Oncocyte Corp

Our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects are subject to various risks, including those described in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on April 16, 2024, which we encourage you to review. Other than as noted below, there have been no material changes from the risk factors disclosed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Changes in the way the FDA regulates diagnostic tests developed by laboratories like ours could result in delays in commercialization (or if encountered after commercialization, requirements to halt the commercial provision of our tests until applicable FDA requirements are met), as well as additional expenses in offering our tests and tests that we may develop in the future.

Although the FDA has historically exercised enforcement discretion over most LDTs, it does not consider tests to be subject to this enforcement discretion if they were or are designed or manufactured completely, or partly, outside of the laboratory that offers and uses them, or if they are offered “over-the-counter” (as opposed to being available to patients only when prescribed by a health care provider). In recent years, however, the FDA has stated it intends to end its policy of general enforcement discretion and regulate certain LDTs as medical devices.

In September 2023, the FDA announced a proposed rule aimed at helping to ensure the safety and effectiveness of these tests. The proposed rule seeks to amend the FDA’s regulations to make explicit that IVDs are devices under the FD&C Act, including when the manufacturer of the IVD is a laboratory. Along with this amendment, the FDA is proposing a policy under which the FDA intends to provide greater oversight of LDTs through a phaseout of its general enforcement discretion approach for most LDTs.

In October 2023, the FDA published the proposed rule entitled “Medical Devices; Laboratory Developed Tests.” The final rule was released to the public on April 29, 2024, and then officially published in the Federal Register on May 6, 2024, with an effective date of July 5, 2024.

The final rule provides that the LDT enforcement policy phase-out process will occur in gradual stages over a total period of four years, with premarket approval applications for high-risk tests to be submitted by the 3.5-year mark. Moderate-risk and low-risks tests are expected to be in compliance at the 4-year mark, although FDA has stated that if premarket submissions are pending review it will continue to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to those tests. Litigation challenging the agency’s authority to adopt this final rule is highly likely, although the outcome of such litigation is uncertain. Litigation challenging the final rule may also have an impact on the FDA’s plans to implement these new LDT requirements, making the potential implementation timeline somewhat uncertain. Affected stakeholders continue to press for a comprehensive legislative solution to create a harmonized paradigm for oversight of LDTs by both the FDA and CMS, instead of implementation of the administrative agency action, which may be disruptive to the industry and to patient access to certain diagnostic tests. Until any regulatory changes become effective, the FDA is expected to continue to exercise enforcement discretion; although it may attempt to regulate certain LDTs on a case-by-case basis at any time, which could result in delay or additional expense in offering our tests and tests that we may develop in the future.

In addition, Congress has considered a number of legislative proposals in recent years that would amend the regulatory framework for LDTs, including, among other requirements, FDA premarket review of certain LDTs. In March 2020, the VALID Act, was officially introduced in Congress. The bill proposes a risk-based approach to regulate LDTs and creates a new in vitro clinical test, or IVCT, category of regulated products, which includes LDTs, and a regulatory structure under the FDA. As proposed, the bill grandfathers many existing tests from the proposed premarket approval, quality systems, and labeling requirements, respectively, but would require such tests to comply with other regulatory requirements (e.g., registration and listing, adverse event reporting). Later that month, Senator Paul introduced the VITAL Act, which proposes that all aspects of “laboratory-developed testing procedures” be subject to regulation under CLIA, and that no aspects of such procedures be subject to regulation by the FDA. We cannot predict if either of these bills will be enacted in their current (or any other) form and cannot quantify the effect of these bills on our business.

If the FDA were to ultimately regulate our tests for any reason, including new rules, policies, or guidance, or due to new legislation such as the proposed VALID Act, our tests may become subject to FDA requirements, including pre-market review. If required, the regulatory marketing authorization process may involve, among other things, successfully completing additional clinical trials and submitting a pre-market clearance (510(k)) submission or filing ade novoor pre-market approval application with the FDA. If pre-market review and approval is required by the FDA, we may need to incur additional expenses or require additional time to seek it, or we may be unable to satisfy FDA standards, and our tests may not be cleared or approved on a timely basis, if at all, and the labeling claims permitted by the FDA may not be consistent with our currently planned claims or adequate to support adoption of and reimbursement for our tests. Ongoing compliance with FDA regulations would increase the cost of conducting our business, and subject us to inspection by and the regulatory requirements of the FDA, for example registration and listing, adherence to good manufacturing practices under the Quality System Regulation, and medical device reporting, and enforcement action in the event we fail to comply with these requirements. Our laboratories are operating under CLIA and are not currently operating as device manufacturing facilities following FDA’s Quality System Regulation. Because these standards differ, we may face challenges establishing FDA-compliant quality systems or be unable to do so. If after commercialization under the LDT framework our tests are allowed to remain on the market but there is uncertainty about the regulatory status of our tests, including questions that may be raised if competitors object to our regulatory positioning as an LDT, we may encounter ongoing regulatory and legal challenges and related costs. Such challenges or related developments (for example if the labeling claims the FDA allows us to make are more limited than the claims we currently plan to make) may impact our commercialization efforts as orders or reimbursement may be less than anticipated. Any of these regulatory developments may cause our business to suffer.