UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 10-K

 

 

(Mark One)

 

☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

 

OR

 

☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from                      to                    

 

Commission file number: 001-38492

 

 

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.

Clarendon House

2 Church Street

Hamilton HM11, Bermuda
+ (44) 808-189-6257

(Address, zip code and telephone number, including area code of principal executive offices)

 

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals Corp.

100 Hayden Avenue

Lexington, MA, 02421

(781) 431-9100

(Address, zip code and telephone number, including area code of agent for service)

 

N/A

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

 

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant as of June 30, 2019, was approximately $304.6 million.

As of February 29, 2020, there were 55,547,374 common shares outstanding in aggregate, comprised of:

20,388,482 Class A common shares, par value $0.000273235 per share

 4,105,320 Class B common shares, par value $0.000273235 per share

14,995,954 Class A1 common shares, par value $0.000273235 per share

16,057,618 Class B1 common shares, par value $0.000273235 per share

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which the registrant intends to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.

FORM 10‑K

FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K, or Annual Report, contains forward‑looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy, prospective products and product candidates, their expected properties, performance, market opportunity and competition, drug product supply, collaborators, license and other strategic arrangements, the expected timeline for achievement of our clinical milestones, the timing of, and potential results from, clinical and other trials, potential marketing authorization from the FDA or regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, potential coverage and reimbursement for procedures using our product candidates, if approved, commercial strategy and pre-commercial activities, research and development costs, timing of regulatory filings and feedback, timing and likelihood of success, plans and objectives of management for future operations and funding requirements, and future results of anticipated products, are forward‑looking statements.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward‑looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward‑looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “goal,” “design,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward‑looking statements contain these identifying words. The forward‑looking statements in this Annual Report are only predictions. We have based these forward‑looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward‑looking statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described under the sections in this Annual Report entitled “Risk factors” and “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and elsewhere in this Annual Report. These forward‑looking statements are subject to numerous risks, including, without limitation, the following:

Because forward‑looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond our control, you should not rely on these forward‑looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward‑looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward‑looking statements. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward‑looking statements in this Annual Report will prove to be accurate. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward‑looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

You should read this Annual Report and the documents that we reference in this Annual Report completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward‑looking statements by these cautionary statements.

Industry and other data

Unless otherwise indicated, certain industry data and market data included in this Annual Report were obtained from independent third‑party surveys, market research, publicly available information, reports of governmental agencies and industry publications and surveys. All of the market data used in this Annual Report involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. We believe that the information from these industry publications and surveys included in this Annual Report is reliable. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the sections of this Annual Report entitled “Risk factors” and “Special note regarding forward‑looking statements” and elsewhere in this Annual Report. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

TRADEMARKS

 

We own the rights to Kiniksa® and have certain rights to trademarks that we use in connection with the operation of our business, including ARCALYST®. Kiniksa® is a trademark of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. ARCALYST® is a registered trademark of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Solely for convenience, trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this Annual Report, including Kiniksa and ARCALYST, may be listed without the ®, SM and ™ symbols. We will assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to our intellectual property. Trademarks, service marks and trade names of third parties are the intellectual property of such parties.

PART I

ITEM 1.      BUSINESS.

Overview

We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutic medicines for patients with significant unmet medical need.  We have a pipeline of clinical-stage product candidates, rilonacept, mavrilimumab, KPL-716 and KPL-404, that are expected to generate data-readouts throughout 2020. These product candidates are based on strong biologic rationales or validated mechanisms of action, target underserved conditions and offer the potential for differentiation. Further, by modulating different parts of the innate and adaptive immune system, we believe they have the potential to address multiple devastating diseases.

Rilonacept is a protein cytokine trap for inhibiting interleukin‑1 alpha, or IL‑1α, and interleukin‑1 beta, or IL‑1β. Cytokines are small proteins that play a key role in cell signaling. Rilonacept is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, for the treatment of Cryopyrin‑Associated Periodic Syndromes, or CAPS, and has been commercially sold as ARCALYST by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Regeneron, for this indication since 2008. We licensed rilonacept from Regeneron in 2017. We are initially developing rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis, a painful autoinflammatory cardiovascular disease with an estimated U.S. prevalent population of approximately 40,000 patients seeking and receiving medical treatment. Currently, there is no FDA-approved therapy for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis.

We are conducting a single, pivotal, global, Phase 3 clinical trial in recurrent pericarditis, named RHAPSODY. We expect to report top‑line data in the second half of 2020. RHAPSODY is a double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, randomized‑withdrawal, or RW, design study with open‑label extension which is designed to assess the efficacy and safety of rilonacept treatment in subjects with recurrent pericarditis. 

We received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA for rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis in 2019, and reported final data from our open‑label Phase 2 proof‑of‑concept clinical trial of rilonacept in  a range of recurrent pericarditis populations at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November 2019. The data derived from the study provided early evidence that rilonacept treatment in the study improved clinically meaningful outcomes associated with the unmet medical need in recurrent pericarditis. Rilonacept was generally well-tolerated in the study, with adverse events consistent with the FDA approved rilonacept label for the treatment of CAPS, including Familial Cold Autoinflammatory Syndrome and Muckle-Wells Syndrome. The most common adverse events were mild, transient injection site reactions that did not cause discontinuation. There was one treatment-related serious adverse event which resulted in discontinuation: a skin abscess which responded to medical treatment. Infections are included in the rilonacept label for CAPS.

Mavrilimumab is a monoclonal antibody that antagonizes the signaling of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor, or GM‑CSF. We are focusing our initial development efforts for mavrilimumab on giant cell arteritis, or GCA, a chronic inflammatory disease of medium-to-large arteries with an estimated U.S. prevalence of approximately 75,000 – 150,000 patients. We licensed mavrilimumab from MedImmune Limited, or MedImmune, in 2017.  There is only one FDA-approved therapy for GCA, which is an adjunct to corticosteroid therapy, and we believe an unmet need persists.  We are conducting a randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, global Phase 2 proof‑of‑concept clinical trial of mavrilimumab in GCA. We expect to report top‑line data in the second half of 2020.

In December 2019, we entered into a clinical collaboration with Kite, a Gilead Company, or Kite, to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating the combination of Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and mavrilimumab in relapsed or refractory large B-Cell lymphoma. The objective of the Phase 2 trial is to determine the effect of mavrilimumab on the safety of Yescarta. Treatment related induction of GM-CSF has been identified through clinical, translational and preclinical studies as a potential key signal associated with side effects of chimeric antigen receptor T, or CAR T, cell therapy. Preclinical evidence suggest the potential for interruption of GM-CSF signaling to disrupt CAR T cell mediated inflammation without disrupting anti-tumor activity. Kite will be the sponsor of this study and responsible for its conduct.

KPL‑716 is a monoclonal antibody that simultaneously inhibits the signaling of the cytokines interleukin‑31, or IL‑31, and oncostatin M, or OSM, by targeting their common receptor subunit, oncostatin M receptor beta, or OSMRβ. We licensed KPL-716 from Biogen MA, Inc., or Biogen, in 2016. We believe KPL-716 is the only monoclonal antibody in development that simultaneously targets both pathways.

We are conducting a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 2a clinical trial of KPL-716 in subjects with prurigo nodularis, a chronic inflammatory skin condition with an estimated U.S. prevalence of approximately 300,000 patients. Currently, there is no FDA-approved therapy for prurigo nodularis. We expect data from this trial by the end of April 2020. We are also conducting an exploratory Phase 2 clinical trial in diseases characterized by chronic pruritus. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is designed to identify chronic pruritic conditions where signaling through OSMRβ may be playing a role and to investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of KPL-716 in reducing the moderate-to-severe pruritus experienced by these subjects. We expect interim data from cohorts of this study in the first half of 2020.

In August 2019, we reported interim results from the repeated-single-dose Phase 1b clinical trial of KPL-716 in subjects with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis provided a proxy for evaluating target engagement in IL-31 driven pruritic diseases. Interim repeated-single-dose Phase 1b data through the 12-week treatment period showed a rapid and sustained anti-pruritic response as measured by Worst-Itch Numeric Rating Scale (WI-NRS). There were no serious adverse events. However, there were more atopic dermatitis flares in the KPL-716-treated population versus placebo (47.6% versus 4.5%); all subjects who experienced a flare were successfully managed with topical corticosteroids. KPL-716 was otherwise well-tolerated by all subjects.

KPL‑404 is a monoclonal antibody inhibitor of the CD40/CD40L interaction, a central control node of T‑cell‑dependent, B‑cell‑mediated humoral adaptive immunity. In the first quarter of 2019, we acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Primatope Therapeutics, Inc., or Primatope, the company that owned or controlled the intellectual property related to KPL‑404. In the second half of 2019, we initiated a single-ascending-dose Phase 1 clinical trial of KPL-404 in healthy volunteers. The first-in-human trial is designed to provide safety and pharmacokinetics data as well as receptor occupancy and T-cell dependent antibody response (TDAR). We expect top-line data in the second half of 2020.

The following table summarizes our current pipeline of product candidates:

(1)Rilonacept (ARCALYST®) is approved and marketed for cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, in the United States by Regeneron.

(2)Clinical collaboration with Kite.

(3)Chronic Idiopathic Pruritus, Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria, Plaque Psoriasis, Lichen Simplex Chronicus, Lichen Planus. IL-1α = interleukin-1 alpha ; IL-1β = interleukin 1 beta; GM-CSFRα = granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor alpha; OSMRβ = oncostatin M receptor beta

 

We evaluate options across our portfolio in an effort to maximize value and improve capital allocation based on data, including potential additional indications for rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716, being opportunistic in our business development activities, considering appropriate opportunities to partner or out-license our programs, as well as conducting internal research to discover and develop molecules to expand our portfolio.

Our Team

We have assembled an experienced management team with a successful track record. Our management team has expertise across the spectrum of global drug discovery, development, manufacturing and commercialization activities in diseases within both large and orphan indications. Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sanj K. Patel, has more than 25 years of scientific, clinical and commercial experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Our Chief Medical Officer, John F. Paolini, M.D., Ph.D., has more than 18 years of experience planning, operating and executing clinical development programs across a range of disease indications from orphan diseases to large cardiovascular diseases, and ten years as a practicing cardiologist. Other members of our senior management team have held key management positions at other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that developed and commercialized therapies for underserved, rare and specialty‑focused patient populations. These companies include Synageva, Genzyme, Novo Nordisk, Shire, Sanofi, Pfizer, Bayer, Merck, Novartis and Vertex, among others. 

 

Our Strategy

Our goal is to build a fully-integrated, global biopharmaceutical company by discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing life-changing therapies for debilitating diseases. We have a pipeline of immune-modulating, clinical-stage product candidates that are based on strong biologic rationale or validated mechanisms, target underserved conditions and offer the potential for differentiation.

 

Critical components of our business strategy include the following:

Our Product Candidates

Rilonacept

Overview

Rilonacept was approved by the FDA for the treatment of CAPS which includes cold auto‑inflammatory syndrome and Muckle‑Wells syndrome, and has been commercially sold as ARCALYST in the United States by Regeneron for this indication since 2008. We licensed rilonacept in 2017 from Regeneron. We believe that rilonacept has potential to treat certain diseases mediated by both IL‑1α and IL‑1β. Our lead indication for rilonacept is recurrent pericarditis, a painful autoinflammatory cardiovascular disease with an estimated U.S. prevalent population of approximately 40,000 patients seeking and receiving medical treatment. We are conducting a single, pivotal, global, Phase 3 clinical trial in recurrent pericarditis, named RHAPSODY. We expect to report top‑line data from this trial in the second half of 2020.

There is currently no FDA-approved therapy for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis. There is currently one other FDA‑approved agent that blocks both IL‑1α and IL‑1β signaling, anakinra (KINERET), produced by Sobi, Inc, or Sobi, is approved for other indications, and one that blocks only IL‑1β, canakinumab (ILARIS), produced by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, or Novartis, is approved for other indications. We believe both therapies have limitations. Anakinra requires once‑daily injections, and canakinumab blocks only IL‑1β, making it less effective or potentially ineffective in diseases driven by IL‑1α pathology. We believe that rilonacept with its more moderate, once‑weekly dosing schedule and its ability to inhibit both IL‑1α and IL‑1β could provide an improved therapeutic option for a variety of diseases mediated by both IL‑1α and IL‑1β.

 

Mechanism of Action

Rilonacept is an inhibitor of IL‑1α and IL‑1β. IL‑1α and IL‑1β have been demonstrated to play a key role in inflammatory diseases. IL‑1α and IL‑1β provoke potent, pro‑inflammatory events by engaging the IL‑1α and IL‑1β receptor. Following tissue insult, the release of IL‑1α acts as the primary initiating signal to coordinate the mobilization of immune cells to the damaged area, while IL‑1β is secreted mostly by macrophages and is a prototypical cytokine of the canonical NLRB-3 inflammasome. IL‑1α and IL‑1β signaling results in a dramatic increase in the production of cytokines that orchestrate the proliferation and recruitment of phagocytes to the site of damage, resulting in inflammation. Moreover, IL‑1α and IL‑1β signaling also affect other immune‑system cells, such as T‑cells and B‑cells.

IL‑1β’s role in the inflammation process has been extensively studied, while in comparison, much is still unknown about the independent function of IL‑1α in disease pathology. Despite driving similar immunological outcomes, IL‑1α and IL‑1β differ substantially in their expression and regulation, and non‑redundant roles for IL‑1α or IL‑1β have been demonstrated in multiple inflammatory diseases. There are disease states in which IL‑1β inhibition alone does not appear to be sufficient for disease remission in the absence of IL‑1α inhibition. Published studies suggest certain autoinflammatory diseases may, in fact, be pathologically driven primarily by IL‑1α.

An investigator‑initiated study of anakinra successfully demonstrated mechanistic proof‑of‑concept for inhibiting both IL‑1α and IL‑1β in the treatment of recurrent pericarditis. In a published case study, a patient with a refractory form of recurrent pericarditis, who was well‑controlled on anakinra, was switched from anakinra to canakinumab, which inhibits only IL‑1β, for tolerability reasons. The patient’s disease returned despite further dose escalation of canakinumab. When the patient was switched back to anakinra, which inhibits IL‑α and IL‑β, the disease promptly went back into remission. These data, together with clinical data from our open-label Phase 2 proof‑of‑concept study and confirmatory market research, may indicate that IL‑1α and IL‑1β play unique roles in recurrent pericarditis and other autoinflammatory diseases in which the pathology may be driven primarily by IL‑1α.

Background and Market Opportunity for Recurrent Pericarditis

Pericarditis is the most common disorder involving the pericardium, the two‑layered sac that surrounds the heart. Pericarditis is an inflammation of this sac and is typically characterized by significant chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing and fatigue and is often misconstrued by patients as a heart attack. In addition, typical signs of pericarditis include pericardial friction rub, electrocardiogram changes or pericardial effusion, which is a build‑up of fluid around the heart. Pericarditis is described as recurrent if, following an initial occurrence of pericarditis, it recurs after a symptom‑free period of about four to six weeks. Pericarditis is considered chronic if symptoms of any one episode last longer than three months, typically causing significant pain and frustration. If pericarditis is left untreated, patients can develop thickening and scarring of the pericardium, potentially requiring invasive surgical stripping. Pericardial effusion, if large enough, can compress the heart externally, requiring emergent drainage.

We intend to focus our development of rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis initially in the United States, and we are exploring opportunities for potential expansion into other countries. Claims analysis, cross validated with published estimates, supports a prevalent population of patients with recurrent pericarditis seeking and receiving medical treatment to be approximately 40,000 patients in the United States per year. Within this estimated diagnosed and treated recurrent pericarditis patient population, there are certain subgroups of patients totaling approximately 14,000 with particularly high unmet medical needs consisting of:

There may be other thoracic inflammatory syndromes where rilonacept may prove beneficial, such as pericarditis associated with post‑pericardiotomy syndrome, an inflammatory reaction of the pericardium in patients who have undergone surgery that involves opening the pericardium. Post‑pericardiotomy syndrome occurs in up to 30% of the 300,000 patients in the United States undergoing post-cardiac injury, and we believe rilonacept may be a therapeutic option for a subset of these patients.

Current Treatment Landscape for Recurrent Pericarditis

We are not aware of any current therapies approved by the FDA for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis. A patient’s initial acute episode of pericarditis is typically treated with over‑the‑counter or prescription NSAIDs or colchicine, both of which are used off‑label. Recurrent episodes are treated in a similar manner or by adding systemic corticosteroids which are also used off‑label. Both colchicine and corticosteroids often have deleterious effects when used at high doses or for long periods of time, including, for colchicine, gastrointestinal distress and neutropenia and, for corticosteroids, glaucoma, fluid retention, hypertension, mood changes, memory changes, other psychological effects, weight gain and diabetes. Fourth‑line treatment for these patients may include other immunosuppressants such as methotrexate and azathioprine, as well as anakinra.

Our Solution

Rilonacept is a weekly, subcutaneously‑injected, recombinant fusion protein that blocks IL‑1α and IL‑1β signaling. Beyond recurrent pericarditis, we believe there is significant potential for rilonacept to address additional indications, including other pericarditis populations. More broadly, we believe diseases characterized by painful serosal inflammation may be driven by IL‑1α, and we intend to consider development of rilonacept in these indications and in others where we believe IL‑1α or IL‑1β play a key role in disease pathophysiology.

Clinical Development Plan for Recurrent Pericarditis

We are conducting a pivotal, global Phase 3 clinical trial, named RHAPSODY. The trial is intended to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rilonacept treatment in subjects with recurrent pericarditis. RHAPSODY is a double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, RW trial, with an open‑label extension period. The trial is designed to randomize up to 75 subjects into the RW period. Eligible subjects present at screening with at least a third pericarditis episode, defined as at least 1 day with pericarditis pain ≥ 4 on the 11‑point NRS and a C‑reactive protein, or CRP, value ≥1 mg/dL within the 7‑day period prior to first study drug administration. Subjects included in the study may be receiving concomitant NSAIDs or colchicine or oral corticosteroid treatment in any combination.

The clinical trial is comprised of 5 periods:

The primary efficacy endpoint is time‑to‑first‑pericarditis‑recurrence in the RW period. The Clinical Endpoint Committee will adjudicate all suspected pericarditis recurrences for inclusion in the primary efficacy endpoint analysis. We have reached our target enrollment and expect to report top‑line data in the second half of 2020.

Phase 2 Study Results

In 2019, we completed a Phase 2 proof‑of‑concept clinical trial of rilonacept in recurrent pericarditis and reported final data at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November 2019.The Phase 2 trial evaluated the treatment response to rilonacept in a range of recurrent pericarditis populations and was divided into five parts across two cohorts.

Actively symptomatic recurrent pericarditis patients:

 

Corticosteroid-dependent recurrent pericarditis patients not actively experiencing a recurrence:

In this study, all patients received a loading dose of rilonacept 320 mg subcutaneously, or SC, followed by 160 mg SC weekly maintenance on top of any combination of co-administered NSAIDs and/or colchicine and/or corticosteroids during a six-week base treatment period. There was an optional 18-week extension treatment period, during which physicians were given the option to wean patients off concomitant NSAIDs, colchicine, and/or corticosteroids. The assessed efficacy outcomes measures included an 11-point NRS, CRP, electrocardiogram, and echocardiogram to measure the size of the pericardial effusion. 25 unique patients enrolled in the six-week base treatment period across Parts 1 through 5 of the Phase 2 trial, and 23 patients continued into the optional 18-week extension treatment period and completed 24 weeks of treatment. 

The Phase 2 data provided first evidence that rilonacept treatment in the study improved clinically meaningful outcomes associated with the unmet medical need in recurrent pericarditis.

Resolution of Pericarditis Episodes

We expect that symptomatic recurrent pericarditis patients with CRP > 1mg/dL (Parts 1 and 4; n = 13), who were failing standard of care management with NSAIDs, colchicine, and/or corticosteroids, will be the most relevant to the enrollment population for the RHAPSODY Phase 3 clinical trial. In the Phase 2 trial, a rapid reduction in both reported pain and inflammation after the first dose as well as a persistent and clinically meaningful response were observed throughout the trial for these patients.

In symptomatic recurrent pericarditis patients with CRP ≤ 1mg/dL (Part 2; n = 3), who were failing standard of care management with NSAIDs, colchicine, and/or corticosteroids, a reduction in both reported pain and inflammation after the first dose as well as a persistent and clinically meaningful response were observed throughout the trial.

Tapering and Discontinuation of Corticosteroids without Pericarditis Recurrence

15 recurrent pericarditis patients on corticosteroids at baseline enrolled in the six-week base treatment period, and 13 continued into the optional 18-week extension treatment period and completed 24 weeks of treatment. During the optional 18-week extension treatment period, investigators were given the option to wean patients from concomitant medications while continuing weekly rilonacept treatment. All patients on corticosteroids stopped or tapered corticosteroids during this part of the study without experiencing a recurrent pericarditis episode.

Reduction in Recurrences of Pericarditis Episodes while on Treatment

A comparison of the annualized incidence of pericarditis episodes during the trial while receiving rilonacept versus patients’ own natural history in the period prior to the trial showed a decrease in annualized incidence of pericarditis episodes across all parts from 3.9 episodes/year prior to the study to <0.18 episodes/year.

Improved Quality of Life Scores

Rilonacept treatment also resulted in improvement of Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System, or PROMIS, Global Health scores for Physical and Mental Global Health (U.S. mean score = 50.0; standard deviation = 10). A clinically meaningful difference is thought to be one standard deviation, or ten points.

Rilonacept was generally well-tolerated in the study, with adverse events consistent with the FDA-approved label for the treatment of CAPS, including Familial Cold Autoinflammatory Syndrome and Muckle-Wells Syndrome. The most common adverse events were mild, transient injection site reactions that did not cause discontinuation. There was one treatment-related serious adverse event which resulted in discontinuation: a subcutaneous abscess which responded to medical treatment. Infections are included in the rilonacept label for CAPS.

Clinical History of Rilonacept

Regeneron evaluated rilonacept in a total of 21 clinical trials, including two trials in over 100 patients for the treatment of CAPS, and six trials in over 1,800 patients for the treatment of gout flares.

In the 21 clinical studies conducted by Regeneron with rilonacept to date, the most common adverse events reported were injection site reactions and upper respiratory tract infections. Across these studies, there were a total of five serious adverse events, or SAEs, that were assessed by investigators as drug related. Among patients treated with rilonacept there were three SAEs, colitis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and drug eruption. One patient treated with placebo experienced cellulitis and another placebo‑treated patient died. The largest clinical programs conducted by Regeneron with rilonacept were its Phase 2 and Phase 3 programs for gout flare prevention, which treated a total of 1,886 patients. The most common adverse events reported for the 160 mg dose, the dosage used for the treatment of CAPS, were injection site reactions (15.5% for rilonacept versus 2.6% for placebo) and upper respiratory tract infections (10.3% for rilonacept versus 10.1% for placebo).

Mavrilimumab

Overview

Mavrilimumab is a fully‑human monoclonal antibody that antagonizes GM‑CSF signaling by binding to the alpha subunit of the GM‑CSF receptor. Our lead indication for mavrilimumab is GCA, a chronic inflammatory disease of medium-large blood vessels with an estimated U.S. prevalence of approximately 75,000 – 150,000 patients. We have commenced dosing in multiple countries in a randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, global Phase 2 proof‑of‑concept trial for the study of mavrilimumab in GCA. We expect to report top‑line data in the second half of 2020. Before we licensed mavrilimumab in 2017, MedImmune, Limited, or MedImmune, was developing mavrilimumab for the treatment of RA.

Mechanism of Action

Mavrilimumab is designed to inhibit the signaling of GM‑CSF, a growth factor that stimulates the production of certain types of white blood cells. Studies have demonstrated that with GM‑CSF overexpression, pathological changes almost always follow. Reported data suggest GM‑CSF is a key player in the immune system, as follows:

Additionally, GM‑CSF has been shown to be a confirmed mediator in RA based on the results from the Phase 2b clinical trial in RA conducted by MedImmune. In this trial, mavrilimumab achieved the co‑primary endpoints of change from baseline in disease activity score, or DAS, at week 12 and a response of 20% or greater improvement in the American College of Rheumatology criteria, at week 24. Patients with mavrilimumab showed a statistically significant reduction in DAS scores at all dosages compared to placebo, and significantly more mavrilimumab‑treated patients achieved ACR20 at all dosages compared to placebo.

Background and Market Opportunity for Giant Cell Arteritis

GCA is an inflammatory disease of the medium-to-large arteries that strikes older adults and causes headaches, jaw and other muscle claudication, and possible ischemic visual loss. Many of the symptoms and signs of GCA result from involvement of the cranial branches of arteries that originate from the aortic arch, but the disease is systemic, and vascular involvement can be widespread. GCA is characterized by infiltration of monocytes, macrophages and the formation of giant cells (i.e., multinucleated fusions of macrophages). GCA generally occurs in adults over 50 years old with a 3:1 imbalance of women to men. We estimate there to be approximately 75,000 to 150,000 prevalent patients with GCA in the United States with similar prevalence rates for other major markets and believe that the incidence of GCA will increase over time as the population ages.

Current Treatment Landscape for Giant Cell Arteritis

Glucocorticoids, a type of corticosteroid, are the mainstay for the treatment of GCA because they normalize inflammatory markers and resolve patient symptoms. Many patients receive long courses of this therapy to prevent disease flare‑up, which are associated with significant and serious side effects, including glaucoma, fluid retention, hypertension, mood changes, memory changes, other psychological effects, weight gain and diabetes. Up to 80% of patients suffer from glucocorticoid toxicity as a result of GCA treatment.

Despite being effective for some patients, many are unable to wean off of corticosteroids because they continue to experience disease flares as the dose is reduced. In one study cohort published in the literature that followed 106 patients with GCA for 4.5 to 10.1 years, 68 patients (64%) experienced at least one relapse during or after weaning, and 38 patients (36%) experienced two or more. Experimental evidence in mice suggests that corticosteroid treatment does not adequately suppress tissue‑infiltrating macrophage function, a key cell type generated and maintained by GM‑CSF signaling, and may explain why many patients require long‑term chronic treatment and are unable to wean off corticosteroids. We believe by blocking GM‑CSF signaling, mavrilimumab may provide additional benefit to these patients by reducing long‑term sequelae that results from chronic vessel inflammation.

In addition, tocilizumab, an inhibitor of interleukin‑6, or IL‑6, is approved in the United States in GCA for use on top of a concomitant corticosteroid taper. However, up to nearly half of the patients studied in the Phase 3 clinical trial for tocilizumab experienced disease flares during the 52 weeks treatment period that included a 26‑week corticosteroid taper. We believe this indicates a persistent unmet medical need exists.

Our Solution

We chose GCA as our first indication for mavrilimumab due to the mechanistic rationale of inhibiting GM‑CSF. GM‑CSF is a key growth factor for many of these key inflammatory cell types and is found in high

concentrations at the site of damage in the vessel wall. We believe that data provide a solid rationale for antagonizing this signaling with mavrilimumab.

Preclinical Rationale for GCA

At the 2019 American College of Rheumatology conference, each of  Dr. Cornelia M. Weyand and Dr. Maria C. Cid presented preclinical data sponsored by Kiniksa, which we believe support the mechanistic rationale for targeting granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor alpha, or GM-CSFRα, in patients with GCA.

Dr. Weyand made an oral presentation entitled GM-CSF is a Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine in Experimental Vasculitis of Medium and Large Arteries. Data from a validated in vivo model of vasculitis showed that, compared to treatment controls, mavrilimumab, reduced tissue inflammation in the arteries. In the model, normal human arteries were engrafted into immune-deficient mice. Following the engraftment, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with GCA were transferred to the mice which then caused vasculitis to appear in the normal arteries within 7-10 days. After the inflammation had been established, animals were treated with mavrilimumab. Treatment with mavrilimumab resulted in statistically significant reductions in the number of CD3+ T-cells and in innate and adaptive immune responses in the inflamed arteries in addition to significant reductions in key cytokines known to play a role in GCA pathology including interferon-gamma, or IFN-γ. These data illustrate that blockade of GM-CSFRα signaling had a strong anti-inflammatory activity. We believe the reduced expression of IFN-γ in mice treated with mavrilimumab is of significance for treating GCA as it is the signature cytokine produced by the T helper type 1, or TH1, cell lineage which, along with GM-CSF, has been implicated in multinucleated giant cell formation. The TH1 signature is relatively unresponsive to glucocorticoid therapy and often persists in steroid-treated patients and is believed to mediate chronic and refractory disease.  

Dr. Cid presented a poster entitled GM-CSF Pathway Signature Identified in Temporal Artery Biopsies of Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis. Data from this study examining human temporal artery biopsies from two independent sources showed the GM-CSF signaling pathway molecular signature was upregulated in GCA biopsies versus control at both the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein level. GM-CSF and TH1 pathway signatures (including IFN-γ) were demonstrated in GCA patient temporal arteries by independent analytical techniques. The data also demonstrated active GM-CSF signaling in diseased tissue is evidenced by increased expression of PU.1, a transcription factor downstream of GM-CSF signaling, in the vessel wall. Additionally, treatment of ex vivo cultures of GCA arteries with mavrilimumab suppressed expression of these gene products, suggesting the biological activity of mavrilimumab on genes relevant to GCA pathophysiology.

Phase 2 Clinical Trial for GCA

We are conducting a randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, global Phase 2 proof‑of‑concept trial in multiple countries. The Phase 2 clinical trial of mavrilimumab for the treatment of GCA was designed to enroll approximately 60-70 subjects with new‑onset and refractory disease. Subjects are randomized 3:2 to mavrilimumab 150 mg or placebo injected SC once every two weeks co‑administered with a corticosteroid taper. Treatment duration is 26 weeks, and the primary efficacy endpoint is time to first flare.

In the United States, the FDA initially placed our Investigational New Drug application, or IND, on clinical hold due a request for additional information regarding the 510(k)‑cleared delivery device to be used in our Phase 2 clinical trial. The device‑related information request did not pertain to preclinical toxicology data nor the design of our trial. We provided the FDA with the requested information and the IND became active. We expect to report top‑line data in the second half of 2020.

We anticipate that to help inform the risk/benefit profile for the use of mavrilimumab in GCA, we will need to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of mavrilimumab after 26 weeks, as well as evaluate its pharmacokinetic profile and the effectiveness of mavrilimumab at different doses. We also intend to initiate research and development activities of mavrilimumab’s potential across other various disease states where cells of myeloid phenotype have been implicated by the literature, such as other vasculitides and cardiomyopathies, diseases characterized by barrier dysfunction, other arthropathies or oncologic indications.

Phase 2 Clinical Trial Evaluating Mavrilimumab with YESCARTA 

In December of 2019, we entered into a clinical collaboration with Kite to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating the combination of Yescarta and mavrilimumab in relapsed or refractory large B-Cell lymphoma. The objective of the trial is to determine the effect of mavrilimumab on the safety of Yescarta. Treatment related induction of GM-CSF has been identified through clinical, translational and preclinical studies as a potential key signal associated with side effects of  CAR T cell therapy. Preclinical evidence suggests the potential for interruption of GM-CSF signaling to disrupt CAR T cell mediated inflammation without disrupting anti-tumor activity. Kite will be the sponsor or this study and responsible for its conduct.

Clinical History in Rheumatoid Arthritis

MedImmune had received authorization to conduct clinical trials for rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, in Europe and executed an extensive Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical program where the company studied mavrilimumab in over 550 patients with RA through Phase 2b. All of MedImmune’s European clinical trials achieved their prospectively defined primary endpoints of safety or efficacy.

MedImmune’s IND for the clinical development of mavrilimumab for the treatment of RA was initially put on clinical hold in 2010 before human data had been generated due to certain effects that were observed in non‑clinical studies, which coincides with a theoretical risk of developing PAP, possibly in the setting of GM‑CSF inhibition. Since then, in 2014, the FDA acknowledged that clinical studies in refractory RA may be appropriate based on MedImmune’s clinical studies in Europe in which it dosed over 550 RA patients with mavrilimumab with no evidence of PAP attributable to mavrilimumab following long‑term administration. MedImmune did not engage in further dialogue with the FDA and withdrew the IND for mavrilimumab for the treatment of RA.

We believe that the trials conducted by MedImmune provide substantial support for the potential of mavrilimumab in autoimmune diseases. In these trials, mavrilimumab was observed to be well‑tolerated. The most common adverse event was infection, with all dose groups (30 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg) in a Phase 2b clinical trial reporting similar rates of infection compared to the placebo group. We believe that these safety results provide an accurate early representation of the safety profile of mavrilimumab, which we believe to be at least competitive with and potentially better than existing systemically administered agents for autoimmune diseases.

Mavrilimumab’s results from Phase 2b clinical trials in RA have provided important information about its safety and efficacy profile and helped solidify our choice for focusing our development efforts in GCA as a lead indication. In addition to the reductions to the primary endpoint demonstrated in the Phase 2b trials, other markers of inflammation, such as CRP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, or ESR, and IL‑6, were similarly reduced, as shown in the

graphs below. CRP, ESR and IL‑6 are key markers of disease activity for GCA. We believe that these results may also provide evidence for mavrilimumab’s utility across a broad range of indications with a similar biomarker profile.

Source: Burmester GR, et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2017.  *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 mavrilimumab versus placebo

KPL‑716

Overview

KPL‑716 is a fully‑human monoclonal antibody that targets OSMRβ, which mediates signaling of IL‑31 and OSM, two key cytokines implicated in inflammation, pruritus and fibrosis. We believe KPL‑716 to be the only monoclonal antibody in development that targets both pathways simultaneously. We completed our Phase 1a/1b program in atopic dermatitis subjects in 2019.  Both the single IV dose and repeated-single doses of KPL-716 resulted in a marked and rapid reduction in pruritus as measured by a numerical rating score.  We believe these results support further development of KPL-716 as an anti-pruritic treatment for diseases with upregulated signaling through OSMRβ. We are initially evaluating KPL‑716 for the treatment of a variety of pruritic diseases potentially driven by signaling through OSMRβ, including prurigo nodularis, a chronic inflammatory skin condition with an estimated U.S. prevalence of approximately 300,000 patients.   

We acquired the assets relating to KPL‑716 from Biogen MA, Inc., or Biogen, in 2016.

Mechanism of Action

The OSMRβ subunit is an IL‑6 type receptor which combines with one of two other subunits to form two distinct cytokine receptors used for the signaling of two different cytokines: IL‑31, and OSM. IL‑31 binds to the IL‑31 receptor on keratinocytes, epidermal cells, leading to a sensation of pruritus and further inflammatory responses in the skin. In addition to interacting with IL‑31 receptors on keratinocytes, IL‑31 also stimulates pruritus directly through IL‑31 receptors expressed on unmyelinated C‑fibers in the skin responsible for the sensation and transmission of pruritic signaling.

OSM is produced primarily under inflammatory conditions and stimulates dermal fibroblast proliferation and migration as well as synthesis of collagen and glycosaminoglycan in the skin, leading to fibrosis. In addition to these functions, OSM signaling through the type II OSM receptor upregulates interleukin‑4, or IL‑4, interleukin‑13 receptor, or IL‑13Rα1, and interleukin‑4 receptor, or IL‑4Rα, in human skin equivalent cultures, upregulates IL‑4Rα in primary human keratinocytes and also impairs expression of filaggrin, loricrin and involucrin (classical “differentiation” markers

of the epidermal differentiation complex cluster) in human skin equivalent cultures. These data implicate OSM signaling as important in many autoimmune diseases characterized by barrier dysfunction, fibrosis and inflammation.

KPL‑716 inhibits both IL‑31 and OSM activities at their respective receptors, potentially disrupting the pruritus, inflammation and fibrosis mediated by these cytokine pathways.

Background and Market Opportunity for Prurigo Nodularis and Other Chronic Pruritic Diseases

Prurigo Nodularis

Prurigo nodularis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects primarily older adults and is characterized by multiple firm and extremely pruritic nodules typically located on the arms and legs. The etiology of prurigo nodularis is largely unknown, however, human biopsy studies have shown that the cytokines IL‑31 and OSM and the receptor chains IL‑31Rα and OSMRβ are highly expressed in prurigo nodularis lesions. The pruritus is severe and distressing and can be sudden, sporadic or continuous, worsening with heat, sweating or irritation from clothing. The itching sensation in prurigo nodularis is extreme and often leads to scratching to the point of bleeding, infection or pain. Our market research to‑date with physicians and patients highlights the severe and debilitating nature of this disease and the significant levels of unmet need. Multiple physicians have reported suicidal tendencies among their prurigo nodularis patients due to an overwhelming inability to control the unrelenting itch. The exact prevalence of prurigo nodularis is unknown, however, we estimate there to be approximately 300,000 prevalent cases in the United States.

Other Chronic Pruritic Diseases

Our exploratory, pilot Phase 2 clinical trial was designed to evaluate study populations with chronic idiopathic urticaria, chronic idiopathic pruritus, plaque psoriasis, lichen planus, and lichen simplex chronicus.

Current Treatment Landscape for Prurigo Nodularis

Prurigo Nodularis

We are not aware of any current FDA‑approved therapies for treating prurigo nodularis, and the treatment approach ranges from topical corticosteroids and occlusive steroid containing bandages for more mild patients to systemic corticosteroid, ultraviolet phototherapy and systemic therapies such as thalidomide, methotrexate and cyclosporine for those patients who fail initial treatments. Patients have reported using opioid pain medications to attempt to control the disease in its most severe form.

Our Solution

KPL‑716 is a fully‑human monoclonal antibody that targets two key pathways for the development of pruritus, inflammation and fibrosis through inhibition of OSMRβ. Chronic pruritic diseases are often characterized by a complex interplay among pruritus, inflammation and fibrosis. The pathogenesis of chronic pruritic diseases involves interlocking positive feedback loops in which pruritus causes scratch, and scratch causes reactive inflammation through mechanical disruption of the skin architecture. The decline in skin barrier function and resulting bacterial colonization or infection ultimately increase extracellular matrix formation and collagen deposition, leading to fibrosis. Fibrosis then begets more pruritus through disruption and dysregulation of sensory nerve fiber expression.

Current therapies target only one or two aspects of this complex pathophysiology and are inevitably limited in their effectiveness. Targeting only one pathway may address a single aspect of the symptomatology, e.g., pruritus, but not the full spectrum of the pathophysiologic components of the disease. This point is particularly relevant since OSM is upregulated in many chronic inflammatory skin diseases and synergistically interacts with pruritic and inflammatory pathways. Of particular relevance is the central role of OSM in inflammation and barrier function and its autocrine effects on type II OSM receptor in IL‑31‑dependent epidermal proliferation and remodeling as well as inflammation.

There is a relatively large body of literature linking inflammatory pruritic and inflammatory diseases to both IL‑31 and OSM via signaling though OSMRβ. KPL‑716 has been specifically designed to target both pathways simultaneously and thus KPL‑716 may disrupt this pathologic cycle in patients afflicted by prurigo nodularis and atopic dermatitis.

Preclinical Development

In our preclinical development program we have observed favorable pharmacokinetics and toxicology characteristics to support clinical development of KPL‑716. KPL‑716 has shown signs of efficacy in two non‑human primate models. In the first, KPL‑716 abrogated the pharmacodynamic marker of pruritus in an IL‑31 challenge model. A single three milligram per kilogram dose of KPL‑716 substantially reduced scratch counts despite multiple repeated injections of IL‑31 over several weeks at concentrations we believe to be supraphysiologic in a disease context. In the second non‑human primate model, KPL‑716 again abrogated the painful response to an injection to an inflammatory agent called carrageenan through the time period measured after a single infusion of KPL‑716, implicating OSM in the inflammatory response. We have conducted preclinical toxicology studies for KPL‑716 with a no adverse event level of 500 milligrams per kilogram with intravenous dosing.

Phase 1a/1b Clinical Trial

In early 2017, we filed an IND application and began clinical development with KPL‑716 in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial in healthy volunteers and in subjects with moderate‑to‑severe atopic dermatitis experiencing moderate‑to‑severe pruritus, respectively.

The first portion of the Phase 1a/1b clinical trial utilized a randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, single‑ascending‑dose, sequential‑group design to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity of KPL‑716 in healthy volunteers and subjects with atopic dermatitis following IV or SC

administration. We used the pruritis in atopic dermatitis as a proxy for IL‑31‑driven pruritic diseases, including prurigo nodularis.

In total, 50 healthy volunteers and 32 subjects with moderate‑to‑severe atopic dermatitis experiencing moderate‑to‑severe pruritus received a single dose of KPL‑716 or placebo in the Phase 1a/1b clinical trial, with the top dose of 20 mg/kg IV in healthy volunteers and 7.5 mg/kg IV in subjects with atopic dermatitis. There was a seven‑day wash out period of prior therapies for all subjects with atopic dermatitis before treatment, and topical corticosteroids, or TCS, were not allowed through day 28. All subjects were given TSC to use as needed after day 28, and rescue medication was provided for atopic dermatitis flares throughout the study. KPL‑716 was well‑tolerated, no dose‑limiting toxicities were observed, and there were no serious adverse events. All drug‑related or potentially drug‑related treatment‑emergent adverse events, or DR‑TEAE, were mild, except for one patient who experienced a moderate DR‑TEAE of dizziness.

KPL‑716 showed dose‑dependent elimination consistent with a target‑mediated drug disposition profile and was still detectable at least eight weeks after the high dose of 7.5 mg/kg IV in subjects with atopic dermatitis. We believe the available pharmacokinetic and bioavailability data are supportive of testing once every other week or once monthly SC dosing regimens in subsequent studies of KPL‑716.

An exploratory analysis of data in ten subjects with moderate‑to‑severe atopic dermatitis receiving a single dose of KPL‑716 7.5 mg/kg IV versus ten pooled placebo IV recipients provided an early signal of efficacy for KPL‑716 in reducing pruritus, indicative of target engagement. Among these groups, we observed:

In August of 2019 we reported interim results from the repeated-single-dose Phase 1b clinical trial. The Phase 1b trial used a weekly 360 mg SC dose in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design in order to evaluate safety and exploratory disease response markers. The 360 mg SC dose was intended to replicate and extend exposures from the prior single-ascending-dose Phase 1b clinical trial where an early signal of efficacy had been observed in reducing pruritus after a single 7.5 mg/kg intravenous dose.  In the repeated-single-dose Phase 1b clinical trial, 43 subjects with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis were enrolled and randomized 1:1 to KPL-716 or placebo once weekly for 12 weeks. There was a seven-day wash out period of all other therapies before treatment, and topical

corticosteroids were not allowed throughout the 12-week treatment period. However, rescue medication was available for atopic dermatitis flares throughout the study. In an interim analysis of the data through the 12-week treatment period as of August 19, 2019, KPL-716 showed a rapid and sustained anti-pruritic response as measured by a reduction in Worst-Itch Numeric Rating Scale, or WI-NRS, in subjects with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis:

There was no meaningful benefit of repeated-single-doses of KPL-716 on other efficacy endpoints specific to atopic dermatitis, including EASI and Scoring Atopic Dermatitis, or SCORAD. There were no serious adverse events. However, there were more atopic dermatitis flares in the KPL-716-treated population versus placebo​ (47.6% versus 4.5%) through the 12-week treatment period; all subjects who experienced a flare were successfully managed with topical corticosteroids. KPL-716 was otherwise well-tolerated by all subjects. We believe these single‑dose and repeated-single doses study results provide proof‑of‑principle for KPL‑716’s potential to treat a spectrum of IL‑31‑driven pruritic diseases and support our plans to advance KPL‑716 into multiple chronic pruritic diseases.

OSMRβ Axis Identified in Prurigo Nodularis

In 2019 at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, we presented preclinical data identifying the OSMRβ axis in prurigo nodularis subjects. Data from Kiniksa’s longitudinal observational study in prurigo nodularis, or LOTUS-PN suggest that the OSMRβ axis (IL-31, OSM, IL-31 receptor alpha (IL-31Rα) and OSMRβ) may play a role in the pathogenesis of prurigo nodularis given its prevalent expression in lesional prurigo nodularis. IL-31 messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA, was expressed in approximately two-thirds of lesional biopsies from prurigo nodularis patients with WI-NRS ≥ 7 compared to one-tenth in healthy volunteers. Additionally, lesional biopsies from prurigo nodularis patients contained mononuclear cells expressing OSM, OSMRβ, IL-31 and IL-31Rα protein compared with non-lesional biopsies.

Phase 2a Clinical Trial in Prurigo Nodularis

Based on the results from the single-dose IV Phase 1b results in atopic dermatitis subjects, we initiated a Phase 2a randomized, double blind, placebo‑controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability, PK and immunogenicity of KPL-716 administered SC in subjects with moderate-to-severe prurigo nodularis experiencing moderate-to-severe pruritus. The Phase 2a study includes two arms: one placebo arm and one active arm administered as 360mg weekly subcutaneous doses after a 720mg loading dose; designed to achieve maximum or near maximum steady-state exposures. The primary and key secondary endpoints, which focus on pruritus, are to be evaluated at 8 weeks. Other secondary endpoints explore the impact of KPL‑716 versus placebo on pruritus, sleep, quality of life and disease severity over time (at each week of the study treatment period up to and including week 8). We expect to report data from this trial by the end of April 2020.

OSMRβ Axis Identified in Other Chronic Pruritic Diseases

At the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Dermatological Research in 2019, we presented preclinical data identifying the OSMRβ axis as relevant in chronic pruritic diseases. Increased mRNA transcript levels and protein levels of OSMRβ, in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsies from patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria, chronic idiopathic pruritus, lichen planus and lichen simplex chronicus, relative to healthy control skin samples, suggest the IL-31/OSM signaling axis is associated with these pruritic diseases.

Elevated levels of OSMRβ mRNA and protein observed in regions of inflammatory infiltrate of all chronic pruritic diseases tested, relative to healthy controls, suggest that the OSMRβ axis may be active in, and contributing to, these skin disorders. Particularly, OSM and IL-31 mRNA and protein were present in each disease evaluated for these cytokines.

Exploratory Multi‑Indication, Pilot Phase 2 Clinical Trial

We believe there are multiple chronic pruritic diseases where IL‑31 and OSM may play a role in disease pathology. In the first half of 2019, we initiated an exploratory, multi‑indication, randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled, pilot clinical trial designed to (1) explore the role of IL‑31 and OSM in a number of diseases characterized by chronic pruritus seen by dermatologists or allergists and (2) investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of KPL‑716 in reducing the moderate to severe pruritus experienced by these subjects, with study populations in chronic idiopathic urticaria, chronic idiopathic pruritus, plaque psoriasis, lichen planus, and lichen simplex chronicus.

The trial is comprised of multiple cohorts, each for a different study population. Each cohort being an independent sub‑study assessing each study population for presence of an IL‑31 or OSM protein or ribonucleic acid signature via biopsy and investigating the efficacy, safety and tolerability of KPL‑716 administered SC in reducing pruritus in these populations. Investigators and subjects remain blinded throughout the study. Each cohort could enroll up to a maximum of 26 subjects with each subject experiencing WI‑NRS of seven or above at screening. A loading dose of KPL‑716 (720 mg) or matching placebo is administered on day 1, followed by single, weekly SC injections of KPL‑716 (360 mg) or matching placebo for the next seven weeks, with the goal of achieving maximum or near maximum exposures at steady state. The goal of this exploratory study is to identify chronic pruritic conditions where IL‑31 or OSM may be playing a role and assess the presence or absence of reduction in pruritus after KPL‑716 treatment.  We expect to report interim data from cohorts of this trial in the first half of 2020

KPL‑404

Overview

KPL‑404 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that is designed to inhibit the CD40‑CD40 ligand interaction (CD40L), a key T‑cell co‑stimulatory signal critical for B‑cell maturation and immunoglobulin class switching. Since September 2017, we have had a license to conduct research and development on KPL‑404 from Primatope, the company that owned or controlled the intellectual property related to KPL‑404 and, in March 2019, we acquired the company. In connection with our acquisition of Primatope, we acquired an exclusive world-wide license with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for certain patent applications and patents related to KPL-404.

Mechanism of Action and External Clinical Proof of Concept

KPL-404 is designed to block the CD40/CD40L interaction by binding to and inhibiting signaling through CD40 receptor.  CD40 is a member of the Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor superfamily which is constitutively or inducibly expressed on the surface of a variety of immune and non-immune cell types including B cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, microglia, endothelial cells, epithelial cells, and keratinocytes and can also be upregulated on other cell types in the context of autoimmune disease. Interactions between B cell-expressed CD40 and its binding partner, CD40L, mainly expressed on activated CD4+ T cells, play a critical role in promoting germinal center formation and the production of class-switched antibodies. The role of CD40 in B cells has been extensively characterized and has been shown to be essential for productive primary and secondary humoral immune responses to T dependent antigens.  External clinical data point to the broad potential power of the mechanism has been established in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, primary Sjogren’s syndrome, Graves’ disease and prevention of kidney transplant rejection.  Ongoing Phase 2 trials from competitors implicate additional indications for potential development, including type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, prevention of liver transplant rejection, hidradenitis suppurativa, lupus nephritis and multiple sclerosis.

Our Solution

KPL-404 inhibits the signaling of CD40 and CD40L with low-single digit nanomolar affinity in vitro.  The presentation of KPL-404 is as a high-concentration, liquid formulation potentially suitable for subcutaneous administration at doses of up to 5mg/kg, which we believe may, allow for a higher delivered dose in one SC injection than all other competitors who are mainly limited to high dose IV formulations or SC formulations. We believe high-dose IV and SC formulations do not fully antagonize signaling as evidenced by the generation of anti-drug antibodies ever at maximum delivered dose levels.

 

Preclinical Development

 

In preclinical development, KPL‑404 has been observed to have a favorable pharmacokinetic and toxicology profile and has shown activity in multiple non‑human primate models of organ transplant rejection, as well as in multiple TDAR models.  The data in the graphs below show in a non-human primate TDAR model that KPL-404 had linear pharmacokinetics with low variability which translated into complete suppression of antibody responses to a novel antigen (keyhole limpet hemocyanin, or KLH) at drug levels achieving 100% receptor occupancy.

 

Phase 1 Program

In 2019, we began enrollment and dosing of subjects in a single-ascending-dose Phase 1 clinical trial of KPL-404 in healthy volunteers. The first-in-human trial is designed to provide safety and pharmacokinetics data as well as receptor occupancy and TDAR data from a KLH challenge for single rising intravenous and subcutaneous dose levels of KPL-404. We expect to report top-line data from this trial in the second half of 2020.

Discovery Activities

We conduct internal discovery activities directed toward wholly owned molecules for the treatment of debilitating disease targets where we believe there to be a strong mechanistic rationale and potential for clear differentiation from existing approved agents or those in development.

License and Acquisition Agreements

License Agreement with Regeneron

In September 2017, we entered into a license agreement with Regeneron, or the Regeneron Agreement. Pursuant to the Regeneron Agreement, Regeneron granted us an exclusive license under certain intellectual property rights controlled by Regeneron to develop and commercialize rilonacept worldwide, aside from Israel, Egypt, Turkey and select countries in the Middle East and northern Africa, which we refer to collectively as the Excluded Territory. In the United States and Japan, our license is initially for all indications other than those involving local administration to the eye or ear, oncology, deficiency of the interleukin‑1 receptor antagonist, or DIRA, and CAPS. If we are successful in

receiving marketing approval for rilonacept in the United States for a new indication, the scope of the license granted to us will automatically expand to include DIRA and CAPS in the United States and Japan, and we will assume the sales and distribution of rilonacept in these additional indications. Outside the United States and Japan, our license is for all indications other than local application to the eye or ear, oncology, CAPS, DIRA and certain periodic fever syndromes set forth in the Regeneron Agreement, collectively the Excluded Indications. Under the Regeneron Agreement, we are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize rilonacept outside of the Excluded Indications in our territory. Upon receiving positive data in a Phase 3 clinical trial, Regeneron will transfer the biologics license application, or BLA, for rilonacept to us.

We made an upfront payment of $5.0 million to Regeneron and are obligated to make regulatory milestone payments of up to $27.5 million in the aggregate. Thereafter, we have agreed to evenly split profits on our sales of rilonacept with Regeneron after deducting certain commercialization expenses subject to specified limits.

Regeneron has a right of first negotiation over our engagement of third parties to support our promotional activities in excess of a specified level and over the assignment or sale of our rights to any product we develop under the Regeneron Agreement to a third‑party. Furthermore, under certain circumstances, we will need Regeneron’s prior consent to assign our rights under the Regeneron Agreement.

The Regeneron Agreement will expire on the date on which we, our affiliates or sublicensees are no longer developing or commercializing any product containing rilonacept. We may terminate the agreement for convenience at any time after the date that is 18 months after the effective date of the agreement with 180 days’ written notice or one year’s written notice if we terminate the agreement following U.S. marketing approval of a rilonacept product developed by us. We may also terminate with three months’ written notice if we reasonably determine that rilonacept is unsafe in the indications we are pursuing. Regeneron may terminate the agreement if there is a consecutive twelve (12) month period during which we do not conduct any material development or commercialization activities or we do not grant a sublicense to a third‑party to do so, or if we challenge Regeneron’s patent rights in any country in our territory. Either party may terminate the agreement in the event of a material breach by the other party that remains uncured for 90 days (or 30 days for payment‑related breaches), or by either party due to the insolvency or bankruptcy of the other party.

We have also entered into a clinical supply agreement with Regeneron, or the Supply Agreement. Pursuant to the Supply Agreement, Regeneron has the exclusive right to manufacture and supply all of our requirements of rilonacept for clinical development. If Regeneron determines to discontinue the supply of rilonacept to us, it must use its reasonable efforts to transfer all relevant documentation, materials and technology necessary for the manufacture of rilonacept to us or our designee. The Supply Agreement terminates upon the termination of the Regeneron Agreement or the transfer of technology related to the bulk manufacture of rilonacept.

License Agreement with MedImmune

In December 2017, we entered into a license agreement with MedImmune, or the MedImmune Agreement. Pursuant to the MedImmune Agreement, MedImmune granted us an exclusive, worldwide license under certain intellectual property rights controlled by MedImmune to make, use, develop and commercialize mavrilimumab and any other product containing an antibody to the GM‑CSF receptor alpha that is covered by certain MedImmune patent rights for all indications. We also acquired non‑exclusive licenses to other MedImmune technology for use in exploiting licensed products. We may sublicense these rights subject to consent of MedImmune and any applicable licensors of rights under which we are licensed. We also acquired reference rights to relevant manufacturing and regulatory documents, and existing inventory of mavrilimumab drug substance. We must use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the licensed products.

We made an upfront payment of $8.0 million to MedImmune and are obligated to make future clinical, regulatory and initial sales milestone payments of up to $72.5 million in the aggregate for the first two indications, including a milestone payment of $10.0 million which we paid upon the occurrence of a specified regulatory milestone, and clinical and regulatory milestone payments of up to $15.0 million in the aggregate for each subsequent indication. We are also obligated to make milestone payments to MedImmune of up to $85.0 million upon the achievement of annual net sales thresholds up to, but excluding, $1.0 billion in annual net sales as well as additional milestone payments

aggregating up to $1.1 billion upon the achievement of additional annual net sales thresholds starting at $1.0 billion and higher. Commencing on the first commercial sale of licensed products, we are obligated to pay tiered royalties on escalating tiers of annual net sales of licensed products starting in the low double‑digit percentages and ending at twenty percent. We must pay such royalties on a product‑by‑product and country‑by‑country basis until the latest to occur of the expiration of licensed patents, the expiration of regulatory exclusivity or the tenth anniversary of first commercial sale of such product in such country.

In countries where licensed patents have issued, the statutory expiration date is 2027, not including any patent term extensions or adjustments. While the current expected patent expiration dates are known in countries where licensed patents have issued, these expiration dates are subject to significant uncertainty. For example, the patents may be challenged, and accordingly, the relevant expiration dates could be shortened. In addition, as we continue to file and prosecute new patent applications related to mavrilimumab, the granting of such pending applications or future patent applications could extend the relevant statutory expiration dates beyond 2027. The expiration date of regulatory exclusivity is determined on a country‑by country‑basis if the applicable product is approved in such country and if any applicable regulatory exclusivity applies and is granted. The actual expiration date of any such regulatory exclusivity, however, is subject to significant uncertainty. For instance, the applicable regulatory exclusivity period is often triggered by the date a product candidate obtains regulatory approval, and we cannot predict with any certainty whether and if so, when, the applicable product would receive regulatory approval in any given jurisdiction. Furthermore, the type, scope and duration of such exclusivities will vary on a country‑by‑country basis depending on the jurisdictions in which a product candidate is approved and the particular regulatory exclusivity for which the product is eligible as of the time of approval. For example, in the United States, a reference biological product is granted 12 years of data exclusivity from the time of first licensure of the product, which means that the FDA cannot make effective the approval of a biosimilar product that references the biologic product until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. In the European Union, new products authorized for marketing may qualify for eight years of data exclusivity and an additional two years of market exclusivity upon marketing authorization. The two‑year period may be extended to three years if during the first eight years a new therapeutic indication with significant clinical benefit over existing therapies is approved. Furthermore, if a product candidate that has received orphan designation is subsequently approved for the disease or condition for which it has such designation, the product may be entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which generally grants seven years of market exclusivity in the United States and up to 10 years of market exclusivity in the European Union, and such period may run contemporaneously with the other exclusivities that may apply. In the European Union, an orphan product can also obtain an additional two years of market exclusivity for pediatric studies. In the United States, an additional six‑month period of pediatric exclusivity may be available as an extension to any existing non‑patent regulatory exclusivity period if the sponsor has conducted and submitted pediatric studies in response to a written request from the FDA. Additionally, our eligibility for regulatory exclusivity may depend in part on the indications for which we seek regulatory approval of our product candidates, which may depend on the data we receive from our clinical studies, and accordingly, may change over time, and the laws and regulations governing regulatory exclusivity may change in various jurisdictions as the political focus on drug exclusivity increases. For risk related to regulatory exclusivity matters, see “Risk Factors—Risks related to product development and regulatory approval.”

The MedImmune Agreement will remain in effect until the expiration of the royalty term in all countries for all licensed products. The MedImmune Agreement may be terminated earlier at any time by us with at least 90 days’ prior notice, by either party in the event of material breach by the other party that remains uncured for 90 days, by either party for insolvency or bankruptcy of the other party, or immediately by MedImmune if we challenge the licensed patents.

Biogen Asset Purchase Agreement

In September 2016, we completed the acquisition of certain assets of Biogen pursuant to an asset purchase agreement, or the Biogen Agreement. Pursuant to the Biogen Agreement, we acquired all of Biogen’s right, title and interest in and to certain assets used in or relating to KPL‑716 and other antibodies covered by certain patent rights, together the Acquired Assets, including patents and other intellectual property rights, clinical data, certain contracts, know‑how and inventory. In addition, Biogen granted us a non‑exclusive, sublicensable, worldwide license to certain background patent rights related the KPL‑716 program. Under the Biogen Agreement, we are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the Acquired Assets.

Under the Biogen Agreement, we made an upfront payment of $11.5 million and a technology transfer payment of $0.5 million to Biogen. In addition, we made  a milestone payment of $4.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2017, associated with the achievement of  a specified clinical milestone event. We made milestone payments of $10.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily associated with the achievement of a  specified clinical milestone event.  We are also obligated to make future milestone payments for each antibody product that includes the Acquired Assets, or an Antibody Product, of up to $315.0 million in the aggregate upon the achievement of specified milestones. These milestone payments relate to multiple indications for an Antibody Product, and are comprised of up to $165.0 million in the aggregate upon achievement of specified clinical and regulatory milestone events and $150.0 million in the aggregate upon the achievement of specified annual net sales thresholds. Commencing on the first commercial sale of an Antibody Product, we are obligated to pay tiered royalties on escalating tiers of annual net sales of licensed products starting in the high single‑digit percentages and ending below the teens. We must pay such royalties on a product‑by‑product and country‑by‑country basis until the latest to occur of the expiration of patents that cover an Antibody Product, the expiration of regulatory exclusivity or the tenth anniversary of first commercial sale of such product in such country. We have also agreed to pay certain obligations under third‑party contracts retained by Biogen that relate to KPL‑716.

In countries where patents covering Antibody Products have issued, the statutory expiration date is 2034, not including any patent term extensions or adjustments. While the current expected patent expiration dates are known in countries where licensed patents have issued, these expiration dates are subject to significant uncertainty. For example, the patents may be challenged, and accordingly, the relevant expiration dates could be shortened. In addition, as we continue to file and prosecute new patent applications related to Antibody Products, the granting of such pending applications or future patent applications could extend the relevant statutory expiration dates beyond 2034. The expiration date of regulatory exclusivity is determined on a country‑by country‑basis if the applicable product is approved in such country and if any applicable regulatory exclusivity applies and is granted. The actual expiration date of any such regulatory exclusivity, however, is subject to significant uncertainty. For instance, the applicable regulatory exclusivity period is often triggered by the date a product candidate obtains regulatory approval, and we cannot predict with any certainty whether and if so, when, the applicable product would receive regulatory approval in any given jurisdiction. Furthermore, the type, scope and duration of such exclusivities will vary on a country‑by‑country basis depending on the jurisdictions in which a product candidate is approved and the particular regulatory exclusivity for which the product is eligible as of the time of approval. For example, in the United States, a reference biological product is granted 12 years of data exclusivity from the time of first licensure of the product, which means that the FDA cannot make effective the approval of a biosimilar product that references the biologic product until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. In the European Union, new products authorized for marketing may qualify for eight years of data exclusivity and an additional two years of market exclusivity upon marketing authorization. The two‑year period may be extended to three years if during the first eight years a new therapeutic indication with significant clinical benefit over existing therapies is approved. Furthermore, if a product candidate that has received orphan designation is subsequently approved for the disease or condition for which it has such designation, the product may be entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which generally grants seven years of market exclusivity in the United States and up to 10 years of market exclusivity in the European Union, and such period may run contemporaneously with the other exclusivities that may apply. In the European Union, an orphan product can also obtain an additional two years of market exclusivity for pediatric studies. In the United States, an additional six‑month period of pediatric exclusivity may be available as an extension to any existing non‑patent regulatory exclusivity period if the sponsor has conducted and submitted pediatric studies in response to a written request from the FDA. Additionally, our eligibility for regulatory exclusivity may depend in part on the indications for which we seek regulatory approval of our product candidates, which may depend on the data we receive from our clinical studies, and accordingly, may change over time, and the laws and regulations governing regulatory exclusivity may change in various jurisdictions as the political focus on drug exclusivity increases. For risk related to regulatory exclusivity matters, see “Risk Factors—Risks related to product development and regulatory approval.”

Under the Biogen Agreement, Biogen has a time‑limited right of first negotiation to purchase the assets we acquired from Biogen or obtain a license to exploit Antibody Products, in each case, in the event we decide to sell the acquired assets, including through the sale of our company, or out‑license the rights to the Antibody Products.

The Biogen Agreement will remain in effect until expiration of all payment obligations in all countries related to the last antibody product subject to the Biogen Agreement. The Biogen Agreement may be terminated by us with

90 days’ prior notice, by either party in the event of a material breach by the other party that remains uncured for 90 days (or 30 days for payment‑related breaches) or by both parties upon mutual consent. In the event of a termination, the Acquired Assets, including certain licenses and rights related thereto, will revert to Biogen, and, upon written request by Biogen, we are required to grant to Biogen an exclusive, worldwide, sub‑licensable license to certain of our intellectual property related to the Acquired Assets, including know‑how and patent rights.

Manufacturing

We do not currently own or operate any late stage manufacturing facilities. Although we built early stage manufacturing facilities to produce drug substance to support certain of our preclinical and early clinical studies, we rely on third parties to manufacture all of our drug product candidates. We have entered into a clinical supply agreement with Regeneron to manufacture and supply rilonacept for our clinical trials. Regeneron has also agreed to provide commercial drug material until at least the earlier of four years after U.S. marketing approval or seven years after the effective date of the agreement.

We believe that we have sufficient quantities of drug substance to supply our Phase 2 clinical trial of mavrilimumab for the treatment of GCA. We also acquired a certain amount of finished mavrilimumab drug product that we plan to use in this clinical trial, and have entered into a fill/finish supply agreement with a contract manufacturing organization, or CMO, to produce additional finished mavrilimumab drug product from our current inventory of drug substance. There are certain components, for example, media and feed, used to produce our current mavrilimumab inventory that the CMO is not able to use in our future manufacturing process. We and this CMO or any other CMO that we enter into agreement with to manufacture mavrilimumab will need to find alternative components to replace the media and feed that had been used by MedImmune to date in the manufacture of mavrilimumab.

We acquired a certain amount of KPL‑716 drug substance from Biogen from which we produced KPL‑716 drug product using a CMO. In addition, we have engaged CMOs to manufacture KPL‑716 drug substance and drug product currently in use in our on-going clinical trials. We intend to use CMOs for development and scale‑up work for any future clinical trials and eventual commercialization of KPL‑716, if approved.

We engaged CMOs to produce our clinical drug substance for certain preclinical studies, but we intend to produce our preclinical product candidates for Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies in our own early stage manufacturing facilities. We plan to continue to use CMOs to produce the corresponding drug product clinical material. Longer‑term, we expect to use CMOs to produce these product candidates for later‑phase clinical studies and eventual commercialization, if approved.

We require our CMOs to conduct manufacturing activities in compliance with current good manufacturing practice, or cGMP, requirements. We have assembled a team of experienced employees and consultants to provide the necessary technical, quality and regulatory oversight of our CMOs. We currently perform process development internally but are reliant on CMOs for late stage clinical manufacturing, process qualification and validation and commercial supply. 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 with any of these CMOs to cover commercial production. We also may elect to pursue additional CMOs for manufacturing supplies of drug substance and finished drug product in the future.

Commercial Operations 

Our team is experienced in commercial leadership and we intend to expand our capabilities in parallel with the development path of our product candidates. If the FDA approves rilonacept for recurrent pericarditis, we intend to market and commercialize rilonacept in the United States by developing our own sales, marketing and medical affairs organizations targeting a subset of cardiologists and rheumatologists currently treating pericarditis. For our other product candidates, we intend to establish commercialization strategies for each as we approach potential marketing approval and, due to the specialization among physicians treating the indications we are targeting, we expect to be able leverage our then‑existing sales, marketing and medical affairs organizations.

Competition

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on proprietary products. We face potential competition from many different sources, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions and governmental agencies and public and private research institutions. Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize, including rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716, and any other product candidates that we may develop, may compete with existing products and new products that may become available in the future.

Our competitors may have significantly greater financial resources, established presence in the market, expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical and clinical testing, obtaining regulatory approvals and reimbursement and marketing approved products than we do. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, sales, marketing and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Smaller or early‑stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.

The key competitive factors affecting the success of rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716, and any other product candidates that we develop, if approved, are likely to be our product candidates, including their efficacy, safety, convenience, price, the level of generic competition and the availability of reimbursement from government and other third‑party payors. Our commercial opportunity for any of our product candidates could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours. In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third‑party payors seeking to encourage the use of generic products.

We are aware of the following products currently marketed or in clinical development for the treatment of the diseases that we are initially targeting:

Rilonacept

We are not aware of any therapies currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis, our lead indication for rilonacept. Anakinra (KINERET), produced by Sobi, is an FDA‑approved agent that inhibits IL‑1α and IL‑1β signaling and is approved for RA and CAPS. Canakinumab (ILARIS), produced by Novartis, is a monoclonal antibody which inhibits IL‑1β signaling and is approved for use in CAPS, tumor necrosis factor receptor associated period syndrome, hyperimmunoglobulin D syndrome, familiar Mediterranean fever and active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. There are also other therapies modulating IL‑1α or IL‑1β which are in various stages of clinical development for diseases other than recurrent pericarditis from AbbVie, Inc., or AbbVie, Janssen, and Handok Inc.

Mavrilimumab

GCA: Tocilizumab (ACTEMRA), produced by Hoffmann—La Roche AG, or Roche, and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., is an IL‑6 inhibitor that is approved by the FDA for the treatment of GCA on top of a concomitant corticosteroid taper. In addition, Eli Lilly and AbbVie are conducting clinical trials for oral janus kinase inhibitors. Sanofi S.A. is recruiting a Phase 3 clinical trial with their anti‑IL‑6 program and Novartis International AG, is recruiting a trial with their IL-17 antagonist secukinumab (Cosentyx).

GM-CSF antagonists: There are also four other programs in clinical development in various indications that modulate GM‑CSF signaling from GlaxoSmithKline plc, or GSK, Izana Bioscience Ltd., I-MAB Biopharma and Humanigen, Inc.

KPL‑716

We are not aware of any therapies currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of prurigo nodularis. Menlo Therapeutics Inc., Trevi Therapeutics, Inc., Regeneron, and Galderma SA, or Galderma, have programs in various stages of clinical development for the treatment of prurigo nodularis.

KPL‑404

Novartis AG, Abbvie and Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Biogen Inc. / UCB, Viela Bio, Astellas, Sanofi S.A. /ImmuNext Inc. and Anelixis Therapeutics all have active development programs with either CD40 or CD40L antagonists.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our drug 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 position using a variety of methods, which include pursuing U.S. and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements, including compositions of matter, drug product formulations, methods‑of‑use and methods of manufacture, that are important to the development and implementation of our business. For example, we or our licensors have or are pursuing patents covering the composition of matter for each of our product candidates and we generally pursue patent protection covering methods‑of‑use for each clinical program. We also rely on trade secrets, know‑how, continuing technological innovation and potential in‑licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.

Rilonacept

We have a field‑specific exclusive license under the Regeneron Agreement to granted patents and pending applications in the United States and numerous other jurisdictions relating to rilonacept. As of December 31, 2019, the patent rights in‑licensed under the Regeneron Agreement relating to our program include one granted patent in the United States and 47 patents granted in other jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia, Brazil and selected countries in Europe and Asia. In addition, the patent rights in‑licensed under the Regeneron Agreement relating to our program include patent applications that are pending in the United States. A U.S. patent covering rilonacept as a composition of matter has a statutory expiration date in 2019, not including patent term adjustment, and relevant counterparts outside of the United States are expected to expire between 2019 and 2023, in each case, not including any patent term extensions. If we are successful in obtaining regulatory approval of rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis and receive orphan designation, we would rely on orphan exclusivity, which generally grants seven years of marketing exclusivity in the United States and 10 years of marketing exclusivity in Europe. See “—License agreement with Regeneron” above for additional information on our rights under the Regeneron Agreement.

Mavrilimumab

We have an exclusive license under the MedImmune Agreement to granted patents and pending patent applications in the United States and numerous other jurisdictions relating to mavrilimumab. These patents and patent applications cover mavrilimumab as a composition of matter and its use. As of December 31, 2019, the patent rights in‑licensed under the MedImmune Agreement relating to our program include three granted patents in the United States and 106 patents granted in other jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia and selected countries in Europe and Asia. In addition, the patent rights in‑licensed under the MedImmune Agreement relating to our program include patent applications that are pending in the United States and selected countries in Asia and Latin America. The composition of matter patents for mavrilimumab generally have statutory expiration dates in 2027, although the term of some U.S. patents may be longer due to patent term adjustment to compensate for delays during the patent prosecution process. Patent term extension could extend the expiration date of one patent in the United States and patents in certain other jurisdictions, each in accordance with applicable law. There can be no assurances that patents will issue from any

pending patent applications. See “—License agreement with MedImmune” above for additional information on our rights under the MedImmune Agreement.”

KPL‑716

We own, via our acquisition of certain assets from Biogen, granted patents and pending patent applications in the United States and numerous other jurisdictions relating to KPL‑716. These patents and patent applications cover KPL‑716 as a composition of matter and its use. As of December 31, 2019, the patent rights acquired from Biogen include four patents granted in the United States and 32 patents granted in other jurisdictions, including Australia, Mexico and selected countries in Europe and Asia. In addition, the patent rights acquired from Biogen include patent applications pending in the United States, Europe, Canada, and selected countries in Asia. The issued composition of matter patents for KPL‑716 have statutory expiration dates in 2034. Patent term extension could extend the expiration date of one patent in the United States and patents in certain other jurisdictions, each in accordance with applicable law. There can be no assurance that patents will issue from any of our pending patent applications. See “—Biogen asset purchase agreement” above for additional information on our rights under the Biogen Agreement.

The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term for patents in the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest filing date of a non‑provisional patent application. In the United States, a patent’s term may be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the USPTO, in examining and granting a patent, or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over an earlier expiring patent. In certain countries, the term of a patent that covers a drug product may also be eligible for patent term extension when regulatory approval is granted, provided the legal requirements are met. In the future, if and when our drug candidates receive approval by the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions,   provided the legal requirements are met, we expect to apply for patent term extensions on issued patents covering those drugs, depending upon the length of the clinical trials for each drug and other factors. There can be no assurance that any of our pending patent applications will issue or that we will benefit from any patent term extension or favorable adjustment to the term of any of our patents.

KPL-404

We own, via our acquisition of Primatope, granted patents and pending patent applications in the United States and numerous other jurisdictions relating to KPL‑404. We also have an exclusive license with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to granted patents and pending patent applications in the United States and numerous other jurisdictions relating to KPL-404. These patents and patent applications cover KPL‑404 as a composition of matter and its use. As of December 31, 2019, the patent rights acquired from Primatope include two patents granted in the United States. In addition, the patent rights acquired from Primatope include patent applications pending in the United States, Europe, Canada, and selected countries in Asia. The issued composition of matter patents have statutory expiration dates in 2036. As of December 31, 2019, the patent rights licensed from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center include two patents granted in the United States and 30 patents granted in other jurisdictions, including Australia and selected countries in Europe and Asia. In addition, the patent rights licensed from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center include patent applications pending in the United States, Europe, Canada, and selected countries in Asia. The issued composition of matter patents licensed from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have statutory expiration dates in 2032, not including any patent term extensions or adjustments. Patent term extension could extend the expiration date of one patent in the United States and patents in certain other jurisdictions, each in accordance with applicable law. There can be no assurance that patents will issue from any of our pending patent applications.

Government Regulation

Government authorities in the United States at the federal, state and local level and in other countries and jurisdictions, including the European Union, 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 rilonacept, mavrilimumab and our other product candidates. 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, submitted for review and approved by the regulatory authority.

U.S. Government Regulation of Biological Products

In the United States, the FDA regulates biologics under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and the Public Health Service Act, or PHSA, and their implementing regulations. Products are also subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with applicable federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations requires the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval, may subject an applicant to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, such as the FDA’s refusal to approve pending biologic license applications, or BLAs, withdrawal of an approval, imposition of a clinical hold, issuance of warning letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement of profits or civil or criminal penalties.

The process required by the FDA before a biologic may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:

Preclinical Studies and CMC Evaluations

Before testing any biological product candidate, including our product candidates, in humans, the product candidate must undergo rigorous preclinical testing. The preclinical development stage generally involves laboratory

evaluations of the chemistry, formulation and stability of the product candidate, as well as trials to evaluate toxicity in animals, which support subsequent clinical testing. The conduct of the preclinical tests must comply with federal regulations and requirements, including GLP regulations. The sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical studies, together with chemistry manufacturing and controls, or CMC, information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and a proposed clinical protocol, to the FDA as part of the IND. An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational product to humans, and must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. Some preclinical testing may continue even after the IND is submitted. An IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time the FDA raises concerns or questions related to CMC issues, preclinical issues, or one or more issues in the proposed clinical trials and places the clinical trial on a clinical hold. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. As a result, submission of an IND may not necessarily result in the FDA allowing clinical trials to commence. The FDA also may place the IND on partial clinical hold, and a proposed study may only be partially executable, including due to FDA restrictions.

Clinical Trials

The clinical stage of development involves the administration of the investigational product to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by, or under control of, the trial sponsor, in accordance with GCPs, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical trial. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and inclusion/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 the IND. Furthermore, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an 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 approves the informed consent form that must be provided to each clinical trial subject or his or her legal representative, and must monitor the clinical trial until completed. There also are requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical trials and completed clinical trial results to public registries. Information about most clinical trials in must be submitted within specific timeframes for publication on the www.clinicaltrials.gov website. Information related to the product, patient population, phase of investigation, study 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 disclose the results of certain qualifying 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 product candidates.

Human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases, which may overlap or be combined:

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 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 a clinical hold on other sanctions on various grounds, including a finding that the research patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can refuse, suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRBs requirements or if the drug has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients.

Concurrently with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional preclinical studies and must also develop additional information about the physical characteristics of the biological product as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. To help reduce the risk of the introduction of adventitious agents with use of biological products, the PHSA emphasizes the importance of manufacturing control for products whose attributes cannot be precisely defined. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product candidate and, among other things, the sponsor must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality, potency and purity of the final biological product. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the biological product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.

BLA Review and Approval

Assuming successful completion of the required clinical testing, the results of the preclinical studies and clinical trials, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacture, controls and proposed labeling, among other things, are submitted to the FDA as part of a BLA requesting approval to market the product for one or more indications. The BLA must contain proof of safety, purity, potency and efficacy and may include both negative and ambiguous results of preclinical studies and clinical trials as well as positive findings. Data may come from company‑sponsored clinical trials intended to test the safety and efficacy of a product’s use or from a number of alternative sources, including studies initiated by investigators. To support marketing approval, the data submitted must be sufficient in quality and quantity to establish the safety and efficacy of the investigational product to the satisfaction of the FDA. FDA approval of a BLA must be obtained before a biologic may be marketed in the United States.

In most cases, the submission of a BLA is subject to a substantial application user fee. Under the goals and policies agreed to by the FDA under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, for original BLAs, the FDA has ten months from the filing date in which to complete its initial review of a standard application and respond to the applicant, and six months from the 60-day filing date for an application with priority review. The FDA does not always meet its PDUFA goal dates, and the review process is often significantly extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification. This review typically takes twelve months from the date the BLA is submitted to the FDA because the FDA has approximately two months to make a “filing” decision.

Before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically conduct a pre‑approval inspection of the manufacturing facilities for the new product to determine whether the manufacturing processes and facilities comply with cGMPs. The FDA will not approve the product unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. The FDA also may inspect the sponsor and one or more clinical trial sites to assure compliance with GCP requirements and the integrity of the clinical data submitted to the FDA.

Additionally, the FDA may refer applications for novel biologic candidates which present challenges in interpretation of the safety or efficacy data 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 and under what conditions, if any. The FDA is not bound by recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations when making decisions on approval. The FDA likely will re‑analyze the clinical trial data, which

could result in extensive discussions between the FDA and the applicant during the review process. The FDA also may require submission of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, plan if it determines that a REMS is necessary to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks and to assure the safe use of the biological product. The REMS plan could include medication guides, physician communication plans, assessment plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries or other risk minimization tools. The FDA determines the requirement for a REMS, as well as the specific REMS provisions, on a case‑by‑case basis. If the FDA concludes a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the BLA must submit a proposed REMS. The FDA will not approve a BLA without a REMS, if required.

Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act, or PREA, a BLA or supplement to a BLA must contain data that are adequate to assess the safety and efficacy of the product candidate for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric populations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric population for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of pediatric data or full or partial waivers. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, or FDASIA, amended the FDCA to require that a sponsor who is planning to submit a marketing application for a product that includes a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration submit an initial Pediatric Study Plan, or iPSP, within sixty days of an end‑of‑Phase 2 meeting or, if there is no such meeting, as early as practicable before the initiation of the Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 clinical trial. The initial iPSP must include an outline of the pediatric study or studies that the sponsor plans to conduct, including trial objectives and design, age groups, relevant endpoints and statistical approach, or a justification for not including such detailed information, and any request for a deferral of pediatric assessments or a full or partial waiver of the requirement to provide data from pediatric studies along with supporting information. The FDA and the sponsor must reach an agreement on the iPSP. A sponsor can submit amendments to an agreed upon initial iPSP at any time if changes to the pediatric plan need to be considered based on data collected from preclinical studies, early phase clinical trials or other clinical development programs.

After the FDA evaluates a BLA, it will issue an approval letter or a Complete Response Letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A Complete Response Letter indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete and the application will not be approved in its present form. A Complete Response Letter usually describes all of the specific deficiencies in the BLA identified by the FDA. The Complete Response Letter may require additional clinical or other data, additional pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial(s) or other significant and time‑consuming requirements related to clinical trials, preclinical studies or manufacturing. If a Complete Response Letter is issued, the applicant may either resubmit the BLA, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, or withdraw the application. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may decide that the re‑submitted BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval.

If a product receives regulatory approval, the approval is limited to the conditions of use (e.g., patient population, indication) described in the label. Further, depending on the specific risk(s) to be addressed, the FDA may require that contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling, require that post‑approval trials, including Phase 4 clinical trials, be conducted to further assess a product’s safety after approval, require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the product after commercialization, or impose other conditions, including distribution and use restrictions or other risk management mechanisms under a REMS, which can materially affect the potential market and profitability of the product. The FDA may prevent or limit further marketing of a product based on the results of post‑marketing trials or surveillance programs, or new safety findings after market introduction. After approval, some types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications, manufacturing changes and additional labeling claims, are subject to further testing requirements and FDA review and approval.

Orphan Drug Designation

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan designation to a drug or biologic product intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States or more than 200,000 individuals in the United States and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making the product available in the United States for this type of disease or condition will be recovered from sales of the product. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting a BLA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed

publicly by the FDA. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process. Orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user‑fee waivers. If a product that has orphan designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease or condition for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug for the same indication for seven years from the date of such approval, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan exclusivity by means of greater effectiveness, greater safety, by providing a major contribution to patient care or in instances of drug supply issues. Orphan drug exclusivity also could block the approval of one of our products for seven years if a competitor obtains approval before we do of the same product, as defined by the FDA, for the same indication we are seeking, or if our product candidate is determined to be contained within the scope of the competitor’s product for the same indication or disease. If one of our products designated as an orphan drug receives marketing approval for an indication broader than that which is designated, it may not be entitled to orphan drug exclusivity. Orphan drug status in the European Union has similar, but not identical, requirements and benefits.

Expedited Review and Approval

The FDA has various programs, including Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation, accelerated approval and priority review, which are intended to expedite or simplify the process for the development and FDA review of drugs and biologics that are intended for the treatment of serious or life‑threatening diseases or conditions and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs. The purpose of these programs is to provide important new drugs and biologics to patients earlier than under standard FDA review procedures.

To be eligible for a Fast Track designation, the FDA must determine, based on the request of a sponsor, that a product is intended to treat a serious or life‑threatening disease or condition and demonstrates the potential to address an unmet medical need. Fast Track designation provides opportunities for more frequent interactions with the FDA review team to expedite development and review of the product. The FDA may also review sections of the BLA for a Fast Track product on a rolling basis before the complete application is submitted, if the sponsor and the FDA agree on a schedule for the submission of the application sections, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the BLA.

Any product submitted to the FDA for approval, including a product with a Fast Track designation, may also be eligible for other types of FDA programs intended to expedite development and review, such as priority review and accelerated approval. A product is eligible for priority review if it is designed to treat a serious condition, and if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness compared to marketed products. The FDA will attempt to direct additional resources to the evaluation of an application for a biologic designated for priority review in an effort to facilitate the review. The FDA endeavors to review original BLAs with priority review designations within six months of the filing date as compared to ten months under its standard review goals.

In addition, a product may be eligible for accelerated approval. Drug and biologics intended to treat serious or life‑threatening diseases or conditions may be eligible for accelerated approval upon a determination that the product has an effect on 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. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require that a sponsor of a drug receiving accelerated approval perform adequate and well‑controlled post‑marketing clinical trials to verify the predicted clinical benefit. A product that receives accelerated approval may be subject to expedited withdrawal procedures if the sponsor fails conduct the required post-marketing trials or if such trials fail to verify the predicted clinical benefit. In addition, the FDA currently requires as a condition for accelerated approval pre‑approval of promotional materials, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product.

In addition, a sponsor can request designation of a product candidate as a “Breakthrough Therapy.” A Breakthrough Therapy is defined as a drug or biologic that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life‑threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates

that the drug or biologic may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. The designation includes all of the Fast Track program features, as well as more intensive FDA interaction and guidance. The Breakthrough Therapy designation is a distinct status from both accelerated approval and priority review, which can also be granted to the same drug if relevant criteria are met. If a product is designated as Breakthrough Therapy, the FDA will expedite the development and review of such drug. All requests for Breakthrough Therapy designation will be reviewed within 60 days of receipt, and the FDA will either grant or deny the request. 

Even if a product qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened. Furthermore, Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation, accelerated approval and priority review do not change the standards for approval and may not ultimately expedite the development or approval process.

Post‑approval Requirements

Following approval of a new product, the manufacturer and the approved product are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, monitoring and recordkeeping activities, reporting of adverse experiences with the product, product sampling and distribution restrictions, complying with promotion and advertising requirements, which include restrictions on promoting drugs for unapproved uses or patient populations (i.e., “off‑label use”) and limitations on industry‑sponsored scientific and educational activities. Although physicians may prescribe legally available products for off‑label uses, manufacturers may not market or promote such uses. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off‑label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off‑label uses may be subject to significant liability. If there are any modifications to the product, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, the applicant may be required to submit and obtain FDA approval of a new BLA or BLA supplement, which may require the applicant to develop additional data or conduct additional preclinical studies and clinical trials. The FDA may also place other conditions on approvals including the requirement for a REMS to assure the safe use of the product. A REMS could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. Any of these limitations on approval or marketing could restrict the commercial promotion, distribution, prescription or dispensing of products. Product approvals may be withdrawn for non‑compliance with regulatory standards or if problems occur following initial marketing.

FDA regulations require that products be manufactured in specific approved facilities and in accordance with cGMPs. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical and commercial quantities of our products in accordance with cGMP regulations. These manufacturers must comply with cGMP regulations that require, among other things, quality control and quality assurance, the maintenance of records and documentation and the obligation to investigate and correct any deviations from cGMP. Manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved drugs or biologics are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP and other laws. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance. The discovery of conditions that violate these rules, including failure to conform to cGMPs, could result in enforcement actions, and the discovery of problems with a product after approval may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer or holder of an approved BLA, including voluntary recall.

Once an approval or clearance of a drug is granted, the FDA may withdraw the approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in mandatory revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post‑market or clinical trials to assess

new safety risks; or imposition of distribution or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:

Biosimilars and Exclusivity

An abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA‑licensed reference biological product was created by the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or the Affordable Care Act. This amendment to the PHSA, in part, attempts to minimize duplicative testing. A recent federal district court ruling struck down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. This decision means numerous reforms enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act, but not specifically related to health insurance, such as the BPCIA, are invalid as well. While the presidential administration and CMS have both stated that the ruling will have no immediate effect, it is unclear how this decision, subsequent appeals, if any, and other efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will impact the Affordable Care Act and our business. To date, the FDA has approved a number of biosimilars, and numerous biosimilars have been approved in Europe. The FDA has issued several guidance documents outlining its approach to reviewing and approving biosimilars.

Biosimilarity, which requires that the biological product be highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity and potency, must be shown through analytical studies, animal studies and a clinical trial or trials. Interchangeability requires that a biological product be biosimilar to the reference product and that the product can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products administered multiple times to an individual, that the product and the reference product may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biological product without such alternation or switch. Complexities associated with the larger, and often more complex, structure of biological products as compared to small molecule drugs, as well as the processes by which such products are manufactured, pose significant hurdles to implementation that are still being worked out by the FDA.

A reference biological product is granted 12 years of data exclusivity from the time of first licensure of the product, and the FDA will not accept an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until four years after the date of first licensure of the reference product. “First licensure” typically means the initial date the particular product at issue was licensed in the United States. Date of first licensure does not include the date of licensure of (and a new period of exclusivity is not available for) a supplement for the reference product for a subsequent application filed by the same sponsor or manufacturer of the reference product (or licensor, predecessor in interest or other related entity) for a change (not including a modification to the structure of the biological product) that results in a new indication, route of administration, dosing schedule, dosage form, delivery system, delivery device or strength or for a modification to the structure of the biological product that does not result in a change in

safety, purity or potency. Therefore, one must determine whether a new product includes a modification to the structure of a previously licensed product that results in a change in safety, purity or potency to assess whether the licensure of the new product is a first licensure that triggers its own period of exclusivity. Whether a subsequent application, if approved, warrants exclusivity as the “first licensure” of a biological product is determined on a case‑by‑case basis with data submitted by the sponsor.

The BPCIA is complex and continues to be interpreted and implemented by the FDA. In addition, recent government proposals have sought to reduce the 12‑year reference product exclusivity period. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. As a result, the ultimate impact, implementation and meaning of the BPCIA remain subject to significant uncertainty.

U.S. Patent Term Restoration

Depending upon the timing, duration and conditions of FDA marketing approval of our product candidates, one or more of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch‑Waxman Amendments, and similar legislation in the European Union. The Hatch‑Waxman Amendments permit a patent term extension of up to five years for a patent covering an approved product as compensation for effective patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, we may not receive an extension if we fail to apply within applicable deadlines, fail to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise fail to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the length of the extension could be less than we request. Only one patent per approved product can be extended, the extension must be based on the first approval for the product, and the extension cannot extend the total patent term beyond fourteen years from approval. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, the period during which we can enforce our patent rights for that product will be shortened and our competitors may obtain approval to market competing products sooner.

European Union Drug Development, Review and Approval

In the European Union, our product candidates also may be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. As in the United States, medicinal products can be marketed only if a marketing authorization from the competent regulatory agencies has been obtained.

Similar to the United States, the various phases of preclinical and clinical research in the European Union 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 European Union. 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 study site after the competent ethics committee has issued a favorable opinion. The clinical trial application must be accompanied by, among other documents, an IMPD (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.

In April 2014, the new Clinical Trials Regulation, (EU) No 536/2014 (Clinical Trials Regulation) was adopted. The Regulation is anticipated to come into application in 2020. The Clinical Trials Regulation will be directly applicable in all the EU Member States, repealing the current Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC. Conduct of all clinical trials performed in the European Union will continue to be bound by currently applicable provisions until the new Clinical Trials Regulation becomes applicable. The extent to which ongoing clinical trials will be governed by the Clinical Trials Regulation will depend on when the Clinical Trials Regulation becomes applicable and on the duration of the individual clinical trial. If a clinical trial continues for more than three years from the day on which the Clinical Trials Regulation becomes applicable the Clinical Trials Regulation will at that time begin to apply to the clinical trial.

The new Clinical Trials Regulation aims to simplify and streamline the approval of clinical trials in the European Union. 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 European Union, we may submit marketing authorization applications, or MAA, either under the so‑called centralized (mandatory for biologics) or national authorization procedures (if intended to submit only in a single country).

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 of 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 the MA, the EMA or the competent authorities of the Member States of the EEA make an assessment of the risk‑benefit balance of the product on the basis of scientific criteria concerning its quality, safety and efficacy.

European Union Regulatory Exclusivity

In the European Union, 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 European Union during a period of eight years from the date on which the reference product was first authorized in the European Union. 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.

European Union Orphan Designation and Exclusivity

The criteria for designating an orphan medicinal product in the European Union, are similar in principle to those in the United States. Under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) 141/2000, a medicinal product may be designated as orphan if (1) it is intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life‑threatening or chronically debilitating condition; (2) either (a) such condition affects no more than five in 10,000 persons in the European Union when the application is made, or (b) the product, without the benefits derived from orphan status, would not generate sufficient return in the European Union to justify investment; and (3) there exists no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment of such condition authorized for marketing in the European Union, or if such a method exists, the product will be of significant benefit to those affected by the condition, as defined in Regulation (EC) 847/2000. Orphan medicinal products are eligible for financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers and are, upon grant of a marketing authorization, entitled to ten years of market exclusivity for the approved therapeutic indication. The application for orphan designation must be submitted before the application for marketing authorization. The applicant will receive a fee reduction for the marketing authorization application if the orphan designation has been granted, but not if the designation is still pending at the time the marketing authorization is submitted. Orphan designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.

The ten‑year market exclusivity in the European Union may be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is established that the product no longer meets the criteria for orphan designation, for example, if the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity. Additionally, marketing authorization may be granted to a similar product for the same indication at any time if:

Rest of the World Regulation

For other countries outside of the European Union and the United States, such as countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, or Japan, 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 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.

Other Healthcare Laws

In addition to FDA restrictions on the marketing of pharmaceutical products, other U.S., federal and state healthcare regulatory laws restrict business practices in the pharmaceutical industry. These laws include, but are not

limited to, federal and state anti‑kickback, false claims, data privacy and security and physician payment and drug pricing transparency laws.

The U.S. federal Anti‑Kickback Statute 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 Anti‑Kickback Statute 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. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting some common activities from prosecution, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly. Practices that involve remuneration that may be alleged to be intended to induce prescribing, purchases or recommendations may be subject to scrutiny if they do not meet the requirements of a statutory or regulatory exception or safe harbor. Failure to meet all of the requirements of a particular applicable statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor does not make the conduct per se illegal under the U.S. federal Anti‑Kickback Statute. Instead, the legality of the arrangement will be evaluated on a case‑by‑case basis based on a cumulative review of all its facts and circumstances. Several courts have interpreted the statute’s intent requirement to mean that if any one purpose of an arrangement involving remuneration is to induce referrals of federal healthcare covered business, the statute has been violated. In addition, 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. The majority of states also have anti‑kickback laws, which establish similar prohibitions and in some cases may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third‑party payor, including commercial insurers, or to self‑pay patients.

The federal false claims and civil monetary penalties laws, including the civil False Claims Act, prohibit, among other things, any person or entity from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false, fictitious or fraudulent claim for payment to, or approval by, the federal government, knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to the federal government, or knowingly making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the U.S. federal government. A claim includes “any request or demand” for money or property presented to the U.S. Government. Moreover, a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the U.S. federal Anti‑Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act. Actions under the civil False Claims Act may be brought by the Attorney General or as a qui tam action by a private individual in the name of the government. Violations of the civil False Claims Act can result in very significant monetary penalties and treble damages. Several biopharmaceutical, medical device and other healthcare companies have been prosecuted under these laws for, among other things, allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product. Other companies have been prosecuted for causing false claims to be submitted because of the companies’ marketing of products for unapproved (e.g., off‑label), and thus non‑covered, uses. In addition, the civil monetary penalties statute imposes penalties against any person who is determined to have presented or caused to be presented a claim to a federal health program that the person knows or should know is for an item or service that was not provided as claimed or is false or fraudulent. Many states also have similar fraud and abuse statutes or regulations that apply to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs, or, in several states, apply regardless of the payor.

Violations of fraud and abuse laws, including federal and state anti‑kickback and false claims laws, may be punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including fines and civil monetary penalties, the possibility of exclusion from federal healthcare programs (including Medicare and Medicaid), disgorgement of profits and corporate integrity agreements, which impose, among other things, rigorous operational and monitoring requirements on companies. Similar sanctions and penalties, as well as imprisonment, also can be imposed upon executive officers and employees of such companies. Given the significant size of actual and potential settlements, it is expected that the government authorities will continue to devote substantial resources to investigating healthcare providers’ and manufacturers’ compliance with applicable fraud and abuse laws.

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 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 U.S. federal Anti‑Kickback Statute, 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. The Affordable Care Act imposed, among other things, new annual reporting requirements through the Physician Payments Sunshine Act for covered manufacturers for certain payments and “transfers of value” provided to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), and additional categories of health care in 2022, and teaching hospitals as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. 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. Covered manufacturers must submit reports by the 90th day of each subsequent calendar year and the reported information is publicly made available on a searchable website. In addition, certain states require implementation of compliance programs and compliance with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, impose restrictions on marketing practices or require the tracking and reporting of marketing expenditures and pricing information as well as gifts, compensation and other remuneration or items of value provided to physicians and other healthcare professionals and entities.

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 HIPAAs 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 we believe that we would not 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. Even when HIPAA does not apply, according to the Federal Trade Commission or the FTC, failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure constitutes unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, or the FTCA, 15 U.S.C § 45(a). The FTC expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of its business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities. Individually identifiable health information is considered sensitive data that merits stronger safeguards. The FTC’s guidance for appropriately securing consumers’ personal information is similar to what is required by the HIPAA security regulations.

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. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, on June 28, 2018, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation.

Similar laws and regulations in jurisdictions outside of the United States, which may include, for instance, applicable post‑marketing requirements, anti‑fraud and abuse laws and implementation of corporate compliance programs, reporting of payments or other transfers of value to healthcare professionals or data privacy and security laws,  

may apply to us to the extent that any of our product candidates, once approved, are sold in a country other than the United States.

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of their exceptions and safe harbors, it is possible that business activities can be subject to challenge under one or more of such 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. Federal and state enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry.

Ensuring that business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations is costly and time consuming. If business operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other applicable governmental regulations a pharmaceutical manufacturer may be subject to penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement of profits, individual imprisonment, exclusion from governmental funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting obligations and oversight if subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non‑compliance with these laws, and curtailment or restructuring of operations, any of which could adversely affect a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s ability to operate its business and the results of its operations.

Coverage, Pricing and Reimbursement

Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any biological products for which we obtain regulatory approval. The United States government, state legislatures and governments outside the United States have shown significant interest in implementing cost containment programs to limit the growth of government‑paid healthcare costs, including price‑controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded drug and biologic products. In the United States and markets in other countries, patients who are prescribed products generally rely on third‑party payors to reimburse all or a substantial part of the associated healthcare costs. Providers and patients are unlikely to use our products unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a substantial portion of the cost of our products. For products administered under the supervision of a physician, obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement may be particularly difficult because of the higher prices often associated with such drugs. If approved, sales of our product candidates will depend, in part, on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third‑party payors. Third‑party payors include government authorities, managed care plans, private health insurers and other organizations.

In the United States, the process for determining whether a third‑party payor will provide coverage and the related coverage criteria for a biological product typically is separate from, but related to, the process for setting the price of such product or for establishing the level of reimbursement that the payor will pay for the product once coverage is approved. With respect to biologics, third‑party payors may limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, also known as a formulary, which might not include all of the FDA‑approved products for a particular indication, or place products at certain formulary levels that result in lower reimbursement levels, which results in higher cost‑sharing financial obligation imposed on patients. A decision by a third‑party payor not to cover our product candidates, or to impose coverage criteria the limiting situations in which our product candidates are covered, could reduce physician utilization of a product. Moreover, a third‑party payor’s decision to provide coverage for a product does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be approved. Adequate third‑party reimbursement may not be available to enable a manufacturer to maintain price levels sufficient to realize an appropriate return on its investment in product development. Additionally, coverage, coverage criteria, and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. One third‑party payor’s decision to cover a particular medical product does not ensure that other payors will also provide coverage for the medical product, or will provide coverage at an adequate reimbursement rate. As a result, the coverage determination process usually requires manufacturers to provide scientific,  clinical and health economic support for the use of their products to each payor separately, which is a time‑consuming process.

As noted above, the marketability of any products for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale may suffer if the government and third‑party payors fail to provide coverage and adequate reimbursement. The 

increasing emphasis on cost containment measures in the United States has increased and we expect will continue to increase the pressure on pharmaceutical pricing. Coverage policies and third‑party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement are attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. Third‑party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, examining the medical necessity and reviewing the cost‑benefit of pharmaceutical products, in addition to questioning safety and efficacy. If third‑party payors do not consider a product to offer a favorable cost-benefit compared to other available therapies, they may not cover that product after FDA approval or, if they do, the level of payment may not be sufficient to allow a manufacturer to sell its product at a profit.

In addition, in many countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing and reimbursement vary widely from country to country. In the European Union, governments influence the price of products through their pricing and reimbursement rules and control of national healthcare systems that fund a large part of the cost of those products to consumers. Some jurisdictions operate positive and negative list systems under which products may only be marketed once a reimbursement price has been agreed to by the government. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval, some of these countries may require the completion of clinical trials that compare the cost effectiveness of a particular product to currently available therapies. Other member states allow companies to fix their own prices for medicines, but monitor and control company profits. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our products. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription products, has become very 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 a commercial pressure on pricing within a country.

Healthcare Reform and Potential Changes to Healthcare Laws

The FDAs and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. For example, in December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act, or Cures Act, was signed into law. The Cures Act, among other things, is intended to modernize the regulation of drugs and devices and to spur innovation, but its ultimate implementation is uncertain. In addition, in August 2017, the FDA Reauthorization Act was signed into law, which reauthorized the FDAs user fee programs and included additional drug and device provisions that build on the Cures Act. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we otherwise may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and other third‑party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the level of reimbursement for particular medical products and services, implementing reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and applying new payment methodologies. For example, in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act was enacted, which, among other things, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; introduced a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected; extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care plans; imposed mandatory discounts for certain Medicare Part D beneficiaries as a condition for manufacturers’ outpatient drugs coverage under Medicare Part D; subjected drug manufacturers to new annual fees based on pharmaceutical companies’ share of sales to federal healthcare programs; imposed a new federal excise tax on the sale of certain medical devices; created a new Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which, once empaneled, will have authority to recommend certain changes to the Medicare program that could result in reduced payments for prescription drugs; and established a Center for Medicare Innovation at the CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending.

Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the Affordable Care Act in the future. The current Presidential administration and members of the U.S. Congress have indicated that they may continue to seek to modify, repeal or otherwise invalidate all, or certain provisions of, the Affordable Care Act. Most recently, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts was enacted, which, among other things, removes penalties for not complying with the individual mandate to carry health insurance. On December 14, 2018, a U.S. District Court Judge in the Northern District of Texas, ruled that the individual mandate is a critical and inseverable feature of the Affordable Care Act, and therefore, because it was repealed as part of the Tax Act, the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the BPCIA, are invalid as well. On December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the district court’s decision that the individual mandate was unconstitutional but remanded the case back to the District Court to determine whether the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. It is unclear how these decisions, subsequent appeals, if any, or other efforts to challenge, repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act will impact the law or our business.

 In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the Affordable Care Act to reduce healthcare expenditures. These changes include the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, among other things, included aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year and that will remain in effect through 2029 unless additional action is taken by Congress; and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. More recently, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for pharmaceutical and biologic products.

Individual states in the United States have become increasingly active in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control biotechnology and pharmaceutical 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.

We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that governments and third party payors will pay for healthcare products and services.

Employees

 

As of December 31, 2019, we had 137 employees, 135 of which were full-time employees.

 

Our Corporate Information

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of Bermuda in July 2015. Our registered office is located in Bermuda at Clarendon House, 2 Church Street, Hamilton HM11, Bermuda. The telephone number for our registered office is +44 808‑189‑6257. Our website address is www.kiniksa.com. The information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report, and you should not consider any information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website as part of this Annual Report.

Where You Can Find More Information

We are subject to the information requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically, such as ourselves, with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

We make available free of charge on our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d)  of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably possible after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Our website is located at www.kiniksa.com. The reference to our website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained at or available through our website, and you should not consider it to be a part of this Annual Report.

 

ITEM 1A.Risk Factors.  

You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Annual Report, including our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our Class A common shares could decline. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.

Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Capital Needs

We are a biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history and have not generated any revenue from product sales. We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and anticipate that we will incur continued losses for the foreseeable future.

Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. Typically, it takes many years to develop one new product from the time it is discovered to when it is available for treating patients, and development may cease for a number of reasons. We have incurred operating losses in each year since our inception in 2015 and anticipate incurring losses for the foreseeable future. To date, we have invested substantially all of our efforts and financial resources in identifying, acquiring, in‑licensing and developing our product candidates, including commencing and conducting clinical trials and providing general and administrative support for these operations. Our future success is dependent on our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for and successfully commercialize one or more of our product candidates. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully conduct and complete a Phase 3 or other pivotal clinical trial, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial‑scale drug, or conduct sales and marketing activities. We currently generate no revenue from sales of any products, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product. Consequently, predictions about our future success or viability could be more accurate if we had a longer operating history.

We have incurred significant losses related to expenses for research and development and our ongoing operations. Our net losses for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were $161.9 million and $103.2 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $356.1 million. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase substantially as a result of many factors, including:

Further, the net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, such that a period‑to‑period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indication of our future performance. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our shareholders’ equity and working capital.

We will require substantial additional financing, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, will  force us delay, limit, reduce or cease one or more of our product development plans, research and development programs for our product candidates, or other operations or commercialization efforts.

The development and commercialization of biopharmaceutical products is capital intensive. We are advancing our product candidates through research, preclinical and clinical development, including our global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis, named RHAPSODY, our global Phase 2 clinical trial for mavrilimumab for the treatment of giant cell arteritis, or GCA, our Phase 2a clinical trial for KPL‑716 for the treatment of prurigo nodularis, our exploratory Phase 2 clinical trial with KPL-716 in diseases characterized by chronic pruritus, and our Phase 1 clinical trial with KPL-404 in healthy volunteers. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities as we continue the research and development of our product candidates, establish and expand our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, infrastructure and organization, or enter into agreements with third parties to conduct one or more of these commercialization activities. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates,  we expect to incur significant additional commercialization expenses related to manufacturing, product sales, marketing and distribution. As our product candidates progress through development and towards commercialization, we will need to make milestone payments and, if successful, eventually make royalty payments to the licensors and other third parties from whom we have acquired our product candidates. Furthermore, we expect to continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all, we will be forced to delay, limit, reduce or cease one or more of our product development plans, research and development programs for our product candidates, or commercialization efforts.  We

also may not be able to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, or may be required to relinquish rights to our product candidates or products.

The development process for our product candidates is highly uncertain, and we cannot estimate with certainty the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development, regulatory approval process and commercialization of our product candidates. Our operating plans may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than expected, through public or private securities offerings, debt financings or other sources. Our future capital requirements will depend on, and could increase significantly as a result of, many factors, including:

Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day‑to‑day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. Disruptions in the financial markets may make securities offerings and debt financing more difficult to obtain, and may have a material adverse effect on our ability to meet our fundraising needs when they arise. Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If we are unable to obtain funding when needed, we will be forced to curtail, delay, limit, reduce or cease one or more of our product development plans, research and development programs for our product candidates, or commercialization efforts of any product candidate. We may also be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities or may be required to relinquish rights to our product candidates or products. Any of these occurrences could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our shareholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.

Until such time as we can generate substantial product revenues, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through private or public securities offerings, debt financings, or other sources, including licensing, collaboration or other strategic transactions or arrangements with third parties. The terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our shareholders and our issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our Class A common shares to decline. The sale of additional equity or convertible securities would dilute all of our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. Obtaining funds through licensing, collaboration or other strategic transactions or arrangements with third parties may require us to relinquish rights to some of our technologies, product candidates or future revenue streams, or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects. If we raise funds through research grants, we may be subject to certain requirements, which may limit our ability to use the funds or require us to share information from our research and development. Raising additional capital through any of these or other means could adversely affect our business and the holdings or rights of our shareholders, and may cause the market price of our Class A common shares to decline.

Risks Related to Product Development

We depend heavily on the success of rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716, which are in various stages of clinical development. If we are unable to advance our product candidates in clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We do not currently generate any revenue from sales of any products, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize marketable products. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States. We have four product candidates in various stages of clinical development. Our assumptions about why our product candidates are worthy of future development and potential approval in the indications for which we are studying them, or any other indications, are based on either indirect data primarily collected by other companies or our preclinical and clinical trials. We may not be able to demonstrate that they are safe or effective in the indications for which we are studying them, and they may not be approved. Although rilonacept is approved and marketed for human use for the treatment of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, or CAPS, in the United States by Regeneron, we are studying rilonacept for the treatment of a different indication called recurrent pericarditis, which is currently in a global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, RHAPSODY. Mavrilimumab has been through Phase 2 clinical trials conducted by MedImmune for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, but our global Phase 2 clinical trial with mavrilimumab is for the treatment of GCA. KPL‑716, is being studied in a Phase 2a clinical trial in prurigo nodularis and an exploratory Phase 2 clinical trial in diseases characterized by chronic pruritus.  In addition, KPL-404 has progressed into a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers.  Our future preclinical product candidates would need to progress through toxicology studies and other requirements to enable an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, prior to clinical development.

We have not submitted, and we may never submit marketing applications to the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States for our product candidates. We cannot be certain that any of our product candidates will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval.   Further, our product candidates may not receive regulatory approval even if we complete a successful clinical trial. We may determine that the potential product and commercial profile of any of our product candidates would not ultimately be commercially successful and could therefore elect not to continue its development.  If we do not receive regulatory approvals for one or more of our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations.

Each of our product candidates require additional preclinical or clinical development, regulatory approval in one or more jurisdictions, manufacturing capacity and expertise, successful manufacture of clinical supply, building an organization to support commercialization, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we will be able to generate any revenue from product sales. The success of our product candidates or potential future product candidates depends upon several factors, including the following:

If we do not accomplish one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays in, or an inability to, successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would materially harm our business. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for one or more of our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations. Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approvals to manufacture and market our product candidates, our revenues will be dependent, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval and have commercial rights. If the markets for patient subsets that we are targeting are smaller than we estimate, we may not generate projected revenue levels from sales of such products, if approved.

Clinical drug development is a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain timelines and uncertain outcomes. We may encounter substantial delays in our clinical trials, or we may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory authorities. We may therefore be unable to obtain required regulatory approvals and be unable to commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis, if at all.

Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, time consuming and uncertain as to outcome.  We are conducting a global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical

trial with rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis, RHAPSODY, a global Phase 2 clinical trial with mavrilimumab for the treatment of GCA, a Phase 2a clinical trial with KPL‑716 in prurigo nodularis, an exploratory Phase 2 clinical trial with KPL-716 in diseases characterized by chronic pruritus, and a Phase 1 clinical trial with KPL-404 in healthy volunteers.  We cannot guarantee that any of our current or potential future clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all.

Commencing a clinical trial is subject to acceptance by the FDA of an IND or IND amendments, acceptance by European regulatory authorities of a Clinical Trial Application, or CTA, or acceptance by other applicable regulatory authorities, and finalizing the trial design based on discussions with the FDA, European regulatory authorities or other applicable regulatory authorities.  We may receive feedback or guidance from regulatory authorities on our clinical trial design and protocols and even after we incorporate such feedback or guidance from these regulatory authorities, such regulatory authorities may impose other requirements for our clinical trials, could disagree that we have satisfied their requirements to commence our clinical trials, disagree with our interpretation of data from the relevant preclinical studies, clinical trials or chemistry, manufacturing and controls, or CMC, data, or disagree or change their position on the acceptability of our trial designs, including the proposed dosing level or schedule, treatment duration, our definitions of the patient populations or the clinical endpoints selected, which may require us to complete additional preclinical studies, clinical trials, CMC development, other studies or impose stricter approval conditions than we currently expect.  For example, the FDA has provided feedback that the risk-benefit assessment for investigation of mavrilimumab in a clinical trial may differ depending on the patient population studied. Specifically, the FDA acknowledged that the risk-benefit assessment for initiation of a clinical trial may be considered favorable in a patient population with high morbidity and limited effective treatment options. In addition, we anticipate that other potential indications for mavrilimumab would need to be in serious or life-threatening diseases where the burden of the disease is sufficient to justify the risk-benefit of mavrilimumab to pursue clinical development in such indications. Further, based on FDA feedback we received in connection with its review and approval of an IND for our global Phase 2 clinical trial of mavrilimumab in GCA, we anticipate that to help inform the risk-benefit profile for the use of mavrilimumab in GCA, we will need to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of mavrilimumab at the 26 weeks of dosing stipulated in our Phase 2 clinical trial, and eventually demonstrate safety and effectiveness of mavrilimumab beyond 26 weeks as well as evaluate its pharmacokinetic profile and the effectiveness of mavrilimumab at different doses in GCA.

Commencing our planned clinical trials is also subject to approval by an IRB at each clinical trial site before a trial may be initiated, which approval could be delayed, rejected or suspended.  Further the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, the Data Safety Monitoring Board for such trial or the FDA or other regulatory authorities may impose a suspension or termination of our clinical trials even after approval and initiation of trial sites due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects that arise in the trial, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, any of which resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold as well as changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial.

 

Successful completion of our clinical trials is a prerequisite to submitting a biologics license application, or BLA, or New Drug Applications to the FDA and a marketing authorization application, or MAA, to the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, or other applicable regulatory authorities in other countries for each product candidate and, consequently, to obtaining approval and initiating commercial marketing of our current and future product candidates. We do not know whether any of our future clinical trials will begin as planned or any of our current or future clinical trials will be completed on schedule, if at all.

 

A failure of one or more of our current or future clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing, and our clinical trials may not be successful. We may experience delays in our ongoing clinical trials and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, be allowed by regulatory authorities, need to be redesigned, or if we can activate sites or enroll patients on time, or if they will be completed on schedule, if at all. Events that may prevent

commencement or successful completion of clinical development of our product candidates as planned, if at all, include but are not limited to:

 

Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the delay or denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.

If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of any clinical trial of our product candidates or any clinical trial of our product candidates is terminated, the commercial prospects of our product candidates may be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from our product candidates, if any, will be delayed. Moreover, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down the development and approval process of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue, if any. Clinical trial delays could also allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do or shorten any periods during which we have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and could impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates or us deciding to modify or cease development of our product candidates.

Furthermore, clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations, guidelines and other requirements of the FDA, European Union, or EU, and other applicable regulatory authorities outside of those jurisdictions and are subject to oversight by these regulatory authorities and IRBs at the medical institutions where the clinical trials are conducted. Further, conducting global clinical trials, as we do for certain of our product candidates, may require that we coordinate among the legal requirements and guidelines of regulatory authorities across a number of jurisdictions, including the United States, EU and countries outside of those jurisdictions, which could require that we amend clinical trial protocols or determine not to conduct a trial in one or more jurisdiction or to run separate trials in various jurisdictions due to the inability, cost or delay in harmonizing divergent requests from such regulatory authorities, all of which could increase costs.  In addition, clinical trials that are conducted in countries outside the United States and the EU may subject us to risks associated with the engagement of non-United States and non‑EU CROs, clinical investigators who are unknown to the FDA or the EMA, and may have different standards of diagnosis, screening and medical care, as well as risks associated with further delays and expenses as a result of increased shipment costs (including as a result of local quality release or in-country testing of a product candidate supply produced in a different jurisdiction for our clinical trials) and political and economic risks relevant to such countries outside the United States and the EU.

Clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which our products have patent protection and may allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, which could impair our ability to obtain orphan exclusivity for our products that potentially qualify for this designation and to successfully commercialize our product candidates, and may harm our business and results of operations. Any inability to successfully complete preclinical and

clinical development could result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenue and harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials in a timely manner given the limited number of patients who have the diseases for which our product candidates are being studied, as well as particular enrollment criteria or competing clinical studies in the same patient population. Difficulty in enrolling patients could delay or prevent completion of our clinical trials of our product candidates, and our research and development efforts could be adversely affected.

Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to our success. The timing of our clinical trials depends in part on the speed at which we can recruit a sufficient number of patients to participate in testing our product candidates, particularly given that many of the conditions for which we are evaluating our current product candidates or may plan to evaluate them in the future are in small disease populations.  In addition, the eligibility criteria of our clinical trials will further limit the pool of available trial participants, as we will require patients to have specific characteristics that we can evaluate based on the primary and secondary endpoints of the study.

Further, our clinical trials may compete with other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our product candidates, and this competition may further reduce the number and types of patients available to us because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we may conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which would reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials at such clinical trial site.

Accordingly if we encounter these or other difficulties in enrollment we may experience delays or be prevented from completing our clinical trials. Patient enrollment depends on many factors, including:

The process of finding and enrolling patients may prove costly, especially since we are looking to identify a subset of the patients eligible for our studies from a relatively small patient population for many of the diseases we are studying. If patients are unable or unwilling to participate in our clinical trials for any reason, or we experience difficulties in patient enrollment for any other reasons, our costs and the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting trials and obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates may be delayed or prevented, the commercial prospects of our product candidates may be harmed, and our ability to commence product sales and generate product revenue from any of these product candidates could be delayed or prevented. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other safety risks that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in significant negative consequences, including withdrawal of approval, following any potential marketing approval.

Treatment with our product candidates may produce undesirable side effects or adverse reactions or events. Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in more restrictive labels or the delay or denial of regulatory approvals by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States.

Our product candidates modulate the immune system and carry risks associated with immunosuppression, including the risk of serious infections and other potential serious health risks. For example, some common side effects of rilonacept include, cold symptoms, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, numbness or tingly feeling and injection‑site reaction. IL‑1 blockade may interfere with immune response to or to delay symptomatology and diagnosis of infections. Serious, life‑threatening infections have been reported in patients taking rilonacept. In our open-label Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial of rilonacept for recurrent pericarditis, the most common AEs were gastrointestinal disorders and injection site reactions. There was one treatment‑related serious AE which resulted in discontinuation: a skin abscess which responded to medical treatment.

For mavrilimumab, there is a theoretical risk for the development of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, or PAP. PAP is a rare lung disorder in which surfactant‑derived lipoproteins accumulate excessively within pulmonary alveoli due to loss of granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor, or GM‑CSF, function. The disease can range in severity from a sub‑clinical reduction in diffusion capacity to significant dyspnea during mild exertion. In preclinical studies conducted by MedImmune, certain effects were observed in the lungs of non‑human primates, which led the FDA to issue a clinical hold with respect to MedImmune’s proposed clinical trial in RA. Preclinical data generated to-date suggest mavrilimumab does not reach the lungs in sufficient quantities to induce PAP at clinically relevant doses and human trials thus far have not shown a clinical effect on pulmonary function tests attributable to mavrilimumab. However, if the results of our clinical trials reveal an unacceptable severity and prevalence of these or other side effects, the FDA or applicable regulatory authority outside of the United States may suspend or terminate our clinical trials, or not authorize us to initiate further trials. In addition, if other anti-GM-CSF molecules in development by third parties show these or similar side effects, it could have an impact on the entire class of anti-GM-CSF molecules in development and the applicable regulatory agency may suspend or terminate our clinical trials, or not authorize us to initiate further trials. The FDA or comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States could order us to cease further development of, or deny or withdraw any approval of, any of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications.

In addition, subsequent to MedImmune’s original IND submission for RA and the availability of additional clinical safety data that MedImmune generated in human clinical trials conducted outside of the United States for RA, the FDA provided feedback that the risk-benefit assessment for investigation of mavrilimumab in a clinical trial may differ depending on the patient population studied. Specifically, the FDA acknowledged that the risk-benefit assessment for initiation of a clinical trial may be considered favorable in a patient population with high morbidity and limited

effective treatment options. Further,  we anticipate that other potential indications for mavrilimumab would need to be in serious or life-threatening diseases where the burden of the disease is sufficient to justify the risk-benefit of mavrilimumab to be studied in such indications. In addition, based on FDA feedback we received in connection with its review and authorization of an IND for our global Phase 2 clinical trial of mavrilimumab in GCA, we anticipate that to help inform the risk-benefit profile for the use of mavrilimumab in GCA, we will need to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of mavrilimumab at the 26 weeks of dosing stipulated in our Phase 2 clinical trial, and eventually demonstrate safety and effectiveness of mavrilimumab beyond 26 weeks as well as evaluate its pharmacokinetic profile and the effectiveness of mavrilimumab at different doses in GCA.   

In our repeated-single-dose Phase 1b clinical trial of KPL-716, there were no serious AEs. However, there were more atopic dermatitis flares in the KPL-716-treated population versus placebo​ (47.6% versus 4.5%) through the 12-week treatment period; all subjects who experienced a flare were successfully managed with topical corticosteroids. KPL-716 was otherwise well-tolerated by all subjects. 

Additionally, clinical trials by their nature utilize a sample of the potential patient population.  With a limited number of patients, certain rare and severe side effects associated with our product candidates may only be uncovered with a significantly larger number of patients exposed to the product candidates. If one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by the product, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including but not limited to:

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

Prior to our in‑license or acquisition of rilonacept, mavrilimumab, and KPL‑716, we were not involved in the development of these product candidates and, as a result, we are dependent on Regeneron, MedImmune, and Biogen having accurately reported the results and correctly collected and interpreted the data from all preclinical and clinical trials conducted prior to our in‑license or acquisition.

We had no involvement with or control over the preclinical and clinical development of any of our product candidates prior to our in‑license or acquisition of them. We are dependent on Regeneron, MedImmune, and Biogen having conducted their research and development in accordance with the applicable protocols and legal, regulatory and scientific standards; having accurately reported the results of all preclinical studies and clinical trials conducted prior to

our in‑license or acquisition; and having correctly collected, interpreted, and completely transferred the data from these trials or other studies to us. If these activities were not compliant, accurate or correct, the clinical development, regulatory approval, or commercialization of one or more of our product candidates will be adversely affected.

If we cannot replicate positive results from earlier preclinical studies and clinical trials conducted by us or the companies from whom we have licensed or acquired, or may in the future license or acquire, our product candidates in our later clinical trials, we may be unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize our product candidates.

Positive results from our preclinical studies and any positive results we may obtain from our early clinical trials of our product candidates, or from the clinical trials conducted by the companies from whom we in‑licensed or acquired or may in the future in‑license or acquire our product candidates, may not be predictive of the results from any required later preclinical studies and clinical trials. Similarly, the positive results from the preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates may not be replicated in our subsequent preclinical studies or clinical trial results. The mechanisms of action of our product candidates may not prove to be safe or effective to treat the diseases that we are studying. Further, the safety and efficacy of our product candidates have not been established for the indications in which we are developing them, and we cannot provide any assurance that their development will be successful. For example, although rilonacept is FDA approved for the treatment of CAPS, and mavrilimumab has been studied in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of RA, their safety and efficacy have not been determined in the indications we are pursuing, recurrent pericarditis or GCA, respectively, and each may fail to receive regulatory approval for those indications.

Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in later‑stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early‑stage development and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical findings made while clinical trials were underway or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical trials, including AEs previously unreported in earlier studies and trials of our product candidates and favorable safety and efficacy observed in earlier studies and trials not replicated in later studies or trials. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses and many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials nonetheless failed to obtain FDA or EMA approval. Furthermore, the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or the applicable regulatory authorities outside of the United States may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval, which may lead to the FDA or such other regulatory authorities delaying, limiting or denying approval of our product candidates.

Preliminary, interim and “top‑line” data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose interim, top-line or preliminary data from our clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the top-line or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Top-line or preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the top-line or preliminary data we previously published. As a result, top-line and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available.

From time to time, we may also disclose interim data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials. For example, we expect to release interim data from cohorts of the Phase 2 clinical trial of KPL-716 in diseases characterized by chronic pruritus in the first half of 2020.  Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Adverse differences between interim data and final data could significantly harm

our business prospects. Further, disclosure of interim data by us or by our competitors could result in volatility in the price of our Class A common shares.

Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and our company in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure.

If the interim, top-line or preliminary data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition.

Risks Related to Marketing Approval and Regulatory Matters

Regulatory approval processes are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable. If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals for our product candidates or we fail or otherwise cease to advance their development, we will be delayed in commercializing or will not be able to commercialize, our product candidates and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their trial design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, pricing, sale, distribution, import and export are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. Before we can commercialize any of our product candidates, we must obtain marketing approval. We have not received approval or clearance to market any of our product candidates from regulatory authorities in any jurisdiction and it is possible that none of our product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval or clearance. We have only limited experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain regulatory approvals and may need to rely on third‑party CROs and regulatory consultants to assist us in this process. Securing regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to the various regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the biologic manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the relevant regulatory authority. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. The FDA and other regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process, and determining when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for a product candidate. Even if we believe the data collected from clinical trials are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or any other regulatory authority. In addition to the United States, we may seek regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates in other jurisdictions. While the scope of regulatory approval is similar in many countries, to obtain separate regulatory approval in multiple countries will require us to comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of each such country or jurisdiction regarding safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, clinical trials and commercial sales, pricing and distribution, and we cannot predict success in any such jurisdictions.

The process of obtaining regulatory approvals, both in the United States and in other countries, is time consuming, expensive, may take many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted BLA, or equivalent application types, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. The FDA and comparable authorities in other countries have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other trials.

In addition, we plan to have Regeneron transfer its BLA for rilonacept in the United States for the treatment of CAPS following positive clinical data readout, if any, from our global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, RHAPSODY to enable us to file an sBLA with the FDA to seek approval for the commercial marketing of rilonacept in the United States for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis. The rights with respect to CAPS would remain with Regeneron until the date that we receive such approval from the FDA, if at all. In order for the BLA to be transferred to us, we must coordinate numerous activities with Regeneron in advance and take over certain responsibilities and obligations with respect to owning the BLA. The process to transfer a BLA is complex and resource intensive, and may be more so than we anticipate. Further, if Regeneron or we do not perform in accordance with our expectations, or we are not ready to assume the responsibilities on a timely basis, or the timing of the BLA transfer is otherwise delayed, our ability to file an sBLA with the FDA may be delayed, which could delay FDA approval or our commercialization of rilonacept, and our ability to generate revenue from rilonacept could be materially impaired.

Approval by the FDA in the United States, if obtained, does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions. Our product candidates could be delayed in receiving, or fail to receive, regulatory approval or we may fail or cease to advance their development for many reasons, including the following:

In addition, even if we were to obtain approval for one or more of our product candidates, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request. For example, in connection with our KPL‑716 program, regulatory authorities may recognize a narrower patient population as having prurigo nodularis or define the disease differently than we do. Furthermore, regulatory authorities may not approve the price we intend to charge, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post‑marketing clinical trials, may impose certain post‑marketing requirements that impose limits on our marketing and distribution activities, or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates.

If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of or to advance our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

Our current product candidates and any of our future product candidates regulated as biologics in the United States may face biosimilar competition sooner than anticipated.

In the United States, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA‑licensed reference biological product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first approved under a BLA by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12‑year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product for the same therapeutic indication if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well‑controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of their product. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and

implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation and meaning are subject to uncertainty. While it is uncertain when processes intended to implement the BPCIA may be fully adopted by the FDA, any such processes could have a material adverse effect on the future commercial prospects of our product candidates.

For example, rilonacept was approved as a biological product under a BLA for the treatment of CAPS in 2008, and we believe it should qualify for the 12‑year period of exclusivity against any biosimilars. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to Congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider rilonacept, or any of our other product candidates, to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. In addition, if our clinical trials are successful, we plan to submit a supplemental BLA for rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis, and the 12‑year exclusivity period does not attach to the approval of a supplemental BLA, potentially creating the opportunity for biosimilar competition.

Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, will be substituted for a reference product in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non‑biological products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.

Even if we obtain marketing approval of our product candidates in a major pharmaceutical market such as the United States or the EU, we may not seek or obtain approval or commercialize our product candidates in other markets, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.

In order to market any products in a country or territory, we must establish and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such country or territory regarding safety and efficacy. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country, and clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. Approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods and may require additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, which would be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our product candidates in those countries. Satisfying these and other regulatory requirements is costly, time consuming, uncertain and subject to unanticipated delays. In addition, our failure to obtain regulatory approval in any country may delay or have negative effects on the process for regulatory approval in other countries.

We may seek orphan drug designation for some of our product candidates and we may be unsuccessful, or may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity, for any product candidate for which we obtain orphan drug designation.

As part of our business strategy, we may seek orphan drug designation for certain of our product candidates, and ultimately we may be unsuccessful or unable to maintain the associated benefits. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs or biologics intended to treat relatively small patient populations as orphan drug products. Under the U.S. Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug or biologic as an orphan drug if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the United States.

In the EU, the European Commission grants orphan drug designation after receiving the opinion of the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products on an Orphan Drug Designation application. In the EU, orphan drug designation is intended to promote the development of drugs that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life‑threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the EU and for which no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment has been authorized (or the product would be a significant benefit to those affected). Additionally, orphan drug designation is granted for drugs intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life‑threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition when,

without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the EU would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the drug. In the EU, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers, as well as potential marketing exclusivity.

In addition, if a drug or biologic with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the drug or biologic is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same drug and indication for that time period, except in limited circumstances. If our competitors are able to obtain orphan drug exclusivity prior to us, for products that constitute the “same drug” and treat the same indications as our product candidates, we may not be able to have competing products approved by the applicable regulatory authority for a significant period of time. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in the EU. The EU exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if a drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation or if the drug is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified.

Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for any of our product candidates, that exclusivity may not effectively protect those product candidates from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition, and orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving the same or a different drug in another indication. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve a later application for the same drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer in a substantial portion of the target populations, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. Moreover, orphan‑drug‑exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if we are unable to manufacture sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. While we may pursue orphan drug designation for certain of our product candidates, we may never receive such designation. Even if we do receive such designation, there is no guarantee that we will enjoy the benefits of such designation.

We may seek Breakthrough Therapy designation or Fast Track designation by the FDA for one or more of our product candidates, but we may not receive such designation. Such designation may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process and does not increase the likelihood that our product candidates will receive marketing approval.

In the third quarter of 2019, we received Breakthrough Therapy designation for rilonacept for the treatment of for recurrent pericarditis and we may seek Breakthrough Therapy or Fast Track designation for some of our other product candidates. A Breakthrough Therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life‑threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. In addition, if a product candidate is intended for the treatment of a serious or life‑threatening condition and clinical or preclinical data demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the sponsor may apply for Fast Track designation.

The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designations, and even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this designation, we cannot be certain that the FDA would decide to grant it. Even if we obtain such designations for one or more of our product candidates, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to non‑expedited FDA review procedures. In addition, the FDA may withdraw Fast Track or Breakthrough Therapy designations if it believes that such designations are no longer supported. Although products receiving Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designation are generally eligible for the FDA’s priority review procedures, receiving such designations does not guarantee that the BLA for such products will receive priority review.

Whether to grant Breakthrough Therapy or Fast Track designation is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our product candidates meets the criteria for these designations, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of either of these designations for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to product candidates considered for approval under non‑expedited FDA review procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualify for either of these designations, the FDA may later decide that the product candidate no longer meets the conditions for qualification.

We have never completed a pivotal clinical trial or obtained marketing approval for any product candidate, and we may be unable to successfully do so for any of our product candidates. Failure to successfully complete any of these activities in a timely manner for any of our product candidates could have a material adverse impact on our business and financial performance.

Conducting pivotal clinical trials and preparing, and obtaining marketing approval for, a product candidate is a complicated process. Although members of our management team have participated in pivotal trials and obtained marketing approvals for product candidates in the past while employed at other companies, we as a company have not done so. As a result, such activities may require more time and cost more than we anticipate. Failure to successfully complete, or delays in, our global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in rilonacept or any of our eventual other pivotal trials or related regulatory submissions would prevent us from, or delay us in, obtaining regulatory approval for, or clearance of, our product candidates. In addition, it is possible that the FDA or other government agencies may refuse to accept for substantive review any regulatory submissions that we submit for our product candidates or may conclude after review of our applications that they are insufficient to obtain marketing approval or clearance of our product candidates. If the FDA or other government agencies do not accept our applications or issue marketing authorizations for our product candidates, they may require that we conduct additional clinical, preclinical or manufacturing validation trials and submit that data before they will reconsider our applications. Depending on the extent of these or any other required trials, approval or receipt of any marketing authorization may be delayed by several years or may require us to expend more resources than we have available. It is also possible that additional trials, if performed and completed, may not be considered sufficient by the FDA or other government agencies to approve or grant marketing authorizations. Any delay in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, marketing approvals would delay or prevent us from commercializing our product candidates, generating revenues and achieving and sustaining profitability. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to modify or cease our development efforts for our product candidates, which could significantly harm our business.

Changes in funding for the FDA and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA or other government agencies to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.

Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business.  For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Manufacturing and Our Reliance on Third Parties 

We contract with third parties for manufacturing our product candidates and for certain research and other preclinical and clinical development and expect to continue to do so for our commercial supply. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we may not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

We do not currently own or operate any late-stage manufacturing facilities. Although we have built a development and manufacturing facility to produce drug substance to support certain research and other preclinical and early clinical development for our product candidates, we rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the manufacture of our late-stage product candidates and certain of our early-stage product candidates for the majority of our clinical development efforts, as well as for the potential commercial manufacture of our product candidates, if approved, as well as label and packaging activities. We rely on these third parties to develop the processes necessary to produce our product candidates at sufficient quality and quantity to support our development and commercialization efforts. Our reliance increases the risk that we will have insufficient quantities of our product candidates or that our product candidates are not produced at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

For example, we have a contract with Regeneron to produce rilonacept on an exclusive basis for a period of time.  Although Regeneron has produced rilonacept for commercial use for over ten years, the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions might reevaluate rilonacept’s current manufacturing process or route of administration in connection with evaluating whether to approve rilonacept for a new indication, such as recurrent pericarditis. We also have CMOs manufacture KPL‑716 drug substance and drug product and entered into an agreement with a CMO to produce mavrilimumab beyond our current inventory.  While we have built a manufacturing facility to support early development for our product candidates, we and our CMOs may not be able to produce sufficient quantities of our product candidates or produce them at an acceptable quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts and increase costs.

If we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates or change manufacturers or manufacturing processes, we may be unsuccessful in producing the product as compared to the process or manufacturer used in prior clinical trials and therefore may need to conduct additional trials to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions, which could impact the timing of commencing or completing our clinical trials. Moreover, there is no assurance that future clinical trials utilizing a new formulation of a product candidate manufactured by different manufacturers or pursuant to a new process will result in the favorable result, if any, observed in the prior clinical trials of such product candidates.  For example, while we have transferred the technology to manufacture mavrilimumab to the CMO, the CMO may be required to adopt different manufacturing protocols or processes. The CMO will need to produce mavrilimumab using different media and feed compared to the processes that were used by MedImmune to develop our existing inventory. We cannot provide any assurance that the technology transfer was successful, or that the process development or the CMO will be successful in producing mavrilimumab in sufficient quantities or of acceptable quality, if at all, which would delay, prevent or impair the development of mavrilimumab.

The facilities used by our CMOs to manufacture our product candidates may be inspected by the FDA and other comparable regulatory authorities in connection with the submission of our marketing applications to, and review by, the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities or based on their work for other clinical trial sponsors. While we provide oversight of manufacturing activities, we do not and will not control the manufacturing process of, and will be completely dependent on, our CMOs for compliance with cGMPs and other regulatory requirements in connection with the manufacture of our product candidates. If our CMOs cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, they will not be able to secure or maintain regulatory approval for their manufacturing facilities. While we may review the compliance history and performance of our CMOs, we have no control over the ability of our CMOs to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved.

Further, our failure, or the failure of our third‑party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates, if approved, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect our business and supplies of our product candidates.

Although we have entered into certain agreements for the manufacture of clinical material for our product candidates, we may be unable to establish new agreements on acceptable terms, if at all, with third‑party manufacturers for those product candidates. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third‑party manufacturers, reliance on third‑party manufacturers entails additional risks, including:

Our product candidates may compete with other product candidates and approved products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.

Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or marketing approval. If our current CMOs cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace such manufacturers. Although we believe that there are several potential alternative manufacturers who could manufacture our product candidates, we may incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement. Further, Regeneron has an exclusive right to produce rilonacept for a period of time, which could impact our ability to find a replacement manufacturer for rilonacept in a short-period of time if needed.

Finding new CMOs or third‑party suppliers involves additional cost and requires our management’s time and focus. In addition, there is typically a transition period when a new CMO commences work. Although we generally do not begin a clinical trial unless we believe we have on hand, or will be able to obtain, a sufficient supply of our product candidates to complete the clinical trial, any significant delay in the supply of our product candidates or the raw materials needed to produce our product candidates, could considerably delay conducting our clinical trials and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates.

Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.

We built a manufacturing facility to support the early development of our product candidates, and we may be unsuccessful in manufacturing product candidates in a timely, economic or compliant manner, which could delay or prevent the commencement of our planned preclinical and early clinical studies for these product candidates.

We built a manufacturing facility to support early development of our product candidates. We may not be able to continually manufacture our product candidates economically or in compliance with cGMPs and other regulatory requirements, or at all, and we may not be able to build or procure additional capacity in the required timeframe to meet our estimated timelines to commence our studies. As a result, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition could be materially harmed.

Our business involves the use of hazardous materials and we and our third‑party manufacturers and suppliers must comply with environmental laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict how we do business.

Our research and development activities and our third‑party manufacturers’ and suppliers’ activities involve the controlled storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials owned by us, including the components of our product candidates and other hazardous compounds. We and our manufacturers and suppliers are subject to laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. In some cases, these hazardous materials and various wastes resulting from their use are stored at our and our manufacturers’ and suppliers’ facilities pending their use and disposal. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination, which could cause an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development efforts and business operations, environmental damage resulting in costly clean‑up and liabilities under applicable laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and specified waste products. Although we believe that the safety procedures utilized by our third‑party manufacturers and suppliers for handling and disposing of these materials generally comply with the standards prescribed by these laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee that this is the case or eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. In such an event, we may be held liable for any resulting damages and such liability could exceed our resources and state or federal or other applicable authorities may curtail our use of certain materials or interrupt our business operations. Furthermore, environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance. We do not currently carry biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage.

Manufacturing issues at our facility and the facilities of our third‑party service providers could cause product shortages, disrupt or delay our clinical trials or regulatory approvals, delay or stop commercialization of our product candidates, and adversely affect our business.

The manufacture of our product candidates is highly regulated, complex and difficult, requiring a multi‑step and controlled process, and even minor problems or deviations could result in the product candidates being out-of-spec, failed batches or other failures, such as defective products or manufacturing failures. We have limited experience overseeing the manufacturing processes of mavrilimumab, KPL‑716, KPL-404 and our preclinical product candidate and no experience overseeing the manufacturing process of rilonacept. Due to the highly technical requirements of manufacturing our product candidates and the strict quality and control specifications, we and our third‑party providers may be unable to manufacture or supply our product candidates despite our and their efforts. Failure to produce sufficient quantities of our product candidates could delay their development, result in supply shortages for our patients, result in lost revenue, if any, and diminish our potential profitability, which may lead to lawsuits or could delay the introduction of our product candidates to the market.

The manufacture of our product candidates is at high risk of product loss due to contamination, equipment malfunctions, human error or raw material shortages. Deviations from established manufacturing processes could result in reduced production yields, failed batches and other supply disruptions. If microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our product candidates or manufacturing facilities, any related production lot could be lost and the relevant manufacturing facilities may need to close for an extended period of time to investigate and remediate the contaminant. Many additional factors could cause production interruptions at our facilities or at the facilities of our third‑party providers, including natural disasters, outbreak of disease, accidents, boycotts, labor disputes, political and economic instability, including acts of terrorism or war. The occurrence of any such event could adversely affect our ability to satisfy the required supply for any of our product candidates or successfully complete preclinical and clinical development, which would result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenue and would harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

We and our third‑party providers are required to maintain compliance with cGMP and other stringent requirements and are subject to inspections by the FDA and comparable agencies in other jurisdictions to confirm such compliance. If we or any of our third‑party providers are not able to establish and maintain procedures and processes sufficient to satisfy cGMP standards, we could experience a delay, interruption or other issues in our manufacture, fill‑finish, packaging, storage or delivery of our product candidates, and any related failure of the facilities or operations of third parties to pass any regulatory agency inspection could significantly impair our ability to supply our products and

product candidates. Significant noncompliance could also result in the imposition of monetary penalties or other civil or criminal sanctions and damage our reputation.

In addition, we plan to have Regeneron transfer its BLA for rilonacept in the United States for the treatment of CAPS following positive clinical data readout, if any, from our global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, RHAPSODY to enable us to file an sBLA with the FDA to seek approval for the commercial marketing of rilonacept in the United States for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis. The rights with respect to CAPS would remain with Regeneron until the date that we receive such approval from the FDA, if at all. In order for the BLA to be transferred to us, we must coordinate numerous activities with Regeneron in advance and take over certain responsibilities and obligations with respect to owning the BLA. The process to transfer a BLA is complex and resource intensive, and may be more so than we anticipate. Further, if Regeneron or we do not perform in accordance with our expectations, or we are not ready to assume the responsibilities on a timely basis, or the timing of the BLA transfer is otherwise delayed, our ability to file an sBLA with the FDA may be delayed, which could delay FDA approval or our commercialization of rilonacept, and our ability to generate revenue from rilonacept could be materially impaired.

Any adverse developments affecting the operations of our third‑party providers could result in a product shortage of clinical or commercial requirements, withdrawal of our product candidates or any approved products, shipment delays, lot failures or recalls. We may also have to write off inventory and incur other charges and expenses for products that fail to meet specifications, undertake costly remediation efforts or seek more costly manufacturing alternatives. Such manufacturing issues could increase our cost of goods, cause us to lose potential revenue, reduce our potential profitability or damage our reputation.

The third parties upon whom we rely for the supply of the drug substance and drug product used in our product candidates are our sole source of supply, and the loss of any of these suppliers could significantly harm our business.

The drug substance and drug product used in rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716 are supplied to us from single‑source suppliers. For example, Regeneron has a contractual right to be our sole source manufacturer of the product unless they have a persistent failure to satisfy our supply needs. Our ability to successfully develop our product candidates, and to ultimately supply our commercial products in quantities sufficient to meet the market demand, depends in part on our ability to obtain the drug substance and drug product for these product candidates in accordance with regulatory requirements and in sufficient quantities for commercialization and clinical testing. We do not currently have arrangements in place for a redundant or second‑source supply of any such drug substance and drug product in the event any of our current suppliers of such drug substance and drug product cease their operations or stop offering us sufficient quantities of these materials for any reason.

We are not certain that our single‑source suppliers will be able to meet our demand for their products, either because of the nature of our agreements with those suppliers, our limited experience with those suppliers or our relative importance as a customer to those suppliers. It may be difficult for us to assess their ability to timely meet our demand in the future based on past performance. While our suppliers have generally met our demand on a timely basis in the past, they may subordinate our needs in the future to their other customers.

In addition, to manufacturing rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716 in the quantities that we believe would be required to meet anticipated market demand, our third‑party manufacturers may need to increase manufacturing capacity and, in some cases, alternative sources of commercial supply may need to be secured, which could involve significant challenges and may require additional regulatory approvals. In addition, the development of commercial‑scale manufacturing capabilities may require us and our third‑party manufacturers to invest substantial additional funds and hire and retain the technical personnel who have the necessary manufacturing experience. Neither we nor our third‑party manufacturers may successfully complete any required increase to existing manufacturing capacity in a timely manner, or at all.

Moreover, if there is a disruption to one or more of our third‑party manufacturers’ or suppliers’ relevant operations the supply of the related product candidate will be delayed until such manufacturer or supplier restores the affected facilities or we or they procure alternative manufacturing facilities or sources of supply. Our ability to progress our preclinical and clinical programs could be materially and adversely impacted if any of the third‑party suppliers upon

which we rely for preclinical and clinical stage product candidate supply were to experience a significant business challenge, disruption or failure due to issues such as financial difficulties or bankruptcy, issues relating to other customers such as regulatory or quality compliance issues, or other financial, legal, regulatory or reputational issues. Additionally, any damage to or destruction of our third‑party manufacturers’ or suppliers’ facilities or equipment may significantly impair our ability to manufacture our product candidates on a timely basis.

Establishing additional or replacement suppliers for the drug substance and drug product used in our product candidates, if required, is unlikely to be accomplished quickly and can take several years, if at all. Furthermore, despite our efforts, we may be unable to procure a replacement supplier or do so on commercially reasonable terms, which could have a material adverse impact upon our business. If we are able to find a replacement supplier, such replacement supplier would need to be qualified and may require additional regulatory approval, which could result in further delay. While we seek to maintain adequate inventory of the drug substance and drug product used in our product candidates, any interruption or delay in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain such drug substance and drug product from alternate sources of comparable quality at acceptable prices in a timely manner could impede, delay, limit or prevent our development efforts, which could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Certain of the materials required in the manufacture and the formulation of our product candidates are derived from biological sources. Such materials are difficult to procure and may be subject to contamination or recall. Access to and supply of sufficient quantities of raw materials which meet the technical specifications for the production process is challenging, and often limited to single‑source suppliers. Finding an alternative supplier could take a significant amount of time and involve significant expense due to the nature of the products and the need to obtain regulatory approvals. If we or our manufacturers are unable to purchase the materials necessary for the manufacture of our product candidates on acceptable terms, in a timely manner, at sufficient quality levels, or in adequate quantities, if at all, our ability to produce sufficient quantities of our products for clinical or commercial requirements would be negatively impacted. A material shortage, contamination, recall or restriction on the use of certain biologically derived substances or any other material used in the manufacture of our product candidates could adversely impact or disrupt manufacturing, which would impair our ability to generate revenues from the sale of such product candidates, if approved.

We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties, including independent investigators and CROs, to conduct our research, preclinical studies, clinical trials and other trials for our product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.

We rely on medical institutions, clinical investigators, contract laboratories and other third parties, such as CROs, to conduct or otherwise support our GLP‑compliant preclinical studies and GCP‑compliant clinical trials for our product candidates properly and on time. We also rely on third parties to conduct other research related to our product candidates. We expect to rely heavily on these parties for execution of clinical trials for our product candidates. While we have agreements governing their activities, we control only certain aspects of these parties’ activities and have limited influence over their actual performance. The third parties with whom we contract for execution of our GLP‑compliant preclinical studies and our GCP‑compliant clinical trials play a significant role in the conduct of these trials and the subsequent collection and analysis of data. These third parties are not our employees and, except for restrictions imposed by our contracts with such third parties, we have limited ability to control the amount or timing of resources that they devote to our programs. Although we rely on these third parties to conduct our GLP‑compliant preclinical studies and GCP‑compliant clinical trials, we remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, and our reliance on these third parties does not and will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For any violations of laws and regulations during the conduct of our clinical trials, we could be subject to warning letters or enforcement actions that may include civil penalties and criminal prosecution.

We and our CROs are required to comply with regulations, including GCPs, for conducting, monitoring, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to ensure that the data and results are scientifically credible and accurate, and that the trial patients are adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical trials and

their rights are protected. These regulations are enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area, or EEA, and comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions for any products in clinical development. The FDA enforces GCP regulations through periodic inspections of clinical trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot ensure that, upon inspection, the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions will determine that any of our future clinical trials will comply with GCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product candidates produced under cGMPs regulations. Our failure or the failure of our CROs to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process and could also subject us to enforcement action. We also are required to register certain clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government‑sponsored database within certain timeframes. Failure to do so when required can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.

Although we have and intend to continue to design the clinical trials for our product candidates, CROs will conduct and oversee all of the clinical trials together with the various clinical trial sites that we engage to conduct the studies. As a result, many important aspects of our development programs for our product candidates, including their conduct and timing, will be outside of our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct future clinical trials will also result in less direct control over the management of data developed through clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff. Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties may:

These factors may materially adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. If the CROs, their subcontractors or the clinical trial sites do not perform clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our product candidates may be delayed, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our product candidates, or our development program may be materially and irreversibly harmed. If we are unable to rely on clinical data collected by our CROs, their subcontractors or the clinical trial sites, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of or increase the size of any clinical trials we conduct and this could significantly delay commercialization and require significantly greater expenditures.

These third parties are not our employees and we are not able to control, other than by contract, the amount of resources, including time, which they devote to our clinical trials. If our CROs, their subcontractors or the clinical trial sites fail to devote sufficient resources to the development of our product candidates, or if their performance is substandard, it may delay or compromise the prospects for approval and commercialization of our product candidates. In addition, the use of third‑party service providers requires us to disclose our proprietary information to these parties, which could increase the risk that this information is misappropriated.

If the third parties conducting our preclinical studies or our clinical trials do not perform their contractual duties or obligations, experience significant business challenges, disruptions or failures, do not meet expected deadlines,

terminate their agreements with us or need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our protocols or to GCPs, or for any other reason, we may need to enter into new arrangements with alternative third parties. This could be difficult, costly or impossible, and our preclinical studies or clinical trials may need to be extended, delayed, terminated or repeated. As a result, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval in a timely fashion, or at all, for the applicable product candidate, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.

If any of our relationships with these third‑party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative third‑party service providers at all or on commercially reasonable terms. If CROs, their subcontractors or the clinical trial sites do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, any clinical trials such CROs, subcontractors or clinical trial sites are associated with may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates in the subject indication would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.

Our reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them or that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or disclosed.

Because we rely on third parties to develop and manufacture our product candidates, we must, at times, share trade secrets with them. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, collaborative research agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our collaborators, advisors, employees and consultants prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, such as trade secrets. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with third parties, the need to share trade secrets and other confidential information increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others, or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. Given that our proprietary position is based, in part, on our know‑how and trade secrets, a competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may harm our business. To the extent that we share trade secrets of third parties that are licensed to us, unauthorized use or disclosure could expose us to liability.

Risks Related to Competition, Executing our Strategy, Retaining Key Employees and Managing Growth

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing drugs before or more successfully than we do.

The development and commercialization of new drugs and biologics is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to our current product candidates, and will face competition with respect to any product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. There are a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell drugs or biologics or are pursuing the development of therapies in the fields in which we are interested. Some of these competitive products and therapies are based on scientific approaches that are the same as or similar to our approach, and others are based on entirely different approaches. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.

While we are not aware of any therapies currently approved or actively continuing clinical trials in recurrent pericarditis, there is one product that modulates the signaling of IL‑1α and IL‑1β, anakinra (KINERET), marketed by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, and one product that modulates the signaling of IL‑1β, canakinumab (ILARIS), marketed by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. There is also another therapy which modulates IL‑1α in clinical

development for diseases other than recurrent pericarditis from Johnson & Johnson. We expect mavrilimumab, if approved, to experience competitive pressure from tocilizumab (ACTEMRA), marketed by Genentech USA, Inc., which was approved in 2017 for use in GCA as an adjunct to steroid taper. Additional competition may be experienced from Eli Lilly and Company and AbbVie, Inc., which are conducting clinical trials for oral janus kinase inhibitors, Sanofi S.A. and Regeneron, which are recruiting a Phase 3 clinical trial with their anti-IL-6 program, Novartis International AG, which is recruiting a trial with its IL-17 antagonist secukinumab (Cosentyx) and Janssen Biotech, Inc., which is testing ustekinumab (STELARA) in two small studies for GCA. There are multiple other programs targeting GM-CSF antagonism not currently pursuing GCA in clinical trials that could decide in the future to engage in development of therapies for GCA, including GlaxoSmithKline plc, Izana Bioscience and Humanigen, Inc.  Multiple therapies are in development for prurigo nodularis and any that receive FDA approval for this indication will be likely competitors to KPL‑716. These products include nemolizumab, serlopitant and nalbuphine ER. There are multiple agents targeting antagonism of the CD40/CD40L interaction across a variety of clinical uses including, Novartis International AG, Biogen Inc. and UCB, Inc., C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Ko. KG and Abbvie Inc., Annelixis Therapeutics LLC, ImmuNext Inc. and Sanofi S.A., Viela Bio and Astellas Pharma Inc.  Further, the results of clinical trials for our product candidates may produce negative, inconclusive or uncompetitive results compared to those produced by any of these or other companies in the indications we are studying, which may result in us deciding, or regulators requiring us, to conduct additional clinical trials or modify or cease development programs for our product candidates.

Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller or early‑stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any drugs that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. The key competitive factors affecting the success of all of our product candidates, if approved, are likely to be their efficacy, safety, convenience, price, the effectiveness of companion diagnostics in guiding the use of related products, market acceptance by physicians and patients, the level of generic competition and the availability of reimbursement from government and other third‑party payors.

We may not be successful in executing our growth strategy to identify, discover, develop, in‑license or acquire additional product candidates or technologies, and our growth strategy may not deliver the anticipated results or we may refine or otherwise alter our growth strategy. We may seek to acquire businesses or undertake business combinations, collaborations, or other strategic transactions which may not be successful or on favorable terms, if at all, and we may not realize the intended benefits of such transactions.

We have acquired or in‑licensed our existing product candidates, and as part of our strategy we plan to identify new product candidates or technologies that we believe are complementary to our existing product candidates. We may do this through our internal discovery program, or by acquiring the rights to product candidates and technologies through a variety of transaction types, including in‑licensing, strategic transactions, mergers or acquisitions. If we are unable to identify, discover, develop, in‑license or otherwise acquire and integrate product candidates, or their related companies, in accordance with this strategy, our ability to pursue this component of our growth strategy would be limited and we may need to refine or otherwise alter this strategy. We cannot be certain that we will be successful in such efforts, and even if we are successful in such efforts, we cannot be certain that such discovery or transaction will be on favorable terms, or that, following any such discovery or transaction, we will be able to realize the intended benefits of it.

Research programs and business development efforts to identify new product candidates and technologies require substantial technical, financial and human resources. We may focus our efforts and resources on potential product candidates, technologies or businesses that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful. In‑licensing and acquisitions of product candidates, technology or businesses often require significant payments and expenses and consume additional resources. We will need to continue to devote a substantial amount of time and personnel to research, develop and commercialize any such in‑licensed or acquired product candidate or technology, or integrate any new business, and we may decide to reprioritize our efforts even after having expended resources on a particular prospect. Our research programs and business development efforts, including businesses or technology acquisitions, collaborations or licensing attempts, may fail to yield additional complementary or successful product candidates for clinical development and commercialization or successful business combinations for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, the following:

If any of these events occurs, we may not be successful in executing our growth strategy to identify, discover, develop, in-license or acquire additional product candidates or technologies or to acquire businesses or undertake business combinations, collaborations, or other strategic transactions, or our growth strategy or strategic transactions may not deliver the anticipated results or we may refine or otherwise alter this strategy.

The consummation or performance of any acquisition, business combination, collaboration or other strategic transaction we may undertake in furtherance of our growth strategy or any refined or otherwise altered strategy, may involve additional risks, such as difficulties in assimilating different cultures, retaining personnel and integrating operations, which may be geographically dispersed, increased costs, exposure to liabilities, incurrence of indebtedness, or use a substantial portion of our available cash for all or a portion of the consideration or cause dilution to our existing shareholders if we issue equity securities for all or a portion of the consideration.  If any of these events occurs or we are unable to meet our strategic objectives for any such transaction, we may not be able to achieve the expected benefits from the transaction and our business may be materially harmed.

We may seek to enter into collaboration,  licensing or other strategic transactions or arrangements to further develop, commercialize or otherwise attempt to realize value from one or more of our product candidates and any such transactions or arrangements that we may enter into may not be successful or be on favorable terms, which could adversely affect our ability to develop, commercialize or attempt to realize value from our product candidates.

We may seek collaboration, licensing or other strategic transactions or arrangements to further develop, commercialize or otherwise attempt to realize value from one or more of our product candidates depending on the merits of retaining rights to develop or commercialize the product candidates ourselves as compared to entering into such transactions or arrangements. In addition, we may seek to jointly develop, commercialize or otherwise exploit one or more of our product candidates with a third party. To the extent that we decide to enter into such transactions or arrangements, we will face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators, licensees or other strategic parties. Moreover, these transactions and arrangements are complex and time consuming to negotiate, document, implement and to close or maintain. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish collaborations, licenses or other strategic transactions or arrangements should we so chose to do so. The terms of any such transactions or arrangements that we may establish may not be favorable to us. In addition, our right to grant a sublicense of intellectual property licensed to us under certain of our current agreements requires the consent of the applicable licensor. 

Any future collaborations, licenses or other strategic transactions or arrangements that we enter into may not be successful. The success of these potential collaboration, license arrangements and other strategic transactions or arrangements may depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators, sublicensees or other strategic parties. Collaborations, licenses or other strategic transactions or arrangements are subject to numerous risks, which may include risks that the collaborator, licensee or other strategic party, as applicable:

In addition, disputes may arise with respect to the ownership of any intellectual property developed pursuant to these arrangements. These arrangements may also be terminated, and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable product candidates.

Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.

We have a limited operating history and are highly dependent on the research and development, clinical, commercial and business development expertise of members of our executive and senior management teams, as well as the other principal members of our management, scientific and clinical teams. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our executive officers and certain members of senior management, each of them or we may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by employers other than us and may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.

Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel is also critical to our success. The failure to recruit, or the loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize products. In November 2019, Stephen Mahoney, our Chief Operating Officer left our company to pursue other opportunities and we expect Chris Heberlig, our Chief Financial Officer, to transition to a consulting role in March 2020. Our EVP, Corporate Development and Operations and Chief Legal Officer, Thomas Beetham, and our SVP, Operations and Chief Commercial Officer, Qasim Rizvi, have taken on additional responsibilities with Mr. Mahoney’s departure. We have also commenced a search for a new Chief Financial Officer, but we may experience difficulties or delays in identifying a qualified replacement. These or other changes in our senior management may be disruptive to our business, and, if we are unable to manage an orderly transition, our business may be adversely affected. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. Failure to succeed in clinical trials may make it more challenging to recruit and retain qualified scientific personnel. If we are not able to continue to attract and retain, on acceptable terms, the qualified personnel necessary for the continued development of our business, we may not be able to sustain our operations or growth.

We need to continue to develop our company and expand our scope of operations, and we may encounter difficulties in managing this development and expansion, which could disrupt our operations.

We expect to continue to develop our company and expand the scope of our operations. To manage our anticipated development and expansion, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train qualified personnel. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from its day‑to‑day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these development and expansion activities. Due to our limited resources, certain employees may need to perform activities that are beyond their regular scope of work, and we may not be able to effectively manage the development of our company, expansion of our operations or recruit and train qualified personnel. This may result in weaknesses of our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. The expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of one or more of our product candidates. If our management is unable to effectively manage our expected development and expansion, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our

product candidates, if approved, and to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage the future development of our company and expansion of our operations.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

If we are unable to adequately protect our proprietary technology or obtain and maintain patent protection for our technology and products, if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, or if the terms of our patents are insufficient to protect our product candidates for an adequate amount of time, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and products may be materially impaired.

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary or intellectual property protection in the United States and other countries for our product candidates, including rilonacept, mavrilimumab and KPL‑716. We seek to protect our proprietary and intellectual property position by, among other methods, filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are important to the development and implementation of our business. We also rely on trade secrets, know‑how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our proprietary and intellectual property position.

We acquire, in‑license and file patent applications directed to our product candidates in an effort to establish intellectual property positions directed to their compositions of matter as well as uses of these product candidates in the treatment of diseases. Our intellectual property includes patents and patent applications that we own as well as patents and patent applications that we in‑license. For example, we have a field‑specific exclusive license under a license agreement with Regeneron to patent applications and patents relating to rilonacept, an exclusive license under a license agreement with MedImmune, or the MedImmune Agreement, to patent applications and patents relating to mavrilimumab, and an exclusive license under our license agreement with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to patent applications and patents related to KPL-404.

Certain provisions in our intellectual property agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could affect the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or affect financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We or our licensors have not pursued or maintained, and may not pursue or maintain in the future, patent protection for our products in every country or territory in which we may sell our products. In addition, we cannot be sure that any of our pending patent applications or pending trademark applications will issue or that, if issued, they have or will issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, international patent offices or judicial bodies may deny or significantly narrow claims made under our patent applications and our issued patents may be successfully challenged, may be designed around, or may otherwise be of insufficient scope to provide us with protection for our commercial products. Further, the USPTO, international trademark offices or judicial bodies may deny our trademark applications and, even if published or registered, these trademarks may not effectively protect our brand and goodwill. Like patents, trademarks also may be successfully opposed or challenged.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. The degree of patent protection we require to successfully commercialize our product candidates may be unavailable or severely limited in some cases and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. We cannot provide any assurances that any of our owned or in‑licensed patents have, or that any of our owned or in‑licensed pending patent applications that mature into issued patents will have, claims with a scope sufficient to protect rilonacept, mavrilimumab, KPL‑716 or our other product candidates. In addition, the laws of other countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Furthermore, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years after it is filed. Various extensions and adjustments may be available; however, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. The actual protection afforded by a patent

varies on a product‑by‑product basis, from country to country and depends upon many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the availability of regulatory‑related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in a particular country and the validity and enforceability of the patent.

Patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension in the United States under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch‑Waxman Act. Similar patent extensions exist in the EU and Japan, subject to the applicable laws in those jurisdictions. We may not receive an extension if we fail to apply within applicable deadlines or fail to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents. For example, no patent term extension was obtained in the United States following the FDA’s approval of rilonacept for the treatment of CAPS, and the deadline for applying for such extension has passed. Accordingly, patent term extension in the United States based on the FDA’s approval of rilonacept for CAPS, or any other indication for which the FDA may grant approval in the future, is unavailable. Further, while patent term extension was awarded for relevant patents in certain European countries following the EMA’s approval of rilonacept for the treatment of CAPS, in 2012 the marketing authorization for CAPs was withdrawn. Patent term extensions may no longer be in effect or available, subject to the applicable laws in those countries as well as other factors, such as whether a marketing approval for rilonacept is reissued and whether such reissuance is prior to the expiration of the patent’s natural 20‑year patent term. Moreover, the length of the extension could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, the period during which we can enforce our patent rights for that product will be shortened and our competitors may obtain approval to market competing products sooner, impacting our revenue.

Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized, thereby limiting protection such patent would afford the respective product and any competitive advantage such patent may provide. In some cases, an in‑licensed patent portfolio may have undergone a considerable loss of patent term prior to our initiation of development and commercialization of the product candidate. For example, the patents covering rilonacept as a composition of matter have a term that expires in 2019 in the United States, not including patent term adjustment (an adjustment to the term of the U.S. patent to compensate the patentee for delays caused by the USPTO during the examination process), and in 2023 in Europe, not including any patent term extensions, and the patents covering mavrilimumab as a composition of matter have a term that expires in 2027 in the United States, not including any patent term adjustments or extensions, and in 2027 in Europe, not including any patent term extensions. As a result, our owned and in‑licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with adequate and continuing patent protection sufficient to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to our product candidates. In such cases, we expect to rely on regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates, such as orphan drug exclusivity, which generally grants seven years of marketing exclusivity under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and up to ten years of marketing exclusivity in Europe. While, we may pursue orphan drug designation for our product candidates in the United States, we may not be successful in obtaining such designation or we may not be able to maintain the benefits of the designation. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for any of our product candidates, that exclusivity may not effectively protect those product candidates from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition, and orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving the same or a different drug in another indication. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve a later application for the same drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer in a substantial portion of the target populations, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. See “Risk Factors— Risks related to marketing approval and regulatory matters.”

Other parties may have developed or may develop technologies that may be related or competitive to our own, and such parties may have filed or may file patent applications, or may have received or may receive patents, claiming inventions that may overlap or conflict with those claimed in our patent applications or issued patents, with respect to either the same methods or formulations or the same subject matter, in either case, that we may rely upon to dominate our patent position in the market. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we

or our licensors were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights cannot be predicted with any certainty.

In addition, the patent prosecution process is expensive and time consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Patent prosecution is a lengthy process, during which the scope of the claims initially submitted for examination by the USPTO is often significantly narrowed by the time they issue, if at all. The claims of our issued patents or patent applications when issued may not cover our product candidates, proposed commercial technologies or the future products that we develop, or even if such patents provide coverage, the coverage obtained may not provide any competitive advantage. Further, it is possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. In the case of our field‑limited license from Regeneron, another licensee may have the right to enforce patents covering the product in their field. As a result, we may need to coordinate enforcement with another party, and the other party could enforce the patents in a manner adverse to our interests or otherwise put the patents at risk of invalidation.

The strength of patents in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical field involves complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. The patent applications that we own or license may fail to result in issued patents in the United States or in other countries. Even if we acquire patent protection that we expect should enable us to maintain a competitive advantage, third parties may challenge the validity, enforceability or scope thereof, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity, enforceability or term, and our owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. For example, we may be subject to a third‑party submission of prior art to the USPTO challenging the priority of an invention claimed within one of our patents, which submissions may also be made prior to a patent’s issuance, precluding the granting of any of our pending patent applications. We may become involved in contested proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others from whom we have obtained licenses to such rights. For example, patents granted by the USPTO may be subject to third‑party challenges such as (without limitation) derivation, re‑examination, interference, post‑grant review or inter partes review proceedings, and patents granted by the European Patent Office may be challenged by any person in an opposition proceeding within nine months from the publication of the grant. Similar proceedings are available in other jurisdictions, and in some jurisdictions third parties can raise questions of validity with a patent office even before a patent has granted. Competitors may claim that they invented the inventions claimed in our issued patents or patent applications prior to us, or may file patent applications before we do. In such case, we may have to participate in interference or derivation proceedings in the USPTO, to determine which party is entitled to a patent on the disputed invention. We may also become involved in similar opposition proceedings in the European Patent Office or similar offices in other jurisdictions regarding our intellectual property rights with respect to our products and technology.

Such proceedings can be expensive, time consuming and may divert the efforts of our technical and managerial personnel, which could in turn harm our business, whether or not we receive a determination favorable to us. We may not be able to correctly estimate or control our future operating expenses in relation to such proceedings, which could affect operating expenses. Our operating expenses may fluctuate significantly in the future as a result of a variety of factors, including the costs of such proceedings.

Since patent applications are confidential for a period of time after filing, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to file any patent application related to our product candidates. Competitors may also contest our patents, if issued, by showing the patent examiner that the invention was not original, was not novel or was obvious. In litigation, a competitor could claim that our patents, if issued, are not valid for a number of reasons. If a court agrees, rights to those challenged patents may be diminished or lost.

In addition, we may in the future be subject to claims by our or our licensors’ former employees or consultants asserting an ownership right in our patents or patent applications, as a result of the work they performed on our or their behalf, respectively. Although we generally require all of our employees and consultants and any other partners or

collaborators who have access to our proprietary know‑how, information or technology to assign or grant similar rights to their inventions to us, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors have executed such agreements with all parties who may have contributed to our intellectual property, nor can we be certain that our agreements with such parties will be upheld in the face of a potential challenge, or that they will not be breached, for which we may not have an adequate remedy.

An adverse determination in any such submission or proceeding may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, without payment to us, or could limit the duration of the patent protection covering our technology and product candidates. Such challenges may also result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize our product candidates without infringing third‑party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.

Even if they are unchallenged, our issued patents and our pending patent applications, if issued, may not provide us with any meaningful protection or prevent competitors from designing around our patent claims to circumvent our owned or licensed patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non‑infringing manner. For example, a third party may develop a competitive drug that provides benefits similar to one or more of our product candidates but that has a different composition that falls outside the scope of our patent protection. If the patent protection provided by the patents and patent applications we hold or pursue with respect to our product candidates is not sufficiently broad to impede such competition, or if the breadth, strength or term (including any extensions or adjustments) of protection provided by the patents and patent applications we hold or pursue with respect to our product candidates or any future product candidates is successfully challenged, our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates could be negatively affected, which would harm our business. Further, if we encounter delays in our clinical trials, the period of time during which we could market our product candidates or any future product candidates under patent protection would be reduced.

Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. If we breach any of the agreements related to our product candidates, we could lose the ability to continue the development and commercialization of the related product. Additionally, our current licensing and acquisition agreements contain limitations and restrictions that could limit or adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize other products in the future.

We entered into agreements to acquire the rights to develop or commercialize our product candidates, rilonacept, mavrilimumab, KPL‑716, and KPL‑404. In September 2017, we entered into a license agreement with Regeneron to obtain an exclusive license under certain intellectual property rights controlled by Regeneron to develop and commercialize rilonacept. In December 2017, we entered into the MedImmune Agreement to obtain exclusive worldwide rights to research, develop, manufacture, market and sell mavrilimumab and any other products covered by the licensed patent rights. In September 2016, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement with Biogen, or the Biogen Agreement, we acquired all of Biogen’s right, title and interest in and to certain assets used in or relating to KPL‑716, including patents and other intellectual property rights, clinical data, know‑how and inventory. In connection with our acquisition of Primatope Therapeutics, Inc., or Primatope, in March 2019, we acquired an exclusive world-wide license with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for certain patent applications and patents related to KPL-404. Each of these agreements requires us to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the related product candidates, make timely milestone and other payments, provide certain information regarding our activities with respect to such product candidates and indemnify the other party with respect to our development and commercialization activities under the terms of the agreements. These agreements and any future such agreements that we enter into impose a variety of obligations and related consequences.

We are a party to license and acquisition agreements of importance to our business and to our current product candidates, and we expect to be subject to additional such agreements in the future. Disputes may arise between us and

any of these counterparties regarding intellectual property subject to and each parties’ obligations under such agreements, including:

These or other disputes over our obligations or intellectual property that we have licensed or acquired may prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current arrangements on acceptable terms, or may impair the value of the arrangement to us. Any such dispute could have an adverse effect on our business.

If we fail to meet our obligations under these agreements in a material respect, the respective licensor/seller would have the right to terminate the respective agreement and upon the effective date of such termination, have the right to re‑obtain the related technology as well as aspects of any intellectual property controlled by us and developed during the period the agreement was in force that relate to the applicable technology. This means that the licensor/seller to each of these agreements could effectively take control of the development and commercialization of our product candidates after an uncured, material breach of the agreement by us. This would also be the case if we voluntarily elected to terminate the relevant agreement, which we have the right to do under each of these agreements. While we would expect to exercise our rights and remedies available to us in the event we fail to meet our obligations under these agreements in any material respect, including seeking to cure any breach by us, and otherwise seek to preserve our rights under the technology licensed to or acquired by us, we may not be able to do so in a timely manner, at an acceptable cost or at all. Any uncured, material breach under the license could result in our loss of exclusive rights and may lead to a complete termination of our product development and any commercialization efforts for each of our product candidates.  Termination of one of these agreements for any reason, and the related discontinuation of the development or commercialization of a product candidate could impair our ability to raise additional capital, generate revenue and may significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.

Regeneron has rights to develop rilonacept in its retained fields of local administration to the eye and ear, oncology, deficiency of the IL‑1 receptor, and CAPS. Regeneron may also develop rilonacept in fields to which we have licensed the rights, but we retain the commercial benefit related to that development upon approval of rilonacept in any field that we have licensed. We and Regeneron communicate with each other concerning our related development activities, and we have approval rights over Regeneron’s development in the fields that we have licensed, including pericarditis. Outside of the United States and Japan, Regeneron has granted a third‑party licensee the right to develop and commercialize rilonacept in CAPS and certain periodic fever syndromes. The development of rilonacept in other fields could increase the possibility of identification of adverse safety results that impact our development of rilonacept for recurrent pericarditis. In addition, if approved, commercialization of rilonacept in other fields could result in an increased threat of off‑label use to compete with the sale of rilonacept to treat these indications, which may diminish sales of rilonacept in fields licensed exclusively to us.

Certain of our agreements may limit or delay our ability to consummate certain transactions, may impact the value of those transactions, or may limit our ability to pursue certain activities. For example, under the MedImmune Agreement, we cannot sublicense the rights licensed or sublicensed to us without the consent of MedImmune and certain applicable third‑party licensors, if required by agreements between MedImmune and such third‑party licensors. Under the Biogen Agreement, Biogen has a right of first negotiation under certain circumstances to purchase the assets we acquired from Biogen or to obtain a license to exploit the applicable products. This right of first negotiation remains in effect until the earlier of 12 years from the date of the agreement or the first commercial sale of a product under the agreement, and applies to a variety of transactions, including licensing transactions and the sale of our company. In addition, under the Biogen Agreement, we are subject to an exclusivity obligation, pursuant to which we may not conduct any activity alone or through a third party related to a product that modulates the oncostatin M receptor (other than for the development and commercialization of products that are the subject of the Biogen Agreement). This exclusivity obligation runs from the earlier of the eighth anniversary of the agreement or the first commercial sale of a product that is the subject of the agreement.

Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights and intellectual property of third parties. The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by extensive and frequent litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that our product candidates or any future product candidates, including methods of making or using these product candidates, will not infringe existing or future third‑party patents. We may in the future become party to, or threatened with, adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our product candidates and technology, including contested proceedings before the USPTO. Our competitors or other third parties may assert infringement claims against us, alleging that our products are covered by their patents.

Given the vast number of patents in our field of technology, we cannot be certain that we do not infringe existing patents or that we will not infringe patents that may be granted in the future. Many companies have filed, and continue to file, patent applications related to immunomodulation. Some of these patent applications have already been allowed or issued, and others may issue in the future. For example, we are aware of third‑party patents that contain claims potentially relevant to certain therapeutic uses of mavrilimumab and KPL‑716. If the claims of any of these patents are asserted against us, we do not believe our proposed activities related to mavrilimumab and KPL‑716 would be found to infringe any valid claim of these patents. While we may decide to initiate proceedings to challenge the validity of these or other patents in the future, we may be unsuccessful, and courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad could uphold the validity of any such patent. If we were to challenge the validity of any issued U.S. patent in court, we would need to overcome a statutory presumption of validity that attaches to every U.S. patent. This means that in order to prevail, we would have to present clear and convincing evidence as to the invalidity of the patent’s claims. In order to avoid infringing these or any other third‑party patents, we may find it necessary or prudent to obtain licenses to such patents from such third‑party intellectual property holders. However, we may be unable to secure such licenses or otherwise acquire or in‑license any compositions, methods of use, processes, or other intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our current or future product candidates. The licensing or acquisition of third‑party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and several more established companies may also pursue strategies to license or acquire third‑party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third‑party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third‑party intellectual property or maintain the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may have to cease development of the relevant program or product candidate, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Since our product candidates are being developed for use in fields that are competitive and of strong interest to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, we will likely seek to file additional patent applications and may have

additional patents granted in the future, based on our future research and development efforts. Furthermore, because patent applications can take many years to issue and may be confidential for 18 months or more after filing, and because pending patent claims can be revised before issuance, there may be applications now pending which may later result in issued patents that may be infringed by the manufacture, use or sale of our product candidates. Regardless of when filed, we may fail to identify relevant third‑party patents or patent applications, or we may incorrectly conclude that a third‑party patent is invalid or not infringed by our product candidates or activities. If a patent holder believes our product candidate infringes its patent, the patent holder may sue us even if we have received patent protection for our technology. Moreover, we may face patent infringement claims from non‑practicing entities that have no relevant drug revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may thus have no deterrent effect. If a patent infringement suit were threatened or brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay research, development, manufacturing or sales of the product candidate that is the subject of the actual or threatened suit.

If we are found to infringe a third‑party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our product candidates and technology. Under any such license, we would most likely be required to pay various types of fees, milestones, royalties or other amounts. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain such a license, it could be granted on non‑exclusive terms, thereby providing our competitors and other third parties access to the same technologies licensed to us. Without such a license, we could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing and commercializing the infringing technology or product candidate, or forced to redesign it, or to cease some aspect of our business operations. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed such third‑party patent rights. We may be required to indemnify collaborators or contractors against such claims. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation can be expensive and time consuming and would divert management’s attention from our core business. Any of these events could harm our business significantly.

We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.

Competitors and other third parties may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our patents and other intellectual property rights, whether owned or in‑licensed. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we or our current or future collaborators may be required to file infringement claims against these infringers. A court may disagree with our allegations, however, and may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the third‑party technology in question. Further, such third parties could counterclaim that we infringe their intellectual property or that a patent we have asserted against them is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims challenging the validity, enforceability or scope of asserted patents are commonplace. In addition, third parties may initiate legal proceedings against us to assert such challenges to our intellectual property rights. The outcome of any such proceeding is generally unpredictable. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness or non‑enablement. Patents may be unenforceable if someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO or made a misleading statement during prosecution. It is possible that prior art of which we or our licensors and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution exists, which could render our patents invalid. Moreover, it is also possible that prior art may exist that we are aware of but do not believe is relevant to our current or future patents, but that could nevertheless be determined to render our patents invalid.

Some of our competitors may be able to devote significantly more resources to intellectual property litigation, and may have significantly broader patent portfolios to assert against us if we assert our rights against them. Further, because of the substantial discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be disclosed or otherwise compromised during litigation.

An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents, whether owned or in‑licensed, at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability of our patents covering one of our product candidates, we would lose at least part, and

perhaps all, of the patent protection covering such product candidate. Competing products may also be sold in other countries in which our patent coverage might not exist or be as strong. If we lose a patent lawsuit outside of the United States, alleging our infringement of a competitor’s patents, we could be prevented from marketing our products in one or more such countries. Any of these outcomes would have a materially adverse effect on our business.

Intellectual property litigation could cause us to spend substantial resources and distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.

Litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims, with or without merit, is unpredictable and generally expensive and time consuming and is likely to divert significant resources from our core business, including distracting our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our Class A common shares. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities.

We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating or from successfully challenging our intellectual property rights. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

Obtaining and maintaining patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non‑compliance with these requirements.

The USPTO and various governmental patent agencies outside of the United States require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In addition, periodic maintenance fees on issued patents often must be paid to the USPTO and patent agencies outside of the United States over the lifetime of the patent. While an unintentional lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non‑compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non‑payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or our licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or technologies, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing products that are the same as or similar to our product candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, if we fail to apply for applicable patent term extensions or adjustments, we will have a more limited time during which we can enforce our granted patents. In addition, if we are responsible for patent prosecution and maintenance of patent rights in‑licensed to us, any of the foregoing could expose us to liability to the applicable patent owner.

We may not be able to effectively enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. The requirements for patentability may differ in certain countries, particularly in developing countries. Moreover, our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights may be adversely affected by unforeseen changes in intellectual property laws outside of the United States. In addition, the patent laws of some such countries do not afford intellectual property protection to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain jurisdictions outside of the United States. Varying filing dates in international countries may also permit intervening

third parties to allege priority to patent applications claiming certain technology. The legal systems of some countries, particularly developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property rights. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. For example, many countries outside of the United States have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against certain parties, including government agencies or government contractors. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, if our ability to enforce our patents to stop infringing activities is inadequate. These products may compete with our product candidates, and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

Proceedings to enforce our patent rights, whether owned or in‑licensed, in jurisdictions outside of the United States, whether or not successful, could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and resources from other aspects of our business. Furthermore, while we intend to pursue protection for our intellectual property rights in the major markets for our product candidates, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in which we may wish to market our product candidates. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and other countries may affect our ability to obtain and enforce adequate intellectual property protection for our technology.

Changes to the patent law in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our product candidates.

As is the case with other biopharmaceutical companies, our success is heavily dependent on intellectual property, particularly patents. Obtaining and enforcing patents in the biopharmaceutical industry involve both technological and legal complexity and is therefore costly, time consuming and inherently uncertain. Patent reform legislation in the United States and other countries, including the Leahy‑Smith America Invents Act, or Leahy‑Smith Act, signed into law on September 16, 2011, could increase those uncertainties and costs. The Leahy‑Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art and provide more efficient and cost‑effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents. In addition, the Leahy‑Smith Act has transformed the U.S. patent system into a first‑to‑file system. The first‑to‑file provisions, however, only became effective on March 16, 2013. Accordingly, it is not yet clear what, if any, impact the Leahy‑Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy‑Smith Act and its implementation could make it more difficult to obtain patent protection for our inventions, whether owned or in‑licensed, and increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, in each case whether owned or in‑licensed, all of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Among some of the other changes introduced by the Leahy‑Smith Act are changes that limit where a patentee may file a patent infringement suit and provide new opportunities for third parties to challenge issued patents in the USPTO. We may be subject to the risk of third‑party prior art submissions on pending applications or become a party to opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post‑grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patents. There is a lower standard of evidence necessary to invalidate a patent claim in a USPTO proceeding relative to the standard in U.S. district or federal court. This could lead third parties to challenge and successfully invalidate our patents that would not otherwise be invalidated if challenged through the court system.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition, there have been recent proposals for additional changes to the patent laws of the United States and other countries that, if adopted, could impact our ability to obtain or maintain patent protection for our proprietary technology or our ability to enforce our proprietary technology. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. courts, the USPTO and the relevant law‑making bodies in other countries, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents; enforce or shorten the term of our existing

patents and patents that we might obtain in the future; shorten the term that has been lengthened by patent term adjustment of our existing patents or patents that we might obtain in the future; or challenge the validity or enforceability of our patents that may be asserted against us by our competitors or other third parties. Any of these outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position may be harmed.

In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we may rely upon unpatented trade secret protection, unpatented know‑how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. Although we seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with our collaborators, scientific advisors, contractors, employees and consultants, and invention assignment agreements with our consultants, scientific advisors and employees, we may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical know‑how or other trade secrets by the parties to these agreements. Moreover, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our confidential information or proprietary technology and processes. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies will be effective. If any of the collaborators, scientific advisors, employees, contractors and consultants who are parties to these agreements breaches or violates the terms of any of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could lose our trade secrets as a result. Moreover, if confidential information that is licensed or disclosed to us by our partners, collaborators, or others is inadvertently disclosed or subject to a breach or violation, we may be exposed to liability to the owner of that confidential information. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets, like patent litigation, is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States are sometimes less willing to protect trade secrets.

We cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use or unauthorized reverse engineering of our technology. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. We may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. The steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property.

We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and other confidential information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached. Detecting the disclosure or misappropriation of confidential information and enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated confidential information is difficult, expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Further, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our confidential information may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors, in which case we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. We may in the future rely on trade secret protection, which would be subject to the risks identified above with respect to confidential information.

Our trade secrets could otherwise become known or be independently discovered by our competitors. Competitors could purchase our product candidates and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If our trade secrets are not adequately protected so as to protect our market against competitors’ products, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business.

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.

Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors or other third parties may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have not yet registered trademarks for a commercial trade name for our product candidates in the United States or jurisdictions outside of the United States and failure to secure such registrations could adversely affect our business.

We have not yet registered trademarks for a commercial trade name for some of our product candidates in the United States or any jurisdiction outside of the United States. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections. Although we are given an opportunity to respond to those rejections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, in the USPTO and in comparable agencies in many jurisdictions outside of the United States, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and to seek to cancel registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademarks, and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings. Moreover, any name we propose to use with our product candidates in the United States must be approved by the FDA, regardless of whether we have registered it, or applied to register it, as a trademark. The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product names, including an evaluation of potential for confusion with other product names. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed proprietary product names, we may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable substitute name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA.

Risks Related to Commercialization

The incidence and prevalence for target patient populations of our product candidates have not been established with precision. If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than we estimate, or if any approval that we obtain is based on a narrower definition of the patient population, our revenue and ability to achieve profitability may be materially adversely affected.

The precise incidence and prevalence for all the conditions we aim to address with our programs are not know with specificity. Our projections of both the number of people who have these diseases, as well as the subset of people with these diseases who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our extrapolation from available population data and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including the scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations, pharmacy claims analyses, or market research, and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new trials and therapeutic options may lead to changes in the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases, or relevant subpopulations thereof. As a result, the number of patients who may benefit from our product candidates may turn out to be lower than expected.

The total addressable market for any of our product candidates will ultimately depend upon, among other things, the diagnostic criteria and applicable patient population included in the final label for the product candidate approved for sale for its indication, the efficacy, safety, and tolerability demonstrated by the product candidate in our clinical trials, acceptance by the medical community and patients, pricing, access and reimbursement. The number of addressable patients in the United States and other major markets outside of the United States may turn out to be lower

than expected, patients may not be otherwise amenable to treatment with our products or new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, all of which would adversely affect our results of operations and our business. Further, even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because the potential target populations are very small, we may never achieve profitability despite obtaining significant market share.

If we are unable to establish and expand our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, either directly or through agreements with third parties, we may not be successful in commercializing our product candidates, if approved, thus potentially impairing commercial potential for our product candidates to generate any revenue.

We have never sold, marketed or distributed any therapeutic products.  To achieve commercial success for any approved product candidate, we must build our sales, marketing, distribution, managerial and other non‑technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, we are currently undertaking plans to establish and develop our sales, marketing, and distribution capabilities and infrastructure to directly commercialize rilonacept, in anticipation of approval.

There are risks involved with both establishing our own sales and marketing capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, recruiting and training a sales force is expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we are unable to retain or reposition our sales and marketing personnel.

Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize our product candidates include:

If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing, distribution and other commercial support services, our product revenues or the profitability of these revenues to us are likely to be lower than if we were to market and sell any product candidates that we develop ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. We may have little contractual control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our product candidates effectively.  Furthermore, developing a sales, marketing and access organization requires significant investment, is time consuming and could delay the launch of our product candidates. We may not be able to build an effective sales, marketing and access organization in the United States, the EU or other key markets. If we do not establish sales, marketing and access capabilities successfully, either on our own or through arrangements with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our product

candidates. Further, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects will be materially adversely affected.

Our current or future product candidates may not gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, or third-party payors (e.g., governments and private health insurers) in which case our ability to generate product revenues will be impaired.

Even if the FDA or any other regulatory authority approves the marketing of our product candidates (whether developed on our own or with a collaborator), , physicians, healthcare providers, patients, the medical community or third-party-payors may not accept or use our product candidates, or effectively block or limit their use in the case of third-party payors. If our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate projected level of product revenue or sufficient profits from operations, if at all. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates will depend on a variety of factors, including:

If our product candidates fail to gain market acceptance, our ability to generate revenues will be adversely affected. Even if our product candidates achieve market acceptance, the relevant market may prove not to be large enough to allow us to generate significant revenues.

The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which third-party payors, including governmental authorities and private health insurers, provide funding, establish favorable coverage and pricing policies, and set adequate reimbursement levels. Failure to obtain or maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates, if approved, could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

Our ability to commercialize any of our product candidates successfully, particularly in orphan or rare disease indications, will depend in part on the availability of favorable coverage and the adequacy of reimbursement for the product candidate and alternative treatments from third-party payors (e.g., governmental authorities, private health insurers and other organizations).  Obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement is contingent on our ability to:

While in some markets, there is a single payor, in other markets there are multiple payors that can have different ways of assessing prescription drugs.  To commercialize our product candidates successfully, we will be required to have sufficient expertise and resources to execute on the respective product candidate’s coverage and reimbursement strategy, which we cannot be certain we will be able to do.

Governmental authorities, private health insurers and other third-party payors have attempted to control costs by delaying the time to reimbursement, and by restricting the breadth of patient-coverage and limiting the amount of reimbursement for particular products in terms of lower pricing and increasing the proportion of the cost for which the patient is responsible. There may be significant delays in obtaining reimbursement for newly approved products or product indications, coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the product is approved by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States, and reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the product and the clinical setting in which it is used. Coverage and reimbursement barriers by payors may materially impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. If coverage and reimbursement are not available, or available only at limited levels, or if such coverage will require patient out-of-pocket costs that are unacceptably high, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. Moreover, any coverage or reimbursement that may be obtained may be decreased or eliminated in the future.

Third-party payors continue to introduce new tactics to contain costs, including more rigorous value/benefit assessment processes and criteria.  It is possible that third-party payors will change the clinical comparators that serve as benchmarks for determining relative value.  The result of such a change would be a more challenging value/benefit assessment caused by a more challenging basis for comparison and the potential for a worse relative outcome.  Third-party payors may determine that we have failed to generate sufficient evidence to support a value/benefit assessment and refuse to provide coverage and reimbursement, thereby impacting or preventing the progression to a price negotiation.  The potential of third-party payors to introduce more rigorous value/benefit assessment processes and criteria could have a negative impact on our ability to commercialize our product candidates successfully.

Third-party payors are also introducing more challenging price negotiation tactics, including in re-visiting established coverage and reimbursement in cases when new competitors, including brands, generics and biosimilars enter the market.  It is possible that a third-party payor may consider our product candidates as substitutable and only offer to cover the cost of the alternative product. Even if we show improved efficacy or improved convenience of administration with our product candidates, pricing of competitive products may limit the amount we will be able to charge for our product candidates. Third-party payors may deny or revoke the reimbursement status of a given product or establish prices for new or existing marketed products at levels that are too low to enable us to realize an appropriate

return on our investment in our product candidates.  In some cases, when new competitor generic and biosimilar products enter the market, there are mandatory price reductions for the innovator compound, in other cases, payors employ “therapeutic category” price referencing and seek to lower the reimbursement levels for all treatment in the respective therapeutic category.  In other cases, new competitor brand drugs can trigger therapeutic category reviews in the interest of modifying coverage and or reimbursement levels.  The potential of third-party payors to introduce more challenging price negotiation tactics could have a negative impact on our ability to commercialize our product candidates successfully.

Evolving health policy and associated legislative changes related to coverage and reimbursement aimed at lowering healthcare expenditure could impact the commercialization of our product candidates.  Pharmaceutical pricing has been, and likely will continue to be, a central component of these efforts. 

The regulations that govern regulatory approvals, pricing and reimbursement for new pharmaceutical products vary widely from country to country. In markets of some countries we may pursue outside of the United States for any of our product candidates, the products may be subject to extensive governmental price control or other price regulations. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing approval is granted. In some markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain marketing approval for a product candidate in a particular country, but then be subject to price negotiations that delay our commercial launch of the product candidate, possibly for lengthy time periods, which may negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product candidate in that country. Adverse pricing and reimbursement limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if our product candidates obtain marketing approval.

Net prices for products may be reduced by mandatory discounts or legislated rebates that must be paid in order to participate in government healthcare programs or paid to other third-party payors.  Mandatory discounts can be legislated at any time in any market.  Similarly, some markets currently have pricing legislation that sets the price of a pharmaceutical product in their market by referencing the price of that product in other markets, known as international reference pricing.  International reference pricing has the potential to impact price cuts in individual countries and the countries that reference the pricing of certain other individual countries. Expansion of mandatory discounts and international reference pricing, including into the United States, presents a material risk to our ability to achieve favorable pricing and adequate reimbursement.

Drug importation and cross-border trade, both sanctioned and unsanctioned, occurs when a pharmaceutical product from a market where the official price is set lower is shipped and made commercially available in a market where the official price is set higher.  Any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict or limit drug importation or cross-border trade, including in the United States, could have a material negative impact on our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved.

We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our product candidates due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and biologics and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become intense. As a result, we may not be able to achieve or sustain favorable pricing for our product candidates and adequate reimbursement.

Our future growth may depend, in part, on our ability to penetrate markets outside of the United States, where we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and other risks and uncertainties.

Our future profitability may depend, in part, on our ability to commercialize our product candidates in markets outside of the United States for which we may rely on collaborations with third parties. For example, we are conducting a global, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial with rilonacept for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis. Although we do not have immediate plans to pursue the commercialization of rilonacept for recurrent pericarditis outside of the United States, we are evaluating the opportunities for the development and commercialization of our product candidates in certain markets outside of the United States. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive

regulatory approval from the applicable regulatory authority in that market, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. To obtain separate regulatory approval in many other countries we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such countries regarding safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, clinical trials and commercial sales, pricing and distribution of our product candidates, and we cannot predict success in these jurisdictions. If we obtain approval of our product candidates and ultimately commercialize our product candidates in markets outside of the United States, we would be subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including:

Sales of our product candidates outside of the United States could also be adversely affected by the imposition of governmental controls, political and economic instability, trade restrictions and changes in tariffs.

In some countries, particularly the countries in Europe, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, price negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a drug. To obtain adequate reimbursement or favorable pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares our product candidate to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be harmed, possibly materially.

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union may have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business.

Following a national referendum and enactment of legislation by the government of the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union on January 31, 2020 and entered into a transition period during which it will continue its ongoing and complex negotiations with the European Union relating to the future trading relationship between the parties.  Significant political and economic uncertainty remains about whether the terms of the relationship will differ materially from the terms before withdrawal, as well as about the possibility that a so-called “no deal” separation will occur if negotiations are not completed by the end of the transition period.  

These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, have had and may continue to have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and may significantly reduce global market liquidity, restrict the ability of key market participants to operate in certain financial markets or restrict our access to capital.  For example, there may be uncertainty regarding how clinical trials may be regulated. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce the price of our shares. 

We are currently subject to ongoing obligations, regulatory requirements and review, and if we receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, will be subject to additional ongoing obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.

If the FDA or a comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States approves any of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, distribution, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record‑keeping, AE reporting, conduct of post‑marketing trials and submission of safety, efficacy and other post‑market information for our approved product candidates, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States.

Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA, and comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States, requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations. As such, we and our CMOs will be subject to user fees and continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any BLA or MAA. Accordingly, we and our CMOs and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control.

Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post‑marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. We will be required to report certain adverse reactions and production problems, if any, to the FDA and comparable regulatory authorities outside of the United States. Any new legislation addressing drug safety issues could result in delays in product development or commercialization, or increased costs to assure compliance.

While our current clinical and medical affairs activities are subject to certain ongoing regulatory requirements concerning appropriate exchange of medical and scientific information, if the FDA or a comparable regulatory authority outside of the United States approves any of our product candidates we will have to comply with additional requirements concerning advertising and promotion for our products. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs and biologics are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote our products for indications or uses for which they do not have approval.

The holder of an approved BLA or MAA must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. We could also be asked to conduct post‑marketing clinical trials to verify the safety and efficacy of our products in general or in specific patient subsets. If original marketing approval were obtained via the accelerated approval pathway, we could be required to conduct a successful post‑marketing clinical trial to confirm clinical benefit for our products. An unsuccessful post‑marketing trial or failure to complete such a trial could result in the withdrawal of marketing approval. The FDA also may place other conditions on approvals including the requirement for a REMS, to assure the safe use of the product. If the FDA concludes a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the BLA must submit a proposed REMS before it can obtain approval. A REMS could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools.

If a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with our product, such as AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, or disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of a product, such regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market. If we discover previously unknown problems with a product candidate, including AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our manufacturing processes, or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency or enforcement authority may, among other things:

Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response, and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our products. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results will be adversely affected.

If there are changes in the application of legislation or regulatory policies, or if problems are discovered with a product or the manufacture of a product, or if we or one of our distributors, licensees or co‑marketers fails to comply with regulatory requirements, the regulatory authorities could take various actions. These include imposing fines on us, imposing restrictions on our product or its manufacture and requiring us to recall or remove the product from the market. The regulatory authorities could also suspend or withdraw our marketing authorizations, or require us to conduct additional clinical trials, change our product labeling or submit additional applications for marketing authorization. If any of these events occurs, our ability to sell our product may be impaired, and we may incur substantial additional expense to comply with regulatory requirements.

The policies of the FDA and other regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States, Europe or in other jurisdictions. For example, the current U.S. presidential administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to engage in routine oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance and review and approval of marketing applications. It is difficult to predict how these Executive Orders will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose restrictions on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted. In addition, if we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

Our business operations and current and future relationships with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, customers and third‑party payors will be subject to applicable anti‑kickback, fraud and abuse, physician payment transparency, health information privacy and security and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, exclusion from government healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Although we do not currently have any products on the market, as we near commercialization and as we begin commercializing our product candidates, if approved, we will be subject to additional healthcare statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by the United States federal and state governments and the governments of other countries or jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. Healthcare providers, physicians and third‑party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with third‑party payors and customers 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 product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.

Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include the following:

These laws and regulations, among other things, may constrain our business, marketing and other promotional activities by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements we may have with hospitals, physicians or other potential purchasers of our product candidates, if approved. We have entered into consulting and advisory board agreements with physicians, some of whom are paid in the form of shares or options to acquire our common shares. We could be adversely affected if regulatory agencies determine our financial relationships with such physicians to be in violation of applicable laws or the appearance of a conflict of interest. For example, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator or a clinical trial site has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of a study. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized, which could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or other regulatory authorities and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of our product candidates. Furthermore, investigators for our clinical trials may become debarred by FDA or other regulatory authorities, which may impact the integrity of our studies and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized.  Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available under such laws, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such 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.

Interactions between biopharmaceutical companies and physicians are also governed by strict laws, regulations, industry self‑regulation codes of conduct and physicians’ codes of professional conduct in the individual EU member states. The provision of any inducements to physicians to prescribe, recommend, endorse, order, purchase, supply, use or administer a drug product is prohibited. A number of EU member states have established additional rules requiring pharmaceutical companies to publicly disclose their interactions with physicians and to obtain approval from employers, professional organizations or competent authorities before entering into agreements with physicians.

Ensuring that our future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations, including anticipated activities to be conducted by our sales team, were to be 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 the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary

fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting requirements or oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non‑compliance with these laws, and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.

Other Risks Related to Our Business

Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and could limit commercialization of any product candidates that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any product candidates that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates caused injuries, we could incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in: