Celcuity Inc

Overview

Unless otherwise provided in this Annual Report, references to the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” and similar references refer to Celcuity Inc., a Delaware corporation. We own various unregistered trademarks and service marks, including our corporate logo. Solely for convenience, the trademarks, trade names and service marks in this Annual Report, including those owned by third parties, may be referred to without the ®, TM or SM symbols, but such references should not be construed as any indicator that the owner of such trademarks, trade names and service marks will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, their rights thereto. We do not intend the use or display of other companies’ trademarks, trade names and service marks to imply an endorsement or sponsorship of us by any other companies.

We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of targeted therapies for the treatment of multiple solid tumor indications. Our lead therapeutic candidate is gedatolisib, a potent, well-tolerated, small molecule reversible inhibitor, administered intravenously, that selectively targets all Class I isoforms of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and the two mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) sub-complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. Gedatolisib’s mechanism of action and pharmacokinetic properties are highly differentiated from other currently approved and investigational therapies that target PI3K or mTOR alone or together. We believe there is significant potential for gedatolisib to address breast and prostate cancer tumors, and it has the potential to be used in other tumor types where the PAM pathway is either: i) driving tumorigenesis directly; ii) cooperating with other dysregulated signaling pathways; or iii) a mechanism of resistance to other drug therapies.

We obtained exclusive global development and commercialization rights to gedatolisib in April 2021 under a license agreement with Pfizer, Inc. As of December 31, 2023, 492 patients with solid tumors have received gedatolisib in eight completed clinical trials. Gedatolisib’s safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile were determined in a Phase 1 First-in-Human study. Of the 492 patients, 129 were treated with gedatolisib as a single agent in three clinical trials. The remaining 363 patients received gedatolisib in combination with other anti-cancer agents in five clinical trials. Additional patients received gedatolisib in combination with other anti-cancer agents in nine investigator sponsored clinical trials.

Our initial clinical development programs for gedatolisib are focusing on the treatment of patients with hormone receptor positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-), or HR+/HER2-, advanced or metastatic breast cancer and patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

In January 2022, gedatolisib was granted Fast Track designation for the treatment of patients with HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer after progression on CDK4/6 therapy. Fast Track designation is granted by the FDA for products that are intended for the treatment of serious or life-threatening disease or conditions and which demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need.

In July 2022, gedatolisib was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer after progression on CDK4/6 therapy. Breakthrough Therapy designation is granted by the FDA to expedite the development and regulatory review of an investigational medicine that is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition. The criteria for Breakthrough Therapy designation requires preliminary clinical evidence that demonstrates the drug may have substantial improvement on one or more clinically significant endpoints over available therapy.

In December 2022, we dosed the first patient in our Phase 3, open-label, randomized clinical trial, VIKTORIA-1. This trial is evaluating the efficacy and safety of two regimens in adults with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer whose disease has progressed after prior CDK4/6 therapy in combination with an aromatase inhibitor: 1) gedatolisib in combination with palbociclib and fulvestrant; and 2) gedatolisib in combination with fulvestrant. Over two hundred clinical sites in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia are participating in the study.

In February 2024, we dosed our first patient in our Phase 1b/2 clinical trial, CELC-G-201, evaluating gedatolisib in combination with darolutamide in patients with mCRPC.

The PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway

Dysregulation of the PI3K/protein kinase B (AKT)/mTOR, or PAM, signaling pathway is observed in many types of cancer, including breast and prostate cancer. The important role the PAM pathway plays in cancer has led to significant investment in the development of many different PI3K and mTOR inhibitors for solid tumors.

Activities associated with PI3K involve complex essential cell regulatory mechanisms including feedforward and feedback signaling loops. Overactivation of the pathway is frequently present in human malignancies and plays a key role in cancer progression. Four catalytic isoforms of Class I PI3K preferentially mediate signal transduction and tumor cell survival based on the type of malignancy and the genetic or epigenetic alterations an individual patient harbors. Due to the multiple subcellular locations, activities, and importance of the different PI3K complexes in regulating many types of cancer cell proliferation, control of PI3K activity is an important target in cancer therapy.

mTOR is a critical effector in cell-signaling pathways commonly dysregulated in human cancers. The mTOR signaling pathway integrates both intracellular and extracellular signals and serves as a central regulator of cell metabolism, growth, proliferation, and survival. mTOR is a serine/threonine protein kinase, a downstream effector of PI3K, and regulated by hormones, growth factors, and nutrients, that are contained in two functionally distinct protein assemblies – mTORC1 and mTORC2. In cancer, dysfunctional signaling leads to various constitutive activities of the mTOR complexes, making mTOR a good therapeutic target.

Developing efficacious and well-tolerated therapies that target this pathway has been challenging. This reflects the inherent adaptability and complexity of the PI3K pathway, where numerous feedforward and feedback loops, crosstalk with other pathways, and compensatory pathways enable resistance to PI3K inhibition. Another major hurdle for the development of PI3K pathway inhibitors has been the inability to achieve optimal drug-target blockade in tumors while avoiding undue toxicities in patients.

Gedatolisib

By targeting multiple nodes of the PAM pathway, gedatolisib can overcome adaptive resistance mechanisms that inhibitors targeting single PI3K/mTOR nodes do not address. As a result, we believe gedatolisib offers distinct advantages over currently approved and investigational therapies that target PI3K or mTOR alone or together.

Gedatolisib is a pan-class I isoform PI3K inhibitor with low nanomolar potency for the p110α, p110β, p110γ, and p110δ isoforms. Because gedatolisib inhibits all four PI3K isoforms and both mTOR complexes, it prevents the confounding effect of isoform interaction that may occur with isoform specific PI3K inhibitors and the confounding interaction between PI3K isoforms, AKT, and mTOR. By contrast, node-specific inhibitors cross-activate uninhibited sub-units due to numerous feedforward and feedback loops between the PI3K isoforms, AKT, and mTOR, which in turn induces compensatory resistance that reduces the efficacy of isoform specific PI3K, pan-AKT, or single mTOR kinase complex inhibitors.

To compare the functional effect of inhibiting single versus multiple PAM pathway nodes, we evaluated gedatolisib, and node-selective inhibitors for PI3Kα (alpelisib), AKT (capivasertib) and mTORC1 (everolimus) in a panel of breast cancer cell lines using a live cell proliferation rate dose response analysis. The results of this analysis are presented in the table below.

Breast Cancer Cell Line Proliferation Rate Dose Response Analysis

Average values for 14 PIK3CA MT and 14 PIK3CA WT breast cancer cell lines

Note: Growth rate (GR) was assessed using 28 cell lines by measuring live cells reducing potential with Real Time-Glo MT luciferase assay before and after 72-hour drug treatment. GR50 (concentration required to inhibit growth rate by 50%) is a measure of potency. Max cell growth inhibition (GR at highest drug concentration tested ) is a measure of efficacy.

Source: Rossetti SABCS 2023

On average, gedatolisib was 300-fold more potent than the single node PAM inhibitors analyzed and only gedatolisib induced a significant cytotoxic effect. In addition, gedatolisib’s potency and efficacy was comparable in cell lines with and without PIK3CA mutations, in contrast to the single node PAM inhibitors.

Gedatolisib is administered intravenously (IV) on a four-week cycle of three weeks-on, one week-off, in contrast to the orally administered pan-PI3K or dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors that are no longer being clinically developed. Oral pan-PI3K or PI3K/mTOR inhibitors have repeatably been found to induce significant side effects that were not well tolerated by patients. This typically leads to a high proportion of patients requiring dose reductions or treatment discontinuation, despite showing promising efficacy. By contrast, gedatolisib stabilizes at lower concentration levels in plasma compared to orally administered PI3K inhibitors, resulting in less toxicity, while maintaining concentrations sufficient to inhibit PI3K/mTOR signaling.

Isoform-specific PI3K inhibitors administered orally were developed to reduce toxicities in patients. While the range of toxicities associated with isoform-specific inhibitors is narrower than oral pan-PI3K or PI3K/mTOR inhibitors, administering them orally on a continuous basis still leads to challenging toxicities. The experience with an FDA approved oral p110-α specific inhibitor, Piqray, illustrates the challenge. In its Phase 3 pivotal trial, Piqray was found to induce a Grade 3 or 4 adverse event (AE) related to hyperglycemia in 39% of patients evaluated. In addition, 26% of patients discontinued alpelisib due to treatment related adverse events. By contrast, in the 103-patient dose expansion portion of the Phase 1b clinical trial with gedatolisib, only 7% of patients experienced Grade 3 or 4 hyperglycemia and less than 10% discontinued treatment.

Clinical Development

As of December 31, 2023, 492 patients with solid tumors have received gedatolisib in eight completed clinical trials. Gedatolisib’s safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile were determined in a Phase 1 First-in-Human study. Of the 492 patients, 129 were treated with gedatolisib as a single agent in three clinical trials. The remaining 363 patients received gedatolisib in combination with other anti-cancer agents in five clinical trials. Additional patients received gedatolisib in combination with other anti-cancer agents in nine investigator sponsored clinical trials.

Breast Cancer Program

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women, accounting for 30% of all female cancers and 13% of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The National Cancer Institute estimated that approximately 298,000 new cases of breast cancer would be diagnosed in the United States in 2023, and approximately 43,200 breast cancer patients would die of the disease.

Four different breast cancer subtypes are currently identified using molecular tests that determine the level of HR and HER2 expression. The most common subtype of advanced breast cancer (ABC) is HR+/HER2-. Approximately 70% of all breast cancer tumors express the estrogen receptor (ER), which, upon activation, regulates the expression of various genes involved in tumor proliferation. Despite progress in treatment strategies, metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer (MBC) remains an incurable disease, with a median overall survival (OS) of three years and a five-year survival rate of 34%.

Four different classes of targeted therapies are currently used to treat HR+/HER2- tumors: endocrine-based therapies, CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors and mTOR inhibitors. Each of the CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors and mTOR inhibitors are generally used to respond to the related mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy, namely, activation of the CDK4/6, PI3K and mTOR pathways.

Over 70% of breast cancers have direct or indirect activation of the PAM pathway. The upregulation of the PAM pathway promotes hormone-dependent and independent ER transcriptional activity, which contributes to endocrine resistance, leading to tumor cell growth, survival, motility, and metabolism. Clinical studies have demonstrated that PI3K and mTOR inhibition can restore sensitivity to estrogen therapy (ET).

Additionally, the PAM pathway, like other mitogenic pathways, can also promote the activities of cyclin D and CDK4/6 to drive proliferative cell cycling. The available evidence indicates that resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer is a transient adaptive mechanism, most likely involving the PI3K/mTOR pathway. This data indicates that CDK4/6 signaling is restored in CDK4/6 resistant tumors when PI3K/mTOR inhibitors are applied. Thus, continuing CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment in combination with a PI3K/mTOR inhibitor in patients who progressed on their prior CDK4/6 inhibitor, would both blockade the reactivated CDK4/6 pathway and prevent adaptive activation of the PI3K/mTOR pathway. This suggests the limited efficacy induced by current standard-of-care (SOC) therapies in patients who have progressed on a CDK4/6 therapy reflects the mechanistic inadequacy of relying on partial PI3K/mTOR inhibition (e.g., alpelisib or everolimus) and no CDK4/6 inhibition to address this complex disease mechanism.

We believe the complex connection between the PI3K/mTOR and CDK4/6 pathways can enable gedatolisib to adaptively reactivate CDK4/6 signaling that reportedly occurs in CDK4/6 resistant tumors when the PI3K/mTOR pathway is completely blockaded. By re-activating CDK4/6 signaling, we believe gedatolisib can restore the therapeutic effect of CDK4/6 inhibition when it is combined with a CDK4/6 inhibitor. The contributory effect of a CDK4/6 inhibitor when combined with gedatolisib would thus largely reflect the interaction between the two therapies that gedatolisib initiates.

Evidence of gedatolisib’s anti-tumor activity in breast cancer cells was provided in a study evaluating the MCF7 xenograft model (ER+/HER2-/PIK3CA mutant), where the combination of gedatolisib with palbociclib and fulvestrant caused 90% tumor regression with no tumor regrowth observed for more than 60 days after the final dose.

Source: Layman SABCS 2021

Clinical Experience with Gedatolisib in Breast Cancer

The favorability of preliminary results from our most recently completed clinical trial, a Phase 1b study which evaluated 138 patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer (ABC), led us to focus on our initial clinical development program on advanced breast cancer.

On January 13, 2022, gedatolisib was granted Fast Track designation for the treatment of patients with HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer after progression on CDK4/6 therapy. Fast Track designation is granted by the FDA for products that are intended for the treatment of serious or life-threatening disease or conditions and which demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need. The designation offers the opportunity for frequent interactions with the FDA to discuss the drug’s development plan and to ensure collection of appropriate data needed to support drug approval, as well as eligibility for rolling submission of a New Drug Application.

On July 18, 2022, gedatolisib was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer after progression on CDK4/6 therapy. Breakthrough Therapy designation is granted by the FDA to expedite the development and regulatory review of an investigational medicine that is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition. The criteria for Breakthrough Therapy designation require preliminary clinical evidence that demonstrates the drug may have substantial improvement on one or more clinically significant endpoints over available therapy. The benefits of Breakthrough Therapy Designation include more intensive guidance from the FDA on an efficient development program, access to a scientific liaison to help accelerate review time, and potential eligibility for priority review if relevant criteria are met. Celcuity’s breakthrough application was supported by data from a Phase 1b study that assessed the safety, tolerability and clinical activity of gedatolisib in combination with palbociclib and fulvestrant in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer whose disease progressed during treatment with a CDK4/6 therapy and an aromatase inhibitor.

Phase 1b HR+/HER2- ABC Clinical Trial Results

A Phase 1b dose-finding trial with an expansion portion for safety and efficacy evaluated gedatolisib when added to either the standard doses of palbociclib plus letrozole or palbociclib plus fulvestrant in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer. PI3K mutation status was not used as an eligibility criterion. Patient enrollment for the trial is complete.

A total of 138 patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer were dosed in the clinical trial. Five patients from this study continue to receive study treatment, as of December 31, 2023, each of whom have received study treatment for more than five years.

Analysis for the 103 patients enrolled in the expansion portion of the Phase 1b clinical trial showed:

Source: Layman SABCS 2021

(1) ORR represents PR, except in Arm A, which had 1 CR = Complete response. Responses per RECIST 1.1; (2) Includes 2 unconfirmed PR Abbreviations: 1L= first line, 2L= second line; mos= months; NR = not reached; ORR, objective response rate; PFS, progression free survival

Source: Wesolowski 2022 SABCS

Phase 3 HR+/HER2- ABC Clinical Trial (VIKTORIA-1)

In 2022, we initiated VIKTORIA-1, a Phase 3, open-label, randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of gedatolisib in combination with fulvestrant with or without palbociclib in adults with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer whose disease has progressed after prior CDK4/6 therapy in combination with an aromatase inhibitor. This multi-center, international trial is expected to enroll approximately 701 total subjects at more than 200 clinical sites across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The first patient was dosed in December 2022.

The clinical trial will enable separate evaluation of subjects according to theirPIK3CA status.

The clinical trial primary endpoints are progression free survival (PFS), per RECIST 1.1 criteria, as assessed by blinded independent central review (BICR). Two primary endpoints will be evaluated in subjects who are PI3KCA WT, and one primary endpoint will be evaluated in subjects who are PI3KCA MT. In subjects who are PI3KCA WT, the PFS of gedatolisib in combination with palbociclib and fulvestrant (Arm A) will be compared to fulvestrant monotherapy (Arm C), and the PFS in gedatolisib in combination with fulvestrant (Arm B) will be compared to fulvestrant monotherapy (Arm C). In subjects who are PI3KCA MT, the PFS of gedatolisib in combination with palbociclib and fulvestrant (Arm D) will be compared to alpelisib combined with fulvestrant (Arm E).

All subjects will receive treatment according to the assigned study arm until objective progressive disease, unacceptable toxicity, death, or withdrawal of consent, whichever occurs first. Subjects in Arm C will have the option to receive the treatment regimen provided in Arm A or Arm B upon radiographically confirmed disease progression. Subjects will be followed for AEs, safety laboratory testing, tumour assessment by RECIST v1.1, quality of life, and overall survival.

Prostate Cancer Program

In the United States, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Current estimates predict that one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2024 there will be over 299,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States and approximately 35,250 deaths from the disease. Although the majority of patients are diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, about 6% of patients present with metastatic disease with a 5-year survival rate of 29%. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) via medical or surgical castration has been the mainstay treatment for metastatic prostate cancer. However, prostate cancer cells develop resistance to ADT and progress to castration resistance, leading to poor prognosis and a median overall survival of about 3 to 5 years.

Men with mCRPC have a poor prognosis and a predicted survival rate of fewer than two years from the initial time of progression. Treatment options for prostate cancer depend on many different factors, including the stage of the cancer. Castration-resistant prostate cancer is defined by disease progression despite androgen deprivation therapy, or ADT, and is often indicated by rising levels of PSA. Current standard of care for men with castration-resistant prostate cancer provides that patients should initially receive a combination of ADT and either abiraterone, which works by decreasing androgen levels, or enzalutamide, which works by blocking androgen binding to AR. If the disease progresses despite these second-generation hormonal therapies, chemotherapy is considered the next treatment option. Treatment with chemotherapy is generally postponed for as long as possible due to the potential for severe side effects including neuropathies, nausea, diarrhea, decreased mental capacity and increased risk of infections.

Preclinical studies have demonstrated a potential association between the PAM pathway and androgen receptor (AR) signaling in prostate cancer cells developing resistance to ADT. In these studies, the AR and PAM pathways were shown to cross-regulate each other. This is similar to the relationship demonstrated in breast cancer with the estrogen receptor pathway and the PAM pathway. Additionally, 70% - 100% of mCRPC tumors have PAM related pathway alterations.

Several clinical studies have shown promising results by inhibiting the PAM pathway in combination with an AR inhibitor. In separate Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials, the AKT inhibitor, ipatasertib, showed improvement in radiographic PFS (rPFS) in patients with mCRPC and tumors with phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) loss when ipatasertib was combined with the AR inhibitor, abiraterone, versus abiraterone alone. In a Phase 2 trial, the pan-PI3K inhibitor, samotolisib, reported median rPFS of 10.2 when combined with enzalutamide versus 5.5 months for enzalutamide alone.

Evidence of gedatolisib’s in vivo activity in prostate cancer was provided in a study evaluating the 22RV-1, PC3, and C4-2 prostate cancer xenograft models. As seen in the figures below, gedatolisib induced greater than 80% tumor growth inhibition, regardless of the xenograft model’s sensitivity to the AR inhibitor, enzalutamide and the cell lines’ PTEN or AR status. In addition, gedatolisib combined with enzalutamide induced significantly greater tumor growth inhibition than enzalutamide alone in the enzalutamide sensitive model (C4-2).

Source: Sen, ASCO-GU, 2023

Phase 1b/2 mCRPC Clinical Trial (CELC-G-201)

We received approval from the US FDA in mid-2023 to proceed with the clinical development of gedatolisib in combination with Nubeqa® (darolutamide), an approved androgen receptor inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with mCRPC. We have since initiated a Phase 1b/2 study (CELC-G-201) that will enroll up to 54 participants with mCRPC who progressed after treatment with an androgen receptor inhibitor. We dosed our first patient in this trial in February 2024.

In the Phase 1b portion of the study, Celcuity expects that 36 participants will be randomly assigned to receive 600 mg darolutamide combined with either 120 mg gedatolisib in Arm 1 or 180 mg gedatolisib in Arm 2. An additional 12 participants will then be enrolled in the Phase 2 portion of the study at the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) level to enable evaluation of 30 participants treated with the RP2D of gedatolisib.

The primary objectives of the Phase 1b portion of the trial include assessment of the safety and tolerability of gedatolisib in combination with darolutamide and determination of the recommended Phase 2 dose of gedatolisib. The primary objective of the Phase 2 portion of the trial is to assess the radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) at six months of patients who received the RP2D.

Pfizer License Agreement

In April 2021, we entered into a license agreement, or the Gedatolisib License Agreement, with Pfizer pursuant to which we acquired exclusive (including as to Pfizer) worldwide sublicensable rights to research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize gedatolisib for the treatment, diagnosis and prevention of all diseases. Pursuant to the Gedatolisib License Agreement, we are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and seek regulatory approval for at least one product in the U.S. and if regulatory approval is obtained, to commercialize such product in the U.S and at least one international major market.

We paid Pfizer a $5.0 million upfront fee upon execution of the Gedatolisib License Agreement and issued to Pfizer $5.0 million of our common stock. We are also required to make milestone payments to Pfizer upon achievement of certain development and commercial milestone events, up to an aggregate of $335.0 million. We will pay Pfizer tiered royalties on sales of gedatolisib at percentages ranging from the low to mid-teens, that may be subject to deductions for expiration of valid claims, amounts due under third-party licenses and generic competition. Unless earlier terminated, the Gedatolisib License Agreement will expire upon the expiration of all royalty obligations. The royalty period will expire on a country-by-country basis upon the later of (a) 12 years following the date of First Commercial Sale of such Product in such country, (b) the expiration of all regulatory or data exclusivity in such country for such Product or (c) the date upon which the manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale or importation of such Product in such country would no longer infringe, but for the license granted herein, a Valid Claim of a Licensed Patent Right. Capitalized terms in this paragraph have the meanings set forth in the Gedatolisib License Agreement.

We have the right to terminate the Gedatolisib License Agreement for convenience upon 90 days’ prior written notice. Pfizer may not terminate the agreement for convenience. Either we or Pfizer may terminate the Gedatolisib License Agreement if the other party is in material breach and such breach is not cured within the specified cure period. In addition, either we or Pfizer may terminate the Gedatolisib License Agreement in the event of specified insolvency events involving the other party.

Manufacturing

We rely on third parties to manufacture gedatolisib. We expect to enter into agreements with contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, to produce drug substance for gedatolisib. We require all of our CMOs to conduct manufacturing activities in compliance with current good manufacturing practice, or cGMP, requirements. We anticipate that these CMOs will have the capacity to support both clinical supply and commercial-scale production, but we do not have any formal agreements at this time to cover commercial production. We may also elect to enter into agreements with other CMOs to manufacture supplies of drug substance and finished drug product.

Sales and Marketing

If any of our product candidates are approved, we intend to market and commercialize them in the U.S. and select international markets, either alone or in partnership with others. Cancer patients are managed by oncologists, medical geneticists and urologists, and therefore we believe can be reached with a targeted sales force.

Competition for Gedatolisib

The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid evolution of technologies and intense competition. While we believe that our product candidates, technology, knowledge, experience and scientific resources provide us with competitive advantages, we face competition from major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, governmental agencies and public and private research institutions, among others. Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with approved treatment options, including off-label therapies, and new therapies that may become available in the future. Key considerations that would impact our ability to effectively compete with other therapies include the efficacy, safety, method of administration, cost, level of promotional activity and intellectual property protection of our products. Many of the companies against which we may compete have significantly greater financial resources and expertise than we do in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products.

There are several PI3K, AKT, and mTOR inhibitors approved by the FDA, including Piqray and Afinitor from Novartis AG, Aliqopa from Bayer Corporation, Copiktra from Verastem, Inc., Zydelig from Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Trucap from AstraZeneca plc. We are aware that other companies are, or may be, developing products for this indication, including BridgeBio Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Kazia Therapeutics Limited, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Relay Therapeutics, Revolution Medicines Inc., Scorpion Therapeutics, Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. There may be additional companies with programs suitable for addressing these patient populations that could be competitive with our efforts but that have not yet disclosed specific clinical development plans. Smaller or early-stage companies, including oncology-focused therapeutics companies, may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These companies may also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites, enrolling patients in clinical trials and acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. The availability of reimbursement from government and private payors will also significantly impact the pricing and competitiveness of our products. Our competitors may obtain FDA or other regulatory approvals for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approvals for our product candidates, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to commercialize our product candidates.

CELsignia

We founded our company to develop our proprietary CELsignia diagnostic platform and relied on the capability of this technology to identify our lead drug candidate, gedatolisib. CELsignia characterizes the specific activity of various oncogenic signaling pathways, including the PAM pathway, in living patient tumor cells.

We are supporting the advancement of new potential indications for three different targeted therapies, controlled by other pharmaceutical companies, that would rely on a CELsignia companion diagnostic test to select patients. Our first analytically validated and commercially ready test using our CELsignia platform, the CELsignia HER2 Pathway Activity Test for breast cancer, diagnoses two new sub-types of HER2-negative breast cancer that traditional molecular diagnostics cannot detect. Our internal studies show that approximately 15-20% of HER2-negative breast cancer patients have abnormal HER2 signaling activity similar to levels found in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. As a result, these HER2-negative patients have undiagnosed HER2-driven breast cancer and would be likely to respond to the same anti-HER2 targeted therapies only HER2-positive patients receive today. We have two interventional clinical trials underway to evaluate the efficacy of HER2 targeted therapies in breast cancer patients selected with our CELsignia HER2 Pathway Activity Test.

Our second CELsignia test for breast cancer evaluates independent c-Met signaling activity and its involvement with HER family signaling in HER2-negative breast cancer tumor cells. Our internal studies show that approximately 20%-25% of HER2-negative breast cancer patients have abnormal c-Met signaling activity that is co-activated with abnormal HER family signaling. These studies suggest that this sub-group of HER2-negative breast cancer patients may best respond to treatment with a combination of HER family and c-Met inhibitors. We have one interventional clinical trial underway to evaluate the efficacy of HER2 and c-Met targeted therapies, in previously treated metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer patients selected with our CELsignia Multi-Pathway Activity Test, or CELsignia MP Test.

Our third CELsignia test for breast cancer evaluates PI3K signaling in HER2-negative breast cancer tumor cells.

CELsignia Clinical Trials

We are currently collaborating on three Phase 2 clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of our collaboration partners’ targeted therapies in patients selected with one of our CELsignia tests. The goal of these trials is to support the development of three potential new drug indications to treat patient groups found responsive by our CELsignia test to their approved targeted therapies. These clinical trials include:

CELsignia’s Competition

At present, we are not aware of any other companies that offer diagnostic tests that use a patient’s live tumor cells to identify the signaling pathway driving a patient’s cancer. There are several companies focused on developing genomic or proteomic analyses of a patient’s diseased cells. Initial efforts identified protein targets or genetic mutations, oftentimes referred to as “biomarkers,” that are associated with a disease process to enable development of drugs more closely tailored to specific patient populations.

As tools for human genome analysis have become less expensive, a number of companies have also recently launched more complex genomic test panels and gene expression signatures tests. These tests rely on a static measurement of molecular properties and mathematical analysis to identify statistically significant correlations between the selected molecular properties and a clinical condition or outcome of populations of patients with the “same” disease.

These genetic tests often have limited predictive success because they only identify some, but not all, of, the molecular and cellular conditions required for a drug therapy to function in a patient. They may identify the presence of the genes associated with a disease, but they cannot determine how the gene products function in the context of a particular individual.

Providers of genomic or proteomic tests include diagnostic kit manufacturers, hospitals, and independent laboratories. We do not plan to develop tests where a molecular biomarker can identify drug responsive patients, so our current tests will not compete directly against the tests provided by these other companies.

Diagnostics competitors that have molecular method-based tests include, but are not limited to, Foundation Medicine, Caris Life Sciences, NeoGenomics, LabCorp, Quest, Nanostring, Paradigm, Biocept, Exosome Diagnostics, Guardant Health, Roche Diagnostics, Qiagen, Myriad, and Genomic Health.

Principal Suppliers for CELsignia

We purchase commercially available reagents and instruments from a variety of suppliers. Our principal reagent suppliers include Bio-Techne Corporation, Selleck Chemicals, Sigma-Aldrich, and VWR International. Our principal instrument suppliers include Agilent Technologies, Integra Biosciences, Invitrogen, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. These items are purchased on a purchase order basis pursuant to the applicable supplier’s standard terms and conditions. The items purchased from these suppliers are standard products sold widely to the biotechnology industry. All items purchased are typically available within several days after an order is placed.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our product candidates, manufacturing and process discoveries and other know-how, to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others, and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. We plan to protect our proprietary positions using a variety of methods, which include protecting current U.S. and foreign patents related to proprietary technology, inventions and improvements and prosecuting additional U.S. and foreign patents that we determine are important to the development and implementation of our business. For example, we, our licensors, or our collaborators currently have, or are pursuing, patents covering the composition of matter for our drug product candidates and we plan to generally pursue patent protection covering methods-of-use for one or more clinical programs. We also rely on trade secrets, trademarks, know-how, continuing technological innovation and potential in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.

Gedatolisib Patents

We entered into the Gedatolisib License Agreement with Pfizer in April 2021, pursuant to which we acquired exclusive worldwide rights under Pfizer patents and know-how to develop, manufacture and commercialize gedatolisib. We have exclusive licenses under the Gedatolisib License Agreement to patent rights in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions relating to gedatolisib. The patent rights in-licensed under the Gedatolisib License Agreement include 11 granted patents in the U.S. and more than 290 patents granted in foreign jurisdictions including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan. The U.S. patents covering gedatolisib as a composition of matter have a statutory expiration date in May 2029. A U.S. composition of matter patent that covers the lactic acid form of gedatolisib expires in December 2035. A pending U.S. application covering the cyclodextrin formulation of gedatolisib that is currently in clinical development expires in June 2039, in each case, not including patent term adjustment or any patent term extension, and relevant foreign counterparts.

CELsignia Patents

With respect to CELsignia, we have seven issued U.S. patents and more than 30 issued international patents covering our diagnostic approach using cell signaling analysis in living patient cells to guide treatment of patients with targeted therapies and cell sample preparation methods. The earliest expiration date of the patents is 2032. In addition, we have developed significant proprietary know-how and trade secrets for the various cell sample preparation and cellular analysis methods we have developed.

Trade Secrets

In addition to patents, we rely on trade secrets and know-how to develop and maintain our competitive position. We typically rely on trade secrets to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection. We protect trade secrets and know-how by establishing confidentiality agreements and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors, contractors and partners. These agreements generally provide that all confidential information developed or made known during the course of an individual or entity’s relationship with us must be kept confidential during and after the relationship. These agreements also generally provide that all inventions resulting from work performed for us or relating to our business and conceived or completed during the period of employment or assignment, as applicable, shall be our exclusive property. In addition, we take other appropriate precautions, such as physical and technological security measures, to guard against misappropriation of our proprietary information by third parties.

Government Regulation

Approval of Gedatolisib and Other Drug Products

Government authorities in the U.S. at the federal, state and local level and in other countries and jurisdictions, including the EU, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, approval, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, promotion, advertising, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, marketing and export and import of drug products, such as gedatolisib and other drugs that may be used in combination with or compete with gedatolisib. Generally, before a new drug can be marketed, considerable data demonstrating its quality, safety and efficacy must be obtained, organized into a format specific for each regulatory authority and submitted for review and approved by the regulatory authority. The regulatory approval process is time-consuming and requires significant capital expenditures.

U.S. Approval Process

Overview of FDA Approval Process

In the U.S., pharmaceutical products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDC Act, and other federal and state statutes and regulations, govern, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, storage, recordkeeping, approval, labeling, promotion and marketing, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, sampling, and import and export of pharmaceutical products. Failure to comply with applicable U.S. requirements may subject a company to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, such as FDA refusal to approve pending New Drug Applications, or NDAs, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, civil penalties and criminal prosecution. The process required by the FDA before a drug may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:

The lengthy process of seeking required approvals and the continuing need for compliance with applicable statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial resources and approvals are inherently uncertain.

Preclinical and Clinical Stages

Preclinical tests include laboratory evaluation of product chemistry, formulation and toxicity, as well as animal trials to assess the characteristics and potential safety and efficacy of the product. The conduct of the preclinical tests must comply with federal regulations and requirements, including good laboratory practices. The results of preclinical testing are submitted to the FDA as part of an IND along with other information, including information about product chemistry, manufacturing and controls and a proposed clinical trial protocol. Long term preclinical tests, such as animal tests of reproductive toxicity and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted. A 30-day waiting period after the submission of each IND is required prior to the commencement of clinical testing in humans. If the FDA has neither commented on nor questioned the IND within this 30-day period, the clinical trial proposed in the IND may begin.

The clinical stage of development involves the administration of the investigational product to healthy volunteers or disease-affected patients under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by, or under control of, the trial sponsor, in accordance with Good Clinical Practices, or GCPs. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and exclusion criteria and the parameters to be used to monitor subject safety and assess efficacy. Each protocol, and any subsequent amendments to the protocol, must be submitted to the FDA as part of an investigational new drug application, or IND. Furthermore, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board, or IRB, for each institution at which the clinical trial will be conducted to ensure that the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. The IRB also monitors the clinical trial until completed. Human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases, which may overlap or be combined:

A registrational trial is a clinical trial that adequately meets regulatory agency requirements for the evaluation of a drug candidate’s efficacy and safety such that it can be used to justify the approval of the drug. Generally, registrational trials are Phase 3 trials but may be Phase 2 trials if the trial design provides a reliable assessment of clinical benefit, particularly in situations where there is an unmet medical need.

Post-approval trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, may be conducted after initial marketing approval. These trials are used to gain additional experience from the treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication, particularly for long-term safety follow up. In certain instances, the FDA may mandate the performance of Phase 4 clinical trials as a condition of approval of a Biologics License Application, or BLA.

Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and more frequently if serious adverse events occur. The FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time, or the FDA may impose other sanctions on various grounds, including a finding that the research patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the requirements of the IRB or if the drug has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients.

There also are requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical trials and completed clinical trial results to public registries. Information about most clinical trials must be submitted within specific timeframes for publication on the www.clinicaltrials.gov website. Information related to the product, patient population, phase of investigation, trial sites and investigators and other aspects of the clinical trial is made public as part of the registration of the clinical trial. Sponsors are also obligated to discuss the results of their clinical trials after completion. Disclosure of the results of these trials can be delayed in some cases for up to two years after the date of completion of the trial. Competitors may use this publicly available information to gain knowledge regarding the progress of development programs.

FDA Review and Approval Process

After completion of the required clinical testing, an NDA is prepared and submitted to the FDA. Prior to granting approval of the NDA, which is required before marketing of the product may begin in the U.S., the FDA must determine whether to accept the submission and, thereafter, conduct an in-depth review. This process may take a year or more. The NDA must include the results of all preclinical, clinical and other testing and a compilation of data relating to the product’s pharmacology, chemistry, manufacture and controls. The cost of preparing and submitting an NDA is substantial. The submission of most NDAs is additionally subject to a substantial application user fee, currently $4,048,695 for Fiscal Year 2024, and the manufacturer and/or sponsor under an approved NDA are also subject to annual program fees for eligible products, which are currently $416,734 for Fiscal Year 2024.

The FDA may also refer applications for novel drug products, or drug products that present difficult questions of safety or efficacy, to an advisory committee—typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts—for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved. The FDA is not bound by the recommendation of an advisory committee, but it generally follows such recommendations. Before approving an NDA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP. Additionally, the FDA will inspect the facility or the facilities at which the drug is manufactured. The FDA will not approve the product unless compliance with cGMP is satisfactory and the NDA contains data that provide substantial evidence that the drug is safe and effective in the indication studied.

After the FDA evaluates the NDA and the manufacturing facilities, it issues either an approval letter or a complete response letter. A complete response letter generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require substantial additional testing, or information, in order for the FDA to reconsider the application. If, or when, those deficiencies have been addressed to the FDA’s satisfaction in a resubmission of the NDA, the FDA will issue an approval letter. The FDA has committed to reviewing such resubmissions in two to six months depending on the type of information included.

An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug with specific prescribing information for specific indications. As a condition of NDA approval, the FDA may require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS, to help ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh the potential risks. REMS can include medication guides, communication plans for healthcare professionals and elements to assure safe use, or ETASU. ETASU can include, but are not limited to, special training or certification for prescribing or dispensing, dispensing only under certain circumstances, special monitoring and the use of patient registries. The requirement for a REMS can materially affect the potential market and profitability of the drug. Moreover, product approval may require substantial post-approval testing and surveillance to monitor the drug’s safety or efficacy. Once granted, product approvals may be withdrawn if compliance with regulatory standards is not maintained or problems are identified following initial marketing.

Changes to some of the conditions established in an approved application, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, require submission and FDA approval of a new NDA or NDA supplement before the change can be implemented. An NDA supplement for a new indication typically requires clinical data similar to that in the original application, and the FDA uses the same procedures and actions in reviewing NDA supplements as it does in reviewing NDAs.

U.S. Marketing Exclusivity

Upon NDA approval of a new chemical entity, or NCE, which is a drug that contains no active moiety that has been approved by the FDA in any other NDA, that drug receives five years of marketing exclusivity during which the FDA cannot receive any Abbreviated New Drug Application, or ANDA, seeking approval of a generic version of that drug. Certain changes to a drug, such as the addition of a new indication to the package insert, are associated with a three-year period of exclusivity during which the FDA cannot approve an ANDA for a generic drug that includes the change. An ANDA may be submitted one year before NCE exclusivity expires if a Paragraph IV certification is filed. If there is no listed patent in the Orange Book, there may not be a Paragraph IV certification, and, thus, no ANDA may be filed before the expiration of the exclusivity period.

Patent Term Extension

After NDA approval, owners of relevant drug patents may apply for up to a five-year patent extension for one patent. The allowable patent term extension is calculated as half of the drug’s testing phase—the time between IND and NDA submission—and all of the review phase—the time between NDA submission and approval up to a maximum of five years. The time can be shortened if the FDA determines that the applicant did not pursue approval with due diligence. The total patent term after the extension may not exceed 14 years from approval.

For patents that might expire during the application phase, the patent owner may request an interim patent extension. An interim patent extension increases the patent term by one year and may be renewed up to four times. For each interim patent extension granted, the post-approval patent extension is reduced by one year. The director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must determine that approval of the drug covered by the patent for which a patent extension is being sought is likely. Interim patent extensions are not available for a drug for which an NDA has not been submitted.

Fast Track Designation and Accelerated Approval

The FDA is required to facilitate the development, and expedite the review, of drugs that are intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition for which there is no effective treatment, and which demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the condition. Under the Fast Track program, the sponsor of a new drug candidate may request that the FDA designate the drug candidate for a specific indication as a Fast Track drug concurrent with, or after, the filing of the IND for the drug candidate. The FDA must determine if the drug candidate qualifies for Fast Track Designation within 60 days of receipt of the sponsor’s request.

Under the Fast Track program and the FDA’s accelerated approval regulations, the FDA may approve a drug for a serious or life-threatening illness that provides meaningful therapeutic benefit to patients over existing treatments based upon a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments.

In clinical trials, a surrogate endpoint is a measurement of laboratory or clinical signs of a disease or condition that substitutes for a direct measurement of how a patient feels, functions or survives. Surrogate endpoints can often be measured more easily or more rapidly than clinical endpoints. A drug candidate approved on this basis is subject to rigorous post-marketing compliance requirements, including the completion of Phase 4 or post-approval clinical trials to confirm the effect on the clinical endpoint. Failure to conduct required post-approval studies, or confirm a clinical benefit during post-marketing studies, will allow the FDA to withdraw the drug from the market on an expedited basis. All promotional materials for product candidates approved under accelerated regulations are subject to prior review by the FDA.

In addition to other benefits such as the ability to use surrogate endpoints and engage in more frequent interactions with the FDA, the FDA may initiate review of sections of a Fast Track drug’s NDA before the application is complete. This rolling review is available if the applicant provides, and the FDA approves, a schedule for the submission of the remaining information and the applicant pays applicable user fees. However, the FDA’s time period goal for reviewing an application does not begin until the last section of the NDA is submitted. Additionally, the Fast Track Designation may be withdrawn by the FDA if the FDA believes that the designation is no longer supported by data emerging in the clinical trial process.

Breakthrough Therapy Designation

Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA provides more extensive development consultation opportunities with FDA senior staff, allows for the rolling review of the drug’s application for approval and indicates that the product could be eligible for priority review if supported by clinical data at the time of application submission for drugs that are intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition where preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints. Under the breakthrough therapy program, the sponsor of a new drug candidate may request that the FDA designate the drug candidate for a specific indication as a breakthrough therapy concurrent with, or after, the filing of the IND for the drug candidate. The FDA must determine if the drug candidate qualifies for Breakthrough Therapy Designation within 60 days of receipt of the sponsor’s request.

Disclosure of Clinical Trial Information

Sponsors of clinical trials of FDA regulated products, including drugs, are required to register and disclose certain clinical trial information. Information related to the product, patient population, phase of investigation, trial sites and investigators and other aspects of the clinical trial is then made public as part of the registration. Sponsors are also obligated to discuss the results of their clinical trials after completion. Disclosure of the results of these trials can be delayed in certain circumstances for up to two years after the date of completion of the trial. Competitors may use this publicly available information to gain knowledge regarding the progress of development programs.

European Union Approval Process

Overview

In the EU, our product candidates may also be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. As in the U.S., medicinal products can be marketed only if a marketing authorization from the competent regulatory agencies has been obtained. Similar to the U.S., the various phases of preclinical and clinical research in the EU are subject to significant regulatory controls.

The Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC, the Directive 2005/28/EC on GCP, and the related national implementing provisions of the individual EU Member States govern the system for the approval of clinical trials in the EU. Under this system, an applicant must obtain prior approval from the competent national authority of the EU Member States in which the clinical trial is to be conducted. Furthermore, the applicant may only start a clinical trial at a specific trial site after the competent ethics committee has issued a favorable opinion. The clinical trial application must be accompanied by, among other documents, an Investigational Medicinal Product Dossier or IMPD, or the Common Technical Document, with supporting information prescribed by Directive 2001/20/EC, Directive 2005/28/EC, where relevant, the implementing national provisions of the individual EU Member States and further detailed in applicable guidance documents. All suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions to the investigated drug that occur during the clinical trial have to be reported to the competent national authority and the Ethics Committee of the Member State where they occurred.

The new Clinical Trials Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 came into effect in 2022. The Clinical Trials Regulation will be directly applicable in all the EU Member States, repealing the current Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC. The new Clinical Trials Regulation aims to simplify and streamline the approval of clinical trials in the EU. The main characteristics of the regulation include: a streamlined application procedure via a single-entry point, the “EU portal”; a single set of documents to be prepared and submitted for the application as well as simplified reporting procedures for clinical trial sponsors; and a harmonized procedure for the assessment of applications for clinical trials, which is divided in two parts. Part I is assessed by the competent authorities of all EU Member States in which an application for authorization of a clinical trial has been submitted (Member States concerned). Part II is assessed separately by each Member State concerned. Strict deadlines have been established for the assessment of clinical trial applications. The role of the relevant ethics committees in the assessment procedure will continue to be governed by the national law of the concerned EU Member State. However, overall related timelines will be defined by the Clinical Trials Regulation.

To obtain a marketing authorization of a drug in the EU, we may submit Marketing Authorization Applications, or MAA, either under the so-called centralized or national authorization procedures.

Centralized Procedure

The centralized procedure provides for the grant of a single marketing authorization following a favorable opinion by the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, that is valid in all EU Member States, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The centralized procedure is compulsory for medicines produced by specified biotechnological processes, products designated as orphan medicinal products, advanced therapy medicines (such as gene-therapy, somatic cell-therapy or tissue-engineered medicines) and products with a new active substance indicated for the treatment of specified diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders or autoimmune diseases and other immune dysfunctions and viral diseases. The centralized procedure is optional for products that represent a significant therapeutic, scientific or technical innovation, or whose authorization would be in the interest of public health. Under the centralized procedure the maximum timeframe for the evaluation of an MAA by the EMA is 210 days, excluding clock stops, when additional written or oral information is to be provided by the applicant in response to questions asked by the Committee of Medicinal Products for Human Use, or the CHMP. Accelerated assessment might be granted by the CHMP in exceptional cases, when a medicinal product is expected to be of a major public health interest, particularly from the point of view of therapeutic innovation. The timeframe for the evaluation of an MAA under the accelerated assessment procedure is 150 days, excluding stop-clocks.

National Authorization Procedures

There are also two other possible routes to authorize medicinal products in several EU countries, which are available for investigational medicinal products that fall outside the scope of the centralized procedure:

Under the above-described procedures, before granting an MAA, the EMA or the competent authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area, or EEA, assess the risk-benefit balance of the product on the basis of scientific criteria concerning its quality, safety and efficacy.

EU Regulatory Exclusivity

In the EU, new products authorized for marketing (i.e., reference products) qualify for eight years of data exclusivity and an additional two years of market exclusivity upon marketing authorization. The data exclusivity period prevents generic applicants from relying on the preclinical and clinical trial data contained in the dossier of the reference product when applying for a generic marketing authorization in the EU during a period of eight years from the date on which the reference product was first authorized in the EU. The market exclusivity period prevents a successful generic applicant from commercializing its product in the EU until ten years have elapsed from the initial authorization of the reference product in the EU. The ten-year market exclusivity period can be extended to a maximum of eleven years if, during the first eight years of those ten years, the marketing authorization holder obtains an authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications which, during the scientific evaluation prior to their authorization, are held to bring a significant clinical benefit in comparison with existing therapies.

Drug Approval-Related Regulations – Rest of the World

For other countries outside of the EU and the U.S., 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 jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Additionally, the clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with cGCP requirements 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.

Regulations of CELsignia Tests

CLIA and CMS for Diagnostic

Our CELsignia tests are laboratory developed tests, or LDTs, and subject to regulation under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, or CLIA. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, regulates all clinical laboratory testing (except research) performed on humans in the United States through CLIA. All clinical laboratories that perform clinical lab services on human specimens for the purpose of providing information on the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of disease must receive CLIA certification. We received our CLIA certification in 2016. We also had our laboratory certified by the College of American Pathologies, or CAP, in 2016, an organization recognized by CMS as a third-party reviewer of clinical laboratories. Several states, including, among others, New York and California, require licensure of out-of-state labs that receive specimens from the state and compliance with the state’s individual laboratory regulations.

If our laboratory is out of compliance with CLIA requirements, we may be subject to sanctions such as suspension, limitation or revocation of our CLIA certificate, as well as directed plan of correction, state on-site monitoring, civil money penalties, civil injunctive suit or criminal penalties. We must maintain CLIA compliance and certification to be eligible to bill for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. If we were to be found out of compliance with CLIA program requirements and subjected to sanction, our business could be harmed. Failure to comply with state licensure laws, if applicable, could subject us to additional sanctions imposed by state licensing authorities.

FDA for Diagnostics

FDA approval or clearance is not currently required for CELsignia tests offered as a stand-alone LDT test. If we are partnered with a drug company to launch a CELsignia test as a companion diagnostic for a new drug indication, we would be required to obtain premarket approval, or PMA, in conjunction with the pharmaceutical company seeking a new drug approval for the matching therapy. Historically, the FDA has exercised enforcement discretion with respect to tests performed solely in a central laboratory, like the CELsignia tests or LDTs. The FDA has not required laboratories that furnish only LDTs to comply with the agency’s requirements for medical devices (e.g., establishment registration, device listing, quality systems regulations, premarket clearance or premarket approval, and post-market controls). However, the FDA has discussed potential regulation of LDTs and may regulate LDTs in the future.

Pricing and Reimbursement of our Product Candidates

Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any products we sell or may sell. Sales of any of our products will depend, in part, on the extent to which the costs of the products will be covered by third-party payors, including government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, commercial health insurers, managed care organizations or pharmaceutical companies. The process for determining whether a third-party payor will provide coverage for a test sometimes is separate from the process for setting the price of a drug product or for establishing the reimbursement rate that a payor will pay for the drug product. Third-party payors may limit coverage to specific testing products on an approved list, which might not include all of the tests available for a particular indication.

In order to obtain coverage and reimbursement for any product, we may need to conduct expensive pharmacoeconomic studies in order to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of the test. Whether or not we conduct such studies, our products may not be considered medically necessary or cost-effective. A third-party payor’s decision to provide coverage for a test does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be approved. Further, one payor’s determination to provide coverage for a product does not assure that other payors will also provide coverage, and adequate reimbursement, for the product. Third-party reimbursement may not be sufficient to enable us to maintain price levels high enough to realize an appropriate return on our investment in product development.

The containment of healthcare costs has become a priority of federal, state and foreign governments, and the prices of tests and drugs have been a focus in this effort. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, examining the medical necessity and reviewing the cost-effectiveness of testing products, drug products and medical services and questioning safety and efficacy. If these third-party payors do not consider our products to be cost-effective compared to other available tests, they may not cover our products or, if they do, the level of payment may not be sufficient to allow us to sell our products at a profit. The U.S. government, state legislatures and foreign governments have shown significant interest in implementing cost-containment programs to limit the growth of government-paid healthcare costs, including price controls and restrictions on reimbursement. Adoption of such controls and measures, and tightening of restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures, could limit payments for our testing products or drugs that require use of our testing products and could adversely affect our net revenue and results.

We expect to see continued focus by Congress and the Biden Administration on regulating pricing, which could result in legislative and regulatory changes designed to control costs. For example, in August 2022, the IRA was signed into law, which, among other things, requires manufacturers of certain drugs to engage in price negotiations with Medicare (beginning in 2026), imposes rebates under Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation (first due in 2023), and replaces the Part D coverage gap discount program with a new discounting program (beginning in 2025). We continue to evaluate the impact of the IRA on our business, operations and financial condition and results as the full effect of the IRA on our business strategy and the pharmaceutical industry remains uncertain. In addition, changes to the Medicaid program or the federal 340B drug pricing program, which imposes ceilings on prices that drug manufacturers can charge for medications sold to certain health care facilities, could have a material impact on our business following commercialization.

Pricing and reimbursement schemes vary widely from country to country. Some countries may require the completion of additional studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of a particular test to currently available tests. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and testing products, has become intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products. In addition, in some countries, cross-border imports from low-priced markets exert competitive pressure that may reduce pricing within a country. Any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for testing products may not allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our products.

Coverage policies, third-party reimbursement rates and pricing regulation may change at any time.

Other Healthcare Laws

Manufacturing, sales, promotion and other activities following product approval are also subject to regulation by numerous regulatory authorities in the U.S. in addition to the FDA, including CMS, the HHS Office of Inspector General and HHS Office for Civil Rights, other divisions of the HHS and the Department of Justice.

Healthcare providers, physicians, and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with third-party payors, healthcare providers and physicians may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute our drug and diagnostic products. In the U.S., these laws include, without limitation, state and federal anti-kickback, false claims, physician transparency, and patient data privacy and security laws and regulations, including but not limited to those described below.

The U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, or AKS, prohibits, among other things, any person or entity from knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting, receiving or providing any remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, to induce or in return for purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for or recommending the purchase, lease or order of any good, facility, item or service reimbursable, in whole or in part, under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. The term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. The AKS has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers on the one hand and prescribers, purchasers, formulary managers and beneficiaries on the other hand. A person does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation of the AKS.

Moreover, a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the AKS constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act, which imposes civil penalties, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities (including manufacturers) for, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented to federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) claims for items or services that are false or fraudulent, claims for items or services not provided as claimed, or claims for medically unnecessary items or services. This could apply even if we are not submitting claims directly to payors as would be the case with drug products.

In addition, under a federal law directed at “self-referral,” commonly known as the “Stark Law,” there are prohibitions, with certain exceptions, on referrals for certain designated health services, including laboratory services, that are covered by the Medicare and Medicaid programs by physicians who personally, or through a family member, have an investment or ownership interest in, or a compensation arrangement with, an entity performing the tests. The prohibition also extends to payment for any testing referred in violation of the Stark Law. Bills submitted in violation of the Stark Law may not be paid by Medicare or Medicaid, and there may be significant penalties for violations. Many states have comparable laws that are not limited to Medicare and Medicaid referrals.

These regulations present compliance and litigation risks for our business and others in our industry. We incur compliance-related expenses and expect to incur additional expenses if and when our products are commercialized. We may be subject to penalties or limitations on reimbursement if we are found to have violated these regulations.

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, created additional federal criminal statutes that prohibit, among other actions, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud or to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any money or property owned by, or under the control or custody of, any healthcare benefit program, including private third-party payors, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offense and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. Similar to the AKS, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.

In addition, there has been a recent trend of increased federal and state regulation of payments made to physicians and certain other healthcare providers, and their ownership and investment interests. The Affordable Care Act, or the ACA, imposed, among other things, new annual reporting requirements through the Physician Payments Sunshine Act for covered manufacturers for certain payments and “transfers of value” to these providers. Failure to submit timely, accurately and completely the required information for all payments, transfers of value and ownership or investment interests may result in civil monetary penalties.

We may also be subject to data privacy and security regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, and their respective implementing regulations, impose specified requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information held by covered entities and their business associates. Among other things, HITECH made HIPAA’s security standards directly applicable to “business associates,” defined as independent contractors or agents of covered entities that create, receive, maintain or transmit protected health information in connection with providing a service for or on behalf of a covered entity, although it is unclear that we would be considered a “business associate” in the normal course of our business. HITECH also increased the civil and criminal penalties that may be imposed against covered entities, business associates and possibly other persons, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal HIPAA laws and seek attorney’s fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions. In addition, state laws govern 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 requirements, thus complicating compliance efforts. See “European Data Collection” below for a discussion of data privacy and security enactments of the EU.

At the state level, California’s Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, and the California Privacy Rights Act, or CPRA, impose data protection obligations on certain businesses. While we believe that certain limited exceptions under the CCPA for clinical trial data and other health data would apply to us, these regulations exemplify the vulnerability of our business to the evolving regulatory environment related to personal data and protected health information, which causes us to incur compliance costs.

States and foreign jurisdictions also have fraud and abuse laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services. Some state laws also require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant federal government compliance guidance, and require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers, marketing expenditures or drug pricing.

In order to sell products, we will need to comply with state laws, including those that require the registration of manufacturers and wholesale distributors of drug and biological products. Several states have enacted legislation requiring pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, make periodic public disclosures on sales, marketing, pricing, clinical trials and other activities, and/or register their sales representatives, as well as to prohibit pharmacies and other healthcare entities from providing certain physician prescribing data to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for use in sales and marketing, and to prohibit certain other sales and marketing practices. If and when we commercialize our products, all of our activities are potentially subject to federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.

The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, imprisonment, exclusion of drugs from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our business strategy operations, as well as additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to significant criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs. Ensuring business arrangements comply with applicable healthcare laws, as well as responding to possible investigations by government authorities, can be time- and resource consuming and can divert a company’s attention from the business.

European Data Collection

We are subject to the Data Protection Directive, and the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which govern the collection and use of personal health data in or arising from the EU. This directive imposes several requirements relating to the consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, the information provided to the individuals, notification of data processing obligations to the competent national data protection authorities and the security and confidentiality of the personal data. The Data Protection Directive and GDPR also impose strict rules on the transfer of personal data out of the EU, to the U.S. Failure to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Directive, the GDPR and the related national data protection laws of the EU Member States may result in substantial fines and other administrative penalties. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, compliance expenses in connection with the GDPR. If we are found to be in violation of the GDRP, our product development timeline may be affected, which would affect our ability to generate revenue and our competitive position.

Current and Future Legislation

In the U.S. and other jurisdictions, continued healthcare reform measures may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and additional downward pressure on the price that we, or any collaborators, may receive. Individual states in the U.S. have also been increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Regulations may also prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates.

Other Regulatory Requirements

Our operations use small amounts of hazardous materials in research and development and generate regulated medical waste in the normal course of performing our CELsignia tests. This subjects us to a variety of federal, state and local environmental and safety laws and regulations. Some of the regulations under the current regulatory structure provide for strict liability, holding a party potentially liable without regard to fault or negligence. We could be held liable for damages and fines as a result of our, or others’, business operations should contamination of the environment or individual exposure to hazardous substances occur. We cannot predict how changes in laws or development of new regulations will affect our business operations or the cost of compliance.

Impact of Public Health Matters on our Business

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced delays in the enrollment of patients in certain CELsignia-related clinical trials. While the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly subsided, future outbreaks or variants of the virus or other public health disruptions may cause additional delays in our clinical trial work.

Corporate History

We were organized as a Minnesota limited liability company in 2011 and commenced operations in 2012. On September 15, 2017, we converted from a Minnesota limited liability company into a Delaware corporation and changed our name from Celcuity LLC to Celcuity Inc.

Employees and Labor Relations

As of December 31, 2023, we had 55 full-time employees, most of which were engaged in research and development activities. None of our employees are currently represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement and we believe that our relations with our employees are good. During 2023, our voluntary turnover rate was approximately 4%.