“Skysong”) for an exclusive license to technology relating to SBI-183, an anti-metastatic compound suppressing tumor cell growth and blocking metastasis. As consideration for the license agreement, the Company agreed to grant Skysong (as licensing agent for Mayo Clinic Ventures and Arizona State University) 80,000 shares of Sapphire, which converted into 4,800,000 shares of Axim Biotechnologies, Inc., upon the merger.
Effective February 7, 2020, Sapphire entered into an Industry Sponsored Research Agreement (“SRA”) to test and confirm the inhibitory activity of SBI-183 and SBI-183 analogs, including those synthesized by the Company. The testing will include cell-based in vitro assays, NMR binding studies and testing to determine if SBI-183 enhances the activity of cytotoxic drugs in vitro. Animal studies will also be conducted under the SRA. Specifically SBI-183 analogs will be evaluated in a mouse model of triple negative breast cancer using human tumor xenografts. The work will be performed over a period of one year with the total cost of the SRA totaling $150,468 paid prior to our acquisition of Sapphire.
On August 11, 2020, Sapphire was awarded a $395,880 phase I Small Business Innovation Research (“SBIR”) grant by the National Cancer Institute (“NCI”). The 12-month grant supports the continued development of novel small molecules that inhibit the enzymatic activity of QSOX1 based on our lead compound SPX-1009.
Covid-19
As Sapphire is a pioneer in the research and development of diagnostic tools for the early screening of cancer cells, our researchers have been able to quickly adapt our existing research and technology currently under development to create diagnostic tools that screen for COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies. The current need for such an instrument is great, as the pandemic continues to plague the worldwide healthcare landscape.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has spread at an alarming rate since the first cases were identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. The virus can be transmitted from person-to-person in respiratory secretions from symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals. Since the virus was new to the human population and death rates are 10 to 50-fold higher than other respiratory viruses, the pandemic has placed excessive demands on the global healthcare network. Because initially there were no vaccines or effective antiviral therapies that existed for SARS-CoV-2, efforts to combat this pandemic have been challenging.
Polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”) tests that detect active SARS-CoV-2 infection are playing an important role in tracking disease spread, while serological tests that detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are now being used to measure past rates of infection and identify individuals that could be immune to COVID-19. However, not all antibodies are created equal and tests that specifically measure antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2 have not been generally available to healthcare providers or patients.
SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies block binding and entry of the virus into host cells. It is desirable to have high levels of neutralizing antibodies in convalescent plasma used to treat patients fighting COVID-19 so that those antibodies can block the virus from further infecting the host. However, despite convalescing from the disease, not all individuals make high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Therefore, there is a clinical need to measure levels of neutralizing antibodies in COVID-19 convalescent plasma.
The most widely used antibody tests on the market today do not specifically identify neutralizing antibodies. Instead, they measure a large family of antibodies that bind to various parts of the virus, but that do not necessarily neutralize it. To address this shortcoming, we developed a patent-pending rapid diagnostic test called ImmunoPass, which is specifically focused on measuring the levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that prevent SARS-CoV-2 from attaching to human cells. The test is based on blocking the interaction between human cell receptors and the viral spike protein that mimics the virus neutralization process in the body.
Why ImmunoPass
ImmunoPass is a rapid (10-minute) serological diagnostic test that measures SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, or Nabs. ImmunoPass SARS-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibody (“Nab”) Rapid Test is the first of its kind, and is a rapid lateral flow chromatographic immunoassay intended for the semi-quantitative measurement of neutralizing antibody in human serum or plasma (sodium heparin, potassium and acid dextrose citrate). The ImmunoPass™ SARS-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibody (NAb) Rapid Test measures NAbs within 10 minutes, unlike traditional tests, which require days. The ImmunoPass™ test kit does not utilize live biological materials and does not require the strict biosafety protocol associated with live virus samples.
Specifically, we envision that our ImmunoPass test may be used for the following:
(i)Measurement of neutralizing antibodies in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and/or received a vaccine and to provide an “Immunity Passport” so that they can go back to work and school or participate in social gatherings without risk of infecting others. The primary goal of any vaccine is to induce neutralizing antibody responses that protect vaccine recipients from infection and subsequent disease. As COVID-19 vaccines have now begun rolling out to the general public, we believe immunity monitoring is starting to play a critical role in determining whether the vaccine is effective, for how long, and when it is time for recipients of the vaccine to get a booster shot. Since immunity to the virus is not anticipated to last forever, the immunity monitoring could continue for many years, even after widespread vaccination throughout the world.
Additionally, we believe that measuring neutralizing antibodies in vaccine recipients after vaccination may provide greater insight into how vaccine responses hold up over time. That way, when levels of neutralizing antibodies eventually decrease, vaccine recipients will have a sense of when their neutralizing antibodies are unacceptably low and a revaccination is necessary to continue their protection from COVID-19.
(ii)Screening plasma collected from individuals recovered from COVID-19 so that patients fighting COVID-19 can be treated with plasma containing high levels of Nabs. Additionally, Nabs need to be monitored in patients receiving convalescent plasma so that we learn what is an effective therapeutic dose.
Our test is different from neutralizing antibody tests currently available because:
·It specifically tests for neutralizing antibodies, which are those needed to fight COVID-19 within the body;
·It can quantitatively measure the amount of neutralizing antibodies a person has;
· Patients get their results in just a few minutes; and
·It is portable.
In preclinical research, ImmunoPass has already been proven to work with 97.8% accurately in plasma and serum and can easily be modified to work on any specific strains of COVID-19; accordingly, we believe that newly-discovered strains will not affect its efficacy. ImmunoPass has shown a significantly better statistical correlation with SARS-CoV-2 neutralization assays than the currently available antibody tests. Since the rapid test lends well to conducting live virus-based assays, we believe that it could serve as an effective low-cost alternative to lab-based assays for monitoring large numbers of vaccine recipients for neutralizing antibodies.
As our scientific team was hard at work developing our COVID-19 rapid diagnostic tests we were frustrated by the delays and costs caused by lack of supply of a recombinant virus binding protein (“VBP”) for SARS-CoV-2 were essential to our testing. To continue our projects as planned and decrease overall costs, we decided to make our own VBP, which is even more potent than current outsourced options. Our laboratory tests have proven that SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (“RBD”) spike protein binds with our novel VBP. Initial tests also show that our novel VBP is approximately ten times more potent and stable than other VBP options currently on the market. We now develop these core ingredients needed to manufacture test strips in-house, and believe that moving such production in-house provides us with the potential to derive additional revenue and also allows us to control our supply chain. We have already manufactured enough VBP for millions of rapid diagnostic tests.
In August 2020, we signed an exclusive licensing, manufacturing and distribution agreement with Empowered Diagnostics, LLC (“Empowered”) to execute the high-volume production of our rapid point-of-care diagnostic test. Together with Empowered, we have completed the technology transfer, and Empowered has built out their production facility to enable them to manufacture millions of our tests per month. To date, ImmunoPass has completed two human point-of-care clinical trials and the Company, through its manufacturing partner Empowered Diagnotics, filed for FDA emergency use approval of the device on March 24, 2021. We hope that our test will be the first FDA-approved rapid point-of-care test for neutralizing antibodies.
About Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs)
The Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) authority allows FDA to help strengthen the nation’s public health protections against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats including infectious diseases, by facilitating the availability and use of medical countermeasures needed during public health emergencies.
Under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, when the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) declares that an emergency use authorization is appropriate, FDA may authorize unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by CBRN threat agents when certain criteria are met, including there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives. The HHS declaration to support such use must be based on one of four types of determinations of threats or potential threats by the Secretary of HHS, Homeland Security, or Defense.
On February 4, 2020, the HHS Secretary determined that there is a public health emergency that has a significant potential to affect national security or the health and security of United States citizens living abroad, and that involves the virus that causes COVID-19.
COVID-19 Emergency Use Authorizations for Medical Devices
In vitro diagnostic (“IVD”) devices are tests performed on samples taken from the human body, such as swabs of mucus from inside the nose or back of the throat, or blood taken from a vein or fingerstick. IVDs can detect diseases or other conditions and can be used to monitor a person’s overall health to help cure, treat, or prevent diseases.
There are several types of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 related IVDs:
·Diagnostic Tests: Tests that detect parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and can be used to diagnose infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These include molecular tests and antigen tests.
·Serology/Antibody and Other Adaptive Immune Response Tests: Tests that detect antibodies (for example, IgM, IgG) to the SARS-CoV-2 virus or that measure a different adaptive immune response (such as, T cell immune response) to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These types of tests cannot be used to diagnose a current infection.
·Tests for Management of COVID-19 Patients: Beyond tests that diagnose or detect SARS-CoV-2 virus or antibodies, there are also tests that are authorized for use in the management of patients with COVID-19, such as to detect biomarkers related to inflammation. Once patients are diagnosed with COVID-19 disease, these additional tests can be used to inform patient management decisions.
On September 16, 2020, we filed an EUA application with the FDA for measuring COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in plasma and serum through our first-in-class rapid diagnostic test. The Company amended the EUA to include positive results from a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) live virus test that positively correlates the rapid 10-minute lateral flow assay test that accurately detects and measures levels of functional COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in plasma which the FDA demanded.
On March 24, 2020, our manufacturing partner, Empowered Diagnostics, filed an EUA application with the FDA for measuring COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in whole blood for a Point-of-Care application of our rapid diagnostic test.
Our COVID-19 related product candidates, including Immunopass, our lateral flow diagnostic test for measuring SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, are subject to uncertainties relating to product development, regulatory approval and commercialization, and further risks based on the constantly evolving situation affecting the United States and the international community. Even if we are able to commercialize our product candidates, there is no assurance that these candidates would generate revenues or that any revenues generated would be sufficient for us to become profitable or thereafter maintain profitability. Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the FDA is over-run with EUA applications from thousands of biotech and pharmaceutical companies and could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Milestones 2020 to Date
On January 13, 2020, Sapphire entered into an agreement with Skysong for an exclusive license to technology relating to SBI-183, an anti-metastatic compound suppressing tumor cell growth and blocking metastasis.
On February 6, 2020, Sapphire signs an SRA with Arizona State University to conduct in vitro testing and in vivo pre-clinical animal studies re cancer inhibitory agents that will prevent metastases.
On March 18, 2020, we announced the acquisition of Sapphire.
On March 24, 2020, Sapphire announced the completion of in-vitro studies on the new compound, SPX-1009, proving ten-fold greater inhibition of tumor metastasis than parent compound SBI-183 following testing of over 80 analogs.
On March 27, 2020, Sapphire signed an agreement with TD2 to initiate animal studies to evaluate the efficacy of SPX-1009 as an anti-metastatic treatment and to measure levels of QSOX1 as a potential companion diagnostic test.
On July 15, 2020, we announced the development of a rapid diagnostic test measuring levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that are believed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering the host cells. Unlike currently available serological COVID-19 tests that detect an antibody response to the virus, our rapid 10-minute test measures a specific subpopulation of antibodies to block binding of the virus to host cell receptors. While there are expensive, time consuming laboratory tests that measure neutralizing antibodies, our test differs in that it is a portable, low cost, rapid point-of-care test with results in 10 minutes. Status: Ongoing
On August 5, 2020, we announced the development, patent filing and EAU filing of NeuCovix-HT™, a high throughput (“HT”) patent-pending diagnostic test that measures levels of functional antibodies in plasma or serum that neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Unlike current serology tests for COVID-19 that qualitatively detect antibodies to the virus, NeuCovix-HT™ quantitatively measures functional antibodies that block binding of the virus to host cell receptors. Status: Ongoing
On August 11, 2020, Sapphire was awarded a $395,880 phase I SBIR grant by the NCI. The grant will support the continued development of novel small molecules that inhibit the enzymatic activity of QSOX1 based on a lead compound. QSOX1 is a tumor-derived enzyme that is important for cancer growth, invasion and metastasis. Status: Ongoing
On August 24, 2020, we signed an exclusive limited licensing, manufacturing and distribution agreement with Empowered Diagnostics LLC (“Empowered Diagnostics”) for high volume production of our rapid diagnostic test measuring levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that are believed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering the host cells. Status: Ongoing
On September 16, 2020, we filed the EUA application with the FDA for measuring COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in plasma and serum through its first-in-class rapid diagnostic test. Status: Ongoing
On September 22, 2020, we announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has issued the Company a new Notice of Allowance for a patent (Application No. 15/748,784) on anti-neoplastic compounds and methods targeting QSOX1, an enzyme important for tumor cell growth, invasion and metastasis.
On September 29, 2020, we announced that we had filed a provisional patent for a first-in-class face mask that captures and deactivates SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Status: Ongoing
On September 30, 2020, we announced that we had filed a provisional patent for a recombinant VBP for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic, and are now manufacturing the VBP. As a result, we no longer need to rely on outside protein supply to continue our research and can greatly cut down on our manufacturing costs.
On December 3, 2020, we announced the development and patent filing for an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (“ELISA”)-based diagnostic test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Status: Ongoing
On February 3, 2021, we announced the initiation of clinical trials for ImmunoPass, our rapid point-of-care test that semi-quantitatively measures levels of neutralizing antibodies to COVID-19. Status: Ongoing
On March 8, 2021, we announced that we had successfully completed point-of-care clinical trials on our much awaited ImmunoPass rapid test that semi-quantitatively measures levels of COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies to help understand COVID-19 immunity, validate vaccine’s effectiveness and estimate how long the vaccine will be effective in patients.
On March 24, 2021, the Company, through Empowered Diagnostics, filed an EAU application with the FDA for measuring COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in whole blood for a Point-of-Care rapid diagnostic test. Status: Ongoing
Anticipated Expenses
During the next twelve months we anticipate incurring costs related to: (i) filing Exchange Act reports, (ii) contractual obligations, (iii) clinical trials, and (iv) continued research and development.
Intellectual Property
I. QSOX1-RELATED INVENTIONS.
QSOX1 (Quiescin Sulfhydryl Oxidase 1) is an enzyme that is over-expressed in multiple tumor types. Genetically silencing QSOX1 in tumors slows their growth, migration, invasion and metastasis. Based on these findings, the inventors of the inventions described below tested libraries of chemical compounds for the ability to inhibit QSOX1. Several inhibitors of the QSOX1 enzyme were identified. Initially, SBI-183 was identified and animal studies confirmed its ability to suppress tumor growth. The inventors subsequently developed an entire library of analogs of the parent compound, SBI-183, detailed in several inventions below to identify compounds with greater inhibitory activity. These compounds have the potential to be developed into therapeutic treatments for metastasis and to be used in conjunction with other neoplastic treatments, such as chemotherapy.
Included in the group of QSOX1-related inventions below is the identification of a specific splice variant of QSOX1, identified as QSOX1-L, as a unique Biomarker for the detection of certain tumors overexpressing QSOX1. This biomarker formed the basis for the invention relating to a Rapid Diagnostic Test for certain cancers.
A. Anti-Neoplastic Compounds and Methods Targeting QSOX1
1.US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/218.732 filed on September 15, 2015
PCT Provisional Patent Application W02017048712A1
US Nonprovisional Application No. 15/748,784 filed on January 30, 2018
Patent US 10,894,034 B2 Issued January 19, 2021
Title: Anti-Neoplastic Compounds and Methods Targeting QSOX1
Assignee: Mayo Clinic/Arizona State University
Exclusive Licensee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Compounds and methods involving inhibition of the enzymatic activity of QSOX1. The compounds and methods can be used in treatment of neoplastic cells to suppress tumor growth and invasion in a variety of cancers, including but not limited to myeloma and cancers of the breast, kidney and pancreas. Claims include the compound SBI-183 as a neoplastic agent found to inhibit tumor growth, invasion and suppress metastasis of tumors by inactivating QSOX1.
a. Continuation US Patent Application 17/124/242 filed on December 16, 2020
Title: Anti-Neoplastic Compounds and Methods Targeting QSOX1
Assignee: Mayo Clinic/Arizona State University
Exclusive Licensee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Compounds and methods involving inhibition of the enzymatic activity of QSOX1. The compounds and methods can be used in treatment of neoplastic cells, for example, to suppress tumor growth and invasion in a variety of cancers, including but not limited to myeloma and cancers of the breast, kidney, and pancreas.
2.US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/916,065 filed on October 16, 2019
Title: Chemical Compounds that Inhibit QSOX1 for the Treatment of Cancer
Assignees: Arizona State University/Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Derivatives of the parent compound SBI-183 have been identified as inhibiting the enzymatic activity of QSOX1. These compounds can be used in treatment of neoplastic cells by suppressing tumor growth and invasion in a variety of cancers that overexpress QSOX1, including but not limited to myeloma and cancers of the breast, kidney and pancreas.
3.US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/916,067 filed October 16, 2019
Title: Anti-Neoplastic Compounds and Methods Targeting QSOX1
Assignees: Arizona State University/Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Exclusive Licensee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Compounds that are structurally distinguishable from the compound, SBI-183 are SPX-013 and SPX-014, and have been identified as inhibiting the enzymatic activity of QSOX1. The compounds and methods can be used in treatment of neoplastic cells by suppressing tumor growth and invasion in a variety of cancers, including but not limited to myeloma and cancers of the breast, kidney and pancreas.
4.US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/944/283 filed December 5, 2019
Title: Anti-Neoplastic Compounds and Methods Targeting QSOX1
Assignees: Arizona State University/Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Exclusive Licensee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Compounds that are structurally distinguishable from the SBI-183 have been identified as inhibiting the enzymatic activity of QSOX1. One in particular, SPX-1009, also inhibits tumor cell growth, migration and invasion in vitro and metastasis in a mouse model of triple negative breast cancer. This invention concerns analogs of this lead compound SPX-1009. In in vitro testing, the lead compound SPX-1009 and its analogs have been found to be more potent and to have improved pharmacodynamics in mouse models of cancer.
5.US Provisional Patent Application No. 62959752 filed January 10, 2020
Title: Anti-Neoplastic Compounds and Methods Targeting QSOX1 and Inhibiting Cellular Responses to MET Receptor.
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Compounds and methods involving inhibition of the enzymatic activity of QSOX1 and methods of inhibiting cellular responses to the MET receptor signaling are disclosed which include administering any one or more compounds or pharmaceutical compositions. The compounds and methods can be used in treatment of neoplastic cells, for example, to suppress tumor growth and invasion in a variety of cancers, including but not limited to myeloma and cancers of the breast, kidney and pancreas. The uniqueness of the invention relates to the combined inhibition of QSOX1 and cellular responses to the MET receptor signaling.
B. Unique Biomarker QSOX1-L Identified and Rapid Diagnostic for Various Cancers
1.US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/829,556 filed April 4, 2019;
Utility Patent Application No. 16/841,521 filed April 6, 2020
International Patent Application No. PCT/US2020/026936 filed April 6, 2020
Title: Systems and Methods for Rapid Diagnostic for Various Cancers
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
QSOX1-L, a splice variant of QSOX1, has been identified as a novel biomarker of bladder cancer and possibly other cancers in serum. Proprietary antibodies have been generated that selectively detect only this variant and not others. QSOX1-L has been used to develop a rapid and cost-effective diagnostic test for bladder and possibly other urologic cancers from urine.
II. SARS-CoV-2-RELATED INVENTIONS
A. Rapid Diagnostic Test to Measure Levels of Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV2
1.US Provisional Application No. 63/023,646 filed May 12, 2020
Title: Convalescent Plasma Testing and Treatment
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. (Axim) and Arizona State University (ASU)
Exclusive Licensee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. (ASU’s Interest) Exclusive Licensee: Empowered Diagnostics, Inc. (Axim’s Interest)
The invention refers to a Rapid Test to measure levels of Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV2. Unlike currently available serological COVID-19 tests that detect an antibody response to the virus, the rapid 10-minute test measures a specific subpopulation of antibodies that block binding of the virus to host cell receptors. In contrast to current tests using live viruses which are time-consuming, expensive and require trained personnel in a tightly controlled laboratory setting to measure neutralizing antibodies, the rapid test is a portable, low cost, rapid point- of-care test that measures levels of neutralizing antibodies in 10 minutes.
2. US Provisional Application No. 63/144,454 Filed February 1, 2021; US Provisional Application No. 63/152,774 Filed February 23, 2021
Title: Rapid LFA Diagnostic Test to Measure Levels of Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS- CoV-2 from Whole Blood
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
Exclusive Licensee: Empowered Diagnostics, Inc.
The invention methods and test kits can be used with any sample in which the presence, absence and/or quantity of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) to SARS-CoV-2 is desired to be determined, such as for example, serum, plasma, whole blood, saliva, mucous, and other biological fluids. In a particular embodiment, the invention methods and/or kits are used with whole blood.
B. AlphaLisa Assay for High Throughput Detection of Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV2
1.US Provisional Application No. 63/060,635 filed August 3, 2020; US Provisional Application No. 63/061,112 filed August 4, 2020
Title: NeuCovix-HT AlphaLisa assay for high throughput detection of Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. and Arizona State University (ASU)
Exclusive Licensee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. (ASU’s Interest)
The invention refers to an AlphaLisa assay for high throughput (HT) detection of Neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Included in the claims is the HT diagnostic test that measures levels of functional antibodies in plasma or serum that neutralize SARS- CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID19. Unlike current serology tests for COVID 19 that qualitatively detect antibodies to the virus, the HT test quantitatively measures functional antibodies that block binding of the virus to host cell receptors.
C. Direct Competitive ELISA for the Detection of SARS-Cov2 Neutralizing Antibodies
1. US Provisional Application No. 63/152,807 filed February 23, 2021
Title: Direct Competitive ELISA for the Detection of SARS-CoV2 Neutralizing Antibodies
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
The invention relates to a method for rapid detection of SARS-CoV2 Neutralizing Antibodies in one of the following test samples: human or animal serum, plasma, saliva, tear, sweat, exhaled breath condensate. The test sample is mixed with an ACE2 label detection reagent. The sample mixture is incubated, and the quantity of ACE2 label detection reagent bound to the RBD molecules indicates the quantity of SARs-Co2 Neutralizing Antibodies.
D.ACE2 Variants
1.US Provisional Application No. 63/081,811 filed September 22, 2020
Title: Super-ACE2 Variants
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
The invention relates to a new variant recombinant protein of ACE2 identified as ACE2-614-Fc (“Super ACE2”), that is more potent and has a longer shelf life and is more stable than wild type ACE2. Super ACE2 variant can be used in a variety of ways as follows:
1)Development of competitive assays for neutralizing antibodies that disrupt RBD- ACE2 interaction.
2)Direct assays for virus spike antigens. Super ACE2 acts as a very specific antibody to capture Spike proteins through the RBD domain.
3)Cardio-vascular, blood-pressure and related disorders therapeutic and diagnostic.
4)Anything related to the virus capture such as (i) Mask treatments, (ii) Aerosols, (iii) Sprays and drops, (iv) Ointment and dermal applications, (v) Surfaces
E. Facemask Having Enhanced Infectious Agent Capturing and Related Methods
1.US Provisional Application No. 63/066,104 filed August 14, 2020
Title: Facemask Having Enhanced Infectious Agent Capturing and Related Methods
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
The invention is a facemask with a filtration material and an infectious agent capture-moiety. Infectious agent capture-moiety refers to any compound or biomolecule that can bind to any infectious agent. The filtration material acts as a scaffold to either directly block or impede the flow-through of the infectious agent or to support the infectious agent capture moiety. The infectious agent capture- moiety then functions to directly block or impede the flow-through of an infectious agent. The infectious agent-capture moiety can aerosolized and sprayed or applied onto pre-treated filtration material and can be specific to capture infectious agents, such as SARS-CoV-2. In such embodiments, the facemasks is capable of providing enhanced protection for the user and to others from SARS-Co
III. CANNABINOIDS
A.Polyfunctional Cannabinoids
1. US Provisional Patent Application No 3/014,471 filed April 23, 2020
Title: Polyfunctional Cannabinoids
Assignee: Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.
The invention relates to cannabinoid constructs that may produce more potent response than individual cannabinoid molecules with the additional benefit of being more water- soluble and bioavailable.
IV.TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS
We have two (2) trademark applications some of which are registered trademarks, received Notices of Allowance, or are pending in front of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Axim, Axim Biotech, Immunity Passport.
Market, Customers and Distribution Methods
Our focus is on the development of innovative pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products focusing on diseases and conditions for which currently there are no known efficient therapeutic ingredients or delivery systems for known active pharmaceutical ingredients. We plan to be an active player in this field of biosciences with our extensive R&D and pipeline of innovative products.
Competition
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on proprietary products.
We face competition from many different sources, including commercial pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprises, academic institutions, government agencies, and private and public research institutions. Our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer side effects or are less expensive than any products that we or our collaborators may develop based on the use of our technologies.
While we believe that the potential advantages of our new technologies will enable us to compete effectively against other providers of technology for Covid-19 Nab product development and manufacturing, many of our competitors have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, clinical trials, regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Smaller or early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through arrangements with large and established companies, and this may reduce the value of our technologies. In addition, these third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies and technology licenses complementary to our programs or advantageous to our business.
Source and Availability of Raw Materials
We currently manufacture the majority of our preclinical and Covid-19 testing materials in-house, and use contract manufacturers for the manufacture of some of our product candidates. We may or may not manufacture the products we develop, if any. Our internal manufacturing and contract manufacturers are subject to extensive governmental regulation.
Government Regulation
Government authorities in the U.S. (including federal, state and local authorities) and in other countries extensively regulate, among other things, the manufacturing, research and clinical development, marketing, labeling and packaging, storage, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, advertising and promotion, export and import of pharmaceutical products, such as those we are developing. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Moreover, failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements may result in, among other things, warning letters, clinical holds, civil or criminal penalties, recall or seizure of products, injunction, disbarment, partial or total suspension of production or withdrawal of the product from the market. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us.
U.S. Government Regulation
In the U.S., the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) and its implementing regulations. Drugs are also subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. The process required by the FDA before product candidates may be marketed in the U.S. generally involves the following:
·completion of extensive preclinical laboratory tests and preclinical animal studies, all performed in accordance with the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice (“GLP”) regulations. Preclinical testing generally includes evaluation of our product candidates in the laboratory or in animals to characterize the product and determine safety and efficacy;
·submission to the FDA of an IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may begin and must be updated annually;
·performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of the product candidate for each proposed indication;
·submission to the FDA of a Biologics License Application (“BLA”) or an NDA after completion of all pivotal clinical trials;
·a determination by the FDA within 60 days of its receipt of a BLA or an NDA to file the BLA or NDA for review;
·satisfactory completion of an FDA pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facilities at which the active pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”) and finished drug product are produced and tested to assess compliance with cGMP regulations;
·satisfactory completion of an FDA pre-approval inspection of one or more of the clinical sites at which the clinical trials were conducted;
·at the discretion of the FDA, a public Advisory Committee Meeting where the data is reviewed by experts who discuss the data and give their opinion (which the FDA is not obliged to follow) of the adequacy of the data to support an approval; and
·FDA review and approval of a BLA or an NDA prior to any commercial marketing or sale of the drug in the U.S.
We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production, distribution, shipping and storage of clinical and commercial quantities of our product candidates. Future FDA and state inspections may identify compliance issues at our facilities or at the facilities of our contract manufacturers that may disrupt production or distribution or require substantial resources to correct. In addition, discovery of previously unknown problems with a product or the failure to comply with applicable requirements may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer or holder of an approved BLA or NDA, including withdrawal or recall of the product from the market or other voluntary, FDA-initiated or judicial action that could delay or prohibit further marketing. Newly discovered or developed safety or effectiveness data may require changes to a product’s approved labeling, including the addition of new warnings and contraindications, and also may require the implementation of other risk management measures. Also, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could delay or prevent regulatory approval of our product candidates under development.
Europe/Rest of World Government Regulations
In addition to regulations in the U.S., we will be subject to a variety of regulations in other jurisdictions governing, among other things, clinical trials and any commercial sales and distribution of our products.
Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain the requisite approvals from regulatory authorities in foreign countries prior to the commencement of clinical trials or marketing of the product in those countries. Certain countries outside of the U.S. have a similar process that requires the submission of a clinical trial application much like the IND prior to the commencement of human clinical trials. In Europe, for example, a clinical trial application (“CTA”) must be submitted to each country’s national health authority and an independent ethics committee, much like the FDA and IRB, respectively. Once the CTA is approved in accordance with a country’s requirements, clinical trial development may proceed.
The requirements and process governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary from country to country. In all cases, the clinical trials are conducted in accordance with GCP and the applicable regulatory requirements and the ethical principles that have their origin in the Declaration of Helsinki.
To obtain regulatory approval of an investigational drug under European Union regulatory systems, we must submit a marketing authorization application. The application used to file the NDA in the U.S. is similar to that required in Europe, with the exception of, among other things, country-specific document requirements. For other countries outside of the European Union, such as countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia, the requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary from country to country. In all cases, again, the clinical trials are conducted in accordance with GCP and the applicable regulatory requirements and the ethical principles that have their origin in the Declaration of Helsinki.
If we fail to comply with applicable foreign regulatory requirements, we may be subject to, among other things, fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecution.
Environmental Matters
No significant pollution or other types of hazardous emission result from our current operations, and we do not anticipate that our operations will be materially affected by federal, state or local provisions concerning environmental controls. Our costs of complying with environmental, health and safety requirements have not been material. Furthermore, compliance with federal, state and local requirements regulating the discharge of materials into the environment, or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment, have not had, nor are they expected to have, any material effect on the capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position of the Company. However, we will continue to monitor emerging developments in this area.
Employees
As of March 31, 2021, we have five full-time employees and three part-time employees. We also allow and utilize the services of independent contractors. We will be considering the conversion of some of our part-time employees to full-time positions.. Management believes that we have a good relationships with our employees.
Company Website
We maintain a corporate Internet website at: www.aximbiotech.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated in or otherwise to be regarded as part of this prospectus.
We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which are available on our website free of charge. These reports include annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, “Section 16” filings on Form 3, Form 4, and Form 5, and other related filings, each of which is provided on our website as soon as reasonably practical after we electronically file such materials with or furnish them to the SEC. In addition, the SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including the Company.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this prospectus, including our financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, operating results, and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.
Risk Factor Summary
Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below and should be carefully considered, together with other information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
·We are a pre-clinical stage company subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the risk that we or our partners may never develop, obtain regulatory approval or market any of our product candidates or generate product related revenues.
· •We have incurred significant losses since inception and anticipate that we will incur continued losses for the foreseeable future.
·We will require substantial additional funding, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all. If we fail to raise the necessary additional capital, we may be unable to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates or continue our development programs.
·We are heavily dependent on the success of our technologies and product candidates, and we cannot give any assurance that our product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.
·The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
·We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product, product candidate or indication, and may fail to capitalize on products, product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
·Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.
·We rely on third parties to conduct our preclinical and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully perform their contractual legal and regulatory duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.
·We may not be able to manufacture our products or product candidates in commercial quantities, which would prevent us from commercializing our products and product candidates.
·With respect to SPX-009 and any of our product candidates for which we may receive regulatory approvals, we will be subject to ongoing obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.
·Our failure to successfully discover, acquire, develop and market additional product candidates or approved products would impair our ability to grow.
·Our commercial success depends upon us attaining significant market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for sale, among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and major operators of cancer and other clinics.
·Reimbursement may be limited or unavailable in certain market segments for our product candidates, which could make it difficult for us to sell our products profitably.
·Price controls may be imposed, which may adversely affect our future profitability.
·Our collaborations depend upon the efforts of third parties to fund and manage the development of many of our potential product candidates, and failure of those third-party collaborators to assist or share in the costs of product development could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
·If we are unable to retain and recruit qualified scientists and advisors, or if any of our key executives, key employees or key consultants discontinues his or her employment or consulting relationship with us, it may delay our development efforts or otherwise harm our business.
·We will need to increase the size of our company and may not effectively manage our growth.
·Drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results.
·There can be no assurance that the product candidates we are developing for measuring neutralizing COVID-19 antibodies will be granted an Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA. If no Emergency Use Authorization is granted or, once granted, it is terminated, we will be unable to sell our product candidates in the near future and will be required to pursue the medical devise approval process, which is lengthy and expensive.
·Interim “top-line” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
·We may become involved in the future, in disputes and other legal or regulatory proceedings that, if adversely decided or settled, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
·We have acquired, and may in the future acquire, assets, businesses and technologies as part of our business strategy. If we acquire companies or technologies in the future, they could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our operating results and the value of our common stock.
·Any acquisitions we make could disrupt our business and seriously harm our financial condition.
·Our long-term success depends on intellectual property protection; if our intellectual property rights are invalidated or circumvented, our business will be adversely affected.
·If any of our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information is disclosed, the value of our trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary rights would be significantly impaired and our business and competitive position would suffer.
·Claims that we infringe upon the rights of third parties may give rise to costly and lengthy litigation, and we could be prevented from selling products, forced to pay damages, and defend against litigation.
·If we breach any of the agreements under which we license commercialization rights to our product candidates from third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.
·From time to time we may need to license patents, intellectual property and proprietary technologies from third parties, which may be difficult or expensive to obtain.
·The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly, and investors in our common stock may lose all or a part of their investment.
Insiders have substantial influence over us and could delay or prevent a change in corporate control.
·We have never paid cash dividends and do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any return on investment may be limited to the value of our common stock.
·We have issued preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences that are superior to that of our common stock, and we may issue additional shares of preferred stock in the future.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Capital Requirements
We are a pre-clinical stage company subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the risk that we or our partners may never develop, obtain regulatory approval or market any of our product candidates or generate product related revenues.
We are primarily a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company that began operating in 2010, but did not commence research and development activities with respect to our current business segments until in 2019. Pharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. There is no assurance that any of our product candidates in development will be suitable for diagnostic or therapeutic use, or that we will be able to identify and isolate therapeutic product candidates, or develop, market and commercialize these candidates. We do not expect any of our oncology related product candidates in development, including but not limited to SXP-009, to be commercially available for a few years, if ever. Additionally, our COVID-19 related product candidates, including our lateral flow diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, are subject to uncertainties relating to product development, regulatory approval and commercialization, and further risks based on the constantly evolving situation affecting the United States and the international community. Even if we are able to commercialize our product candidates, there is no assurance that these candidates would generate revenues or that any revenues generated would be sufficient for us to become profitable or thereafter maintain profitability.
We do not have any products that are approved for commercial sale, and do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales from most of our product candidates in the foreseeable future, if ever.
In May 2020, we divested substantially all of our cannabis-related business, which was our sole source of revenues during recent years. We have not generated any revenue from product sales related to our continuing operations to date, and, with the potential exception of our COVID-19 related product candidates, do not expect to generate any such revenues for at least the next several years, if ever. Although we hope to obtain regulatory approval for our COVID-19 rapid point-of-care diagnostic test in the near term, which would allow us to commence the manufacturing and sale of our tests, no assurances can be provided that we will obtain regulatory approval in the near term, if ever. To obtain revenues from sales of our product candidates, we must succeed, either alone or with third parties, in developing, obtaining regulatory approval for, and manufacturing and marketing products with commercial potential. We may never succeed in these activities, and we may not generate sufficient revenues to continue our business operations or achieve profitability.
We have incurred significant losses since inception and anticipate that we will incur continued losses for the foreseeable future.
As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had an accumulated deficit related to our continuing operations of $41,849,922 and $35,440,042, respectively. We continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. We have incurred operating losses since our inception, expect to continue to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase as we: (i) advance SPX-009 and our other product candidates, including our COVID-19 related product candidates, into further clinical trials and pursue other development, acquire, develop and manufacture clinical trial materials and increase other regulatory operating activities, (ii) conduct further studies for our COVID-19 related product candidates, to advance to clinical trials and seek regulatory approval; (iii) incur incremental expenses associated with our efforts to further advance SPX-009 into preclinical development activities, (iv) continue to identify and advance other preclinical product candidates, (v) incur higher salary, lab supply and infrastructure costs incurred in connection with supporting all of our programs, (vi) expand our corporate, development and manufacturing infrastructure, and (viii) support our subsidiaries’, including Sapphire’s, pre-clinical development and commercialization efforts. As such, we are subject to all risks incidental to the development of new biopharmaceutical products and related companion diagnostics, and we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.
We will require substantial additional funding, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all. If we fail to raise the necessary additional capital, we may be unable to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates or continue our development programs.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. We expect to significantly increase our spending to advance the preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates and launch and commercialize any product candidates for which we may receive regulatory approval. We will require additional capital for the further development and commercialization of our product candidates, as well as to fund our other operating expenses and capital expenditures.
As a result of our recurring losses from operations, recurring negative cash flows from operations and substantial cumulative losses, there is uncertainty regarding our ability to maintain liquidity sufficient to operate our business effectively, which raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unsuccessful in our efforts to raise additional capital, we may be required to significantly reduce or cease operations. The report of our independent registered public accounting firm on our audited financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 included a “going concern” explanatory paragraph indicating that our recurring losses from operations, negative working capital, recurring negative cash flows from operations and substantial cumulative net losses raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of our product candidates. We may also seek collaborators for one or more of our current or future product candidates at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable or on terms that are less favorable than might otherwise be available. Any of these events could significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
·the progress of the development of SPX-009 and our COVID-19 product candidates;
·the number of product candidates we pursue;
·the time and costs involved in obtaining regulatory approvals;
·the costs involved in filing and prosecuting patent applications and enforcing or defending patent claims;
·our plans to establish sales, marketing and/or manufacturing capabilities;
·the effect of competing technological and market developments;
·the terms and timing of any collaborative, licensing and other arrangements that we may establish;
·general market conditions for offerings from biopharmaceutical companies;
·our ability to establish, enforce and maintain selected strategic alliances and activities required for product commercialization;
·our obligations under our debt arrangements;
·the time and costs involved in defending and enforcing our rights in various litigation matters;
·the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic; and
·our revenues, if any, from successful development and commercialization of our product candidates.
In order to carry out our business plan and implement our strategy, we anticipate that we will need to obtain additional financing from time to time and may choose to raise additional funds through strategic collaborations, licensing arrangements, joint ventures, public or private equity or debt financing, asset sales, government grants or other arrangements. We cannot be sure that any additional funding, if needed, will be available on terms favorable to us, or at all. Furthermore, any additional equity or equity-related financing may be dilutive to our stockholders, and debt or equity financing, if available, may subject us to restrictive covenants and significant interest costs. If we obtain funding through a strategic collaboration or licensing arrangement, we may be required to relinquish our rights to certain of our product candidates or marketing territories.
Our inability to raise capital when needed would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations, and could cause our stock price to decline or require that we wind down our operations altogether.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Our business may be subject to risks arising from pandemic, epidemic, or an outbreak of diseases, such as the outbreak of COVID-19.
If a pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease occurs in the United States or elsewhere, our business may be adversely affected.
COVID-19 has spread worldwide and has resulted in government authorities implementing numerous measures to try to contain it, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and shutdowns. These measures have impacted, and may further impact, our workforce and operations, the operations of our partners, and those of our suppliers. Our critical business operations, including our headquarters, are located in regions which have been impacted by COVID-19. Our suppliers and partners have also been affected and may continue to be affected by COVID-19 related restrictions and closures.
The spread of COVID-19 has caused us to modify our business practices as we comply with state mandated requirements for safety in the workplace to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our employees. These measures include personal protective equipment, social distancing, cleanliness of the facilities and daily monitoring of the health of employees in our facilities, as well as modifying our policies on employee travel and the cancellation of physical participation in meetings, events and conferences. We may take further actions as required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, partners and suppliers. However, we have not developed a specific and comprehensive contingency plan designed to address the challenges and risks presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and, even if and when we do develop such a plan, there can be no assurance that such plan will be effective in mitigating the potential adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, while the extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and our business in particular is difficult to assess or predict, the pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to result in, significant disruption of global financial markets, which may reduce our ability to access capital, which could negatively affect our liquidity. A recession or financial market correction resulting from the lack of containment and spread of COVID-19 could impact overall technology spending, adversely affecting demand for our products, our business and the value of our common stock.
The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operational and financial performance, including our ability to execute our business strategies and initiatives in the expected time frame, will depend on future developments, including, but not limited to, the duration and continued spread of the pandemic, its severity, the actions to contain the disease or treat its impact, further related restrictions on travel, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. An extended period of economic disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic could have a material negative impact on our business, results of operations, access to sources of liquidity and financial condition, though the full extent and duration is uncertain.
Management is actively monitoring the global situation on our financial condition, liquidity, operations, suppliers, industry and workforce. Given the daily evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak and the global responses to curb its spread, we are not able to estimate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity for fiscal year 2021.
We are heavily dependent on the success of our technologies and product candidates, and we cannot give any assurance that our product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.
To date, we have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in the acquisition and development of our product candidates. As a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company that has recently made significant changes to its operations, we have limited experience and have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the biopharmaceutical area. Our future success is substantially dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize our product candidates. Our product candidates are currently in preclinical development or in clinical trials. Our business depends entirely on the successful development and commercialization of our product candidates, which may never occur. We currently do not generate revenues from sales of any products, and we may not be able to develop or commercialize our product candidates.
The successful development, and any commercialization, of our technologies and any product candidates would require us to successfully perform a variety of functions, including:
·seeking and obtaining intellectual property and/or proprietary rights to our technology and/or the technology of others;
·identifying, developing, manufacturing and commercializing product candidates;
·entering into successful licensing and other arrangements with product development partners;
·participating in regulatory approval processes;
·formulating and manufacturing products; and
·conducting sales and marketing activities.
Each of our product candidates will require additional preclinical or clinical development; management of preclinical, clinical and manufacturing activities; regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions; obtaining manufacturing supply; building of a commercial organization; and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. In addition, certain of our product development programs contemplate the development of companion diagnostics. Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation as medical devices and must themselves be approved for marketing by the FDA, or certain other foreign regulatory agencies before we may commercialize our product candidates.
There can be no assurance that the product candidates we and our partners are developing for the detection of COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies will be granted an Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA. If no Emergency Use Authorization is granted or, once granted, it is terminated, we will be unable to sell our product candidates in the near future and will be required to pursue the drug approval process, which is lengthy and expensive.
On September 15, 2020, we announced the initial submission of an Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) to the FDA for our lateral flow diagnostic test kit for the detection of neutralizing antibodies in sera/plasma of patients who had previously had the SARS-CoV-2 virus. On December 15, 2020, we announced the submission of an amendment of the original EUA with additional testing data for our rapid diagnostic test.
On March 24, 2021, our manufacturing partner Empowered Diagnostics announced the initial submission of an EUA to the FDA for Immunopass, our rapid point-of-care lateral flow diagnostic test kit for the detection of neutralizing antibodies in whole blood of patients.
The EUA’s, if approved, would allow us to market and sell our tests without the need to pursue the lengthy and expensive drug approval process. The FDA may issue an EUA during a public health emergency if it determines that the potential benefits of a product outweigh the potential risks and if other regulatory criteria are met. If an EUA is granted for our tests, we will rely on the FDA policies and guidance in connection with the marketing and sale of the tests. If these policies and guidance change unexpectedly and/or materially or if we misinterpret them, potential sales of the tests could be adversely impacted. In addition, the FDA may revoke an EUA where it is determined that the underlying health emergency no longer exists or warrants such authorization. If granted, we cannot predict how long an EUA for our tests will remain in place. If an EUA for our tests is granted but subsequently terminated, such termination, could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may also seek additional EUAs from the FDA for our other product candidates for the detection of antibodies and/or treatment of COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. If granted, the additional EUAs would allow us to market and sell additional product candidates without the need to pursue the lengthy and expensive drug approval process. There is no guarantee that we will be able to obtain any additional EUAs. Failure to obtain additional EUAs or the termination of such EUAs, if obtained, could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Due to COVID-19, the FDA is over-run with EUA applications from thousands of biotech and pharmaceutical companies, which could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
The time required to obtain approval from the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable, but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval, may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. We have not obtained regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, including both our cancer and COVID-19 related product candidates, and it is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.
We may fail to receive regulatory approval for our product candidates for many reasons, including the following:
·the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials;
·we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication;
·the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required for approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities;
·the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;
·the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of a new drug application (“NDA”), a marketing authorization application (“MAA”) or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the U.S., or elsewhere;
·the data obtained from studies in one jurisdiction, such as the United States, may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, and certain jurisdictions may require data from studies conducted in their country in order to obtain regulatory approval;
·the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies;
·the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the companion diagnostics we contemplate developing with partners; and
·the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.
This lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.
Our product candidates may not receive regulatory approval even if our clinical trials are successful. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations. Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approvals to market one or more of our product candidates, our revenues will be dependent, in some instances, upon our collaborators’ ability to obtain regulatory approval of the companion diagnostics to be used with our product candidates, as well as the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval and have commercial rights. If the markets for patients that we are targeting for our product candidates are not as significant as we estimate, we may not generate significant revenues from sales of such products, if approved.
With respect to SPX-009 and any of our product candidates for which we may receive regulatory approvals, we will be subject to ongoing obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.
Any FDA approval for SPX-009 and any other regulatory approvals that we may receive for our product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase I, II, II and IV clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. In addition, if the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves any of our product candidates, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for the product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance with cGMPs and cGCPs for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. The future discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:
·restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, withdrawal of the product from the market, or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;
·fines, warning letters or holds on clinical trials;
·refusal by the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us, or suspension or revocation of product license approvals;
·product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; and
·injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
The FDA’s policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
We will need to obtain FDA approval of any proposed product brand names, and any failure or delay associated with such approval may adversely impact our business.
A pharmaceutical product cannot be marketed in the U.S. or other countries until we have completed rigorous and extensive regulatory review processes, including approval of a brand name. Any brand names we intend to use for our product candidates will require approval from the FDA regardless of whether we have secured a formal trademark registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “PTO”). The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product brand names, including an evaluation of potential for confusion with other product names. The FDA may also object to a product brand name if it believes the name inappropriately implies medical claims. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed product brand names, we may be required to adopt an alternative brand name for our product candidates. If we adopt an alternative brand name, we would lose the benefit of our existing trademark applications for such product candidate and may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable product brand name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA. We may be unable to build a successful brand identity for a new trademark in a timely manner or at all, which would limit our ability to commercialize our product candidates.
Our approach to the discovery and development of product candidates that target neutralizing antibodies (“Nabs”) is unproven, and we do not know whether we will be able to develop any products of commercial value.
Diagnostic products targeting Nabs are emerging technologies and, consequently, it is conceivable that such technologies may ultimately fail to identify commercially viable products to treat human patients. Due to the unproven nature of Nabs, significant further research and development activities will be required. We may incur substantial costs in connection with such research and development activities and there is no guarantee that these activities will lead to the identification of commercially viable products.
We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product, product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on products, product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
We are currently advancing product candidates for both cancer and COVID-19. Simultaneously advancing more than one product candidates creates a significant strain on our limited human and financial resources. As a result, we may not be able to provide sufficient resources to any single product candidate to permit the successful development and commercialization of such product candidate, causing material harm to our business. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products.
If, due to our limited resources and access to capital, we prioritize development of certain product candidates that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential or a greater likelihood of success. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.
Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other comparable foreign authorities. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of these or other side effects. In such an event, our trials could be suspended or terminated, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Additionally, if we receive marketing approval for one or more of our product candidates, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
·regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such products;
·regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label;
·we may be required to create a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients;
·we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and
·our reputation may suffer.
Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate or for particular indications of a product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.
We will rely on third parties to conduct our preclinical and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully perform their contractual legal and regulatory duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.
We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third-party contract research organizations (“CROs”) to monitor and manage data for our ongoing preclinical and clinical programs. We rely on these parties for execution of our preclinical and clinical trials, and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with current good clinical practices (“cGCP”), which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area, and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for all of our product candidates in clinical development.
Regulatory authorities enforce these cGCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable cGCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications or may not approve our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with cGCP regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under current good manufacturing practices (“cGMP”) regulations. Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.
If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, our CROs are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such CROs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our on-going clinical, nonclinical and preclinical programs. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.
Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter similar challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.
If we fail to comply with manufacturing regulations, our financial results and financial condition will be adversely affected.
We currently manufacture some of our preclinical materials in-house. In addition, we may enter into collaboration and license agreements with certain collaborators, pursuant to which we may, among other things, agree to carry out manufacturing of our collaborators’ material and product candidates. However, we only recently began manufacturing such materials and do not have significant prior experience manufacturing preclinical or product candidates. Before we can begin commercial manufacture of our or any potential collaborators’ materials or product candidates, regulatory authorities must approve marketing applications that identify manufacturing facilities operated by us or our contract manufacturers that have passed regulatory inspection and manufacturing processes that are acceptable to the regulatory authorities.
Due to the complexity of the processes used to manufacture our product candidates and our potential collaborators’ product candidates, we may be unable to continue to pass or initially pass federal or international regulatory inspections in a cost-effective manner. For the same reason, any potential third-party manufacturer of our product candidates may be unable to comply with cGMP regulations in a cost-effective manner and may be unable to initially or continue to pass a federal or international regulatory inspection.
If we, or third-party manufacturers with whom we contract, are unable to comply with manufacturing regulations, we may be subject to delay of approval of our product candidates, warning or untitled letters, fines, unanticipated compliance expenses, recall or seizure of our products, total or partial suspension of production and/or enforcement actions, including injunctions, and criminal or civil prosecution. These possible sanctions would adversely affect our financial results and financial condition.
The manufacture of pharmaceutical products requires significant expertise and capital investment, including the development of advanced manufacturing techniques and process controls. Manufacturers of pharmaceutical products often encounter difficulties in production, which include difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control and assurance and shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations. The third-party manufacturers we may contract with may not perform as agreed or may terminate their agreements with us. Any of these factors could cause us to delay or suspend any future clinical trials, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of one or more of our drug candidates, entail higher costs and result in our being unable to effectively commercialize products.
Material necessary to manufacture product candidates may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, which may delay the development and commercialization of product candidates.
There are a limited number of suppliers for raw materials that we use to manufacture our products and product candidates and there may be a need to assess alternate suppliers to prevent a possible disruption of the manufacture of the materials necessary to produce our product candidates for clinical trials, and if approved, ultimately for commercial sale. We do not have any control over the process or timing of the acquisition of these raw materials by us. We typically do not have any agreements for the commercial production of these raw materials. Any significant delay in the supply of a product candidate, or the raw material components thereof, for an ongoing clinical trial due to the need to obtain or replace a third-party manufacturer could considerably delay completion of our clinical trials, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are unable to purchase these raw materials after regulatory approval has been obtained for our product candidates, the commercial launch of our product candidates would be delayed or there would be a shortage in supply, which would impair our ability to generate revenues from the sale of our product candidates.
We may not be able to manufacture our products or product candidates in commercial quantities, which would prevent us from commercializing our products and product candidates.
We are largely dependent on our third-party manufacturers to conduct process development and scale-up work necessary to support greater clinical development and commercialization requirements for our products and product candidates. Carrying out these activities in a timely manner, and on commercially reasonable terms, is critical to the successful development and commercialization of our products and product candidates. We expect our third-party manufacturers are capable of providing sufficient quantities of our products and product candidates to meet anticipated clinical and full-scale commercial demands; however, if third parties with whom we currently work are unable to meet our supply requirements, we will need to secure alternate suppliers or face potential delays or shortages. While we believe that there are other contract manufacturers with the technical capabilities to manufacture our products and product candidates, we cannot be certain that identifying and establishing relationships with such sources would not result in significant delay or material additional costs.
If we are unable to successfully commercialize our products, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.
We currently have no sales and marketing organization. We currently anticipate that, if our product candidates receive regulatory approval, we may rely on third parties to sell our product candidates in the U.S. and/or in international markets. If we enter into arrangements with third parties to sell and market our products, we would likely receive less revenue than if we sold our products directly. In addition, although we would intend to use due diligence in monitoring the activities of our third-party sales and marketing partners, we may have little or no control over the sales efforts of those third parties. In the event we are unable to develop our own sales force or collaborate with third parties to sell our product candidates, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would negatively impact our ability to generate revenue. In the event that we elect to market our own products, we will also have to compete with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to recruit, hire and train sales and marketing personnel.
Our failure to successfully discover, acquire, develop and market additional product candidates or approved products would impair our ability to grow.
As part of our growth strategy, we intend to develop and market additional products and product candidates. We are pursuing various therapeutic opportunities through our product pipeline. We may spend several years completing our development of any particular current or future internal product candidate, and failure can occur at any stage. The product candidates to which we allocate our resources may not end up being successful. In addition, because our internal research capabilities are limited, we may be dependent upon pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic scientists and other researchers to sell or license products or technology to us. The success of this strategy depends partly upon our ability to identify, select, discover and acquire promising pharmaceutical product candidates and products. Failure of this strategy would impair our ability to grow.
The process of proposing, negotiating and implementing a license or acquisition of a product candidate or approved product is lengthy and complex. Other companies, including some with substantially greater financial, marketing and sales resources, may compete with us for the license or acquisition of product candidates and approved products. We have limited resources to identify and execute the acquisition or in-licensing of third-party products, businesses and technologies and integrate them into our current infrastructure. Moreover, we may devote resources to potential acquisitions or in-licensing opportunities that are never completed, or we may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such efforts. We may not be able to acquire the rights to additional product candidates on terms that we find acceptable, or at all.
In addition, future acquisitions may entail numerous operational and financial risks, including:
·disruption of our business and diversion of our management’s time and attention to develop acquired products or technologies;
·incurrence of substantial debt, dilutive issuances of securities or depletion of cash to pay for acquisitions;
·higher than expected acquisition and integration costs;
·difficulty in combining the operations and personnel of any acquired businesses with our operations and personnel;
·increased amortization expenses;
·impairment of relationships with key suppliers or customers of any acquired businesses due to changes in management and ownership;
·impairment of our ability to obtain intellectual property rights or rights to commercialize additional product candidates, or increased cost to obtain such rights;
·inability to motivate key employees of any acquired businesses; and
·assumption of known and unknown liabilities.
Further, any product candidate that we acquire may require additional development efforts prior to commercial sale, including extensive clinical testing and approval by the FDA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities. All product candidates are prone to risks of failure typical of pharmaceutical product development, including the possibility that a product candidate will not be shown to be sufficiently safe and effective for approval by regulatory authorities.
Our commercial success depends upon us attaining significant market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for sale, among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and major operators of cancer and other clinics.
Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, the product may not gain market acceptance among physicians, health care payors, patients and the medical community, which are critical to commercial success. Market acceptance of any product candidate for which we receive approval depends on a number of factors, including:
·the efficacy and safety as demonstrated in clinical trials;
·the timing of market introduction of such product candidate as well as competitive products;
·the clinical indications for which the product candidate is approved;
·acceptance by physicians, major operators of cancer clinics and patients of the product candidate as a safe and effective treatment;
·the safety of such product candidate seen in a broader patient group, including its use outside the approved indications;
·the availability, cost and potential advantages of alternative treatments, including less expensive generic drugs;
·the availability of adequate reimbursement and pricing by third-party payors and government authorities;
·the product labeling or product insert required by the FDA or regulatory authority in other countries;
·the approval, availability, market acceptance and reimbursement for a companion diagnostic, if any;
·the prevalence and severity of adverse side effects; and
·the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts.
If any product candidate that we develop does not provide a treatment regimen that is as beneficial as, or is perceived as being as beneficial as, the current standard of care or otherwise does not provide patient benefit, that product candidate, if approved for commercial sale by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, likely will not achieve market acceptance. Our ability to effectively promote and sell any approved products will also depend on pricing and cost-effectiveness, including our ability to produce a product at a competitive price and our ability to obtain sufficient third-party coverage or reimbursement. If any product candidate is approved but does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, patients and third-party payors, our ability to generate revenues from that product would be substantially reduced. In addition, our efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payors on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources, may be constrained by FDA rules and policies on product promotion, and may never be successful.
If we cannot compete successfully against other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, we may not be successful in developing and commercializing our technology and our business will suffer.
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by intense competition and rapid technological advances, both in the U.S. and internationally. In addition, the competition in the COVID-19 diagnostics and oncology markets, and other relevant markets, is intense. Even if we are able to develop our product candidates, each will compete with a number of existing and future product candidates developed, manufactured and marketed by others. Specifically, we will compete against fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with larger pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. Many of these competitors have validated technologies with products already FDA-approved or in various stages of development. In addition, many of these competitors, either alone or together with their collaborative partners, operate larger research and development programs and have substantially greater financial resources than we do, as well as significantly greater experience in:
·developing product candidates and technologies generally;
·undertaking preclinical testing and clinical trials;
·obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of product candidates;
·formulating and manufacturing product candidates; and
·launching, marketing and selling product candidates.
Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources, such as larger research and development staff and experienced marketing and manufacturing organizations. Additional mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. As a result, these companies may obtain regulatory approval more rapidly than we are able and may be more effective in selling and marketing their products as well. Smaller or early-stage pharmaceutical companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these industries. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis drug products that are more effective or less costly than any drug candidate that we are currently developing or that we may develop. If approved, our product candidates will face competition from commercially available drugs as well as drugs that are in the development pipelines of our competitors and later enter the market.
Established pharmaceutical companies may invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel compounds or to in-license novel compounds that could make our product candidates less competitive. In addition, any new product that competes with an approved product must demonstrate compelling advantages in efficacy, convenience, tolerability and safety in order to overcome price competition and to be commercially successful. Accordingly, our competitors may succeed in obtaining patent protection, receiving FDA or other regulatory approval or discovering, developing and commercializing medicines before we do, which would have a material adverse impact on our business. If our technologies fail to compete effectively against third party technologies, our business will be adversely impacted.
We expect that our ability to compete effectively will depend upon our ability to:
·successfully and efficiently complete clinical trials and submit for and obtain all requisite regulatory approvals in a cost-effective manner;
·obtain and maintain a proprietary position for our products and manufacturing processes and other related product technology;
·attract and retain key personnel;
·develop relationships with physicians prescribing these products; and
·build an adequate sales and marketing infrastructure for our product candidates.
Because we will be competing against significantly larger companies with established track records, we will have to demonstrate that, based on experience, clinical data, side-effect profiles and other factors, our product candidates, if approved, are competitive with other products.
Price controls may be imposed, which may adversely affect our future profitability.
In some countries, including member states of the European Union (the “EU”), the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take a significant amount of time after receipt of marketing approval for a product. In addition, there can be considerable pressure by governments and other stakeholders on prices and reimbursement levels, including as part of cost containment measures. Political, economic and regulatory developments may further complicate pricing negotiations, and pricing negotiations may continue after reimbursement has been obtained. Reference pricing used by various EU member states and parallel distribution, or arbitrage between low-priced and high-priced member states, can further reduce prices, and in certain instances render commercialization in certain markets infeasible or disadvantageous from a financial perspective. In some countries, we or our collaborators may be required to conduct a clinical trial or other studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of our product and/or our product candidates to other available products in order to obtain or maintain reimbursement or pricing approval. Publication of discounts by third party payors or government authorities may lead to further pressure on the prices or reimbursement levels. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, the commercial launch of our product and/or product candidates could be delayed, possibly for lengthy periods of time, we or our collaborators may not launch at all in a particular country, we may not be able to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, and there could be a material adverse effect on our business.
Recently, there has been considerable public and government scrutiny in the U.S. of pharmaceutical pricing and proposals to address the perceived high cost of pharmaceuticals. There have also been several recent state legislative efforts to address drug costs, which generally have focused on increasing transparency around drug costs or limiting drug prices or price increases. Adoption of new legislation at the federal or state level could affect demand for, or pricing of, our product candidates, if approved, and could diminish our ability to establish what we believe is a fair price for our products, ultimately diminishing our revenue for our products if they are approved.
Healthcare reform measures could hinder or prevent our product candidates’ commercial success.
In both the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could impact our ability to sell our products profitably. The U.S. government and other governments have shown significant interest in pursuing healthcare reform. In particular, the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 revised the payment methodology for many products under the Medicare program in the U.S. This has resulted in lower rates of reimbursement. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (collectively, the “Healthcare Reform Law”), was enacted. The Healthcare Reform Law substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Such government-adopted reform measures may adversely impact the pricing of healthcare products and services in the U.S. or internationally and the amount of reimbursement available from governmental agencies or other third-party payors.
There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels directed at broadening the availability of healthcare and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. For example, there have been public announcements by members of the U.S. Congress regarding their plans to repeal and replace the Healthcare Reform Law and Medicare, and the Biden administration has announced plans to amend and expand the scope of the Healthcare Reform Law. Although we cannot predict the ultimate content or timing of any healthcare reform legislation, potential changes resulting from any amendment, repeal, replacement or expansion of these programs, including any reduction in the future availability of healthcare insurance benefits, could adversely affect our business and future results of operations. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payors of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare may adversely affect the demand for any product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval, as well as our ability to set satisfactory prices for our products, to generate revenues, and to achieve and maintain profitability.
Failure to successfully validate, develop and obtain regulatory approval for companion diagnostics could harm our long-term drug development strategy.
As one of the key elements of our clinical development strategy in the cancer space, we seek to identify patients within a disease category or indication who may derive selective and meaningful benefit from the product candidates we are developing. As such, we plan to develop, or partner with third parties to develop, companion diagnostics to help us to more accurately identify patients within a particular category or indication, both during our clinical trials and in connection with the commercialization of certain of our product candidates.
Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities as medical devices and require separate regulatory approval prior to commercialization. We and our collaborators may encounter difficulties in developing and obtaining approval for the companion diagnostics, including issues relating to selectivity/specificity, analytical validation, reproducibility or clinical validation. Any delay or failure by our collaborators to develop or obtain regulatory approval of the companion diagnostics could delay or prevent approval of our product candidates. In addition, our collaborators may encounter production difficulties that could constrain the supply of the companion diagnostics, and both they and we may have difficulties gaining acceptance of the use of the companion diagnostics in the clinical community. If such companion diagnostics fail to gain market acceptance, it would have an adverse effect on our ability to derive revenues from sales of our products. In addition, any diagnostic company with whom we contract may decide to discontinue selling or manufacturing the companion diagnostic that we anticipate using in connection with development and commercialization of our product candidates or our relationship with such diagnostic company may otherwise terminate. In such instances, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with another diagnostic company to obtain supplies of an alternative diagnostic test for use in connection with the development and commercialization of our product candidates or do so on commercially reasonable terms, which could adversely affect and/or delay the development or commercialization of our product candidates.
We may seek to establish collaborations and, if we are not able to establish them on commercially reasonable terms, we may have to alter our development and commercialization plans.
From time to time we may engage in efforts to enter into licensing, distribution and/or collaboration agreements with one or more pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to assist us with development and/or commercialization of our other product candidates. If we are successful in entering into such agreements, we may not be able to negotiate agreements with economic terms similar to those negotiated by other companies. We may not, for example, obtain significant upfront payments, substantial royalty rates or milestones. If we fail to enter into any such agreements in a timely manner or at all, our efforts to develop and/or commercialize our product candidates may be undermined. In addition, if we do not raise funds through any such agreements, we will need to rely on other financing mechanisms, such as sales of debt or equity securities, to fund our operations. Such financing mechanisms, if available, may not be sufficient or timely enough to advance our programs forward in a meaningful way in the short-term.
We may not be successful in entering into additional collaborations as a result of many factors, including the following:
·competition in seeking appropriate collaborators;
·a reduced number of potential collaborators due to recent business combinations in the pharmaceutical industry;
·inability to negotiate collaborations on acceptable terms;
·inability to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis;
·a potential collaborator’s evaluation of our product or product candidates;
·a potential collaborator’s resources and expertise; and
·restrictions due to an existing collaboration agreement.
If we are unable to enter into collaborations, we may have to curtail the commercialization or the development of any product candidate on which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay its development program or those for other of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to develop or commercialize our product candidates.
Even if we enter into collaboration agreements and strategic partnerships or license our intellectual property, we may not be able to maintain them or they may be unsuccessful, which could delay our timelines or otherwise adversely affect our business.
We, as well as any collaborators or licensees of our technologies and services, will not be able to commercialize our product candidates if preclinical studies do not produce successful results or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and efficacy in humans.
Preclinical and clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and have an uncertain outcome. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. We, as well as any licensees and collaborators, may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, preclinical testing and the clinical trial process that could delay or prevent the commercialization of product candidates based on our technologies, including the following:
·Preclinical or clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, which may require additional preclinical testing, additional clinical trials or the abandonment of projects that we, our licensees or our collaborators expect to be promising. For example, promising animal data may be obtained about the anticipated efficacy of a product candidate and then human tests may not result in such an effect. In addition, unexpected safety concerns may be encountered that would require further testing even if the product candidate produced an otherwise favorable response in human subjects.
·Initial clinical results may not be supported by further or more extensive clinical trials. For example, we or a licensee may obtain data that suggest a desirable response from a product candidate in a small human study, but when tests are conducted on larger numbers of people, the same extent of response may not occur. If the response generated by a product candidate is too low or occurs in too few treated individuals, then the product candidate will have no commercial value.
·Enrollment in any of our or any of our licensees’ or collaborators’ clinical trials may be slower than projected, resulting in significant delays. The cost of conducting a clinical trial increases as the time required to enroll adequate numbers of human subjects to obtain meaningful results increases. Enrollment in a clinical trial can be a slower-than-anticipated process because of competition from other clinical trials, because the study is not of interest to qualified subjects, or because the stringency of requirements for enrollment limits the number of people who are eligible to participate in the clinical trial.
·We, our licensees or our collaborators might have to suspend or terminate clinical trials if the participating subjects are being exposed to unacceptable health risks. Animal tests do not always adequately predict potential safety risks to human subjects. The risk of any product candidate is unknown until it is tested in human subjects, and if subjects experience adverse events during the clinical trial, the trial may have to be suspended and modified or terminated entirely.
·Regulators or institutional review boards may suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including safety concerns or noncompliance with regulatory requirements.
·Any regulatory approval ultimately obtained may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the product not commercially viable.
·The effects of our technology-derived or technology-enhanced product candidates may not be the desired effects or may include undesirable side effects.
Significant clinical trial delays could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we, any of our licensees or our collaborators do and impair our ability to commercialize our technologies and product candidates based on our technologies. Poor clinical trial results or delays may make it impossible to license a product candidate or so reduce its attractiveness to prospective licensees that we will be unable to successfully develop and commercialize such a product candidate.
Because our development activities are expected to rely heavily on sensitive and personal information, an area which is highly regulated by privacy laws, we may not be able to generate, maintain or access essential patient samples or data to continue our research and development efforts in the future on reasonable terms and conditions, which may adversely affect our business.
Although we are not subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), as we are neither a Covered Entity nor Business Associate (as defined in HIPAA and the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act (the “HITECH Act”), we may have access to very sensitive data regarding patients whose tissue samples are used in our studies. This data will contain information that is personal in nature. The maintenance of this data is subject to certain privacy-related laws, which impose upon us administrative and financial burdens, and litigation risks. In the U.S., numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including state data breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information. For instance, the rules promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services under HIPAA create national standards to protect patients’ medical records and other personal information in the U.S. These rules require that healthcare providers and other covered entities obtain written authorizations from patients prior to disclosing protected health care information of the patient to companies. If the patient fails to execute an authorization or the authorization fails to contain all required provisions, then we will not be allowed access to the patient’s information and our research efforts can be substantially delayed. Furthermore, use of protected health information that is provided to us pursuant to a valid patient authorization is subject to the limits set forth in the authorization (i.e., for use in research and in submissions to regulatory authorities for product approvals). As such, we are required to implement policies, procedures and reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect individually identifiable health information we receive from covered entities, and to ensure such information is used only as authorized by the patient. Any violations of these rules by us could subject us to civil and criminal penalties and adverse publicity and could harm our ability to initiate and complete clinical trials required to support regulatory applications for our product candidates. In addition, HIPAA does not replace federal, state, or other laws that may grant individuals even greater privacy protections.
California recently enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which creates new individual privacy rights for California consumers and places increased privacy and security obligations on entities handling personal data of consumers or households. The CCPA requires covered companies to provide new disclosure to consumers about such companies’ data collection, use and sharing practices, provide such consumers new ways to opt-out of certain sales or transfers of personal information, and provide consumers with additional causes of action. The CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020, and beginning July 1, 2020, the California Attorney General may bring enforcement actions for violations. The CCPA, among other things, requires covered companies to provide disclosures to California consumers concerning the collection and sale of personal information, and will give such consumers the right to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA may increase our company`s compliance costs and potential liability, and we cannot yet predict the impact of the CCPA on our business.
International data protection laws, including Regulation 2016/679, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), may also apply to health-related and other personal information obtained outside of the United States. The GDPR went into effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR strengthened data protection requirements in the European Union, as well as potential fines for noncompliant companies of up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of annual global revenue. The regulation imposes numerous new requirements for the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information, including more stringent requirements relating to consent and the information that must be shared with data subjects about how their personal information is used, the obligation to notify regulators and affected individuals of personal data breaches, extensive new internal privacy governance obligations and obligations to honor expanded rights of individuals in relation to their personal information, including the right to access, correct and delete their data. In addition, the GDPR includes restrictions on cross-border data transfers. The GDPR increased our responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process where such processing is subject to the GDPR, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the GDPR, including as implemented by individual countries. Further, the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, often referred to as Brexit, has created uncertainty with regard to data protection regulation in the United Kingdom. In particular, it is unclear how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated.
Failure to comply with data protection laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions, which may involve civil and criminal penalties, private litigation and/or adverse publicity and could negatively affect our operating results and business. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business.
We can provide no assurance that future legislation will not prevent us from generating or maintaining personal data or that patients will consent to the use of their personal information, either of which may prevent us from undertaking or publishing essential research. These burdens or risks may prove too great for us to reasonably bear and may adversely affect our ability to achieve profitability or maintain profitably in the future.
We may be exposed to liability claims associated with the use of hazardous materials and chemicals.
Our research and development activities may involve the controlled use of hazardous materials and chemicals. Although we believe that our safety procedures for using, storing, handling and disposing of these materials comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials. In the event of such an accident, we could be held liable for any resulting damages and any liability could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not currently maintain hazardous materials insurance coverage. In addition, the federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous or radioactive materials and waste products may require us to incur substantial compliance costs that could materially harm our business.
If we are unable to retain and recruit qualified scientists and advisors, or if any of our key executives, key employees or key consultants discontinues his or her employment or consulting relationship with us, it may delay our development efforts or otherwise harm our business.
We may not be able to attract or retain qualified management and scientific and clinical personnel in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses, particularly in the San Diego, California area. Our industry has experienced a high rate of turnover of management personnel in recent years. If we are not able to attract, retain and motivate necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience constraints that will significantly impede the successful development of any product candidates, our ability to raise additional capital and our ability to implement our overall business strategy. In addition, our CMO operations will depend, in part, on our ability to attract and retain an appropriately skilled and sufficient workforce to operate our development and manufacturing facilities. The facilities are located in a growing biotechnology hub and competition for skilled workers will continue to increase as the industry undergoes further growth in the area.
We are highly dependent on key members of our management and scientific staff, especially John W. Huemoeller II., Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President, Catalina Valencia, Sapphire’s Chief Executive and Sergei Svarovsky, our Chief Science Officer. Our success also depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled junior, mid-level and senior managers as well as junior, mid-level and senior scientific and medical personnel. The loss of any of our executive officers, key employees or key consultants and our inability to find suitable replacements could impede the achievement of our research and development objectives, and potentially harm our business, financial condition and prospects. Furthermore, recruiting and retaining qualified scientific personnel to perform research and development work in the future is critical to our success. We may be unable to attract and retain personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and health care companies, universities and non-profit research institutions for experienced scientists. Certain of our current officers, directors, scientific advisors and/or consultants or certain of the officers, directors, scientific advisors and/or consultants hereafter appointed may from time to time serve as officers, directors, scientific advisors and/or consultants of other biopharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. We do not maintain “key man” insurance policies on any of our officers or employees. All of our employees are employed “at will” and, therefore, each employee may leave our employment at any time.
We may not be able to attract or retain qualified management and scientific personnel in the future due to the intense competition for a limited number of qualified personnel among biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses. Many of the other pharmaceutical companies that we compete against for qualified personnel have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than we do. They also may provide more diverse opportunities and better chances for career advancement. Some of these characteristics may be more appealing to high quality candidates than what we have to offer. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, the rate and success at which we can develop and commercialize product candidates will be limited.
We plan to grant stock options or other forms of equity awards in the future as a method of attracting and retaining employees, motivating performance and aligning the interests of employees with those of our stockholders. If we are unable to implement and maintain equity compensation arrangements that provide sufficient incentives, we may be unable to retain our existing employees and attract additional qualified candidates. If we are unable to retain our existing employees, including qualified scientific personnel, and attract additional qualified candidates, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations, provide accurate information to the FDA, comply with manufacturing standards we have established, comply with federal and state health-care fraud and abuse laws and regulations, comply with laws and regulations (including, but not limited to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1 (“FCPA”)) and internal policies restricting payments to government agencies and representatives, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, but it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
We may be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws and health information privacy and security laws. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.
If we obtain FDA approval for any of our product candidates and begin commercializing those products in the U.S., our operations may be directly, or indirectly through our customers, subject to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act. These laws may impact, among other things, our proposed sales, marketing and education programs. In addition, we may be subject to patient privacy regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include:
·the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, to induce, or in return for, the purchase or recommendation of an item or service reimbursable under a federal healthcare program, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs;
·federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payers that are false or fraudulent;
·HIPAA, which created new federal criminal statutes that prohibit executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program and making false statements relating to healthcare matters;
·HIPAA, as amended by the HITECH Act, and its implementing regulations, which imposes certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information; and
·state law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payer, including commercial insurers, and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts.
If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.
If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates.
We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of the clinical testing of our product candidates and will face an even greater risk for the commercialization of any products, including SPX-009. For example, we may be sued if any product we develop allegedly causes injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability, and a breach of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates, if approved. Even successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
·decreased demand for our product candidates or products that we may develop;
·injury to our reputation;
·withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
·initiation of investigations by regulators;
·restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, withdrawal of the product from the market or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;
·costs to defend the related litigation;
·a diversion of management’s time and our resources;
·substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;
·product recalls, withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional restrictions;
·loss of revenues from product sales; and
·the inability to commercialize our product candidates.
Our inability to obtain and retain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of products we develop. We currently carry product liability insurance and errors and omissions insurance that we believe is appropriate for our company. Although we maintain product liability insurance, any claim that may be brought against us could result in a court judgment or settlement in an amount that is not covered, in whole or in part, by our insurance or that is in excess of the limits of our insurance coverage. Our insurance policies also have various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have insufficient or no coverage. If we have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts. In addition, insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive, and we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost. We also may not be able to obtain additional insurance coverage that will be adequate to cover product liability risks that may arise. Consequently, a product liability claim may result in losses that could be material to our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We will need to increase the size of our company and may not effectively manage our growth.
Our success will depend upon growing our business and our employee base. Over the next 12 months, we plan to add additional employees to assist us with research and development and our commercialization efforts. Our future growth, if any, may cause a significant strain on our management, and our operational, financial and other resources. Our ability to manage our growth effectively will require us to implement and improve our operational, financial and management systems and to expand, train, manage and motivate our employees. These demands may require the hiring of additional management personnel and the development of additional expertise by management. Any increase in resources devoted to research and product development without a corresponding increase in our operational, financial and management systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results.
Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is risky and uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. It is not uncommon for companies in the pharmaceutical industry to suffer significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. Our future clinical trial results may not be successful.
This drug candidate development risk is heightened by any changes in the planned clinical trials compared to the completed clinical trials. As product candidates are developed through preclinical to early and late-stage clinical trials towards approval and commercialization, it is customary that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing and methods of administration, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results. While these types of changes are common and are intended to optimize the product candidates for late-stage clinical trials, approval and commercialization, such changes do carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives.
In the event we are able to conduct a pivotal clinical trial of a product candidate, the results of such trial may not be adequate to support marketing approval. Because our product candidates are intended for use in life-threatening diseases, in some cases we ultimately intend to seek marketing approval for each product candidate based on the results of a single pivotal clinical trial. As a result, these trials may receive enhanced scrutiny from the FDA. For any such pivotal trial, if the FDA disagrees with our choice of primary endpoint or the results for the primary endpoint are not robust or significant relative to control, are subject to confounding factors, or are not adequately supported by other study endpoints, including possibly overall survival or complete response rate, the FDA may refuse to approve a NDA, Biologics License Application or other application for marketing based on such pivotal trial. The FDA may require additional clinical trials as a condition for approving our product candidates.
Interim “top-line” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we may publish interim “top-line” or preliminary data from our clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the topline results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Preliminary or interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment and dosing continues and more patient data become available. Preliminary or interim data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Adverse differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and our company in general. Data disclosures must be carefully managed to conform to limitations on preapproval promotion and laws related to clinical trial registration and posting of results. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular drug, product, product candidate or our business. If the top-line data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Any disruption in our research and development facilities could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our principal executive offices, which house our research and development programs, are in San Diego, California. Our facilities may be affected by natural or man-made disasters. Earthquakes are of particular significance since our facilities are located in an earthquake-prone area. We are also vulnerable to damage from other types of disasters, including power loss, attacks from extremist organizations, fires, floods and similar events. If our facilities are affected by a natural or man-made disaster, we may be forced to curtail our operations and/or rely on third-parties to perform some or all of our research and development activities. Although we believe we possess adequate insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business from casualties, such insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In the future, we may choose to expand our operations in either our existing facilities or in new facilities. If we expand our worldwide manufacturing locations, there can be no assurance that this expansion will occur without implementation difficulties, or at all.
Effective February 6, 2021, the health officer of San Diego County, where our principal executive offices are located, issued an updated shelter-in-place order, ordering, among other things, that all individuals living in the County of San Diego to remain in their homes or at their place of residence for an indefinite period of time (subject to certain exceptions for essential businesses and to facilitate authorized necessary activities and reopened businesses) to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The order is scheduled to continue until further notice from the health officer of San Diego County. In addition, in mid-March 2020, the Governor of California and the State Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health ordered all individuals living in the State of California to stay at their place of residence for an indefinite period of time (subject to certain exceptions to facilitate authorized necessary activities, and subject to certain variances approved by the California Department of Public Health on a county-by-county basis) to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The executive order exempts certain individuals needed to maintain continuity of operations of essential critical infrastructure sectors and additional sectors as the State Public Health Officer may designate as critical to protect health and well-being of all Californians. In May 2020, the Governor of California issued an executive order that informed local health jurisdictions and industry sectors that they may gradually reopen under new modifications and guidance provided by the state of California. In August 2020, the state of California released revised criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on certain activities on generally a county-by-county basis. Under the executive orders, San Diego County, where our principal executive offices are located, continues to be subject to certain restrictions. These orders and others may be further modified, amended and adopted depending upon the COVID-19 transmission rates in our county and state, as well as other factors. If the operations in our principal executive offices or other facilities are deemed non-essential, we may not be able to operate for the duration of any shelter-in-place order, which could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system failures.
Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our CROs and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, cybersecurity attacks or hacking, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. In addition, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance, and the reliance of our CROs, contractors and consultants reliance, on internet technology and the number of our employees, and employees of our CROs, contractors and consultants, who are working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. While we have not experienced any such system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our drug development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or ongoing or planned clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach was to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur material legal claims and liability, damage to our reputation, suffer loss or harm to our intellectual property rights and the further research, development and commercial efforts of our products and product candidates could be delayed. If we are held liable for a claim against which we are not insured or for damages exceeding the limits of our insurance coverage, whether arising out of cybersecurity matters, or from some other matter, that claim could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
Further, a cybersecurity attack, data breach or privacy violation that leads to disclosure or modification of, or prevents access to, patient information, including personally identifiable information or protected health information, could harm our reputation, compel us to comply with federal and/or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to mandatory corrective action, require us to verify the correctness of database contents and otherwise subject us to liability under laws and regulations that protect personal data, resulting in increased costs or loss of revenue. Portions of our information technology systems may experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors in connection with ongoing systems implementation work. Cybersecurity attacks in particular are evolving and include, but are not limited to, threats, malicious software, ransom ware, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in systems, misappropriation of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. If we are unable to prevent such cybersecurity attacks, data security breaches or privacy violations or implement satisfactory remedial measures, our operations could be disrupted, and we may suffer loss of reputation, financial loss and other regulatory penalties because of lost or misappropriated information, including sensitive patient data. In addition, these breaches and other inappropriate access can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm of the type described above.
Comprehensive tax reform legislation could adversely affect our business and financial condition.
Our effective income tax rate in the future could be adversely affected by a number of factors, including: changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws, and the outcome of income tax audits in various jurisdictions. We regularly assess all of these matters to determine the adequacy of its tax provision, which is subject to significant discretion.
Compliance with changing regulations concerning corporate governance and public disclosure may result in additional expenses.
There have been changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”), new regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and rules promulgated by the national securities exchanges. The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in July 2010, expanded federal regulation of corporate governance matters and imposes requirements on public companies to, among other things, provides stockholders with a periodic advisory vote on executive compensation and also adds compensation committee reforms and enhanced pay-for-performance disclosures. While some provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act were effective upon enactment, others have been and will be implemented upon the SEC’s adoption of related rules and regulations. The scope and timing of the adoption of such rules and regulations is uncertain and, accordingly, the cost of compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act is also uncertain. Areas subject to potential change, amendment or repeal include the Dodd-Frank Act, including § 619 (12 U.S.C. § 1851) known as the Volcker Rule and various swaps and derivatives regulations, the authority of the Federal Reserve and the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and renewed proposals to separate banks’ commercial and investment banking activities.
These new or changed laws, regulations and standards are, or will be, subject to varying interpretations in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies, which could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. As a result, our efforts to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards are likely to continue to result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. Members of our board of directors and our principal executive officer and principal financial officer could face an increased risk of personal liability in connection with the performance of their duties. As a result, we may have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified directors and executive officers, which could harm our business. If the actions we take in our efforts to comply with new or changed laws, regulations and standards differ from the actions intended by regulatory or governing bodies, we could be subject to liability under applicable laws or our reputation may be harmed.
Risks Related to Acquisitions
We have acquired, and may in the future acquire, assets, businesses and technologies as part of our business strategy. If we acquire companies or technologies in the future, they could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our operating results and the value of our common stock.
As part of our business strategy, we may acquire, enter into joint ventures with, or make investments in complementary or synergistic companies, services, and technologies in the future. Acquisitions and investments involve numerous risks, including without limitation:
·difficulties in identifying and acquiring products, technologies, proprietary rights or businesses that will help our business;
·difficulties in integrating operations, technologies, services, and personnel;
·diversion of financial and managerial resources from existing operations;
·the risk of entering new development activities and markets in which we have little to no experience;
·risks related to the assumption of known and unknown liabilities;
·risks related to our ability to raise sufficient capital to fund additional operating activities; and
·the issuance of our securities as partial or full payment for any acquisitions and investments could result in material dilution to our existing stockholders.
As a result, if we fail to properly evaluate acquisitions or investments, we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of any such acquisitions, we may incur costs in excess of what we anticipate, and management resources and attention may be diverted from other necessary or valuable activities.
Any acquisitions we make could disrupt our business and seriously harm our financial condition.
We have in the past made (and may, from time to time, consider) acquisitions of complementary companies, products or technologies. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including difficulties in the assimilation of the acquired businesses, the diversion of our management’s attention from other business concerns and potential adverse effects on existing business relationships. In addition, any acquisitions could involve the incurrence of substantial additional indebtedness. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully integrate any acquisitions that we pursue or that such acquisitions will perform as planned or prove to be beneficial to our operations and cash flow. Any such failure could seriously harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our ability to protect our intellectual property rights will be critically important to the success of our business, and we may not be able to protect these rights in the U.S. or abroad.
Our success, competitive position and future revenues will depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our product candidates, methods, processes and other technologies, to prevent third parties from infringing on our proprietary rights, exclude others from using our technology and to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of third parties. We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our proprietary rights are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. We attempt to protect our proprietary position by maintaining trade secrets and by filing U.S. and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are important to the development of our business. The first of the patent applications related to our ongoing business operations was issued in 2020, and we continue to file additional patent applications for our product candidates and technology.
We have commenced generating a patent portfolio to protect each product candidate in our pipeline. However, the patent position of biopharmaceutical companies involves complex legal and factual questions, and therefore we cannot predict with certainty whether any patent applications that we have filed or that we may file in the future will be approved, will cover our products or product candidates or that any resulting patents will be enforced. In addition, third parties may challenge, seek to invalidate, limit the scope of or circumvent any of our patents, once they are issued. Thus, any patents that we own or license from third parties or joint venture or development partners may not provide any protection against competitors. Any patent applications that we have filed or that we may file in the future, or those we may license from third parties or joint venture or development partners, may not result in patents being issued. Moreover, disputes between our licensing or joint development partners and us may arise over license scope, or ownership, assignment, inventorship and/or rights to use or commercialize patent or other proprietary rights, which may adversely impact our ability to obtain and protect our proprietary technology and products. Also, patent rights may not provide us with adequate proprietary protection or competitive advantages against competitors with similar technologies or products.
In addition, the laws of certain foreign countries do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the U.S. If we fail to apply for intellectual property protection or if we cannot adequately protect our intellectual property rights in these foreign countries, our competitors may be able to compete more effectively against us, which could adversely affect our competitive position, as well as our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications will be due to the PTO and various foreign patent offices at various points over the lifetime of our patents and/or applications. We have systems in place to remind us to pay these fees, and we rely on our outside counsel or service providers to pay these fees when due. Additionally, the PTO and various foreign patent offices require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply, and in many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with rules applicable to the particular jurisdiction. However, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. If such an event were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, we are responsible for the payment of patent fees for patent rights that we have licensed from other parties. If any licensor of these patents does not itself elect to make these payments, and we fail to do so, we may be liable to the licensor for any costs and consequences of any resulting loss of patent rights.
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or other intellectual property, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming and divert the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents, in addition to counterclaims asserting that our patents are invalid or unenforceable, or both. In any patent infringement proceeding, there is a risk that a court will decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, and that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue. There is also a risk that, even if the validity of such patents is upheld, the court will construe the patent’s claims narrowly or decide that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue on the grounds that our patent claims do not cover the invention. An adverse outcome in a litigation or proceeding involving our patents could limit our ability to assert our patents against those parties or other competitors, and may curtail or preclude our ability to exclude third parties from making and selling similar or competitive products. Any of these occurrences could adversely affect our competitive business position, business prospects and financial condition. Similarly, if we assert trademark infringement claims, a court may determine that the marks we have asserted are invalid or unenforceable, or that the party against whom we have asserted trademark infringement has superior rights to the marks in question. In this case, we could ultimately be forced to cease use of such trademarks.
Even if we establish infringement, the court may decide not to grant an injunction against further infringing activity and instead award only monetary damages, which may or may not be an adequate remedy. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of shares of our common stock. Moreover, there can be no assurance that we will have sufficient financial or other resources to file and pursue such infringement claims, which typically last for years before they are concluded. Even if we ultimately prevail in such claims, the monetary cost of such litigation and the diversion of the attention of our management and scientific personnel could outweigh any benefit we receive as a result of the proceedings.
Our long-term success depends on intellectual property protection; if our intellectual property rights are invalidated or circumvented, our business will be adversely affected.
Our long-term success depends on our ability to continually discover, develop and commercialize innovative new pharmaceutical products. Without strong intellectual property protection, we may be unable to generate the returns necessary to support the enormous investments in research and development and capital as well as other expenditures required to bring new drugs to the market and for commercialization.
Intellectual property protection varies throughout the world and is subject to change over time. In the U.S., for small molecule drug products, such as SPX-009 (which is held by our subsidiary, Sapphire), the Hatch-Waxman Act provides generic companies powerful incentives to seek to invalidate our pharmaceutical patents. As a result, we expect that our U.S. patents on major pharmaceutical products will be routinely challenged, and there can be no assurance that our patents will be upheld. We face generic manufacturer challenges to our patents outside the U.S. as well. In addition, competitors or other third parties may claim that our activities infringe patents or other intellectual property rights held by them. If successful, such claims could result in our being unable to market a product in a particular territory or being required to pay damages for past infringement or royalties on future sales.
If any of our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information is disclosed, the value of our trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary rights would be significantly impaired and our business and competitive position would suffer.
Our success also depends upon the skills, knowledge and experience of our scientific and technical personnel and our consultants and advisors, as well as our licensors. To help protect our proprietary know-how and our inventions for which patents may be unobtainable or difficult to obtain, or prior to seeking patent protection, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements. Unlike some of our competitors, in addition to certain manufacturing processes, we maintain our proprietary libraries for ourselves as trade secrets. To this end, we require all our employees, consultants, advisors and contractors to enter into agreements which prohibit the disclosure of confidential information and, where applicable, require disclosure and assignment to us of the ideas, developments, discoveries and inventions important to our business. These agreements may not provide adequate protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure or the lawful development by others of such information. If any of our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information is disclosed, the value of our trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary rights would be significantly impaired and our business and competitive position would suffer. Moreover, our third-party licensing partners may retain rights in some of our proprietary or joint trade secrets, know-how, patented inventions or other proprietary information, including rights to sublicense and rights of publication, which may adversely impact our ability to obtain patents and protect trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. In addition, the U.S. government may retain rights in some of our patents or other proprietary information.
In addition, many of the formulations used and processes developed by us in manufacturing any of our collaborators’ products are subject to trade secret protection, patents or other intellectual property protections owned or licensed by such collaborator. While we make significant efforts to protect our collaborators’ proprietary and confidential information, including requiring our employees to enter into agreements protecting such information, if any of our employees breaches the non-disclosure provisions in such agreements, or if our collaborators make claims that their proprietary information has been disclosed, our reputation may suffer damage and we may become subject to legal proceedings that could require us to incur significant expenses and divert our management’s time, attention and resources.
Claims that we infringe upon the rights of third parties may give rise to costly and lengthy litigation, and we could be prevented from selling products, forced to pay damages, and defend against litigation.
Third parties may assert patent or other intellectual property infringement claims against us or our strategic partners or licensees with respect to our technologies and product candidates or potential product candidates. If our products, methods, processes and other technologies infringe upon the proprietary rights of other parties, we could incur substantial costs and we may have to:
·obtain licenses, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same intellectual property licensed to us;
·redesign our products or processes to avoid infringement;
·stop using the subject matter validly claimed in the patents held by others;
·pay damages; and
·defend litigation or administrative proceedings which may be costly whether we win or lose, and which could result in a substantial diversion of our valuable management resources.
Even if we were to prevail, any litigation could be costly and time-consuming and would divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations. Furthermore, as a result of a patent infringement suit brought against us or our strategic partners or licensees, we or our strategic partners or licensees may be forced to stop or delay developing, manufacturing or selling technologies, product candidates or potential products that are claimed to infringe a third party’s intellectual property unless that party grants us or our strategic partners’ or licensees’ rights to use its intellectual property. Ultimately, we may be unable to develop some of our technologies or potential products or may have to discontinue development of a product candidate or cease some of our business operations as a result of patent infringement claims, which could severely harm our business.
In addition, our collaborators’ products may be subject to claims of intellectual property infringement and such claims could materially affect our business if their products cease to be manufactured and they have to discontinue the use of the infringing technology which we may provide. Any of the foregoing could affect our ability to compete or could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our position as a relatively small company may cause us to be at a significant disadvantage in defending our intellectual property rights and in defending against infringement claims by third parties.
Litigation relating to the ownership and use of intellectual property is expensive, and our position as a small company in an industry dominated by very large companies may cause us to be at a significant disadvantage in defending our intellectual property rights and in defending against claims that our technology infringes or misappropriates third party intellectual property rights. However, we may seek to use various post-grant administrative proceedings, including new procedures created under the America Invents Act, to invalidate potentially overly-broad third party rights. Even if we can defend our position, the cost of doing so may adversely affect our ability to grow, generate revenue or become profitable. In the course of the ongoing litigation or any future additional litigation to which we may be subject, we may not be able to protect our intellectual property at a reasonable cost, or at all. The outcome of litigation is always uncertain, and in some cases could include judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin us from certain activities or otherwise affect our legal, contractual or intellectual property rights, which could have a significant adverse effect on our business.
Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement may prevent or delay our drug discovery and development efforts.
Our commercial success depends in part on our avoiding infringement of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties.
There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including PTO administrative proceedings, such as inter parties reviews, and reexamination proceedings before the PTO or oppositions and revocations and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others.
Despite safe harbor provisions, third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. There may be third-party patents, of which we are currently unaware, with claims to materials, formulations, methods of doing research or library screening, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent published applications which may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the manufacturing process of any of our product candidates, any molecules formed during the manufacturing process or any final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize such product candidate unless we obtain a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire or they are finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. Similarly, if any third-party patent were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our formulations, processes for manufacture or methods of use, including combination therapy or patient selection methods, the holders of any such patent may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the applicable product candidate unless we obtain a license, limit our uses, or until such patent expires or is finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, cease marketing our products or developing our product candidates, limit our uses, pay royalties or redesign our infringing product candidates, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. We cannot predict whether any such license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms. Furthermore, even in the absence of litigation, we may need to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our product candidates. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on all of our product candidates throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the U.S. These products may compete with our products in jurisdictions where we do not have any issued patents and our patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from so competing.
Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biopharmaceuticals, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.
If we breach any of the agreements under which we license commercialization rights to our product candidates from third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.
We license the use, development and commercialization rights for some of our product candidates and may enter into similar licenses in the future. Under our existing license agreements we are subject to commercialization and development, diligence obligations, milestone payment obligations, royalty payments and other obligations. If we fail to comply with any of these obligations or otherwise breach our license agreements, our licensing partners may have the right to terminate the license in whole or in part.
Generally, the loss of any one of our current licenses or other licenses in the future could materially harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.
The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. The following examples are illustrative:
·Others may be able to make compounds that are similar to our product candidates but that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we own or have exclusively licensed;
·We or our licensors or strategic partners might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patent or pending patent application that we own or have exclusively licensed;
·We or our licensors or strategic partners might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our inventions;
·Others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing our intellectual property rights;
·Our pending patent applications may not lead to issued patents;
·Issued patents that we own or have exclusively licensed may not provide us with any competitive advantages, or may be held invalid or unenforceable, as a result of legal challenges by our competitors;
·Our competitors might conduct research and development activities in countries where we do not have patent rights and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;
·We may not develop 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, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly, and investors in our common stock may lose all or a part of their investment.
The market prices for securities of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have historically been highly volatile, and the market has from time-to-time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. For example, from January 2, 2020 to December 31, 2020, our closing stock price ranged from $0.10 to $1.44 per share. The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control, such as:
·actual or anticipated adverse results or delays in our clinical trials;
·our failure to commercialize our product candidates, if approved;
·unanticipated serious safety concerns related to the use of any of our product candidates;
·adverse regulatory decisions;
·changes in laws or regulations applicable to our product candidates, including but not limited to clinical trial requirements for approvals;
·legal disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our product candidates, government investigations and the results of any proceedings or lawsuits, including, but not limited to, patent or stockholder litigation;
·our decision to initiate a clinical trial, not initiate a clinical trial or to terminate an existing clinical trial;
·our dependence on third parties, including CROs;
·announcements of the introduction of new products by our competitors;
·market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors;
·announcements concerning product development results or intellectual property rights of others;
·future issuances of common stock or other securities;
·the addition or departure of key personnel;
·failure to meet or exceed any financial guidance or expectations regarding development milestones that we may provide to the public;
·actual or anticipated variations in quarterly operating results;
·our failure to meet or exceed the estimates and projections of the investment community;
·overall performance of the equity markets and other factors that may be unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors, including changes in market valuations of similar companies;
·conditions or trends in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries;
·introduction of new products offered by us or our competitors;
·announcements of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by us or our competitors;
·issuances of debt or equity securities;
·sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders in the future;
·trading volume of our common stock;
·ineffectiveness of our internal controls;
·publication of research reports about us or our industry or positive or negative recommendations or withdrawal of research coverage by securities analysts;
·failure to effectively integrate the acquired companies’ operations;
·general political and economic conditions;
·effects of natural or man-made catastrophic events;
·effects of public health crises, pandemics and epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; and
·other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control.
Further, the equity markets in general have recently experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Continued market fluctuations could result in extreme volatility in the price of our common stock, which could cause a decline in the value of our common stock. Price volatility of our common stock might worsen if the trading volume of our common stock is low. The realization of any of the above risks or any of a broad range of other risks, including those described in these “Risk Factors,” could have a dramatic and material adverse impact on the market price of our common stock.
We have never paid cash dividends and do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any return on investment may be limited to the value of our common stock.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends on our capital stock will depend on our earnings, financial condition and other business and economic factors affecting us at such time as the board of directors may consider relevant. We currently anticipate that we will re-invest any funds that we receive into the business to further our business strategy, and not to pay dividends. If we do not pay dividends, our common stock may be less valuable because a return on your investment will only occur if the common stock price appreciates.
A sale of a substantial number of shares of the common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.
If our stockholders sell, or the market perceives that our stockholders intend to sell for various reasons, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, including shares issued in connection with the exercise of outstanding options or warrants, the market price of our common stock could fall. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate. We may become involved in securities class action litigation that could divert management’s attention and harm our business.
The stock markets have from time-to-time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices for the common stock of biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies. These broad market fluctuations may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of our securities. This risk is especially relevant for us because biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies have experienced significant stock price volatility in recent years. We may become involved in this type of litigation in the future. Litigation often is expensive and diverts management’s attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business.
Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly.
We expect our operating results to be subject to quarterly fluctuations. Our net loss and other operating results will be affected by numerous factors, including:
·variations in the level of expenses related to our development programs;
·the addition or termination of clinical trials;
·any intellectual property infringement lawsuit in which we may become involved;
·regulatory developments affecting our product candidates; and
·our execution of any collaborative, licensing or similar arrangements, and the timing of payments we may make or receive under these arrangements.
If our quarterly operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Furthermore, any quarterly fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate substantially.
Existing stockholders’ interest in us may be diluted by additional issuances of equity securities and raising funds through acquisitions, lending and licensing arrangements may restrict our operations or require us to relinquish proprietary rights.
We may issue additional equity securities to fund future expansion and pursuant to equity incentive or employee benefit plans. We may also issue additional equity for other purposes. These securities may have the same rights as our common stock or, alternatively, may have dividend, liquidation or other preferences to our common stock. The issuance of additional equity securities will dilute the holdings of existing stockholders and may reduce the share price of our common stock.
If we raise additional funds through collaboration, licensing or other similar arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish potentially valuable rights to our product candidates, potential products or proprietary technologies, or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If adequate funds are not available, our ability to achieve profitability or to respond to competitive pressures would be significantly limited and we may be required to delay, significantly curtail or eliminate the development of our product candidates.
Our investors could experience substantial dilution of their investments as a result of subsequent exercises of our outstanding options, including the CEO Performance Award, or the grant of future equity awards by us.
As of December 31, 2020, 10 million shares of our common stock were reserved for issuance under our 2015 Stock Incentive Plan, of which 7,466,662 million shares of our common stock were subject to options outstanding at such date at a weighted-average exercise price of $.36 per share. To the extent outstanding options are exercised, our existing stockholders may incur dilution.
We rely on equity awards to motivate current employees and to attract new employees. The grant of future equity awards by us to our employees and other service providers may further dilute our stockholders.
Our directors and executive officers own a significant percentage of our capital stock, and they may make decisions that you do not consider to be in your best interests or those of our other stockholders.
As of December 31, 2020, our directors and executive officers beneficially owned, in the aggregate, approximately 55.51% of our outstanding voting securities. As a result, if some or all of them acted together, they would have the ability to exert significant influence over the election of our board of directors and the outcome of issues requiring approval by our stockholders. This concentration of ownership may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company that may be favored by other stockholders. This could prevent transactions in which stockholders might otherwise recover a premium for their shares over current market prices.
Our articles of incorporation, as amended, and bylaws provide for indemnification of officers and directors at our expense and limits their liability, which may result in a major cost to us and hurt the interests of our stockholders because corporate resources may be expended for the benefit of our officers and/or directors.
Our articles of incorporation, as amended, bylaws and applicable Nevada law provide for the indemnification of our directors, officers, employees, and agents, under certain circumstances, against attorney’s fees and other expenses incurred by them in any litigation to which they become a party arising from their association with or activities on our behalf. We will also bear the expenses of such litigation for any of our directors, officers, employees, or agents, upon such person’s promise to repay us, therefore if it is ultimately determined that any such person shall not have been entitled to indemnification. This indemnification policy could result in substantial expenditures by us, which we will be unable to recover.
We have issued Preferred Stock.
Our articles of incorporation, as amended, authorize the issuance of up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences determined from time to time by our Board of Directors. We currently have one class of preferred stock designated, our Series C Convertible Preferred Stock (“Series C Preferred”). As of December 31, 2020, of the 5,000,000 preferred shares authorized: (i) 1,000,000 shares were designated as Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, of which none were issued and outstanding, (ii) 500,000 shares were designated as Series B Convertible Preferred Stock, of which none were issued and outstanding, and (iii) 500,000 shares were designated as Series C Convertible Preferred Stock, of which 500,000 shares were issued and outstanding. The holders of our Preferred Stock have voting control of the Company. Our Board of Directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to designate and issue preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting, or other rights which could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of the common stock. The issuance of additional shares of preferred stock could be utilized, under certain circumstances, as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties
North American Address:
6191 Cornerstone CT E. Suite 114
San Diego, CA 92121

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
We are subject to litigation, claims, investigations and audits arising from time to time in the ordinary course of our business. However, at this time, we are not aware on any material pending, threatened or unasserted claims.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common stock is currently traded on the OTCQB under trading symbol “AXIM.” An active public market for our common stock may not develop or be sustained. Trading of securities on the OTCQB is often sporadic and investors may have difficulty buying and selling or obtaining market quotations.
The following table sets forth the high and low closing bid prices for our common stock as reported on OTCQB for the following periods. These prices do not include retail mark-ups, markdowns or commissions, and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.
High ($)
Low ($)
Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020
First Quarter
0.51
0.12
Second Quarter
0.67
0.12
Third Quarter
1.05
0.24
Fourth Quarter
0.68
0.41
Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019
First Quarter
2.25
0.91
Second Quarter
1.62
0.76
Third Quarter
0.97
0.62
Fourth Quarter
0.66
0.35
As of April 14, 2021, there are 75 holders of record of our common stock. This number does not include beneficial holders of our stock. Because many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of shareholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of shareholders represented by these record holders.
Dividends
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We anticipate that in the future we will retain any earnings for operation of our business. Accordingly, we do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
Effective May 29, 2015 the company adopted a stock incentive plan under which eligible persons or vendors whom provide the company services may be afforded an opportunity to acquire an equity interest in the company in exchange for those services provided. The Company has reserved 9,806,000 shares of its common stock for issuance under this plan.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
The Company did not sell any securities that were not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, during fiscal year 2020 that have not already been reported on a Current Report on Form 8-K or a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Issuer Repurchases of Equity Securities
None.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Not applicable to a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of SEC Regulation S-K.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes to those statements that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our discussion includes forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. We use words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We are in our early stages of development and growth, without established records of sales or earnings. We will be subject to numerous risks inherent in the business and operations of financially unstable and early stage or emerging growth companies.
We estimate our G & A expenses for 2021 to be approximately $3,500,000, which includes projected audit and accounting costs of $250,000. R&D expenses for 2021 will vary based on drug formulation and clinical trial project activity that the Company is engaged in, which in turn is determined by available capital. We don't expect R&D expenditures to exceed $2 million in 2021.
We can provide no assurance that the Company can continue to satisfy its cash requirements for at least the next twelve months.
We expect to obtain financing through shareholder loans and private placements. Shareholder loans will be without stated terms of repayment or interest. We will not consider taking on any long-term or short-term debt from financial institutions in the immediate future. Shareholders loans may be granted from time to time as required to meet current working capital needs. We have no formal agreement that ensures that we will receive such loans. We may exhaust this source of funding at any time.
We are dependent upon certain related parties to provide continued funding and capital resources. If continued funding and capital resources are unavailable at reasonable terms, we may not be able to implement our plan of operations. These loans may include terms that may be highly dilutive to existing shareholders.
On September 14, 2017, our Registration Statement on Form S-3 was declared effective by the SEC. We issued 7,494,792 shares common stock pursuant to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-3 during the year ending December 31, 2020.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) was reported in Wuhan, China. The COVID-19 pandemic, as it was declared by the World Health Organization, has continued to spread and has already caused severe global disruptions. The extent of COVID-19’s effect on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread and intensity of the pandemic, all of which are uncertain and difficult to predict considering the rapidly evolving landscape.
We expect COVID-19, along with the resulting government-imposed restrictions on businesses, shelter-in place orders and temporary retail and grocery store closures to negatively impact our operations due to decreased consumer demand as well as potential production and warehouse limitations which results in an event or condition, before consideration of management’s plans, that could impact our ability to meet future obligations. We believe that our cash and cash equivalents on hand and these cost reduction measures, as needed, will provide sufficient liquidity to fund our operations for the next 12 months from the issuance of the consolidated financial statements.
Sources of Capital
We expect to sustain our working capital needs through shareholder loans and private placements. Shareholder loans will be without stated terms of repayment or interest. We will not consider taking on any long-term or short-term debt from financial institutions in the immediate future. Shareholders loans may be granted from time to time as required to meet current working capital needs. We have no formal agreement that ensures that we will receive such loans. We may exhaust this source of funding at any time.
During the next twelve months, we anticipate incurring costs related to:
(i)filing Exchange Act reports,
(ii)contractual obligations
(iii)clinical trials, and
(iv)continued research and development of pharmaceutical formulations
We believe we will be able to meet these costs through use of funds in our treasury, deferral of fees by certain service providers and additional amounts, as necessary, to be loaned to or invested in us by our shareholders, management or other investors. As of the date of the period covered by this report, we have limited cash. There are no assurances that we will be able to secure any additional funding as needed. Currently, however our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our ability to generate future profitable operations and/or to obtain the necessary financing to meet our obligations and repay our liabilities arising from normal business operations when they come due. Management’s plan includes obtaining additional funds by equity financing and/or related party advances; however, there is no assurance of additional funding being available.
Going Concern
The Company’s financial statements have been presented assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As shown in the financial statements, the Company has negative working capital of $783,163, has an accumulated deficit of $41,849,922, has cash used in continuing operating activities of $2,000,097 and presently does not have the resources to accomplish its objectives during the next twelve months. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments related to the recoverability of assets and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue in operation
The Company intends to raise additional capital through private placements of debt and equity securities, but there can be no assurance that these funds will be available on terms acceptable to the Company or will be sufficient to enable the Company to fully complete its development activities or sustain operations. If the Company is unable to raise sufficient additional funds, it will have to develop and implement a plan to further extend payables, reduce overhead, or scale back its current business plan until sufficient additional capital is raised to support further operations. There can be no assurance that such a plan will be successful.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.
December 31, 2020
December 31, 2019
$ Change
% Change
Revenues
$
-
$
-
$
-
-
Cost of goods sold
-
-
-
-
Gross margin percentage
-
-
-
-
Operating expenses
4,948,998
3,108,838
1,840,160
59.19%
Loss from continuing operations
(4,948,998)
(3,108,838)
(1,840,160)
59.19%
Loss from discontinued operations
(119,293)
(3,480,633)
3,361,340
-97.58%
Other expenses (income)
1,341,589
(141,914)
1,483,503
-1045.35%
Net loss
$
(6,409,880)
$
(6,447,557)
$
37,677
-0.58%
Revenue
Revenues from continuing operations recognized for twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 amounted to $-0- and $-0-, respectively. Revenues from discontinued operations recognized for twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 amounted to, $7,990 and $742,083, respectively. The decrease is primarily due to discontinued sale activities of Wellness gum in 2020.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of Revenue from continuing operations recognized for twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 amounted to $-0- and $-0-, respectively. Cost of Revenue from discontinued operations recognized for twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 amounted to, $2,893 and $575,694, respectively. The decrease is primarily due to discontinued sale activities of Wellness gum in 2020.
Operating Expenses
Research and Development Expenses
For the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 the Company incurred research and development expenses of $426,708 and $-0- from continuing operations, respectively. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 the Company incurred research and development expenses of $359,251 and $2,452,506 from discontinued operations, respectively. The decrease is primarily due to discontinued research and clinical activities of Wellness gum in 2020.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Our Selling, General and Administrative expenses for the years ending in 2020 and 2019 were $4,506,290 and $3,105,482, respectively. The increase is primarily due to services in legal, consulting and accounting because of the acquisition of Sapphire Biotech on March 2020.
Depreciation Expenses
For the year ended December 31, 2020 our depreciation expenses were $16,001 as compared to $3,356 for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase is primarily due to recognizing the property and equipment as a result of the acquisition of Sapphire Biotech on March 17, 2020.
Other Income and Expenses
Our interest expenses for the year ending 2020 and 2019 were $234,754 and $222,236 respectively. Loss on extinguishment of debt for the years ending in 2020 and 2019 were $923,605 and $-0- respectively, variance was result of debt exchange and true-up adjustment for stock compensation. Amortization of debt discount was $86,059 and $75,272 respectively. The change to the FMV in marketable securities for years ending in 2020 and 2019 resulted in unrealized gain (loss) and realized gain (loss) of $(104,705), $113,748, $(109,040), and $268,274. Income grants from government for the year ending 2020 and 2019 were $115,899 and $-0- respectively, variance was result of receiving innovation research grants from NCI in 2020.
For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019
Net Cash Provided by/Used in Operating Activities
Net cash used in continuing operating activities and discontinued operating activities was $2,000,097 and $1,215,602 respectively for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, as compared to net cash used of $1,357,039 and $3,681,944 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019. The cash used in operating activities is primarily attributable to our net loss from operations of $6,409,880 and offset by net changes in the balances of operating assets and liabilities and non-cash expenses. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 stock-based compensation was $1,958,730 and amortization of debt discount was $86,059. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 these non-cash expenses were stock-based compensation of $1,835,000 and amortization of $75,272. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 the Company recorded increase to accounts payable and accrued expenses $532,245 and $153,740 of continuing operating activities. The Company recorded for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 a loss on extinguishment of debt of $923,604 and $(57,400), respectively, and unrealized gain (loss) on marketable securities of $(104,705) and $113,748, respectively, and realized gain (loss) on marketable securities of $(109,040) and $268,274, respectively.
Net Cash provided by Investing Activities
Net cash used in (provided by) investing activities during the period ended December 31, 2020 was $9,980 compared to $348,187 for the same period in 2019 due to $79,814 cash acquired in Sapphire acquisition off set by cash used in equipment purchase for $97,324.
Net Cash Provided by Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities during the twelve months period ended December 31, 2020, was $3,151,270 including $65,000 used in discontinued financing activities compared to $3,396,799 for the same period in 2019 including $78,917 used in discontinued financing activities. The Company has successfully raised significant capital in exchange for its common stock for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that is material to investors.
Contractual Obligations
As a “smaller reporting company” as defined by Item 10 of Regulation S-K, the Company is not required to provide this information.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported periods. The more critical accounting estimates include estimates related to revenue recognition and accounts receivable allowances. We also have other key accounting policies, which involve the use of estimates, judgments and assumptions that are significant to understanding our results, which are described in Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements.
Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements during the reporting periods. These items are monitored and analyzed by us for changes in facts and circumstances, and material changes in these estimates could occur in the future. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Changes in estimates are reflected in reported results for the period in which they become known. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset, or paid to transfer a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants. A fair value hierarchy has been established for valuation inputs that gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs.
Research and Development Costs
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Research and development reimbursements and grants are recorded by us as a reduction of research and development cost
Share-Based Payments
We estimate the fair value of each stock option award at the grant date by using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The fair value determined represents the cost for the award and is recognized over the vesting period during which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the award. We account for forfeitures of stock options as they occur.
Income Taxes
We use the asset and liability method to calculate deferred taxes. Deferred taxes are recognized based on the differences between the financial reporting and income tax bases of assets and liabilities using the enacted tax rates and laws that will be in effect when the differences are expected to reverse. We review deferred tax assets for a valuation allowance based upon whether it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will be fully realized. A valuation allowance, if necessary, is provided against deferred tax assets, based upon our assessment as to their realization.
We recognize tax when the positions meet a “more-likely-than-not” recognition threshold. There were no tax positions for which it is considered reasonably possible that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will significantly increase or decrease within the next year. We recognize interest related to unrecognized tax benefits in interest expense and penalties in operating expenses.
Recently Issued Accounting Standards
Note 5 to consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this report includes Recently Issued Accounting Standards.
Foreign Currency Transactions
Foreign exchange gain (loss) in the year ended December 31, 2020 was $(7,324) compared to $(3,198) for the same period in 2019. All foreign currency gain (loss) were related to discontinued operations.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Not applicable to a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statement and Supplementary Data
The full text of the Company's= consolidated financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, begins on page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes In and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed pursuant to the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules, regulations and related forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
As of December 31, 2020, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act. The Company’s internal control system is designed to provide reasonable assurance to the Company’s management and Board of Directors regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. The Company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
·Pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company;
·Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and
·Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
These limitations preclude the board and management from having absolute assurance of the achievement of the entity’s objectives. Even an effective control system provides reasonable but not absolute assurances.
An evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s management of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s procedures and internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. In making this assessment, the Company used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control-Integrated Framework as updated as of 2017. Based on that evaluation, the Company’s management concluded that the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting were effective as of December 31, 2020. Management, board of directors, and other personnel use judgment every day to select, develop, and deploy controls across the Company. Management, among other personnel apply judgement as they monitor and assess the effectiveness of the system of internal control.
Attestation Report of the Registered Public Accounting Firm
This annual report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, wherein non-accelerated filers are exempt from Sarbanes-Oxley internal control audit requirements.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The Company has formal Compensation, Audit, Nominating and Governance Committees. Management and the Board established controls over financial reporting through policies and procedures that help ensure that management’s directives to mitigate risks to the achievement of objectives are carried out. Control activities are performed at all levels of the entity, at various levels within day-to-day procedures, and over technology environment. The Company’s control over financial reporting includes combination of preventive and detective controls and encompass a range of manual and automated activities such as authorizations and approvals, verifications, reconciliations, and business performance reviews.
Inherent Limitations of Internal Controls
Internal control provides reasonable assurance of achieving entity’s objectives, limitations do exist. Internal control cannot prevent bad judgment or decisions, or external events that can cause the Company to fail to achieve its operational goals. However, even an effective system of internal control can experience a failure. The limitations include, but not limited to: suitability of objectives established as a precondition to internal control; reality that human judgment in decision making can be faulty and subject to bias; breakdowns that can occur because of human failures such as simple errors; ability of management to override internal control; ability of management, other personnel, and/or third parties to circumvent controls through collusion; external events beyond the organization’s control. Notwithstanding these inherent limitations, management is aware of them when selecting, developing, and deploying controls that minimize, to the extent practical, these limitations. Segregation of duties is built into the selection and development of control activities. Where segregation of duties is not practical, management selects and develops alternative control activities. Ongoing evaluations are built into business process at different hierarchy levels of the Company and provide timely information. Findings are evaluated against criteria established by regulations, recognized standard-setting bodies or management and the board of directors, and deficiencies are communicated to management and the board of directors as appropriate.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
PART III

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Directors and Executive Officers AXIM
Our executive officers, key employees and directors are listed in the below table. There are no arrangements, agreements or understandings between non-management security holders and management under which non-management security holders may directly or indirectly participate in or influence the management of our affairs. There are no arrangements or understandings between any director and any other person pursuant to which any director or executive officer was or is to be selected as a director or executive officer, as applicable. There currently are no legal proceedings, and during the past ten years there have been no legal proceedings, that are material to the evaluation of the ability or integrity of any of our directors or director nominees.
NAME
AGE
POSITION
John W. Huemoeller II
Chief Executive Officer, President
Robert Malasek
Chief Financial Officer, Secretary
Timothy R. Scott, PhD
Director
Robert Cunningham
Director
Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora
Director
Peter O’Rourke
Director
The background of our executive officers, key employees and directors is as follows:
John W. Huemoeller II - Chief Executive Officer, President
Mr. Huemoeller has over 30 years’ experience in financial markets and publicly traded companies including investment banking, corporate finance, executive management, sales and marketing, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and private placements of securities. Since April 2015 to the present, Mr. Huemoeller has been the chief executive officer and president of Air Water Earth Inc. From March 2013 to January 2016, he was chairman, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Propell Technologies Group Inc. From April 2012 to March 2013, Mr. Huemoeller served as the president of Joshua Tree Capital Inc. Mr. Huemoeller has held Series 3, 7, 24, 63 and 79 Securities Licenses, was registered with various state insurance boards, the Chicago Board of Trade as a commodities broker, and worked for various broker-dealers throughout his career including Smith Barney, Drexel Burnham, Prudential Securities, and Paine Webber. Mr. Huemoeller is co-author of U.S. Patent #5,855,005.
Robert Malasek - Chief Financial Officer, Secretary
Mr. Malasek’s experience includes serving as the Assistant Controller for Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., Controller for Pacific Crest Equity Partners (a private equity company), and Chief Financial Officer for NatureWell, Inc. From 2011 to 2015, Robert served as the Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, Treasurer and a Director of Liberty Coal Energy Corp. Since 2015, Robert has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Cannalink, Inc. Robert received his Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from San Diego State University.
Timothy R. Scott, PhD - Director
Dr. Scott has served on the Board of Directors of Medical Marijuana, Inc. from March 2015 to the present. From September 2001 to May 2008, Dr. Scott served on the board of directors of Naturewell, Incorporated, a publicly traded company engaged in the nutraceutical and homeopathic drug business. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Scott served as a member of the board of directors of ICH Corporation, an American Stock Exchange listed company, which owned 265 fast food and family dining restaurants having approximately $265 million in revenues and 7,800 employees, and as a member of ICH’s compensation committee. Dr. Scott has served as chairman of the board of directors, president and senior pastor of a 2,500-member church located in San Diego, California from 1992 to the present. He also has served as chairman and president of Project Reach World, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization from 1995 to the present. He received his Ph.D. in Theology from Christian University in 1981 and served as a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Pacific International College from 1981 to 1985.
Robert Cunningham - Director
Robert “Bob” Cunningham has over 40 years of executive management experience in financial services and venture capital. From August 2011 to the present, he serves as the chief executive officer of Preferred Dealer Programs LLC, a venture funded firm developing electronic payment technologies for banks. Prior to joining PDP, from January 1985 to December 2006, he was the founding partner in Placer Financial Group, a nationwide mortgage and real estate development company. Mr. Cunningham also served as Trustee for the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a member of the board for numerous firms, including Allied Commercial Corporation, Vermillion Development, Pacific Building Industries Corporation and Bond HD Hospitality Group. From March 2015 to the present, Mr. Cunningham has served on the board of directors of Medical Marijuana, Inc.
Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora - Director
Mr. Gatto-Bellora has over 30 years in the pharmaceutical, biochemistry and cosmetics industries throughout the world. Mr. Gatto-Bellora’s business background includes Allergan (Mexico, Latin America, Brazil, Argentina), Natura (USA, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, France), Jugos Del Sur S.A., Mary Kay Inc, DaumDeuman, LLC, MonaVie and Hair Ventures, LLC. Since 2015 to the present, Mr. Gatto-Bellora has been the founder and President of Hair Ventures, LLC based in New York City. While working with Natura from 2002-2011, Mr. Gatto-Bellora served as CEO-International, CEO-Brazil & Latin America, President-Latin America and General Manager-Argentina being responsible for more than US$ 5 Billion in sales. From 2011 to the present, Mr. Gatto-Bellora served as the founder and CEO of Daumdeuman, LLC, a company specializing in the strategy and implementation of startup and turnaround companies with an emphasis on international scenarios. From 2013-2015, Mr. Gatto-Bellora was the President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of MonaVie a MLM company selling nutritional products in 46 countries. Mr. Gatto-Bellora holds a doctor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences & Biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires, and Postgrad degree in International business from INSEAD. Mr Gatto Bellora was published in multiple countries including the Journal of Micro-encapsulation and Journal of antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy.
Peter O’Rourke - Director
Mr. O’Rourke’s background includes holding leadership roles in management consulting, private equity, aerospace and operations companies. Mr. O’Rourke’s experience includes leadership in sales, marketing, operations, finance and performance improvement. In 2018, Mr. O’Rourke was appointed Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs after serving as the Chief of Staff and Executive Director for the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection. Before joining the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mr. O’Rouke honorably served as a U.S. Navy enlisted Airman and an Air Force Officer and Logistician. Mr. O’Rourke received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville as well as a Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from the United States Air Force’s Institute of Technology.
Officers of Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Catalina Valencia, J.D
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder - Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Catalina specialized in leading enterprises to success through the strategic development of businesses and products. Her career focus has been on start-ups and small businesses in the biotech industry starting with Genentech. Early in her legal career, Catalina joined the Rio de Janeiro office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton as an Associate Attorney where she represented American companies seeking to enter into joint ventures with Brazilian enterprises. In the Bay Area, she was recruited by Itel, a Wall Street success story that declared a historic bankruptcy due to its size just one year after she joined the company. She successfully completed the disposition of over $1 Billion in executory contracts, enabling the company to emerge from bankruptcy. Subsequently, Catalina was recruited by Genentech, Inc., the premier biotech pioneer, during the company’s early start-up phase. Catalina’s accomplishments included structuring ventures which formed the basis for Genentech’s international expansion. Catalina has been the co-founder of several companies, most recently Sapphire Biotech, all with a mission to develop pioneering scientific technologies with life-saving potential. Catalina graduated Magna Cum Laude, Highest Department Honors, with a B.A. degree from UCLA and received her J.D. Degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Her scholastic achievements include an Alumni Scholarship to UCLA, Fellowship to Berkeley Law School, Teaching Fellowship to Stanford Law School and Fulbright Fellowship to Brazil.
Dr. Sergei A. Svarovsky, Ph.D, MBA
Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder - Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Dr. Svarovsky is the scientific founder of Sapphire. He brings to the Company a breadth of experience and expertise from his academic, government and industry careers in the fields of medicinal chemistry and medical diagnostics. He has authored over 25 peer reviewed publications, reviews and book chapters, contributed to at least 20 international and U.S. patents and participated in over 50 international symposia. Some of his patents has been licensed by Pfizer, BioRad, among others. He serves on Editorial Boards of several international journals in the fields of chemistry, medical technology and nanotechnology and is a reviewer for a number of national and international funding organizations including National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Israeli Science Foundation, and Georgian Science Foundations. Dr. Svarovsky obtained a PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry and MBA in Finance from University of West Virginia in 2000. Prior to entering the biopharma industry, Dr. Svarovsky served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry at the National Cancer Institute. In 2006 he became an Associate Professor at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University where he met with another co-founder of Sapphire, Dr. Douglas Lake. Dr. Svarovsky joins Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. in the role of Chief Scientific Officer with a mission to develop novel therapeutics modalities and diagnostics for the treatment and detection of cancer.
Dr. Douglas Lake, Ph.D
Chief Clinical Officer - Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Douglas Lake is a tumor immunologist who has been at ASU since 2006. Previously, he was at the University of Arizona Cancer Center where he studied anti-tumor T cells and tumor-associated peptides as immunotherapy targets. Currently, he is investigating an enzyme called QSOX1 that is over-expressed in multiple tumor types. Lake was the first to show that this enzyme is important in tumor cell growth, invasion and metastasis. His laboratory is developing chemical and biological inhibitors of QSOX1 with strong therapeutic potential. His laboratory also studies Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis). A pressing clinical need is that Valley Fever lacks an accurate and sensitive diagnostic test while patients are acutely symptomatic. Lake is developing a test that detects bits and pieces of the fungus in urine in infected patients. Lake’s research team also studies chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T cells). This technology re-directs the immune system toward defined markers on tumors and unleashes T cells as the most potent killers against tumors. The vision for CAR T therapies is to re-activate patients’ immune systems against their tumors, such that they will have lifelong immunity against their tumor and any mutant tumors that might arise. In addition, Lake teaches immunology and microbiology at the undergraduate level and advance cell biology at the graduate level.
Alim Seit-Nebi, Ph.D
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder - Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Dr.Seit-Nebi leads the development and implementation of new antibody and protein-based technologies in diagnostics and therapeutics. Prior to joining Sapphire, Dr.Seit-Nebi was leading the development and production of antibodies, recombinant proteins, biomarkers, and immunoassays for diagnostic and therapeutic applications for industry and academia, serving at various roles at GenWay Biotech, Inc. for more than 11 years. Dr.Seit-Nebi is an expert in a broad array of biochemical, genetic, molecular, and cellular biology methods with detailed knowledge of signaling pathways in inflammation, oncogenesis, and cell stress response. He published 38 articles in prestigious peer-reviewed life-science journals. He received a doctorate degree in molecular biology from the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow, Russia, in 2002. He then pursued his research interests in immunology and molecular biology as a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute.
Maria Moa, Ph.D
VP, Product Development - Sapphire Biotech, Inc.
Dr. Maria J. Gonzalez Moa is an NCI-trained Medicinal Chemist and as VP, Product Development, will be responsible for chemical synthesis, compound design, compound acquisition from outside sources, and assistance with molecular modeling and NMR. Dr. Moa holds a Ph.D in Organic/Physical Chemistry from the University of Vigo, Spain. At the University of Vigo, she was Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Organic and Physical Chemistry. Dr. Moa was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, Maryland. Dr. Moa was Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Innovations in Medicine, the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. She has extensive experience working with new tools for diagnostics and was in charge of the development of novel lateral flow assay tests for the rapid diagnostic of infectious diseases. Her experience in Medicinal Chemistry includes design, synthesis, and the computational study of small molecules with potential anticancer and antiviral activity. Dr. Moa has published and co-authored over 40 articles in peer-reviewed publications, reviews and book chapters.
Corporate Governance
General
We believe that good corporate governance is important to ensure that the Company is managed for the long-term benefit of our shareholders. This section describes key corporate governance practices that we have adopted.
Board of Directors Meetings and Attendance
The Company’s Board of Directors has responsibility for establishing broad corporate policies and reviewing our overall performance rather than day-to-day operations. The primary responsibility of the Board is to oversee the management of the Company and, in doing so, serve the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. The Board selects, evaluates and provides for the succession of executive officers and, subject to shareholder election, directors. It reviews and approves corporate objectives and strategies and evaluates significant policies and proposed major commitments of corporate resources. The Board also participates in decisions that have a potential major economic impact on the Company. Management keeps the directors informed of Company activity through regular communication, including written reports and presentations at Board and committee meetings.
Committees of the Board of Directors
The Company has formal Compensation and Audit and Nominating and Governance Committees. All other functions of the Board are being undertaken by the Board of Directors as a whole.
On April 2, 2019, Blake N. Schroeder resigned from the Company’s Audit, Compensation and Nomination and Governance Committees. Mr. Schroeder’s resignation was not because of any disagreements with the Company on matters relating to its operations, policies and practices.
Effective April 3, 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors appointed Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora as a member of the Company’s Audit, Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committees.
On May 6, 2020, the Company bought back 500,000 shares of Series B Preferred stock and retired it.
Effective May 6, 2020, Dr. George Anastassov resigned as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Dr. George Anastassov’s resignation was not because of any disagreements with the Company on matters relating to its operations, policies and practices.
Effective May 6, 2020, Lekhram Changoer resigned as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Lekhram Changoer’s resignation was not because of any disagreements with the Company on matters relating to its operations, policies and practices.
Effective May 6, 2020, Dr. Philip Van Damme resigned as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Philip Van Damme’s resignation was not because of any disagreements with the Company on matters relating to its operations, policies and practices.
On July 21, 2020 pursuant to the Company’s Amended and Restated Bylaws, the holder of the Company’s Series C Preferred Stock appointed Peter O’Rourke to fill one of the vacant positions on board created by the resignations of Dr. George Anastassov, Lekhram Changoer, and Dr. Philip Van Damme.
Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee consists of Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora, Timothy Scott, and Robert Cunningham and has established a charter that requires all members of the Compensation Committee to be “non-employee directors” for purposes of Rule 16b-3 of the Exchange Act and satisfy the requirements of an “outside director” for purposes of Section 16(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Compensation Committee is responsible for overseeing and, as appropriate, making recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding the annual salaries and other compensation of our executive officers, our general employee compensation and other policies and providing assistance and recommendations with respect to our compensation policies and practices. The Compensation Committee is authorized to carry out these activities and other actions reasonably related to the Compensation Committee's purposes or assigned by the Board of Directors from time to time. The Compensation Committee's specific responsibilities are delineated in its charter.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee consists of Robert Cunningham, Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora, and Timothy Scott and has established a charter that requires all members of the Audit Committee to be independent in accordance with applicable listing standards. Our securities are quoted on the OTCQB, which does not have any director independence requirements. Further, companies with securities only quoted on the OTCQB are not required to comply with the independence standards set forth in Rule 10A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. Our Board of Directors has also determined that Mr. Robert Cunningham is an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in Item 407(d) of Regulation S-K.
The Audit Committees responsibilities include: a) selecting and evaluating the performance of our independent auditors; b) reviewing the scope of the audit to be conducted by our independent auditors, as well as the result of their audit, and approving audit and non-audit services to be provided; c) reviewing and assessing our financial reporting activities and disclosure, including our earnings press releases and periodic reports, and the accounting standards and principles followed; d) reviewing the scope, adequacy and effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting; e) reviewing management’s assessment of our compliance with our disclosure controls and procedures; f) reviewing our public disclosure policies and procedures; g) reviewing our guidelines and policies regarding risk assessment and management, our tax strategy and our investment policy; h) reviewing and approving related-party transactions; and i) reviewing threatened or pending litigation matters and investigating matters brought to the committees attention that are within the scope of its duties.
Nominating and Governance Committee
The Nominating and Governance Committee consists of Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora, Robert Cunningham, and Timothy Scott and has established a charter that governs its role with the Company. Timothy Scott has been appointed as the Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee.
The role of the Nominating and Governance Committee is to identify, qualify and propose new board members for the Company. The Nominating and Governance Committee shall also submit a slate of officers including, when applicable. The Nominating and Governance Committee shall: (i) obtain biographies and effectively screen all nominations to ensure selection of members of the highest caliber to serve as selected officers and directors. and (ii) in connection with the performance of its duties, the Nominating and Governance Committee shall have unrestricted access to and assistance from the officers, employees and independent auditors of the Corporation, and shall be furnished with such resources and support from the Company as the Nominating and Governance Committee shall deem necessary. The Nominating and Governance Committee shall have the authority to employ, at the expense of the Company, such experts and professionals as the Nominating and Governance Committee shall deem appropriate from time to time.
Security Holder Communications with our Board of Directors
The Company provides an informal process for security holders to send communications to our board of directors. Security holders who wish to contact the board of directors or any of its members may do so by writing to: AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc., 45 Rockefeller Plaza 20th Floor, Suite 83, New York, NY 10111. Correspondence directed to an individual board member is referred, unopened, to that member. Correspondence not directed to a particular board member is referred, unopened, to the President and CEO.
Conflicts of Interest
Some of officers and all our directors are not obligated to commit their full time and attention to our business and, accordingly, they may encounter a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and those of other businesses. In the course of their other business activities, they may become aware of investment and business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as other entities to which they owe a fiduciary duty. As a result, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. They may be currently and, in the future, may become affiliated with entities that are engaged in business activities similar to those we intend to conduct.
In general, officers and directors of a corporation are required to present business opportunities to the Company if:
1. The Company could financially undertake the opportunity;
2. The opportunity is within the Company’s line of business; and
3. It would be unfair to the Company and its shareholders not to bring the opportunity to the attention of the Company.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a written code of ethics that obligates our directors, officers and employees to disclose potential conflicts of interest and prohibits those persons from engaging in such transactions without our consent.
Compliance with Section 16(a) of Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires the registrant’s officers and directors, and persons who own more than 10% of a registered class of the registrant’s equity securities, to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership of equity securities of the Registrant with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Officers, directors and greater-than-10% shareholders are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission regulation to furnish the registrant with copies of all Section 16(a) forms that they file. Based solely upon a review of Forms 3 and 4 and amendments thereto furnished to us during our most recent fiscal year and Forms 5 and amendments thereto furnished to us with respect to our most recent fiscal year, to the best of our knowledge, all executive officers, directors and persons holding greater than 10% of our issued and outstanding stock have filed the required reports in a timely manner during fiscal 2017.
Family Relationships
There is no family relationship between any Director, executive or person nominated or chosen by the Company to become a Director or executive officer.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation
The following table sets forth the cash compensation paid to our officers and directors for services rendered, and to be rendered:
Name and Principal Position
Year
Salary
Bonus
Stock
Awards
Warrant
Option
Awards
Non-Equity
Incentive
Plan
Compensation
Nonqualified
Deferred
Compensation
Earnings
All Other
Compensation
Total/$
John W. Huemoeller II
420,000
-
-
1,260,000
-
-
-
1,680,000
Director, Chief Executive Officer
210,000
-
-
1,820,000
-
-
-
2,030,000
-
Robert Malasek
36,000
-
-
126,000
-
-
-
162,000
Chief Financial Officer, Secretary
30,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
30,000
-
Timothy R. Scott, PhD
20,000
-
-
55,405
-
-
-
75,405
Director
40,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
40,000
-
Robert Cunningham
20,000
-
-
55,405
-
-
-
75,405
Director
40,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
40,000
-
Peter O’ Rourke
10,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,000
Director, Chief Executive Officer
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Mauricio J Gatto-Bellora
20,000
-
-
55,405
-
-
-
75,405
Director
20,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
20,000
Douglas F. Lake
-
-
-
164,433
-
-
-
164,433
Director
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Alim Seit-Nebi
-
-
-
82,218
-
-
-
82,218
Director
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Noel C. Gillespie
-
-
-
148,879
-
-
-
148,879
Director
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Employment Agreements
On January 2, 2019 the Company entered into the term of Executive’s employment agreement, at a base salary of $10,000 per month with John W. Huemoeller II to serve as its Chief Executive Officer. The Company and Executive acknowledge and agree that Executive’s employment hereunder shall at all times be “at will,” which means that either Executive may resign at any time for any reason or for no reason, and that the Company may terminate Executive’s employment at any time for any reason or for no reason, in either case, subject to the applicable provisions of this Agreement. In further consideration for Executive’s services and subject to the approval of the Board, Executive will be granted an option to purchase 2,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Option Shares”). The option will be subject to the terms and conditions applicable to stock options granted under the Company’s 2015 Stock Incentive Plan, as amended from time to time (the “Plan”), and as described in the Plan and the stock option agreement, which Executive will be required to sign. 50% of the Option Shares shall vest on the date of grant and the remaining 50% of the Option Shares shall vest on the 12- month anniversary of the grant date, subject to Executive’s continued employment by the Company. The exercise price per share will be equal to the fair market value per share on the date of grant, as determined by the last closing price of the Company’s common stock the day prior to grant. Beginning in October 2019, the board decided to increase CEO base salary to $35,000 per month.
On September 1, 2016, the Company entered into an amended and restated employment agreement with Mr. Lekhram Changoer, its Chief Technology Officer. The agreement does not have a set term and may be terminated at any time by the Company or Mr. Changoer with proper notice. Under the agreement Mr. Changoer receives an annual base compensation of $240,000 and an incentive payment of 2,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock due upon execution of the agreement. Upon the one year anniversary of the agreement, the Company has the direction to grant additional equity awards to Mr. Changoer. On May 6, 2020, Mr. Lekhram Changoer resigned as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors
On August 3, 2016, all AXIM affiliates, as such term is defined by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), entered into an agreement whereby each affiliate agreed to be prohibited from selling any Company securities pursuant to Rule 144 of the Act until the later of: (i) twelve (12) months from the date of the agreement; or (ii) twelve (12) months from the date of acquisition of the securities.
On or about June 29, 2016, Robert Malasek was appointed as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. In April, 2017 the Company entered in employment agreement with Robert Malasek its, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. The agreement does not have a set term and may be terminated by any time by the Company or Mr. Robert Malasek with proper notice. Under the agreement Mr. Malasek receives a monthly base compensation of $1,000 and on March 20, 2018 issued unrestricted 50,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. In April 2019 the Company agreed to increase monthly base compensation to $3,000 effective April 1, 2019.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The following table sets forth certain information regarding our common stock beneficially owned as of December 31, 2020:
(i)each stockholder known by us to be the beneficial owner of five (5%) percent or more of our outstanding common stock;
(ii)each of our officers and directors
This information as to beneficial ownership was furnished to the Company by or on behalf of each person named. As at December 31, 2020, there were 125,327,579 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding.
Title of Class
Name and Address of
Beneficial Owner
Amount and Nature
of Beneficial Ownership
Percentage
of Class
Common Stock
John W. Huemoeller II(1)
9,000,000
6.84%
Common Stock
Robert Malasek(1)
300,000
0.22%
Common Stock
Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora(1)
333,333
0.25
Common Stock
Timothy R. Scott, PhD(1)
333,333
0.25%
Common Stock
Robert Cunningham(1)
333,333
0.25%
Common Stock
Peter O’Rourke (1)
-
**
Common Stock
Stuart W Titus (1)
5,236,645
3.97%
Common Stock
MJNA Investment Holdings LLC(2) (3)
17,969,125
13.65%
Common Stock
Catalina Valencia
19,800,000
15.04%
Common Stock
Glycodots, LLC
19,800,000
15.04%
Common Stock
All Directors and Officers as a Group
73,105,770
55.51%
** Less than .1%
(1)The address is: 6191 Cornerstone Court, E. Suite 114, San Diego, CA 92121
(2)The address is: 13831 Danielson, Poway, CA 92064.
(3)MJNA Investment Holdings, LLC owns 17,969,125 individually and holds 500,000 shares of our Series C preferred stock.
Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. The number of shares and the percentage beneficially owned by each individual listed above include shares that are subject to options held by that individual that are immediately exercisable or exercisable within 60 days from the date of this Report and the number of shares and the percentage beneficially owned by all officers and directors as a group includes shares subject to options held by all officers and directors as a group that are immediately exercisable or exercisable within 60 days from the date of this Report.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
On August 8, 2014 the Company entered into a Promissory Note Agreement with CanChew Biotechnologies, LLC (CCB), a related party (the owners of CCB also own a majority of the outstanding shares of the Company), under which it borrowed $1,000,000 to fund working capital. The original loan was a demand note bearing interest at the rate of 7% per annum, which amount, along with principal, was payable upon demand. The demand note was amended effective January 1, 2015 to reduce the annual interest rate to 3%. All other terms and conditions shall remain in full force and effect. The Company is in discussions to have the demand note modified or exchanged for a longer term, fixed maturity note.
On May 21, 2014, the Company’s President advanced an additional $5,000 to the Company to fund working capital needs.
On June 25, 2014, the Company received a non-interest-bearing advance from CanChew Biotechnologies, LLC (CCB) of $30,000 to pay the down payment on its D & O liability insurance. In addition, the Company during 2014 was advanced an additional $35,775 for operating expenses principally for the owner’s salary. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company received additional advance of $0 and $1,619,067, respectively for operation expenses. The advance is due on demand. In the 4th quarter of 2019 and 2018, the Company evaluated changes in imputed interest and recorded $25,292 and $44,312 of interest expenses which represents 1.61% and 2.76% interest rate (Index for Applicable Federal Rates) as provided by IRS for December 2019 and 2018.
On May 6, 2020 (the “Effective Date”), AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), entered into an Agreement (the “Separation Agreement”). Pursuant to the Separation Agreement, the Company transferred 100% of its interest in CanCo and CanChew to an entity designated by Dr. Anastassov. In consideration for the transfers set forth above, any and all indebtedness owed by the Company to CanChew, totaling approximately $2.61 million, was satisfied and paid in its entirety.
Board of Directors Independence
The Company considers Mauricio Javier Gatto-Bellora, Robert Cunningham, and Timothy Scott to be “independent” within the meaning of definitions established by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
Audit Fees
RBSM LLP, billed us $116,703 and $107,000 in audit fees during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Audit-Related Fees
We did not pay any fees to any of our primary auditors, for assurance and related services that are not reported under Audit Fees above, during our fiscal years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.
Tax and All Other Fees
We did not pay any fees to any of our primary auditors for tax compliance, tax advice, tax planning or other work during our fiscal years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.
Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures
With respect to the audit of our financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and for the years then ended, none of the hours expended on any of our primary auditor’s engagement to audit those financial statements were attributed to work by persons other than our primary auditor’s full- time, permanent employees.

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
Please see the below Exhibit Index and the Index to Financial Statements and related notes to financials which follows the signature page to this annual report on Form 10-K and which is incorporated by reference herein.
Exhibit Index
Incorporated by Reference
(Form Type)
Filed
with
This
Report
Exhibits
Exhibit #
Filing Date
Articles of Incorporation, as filed with the Nevada Secretary of State on November 18, 2010.
3.1
10-Q
11/14/2014
Certificate of Amendment, as filed with the Nevada Secretary of State on July 24, 2014.
3.2
10-Q
11/14/2014
Amended and Restated (As of August 17, 2016) Bylaws of AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc.
3.3
10-Q
8/22/2016
Certificate of Designation of Series B Preferred Stock.
3.4
10-Q
8/22/2016
Certificate of Designation of Series C Preferred Stock.
3.5
10-Q
8/22/2016
Amended and Restated Employment Agreement effective September 1, 2016, by and between AXIM International, Inc. and Dr. George E. Anastassov.
10.1
10-Q
11/21/2016
Amended and Restated Employment Agreement effective September 1, 2016, by and between AXIM International, Inc. and Lekhram Changoer.
10.2
10Q
11/21/2016
Employment Agreement effective September 1, 2016, by and between AXIM International, Inc. and Dr. Philip A. Van Damme.
10.3
10-Q
11/21/2016
Letter of Intent (“Terms Sheet”) dated September 3, 2018, by and between Impression Healthcare Limited and AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc.
10.4
10-K (A/1)
10/30/2019
Exclusivity Agreement dated September 3, 2018, by and between Impression Healthcare Limited and AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc.
10.5
10-K (A/1)
10/30/2019
Amendment #1 to Exclusivity Agreement dated December 11, 2018, by and between Impression Healthcare Limited and AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc.
10.6
10-K (A/1)
10/30/2019
Supply Agreement dated May 31, 2019, by and between Impression Healthcare Limited and AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc.
10.7
10-K (A/1)
10/30/2019
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
14.1
10-Q
11/20/2017
Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
31.1
X
Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
23.1
X
Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
31.2
X
Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32.1*
X
Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32.2*
X
Nominating and Governance Committee Charter.
99.1
10-Q
11/20/2017
Compensation Committee Charter.
99.2
10-Q
11/20/2017
Audit Committee Charter.
99.3
10-Q
11/20/2017
XBRL Instance Document
101.INS
X
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.SCH
X
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.CAL
X
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.DEF
X
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.LAB
X
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
101.PRE
X