General Risk Factors
Raising additional capital may cause additional dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations, require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates, and could cause our share price to fall.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue from product sales, we may finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, marketing and distribution arrangements and other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements. As previously disclosed, we have engaged Evercore LLC, a global independent investment bank, to identify potential opportunities to enhance stockholder value. The process includes a review of a broad range of strategic alternatives, including strategic partnerships, acquisition, merger, or other business combination, sale of assets or other strategic transactions. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.
To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our operations, our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, declaring dividends, redeeming our stock, making certain investments and engaging in certain merger, consolidation or asset sale transactions, among other restrictions. If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.
We or the third parties upon whom we depend may be adversely affected by natural disasters or pandemics and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.
Natural disasters (including, but not limited to earthquakes, fires, storms, floods, droughts, and extreme temperatures) or pandemics could severely disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. Climate change has increased, and is expected to continue to increase the frequency or intensity of such events. Moreover, climate change may result in various chronic changes in the physical environment, such as changes in temperature or precipitation patterns or sea-level rise, as well as changes to the availability of certain natural resources, that may also have an adverse impact on our operations. If a natural disaster, power outage, pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our headquarters or the virtual network capabilities upon which our employees depend to collaborate and access critical business records, that damaged critical infrastructure, such as the manufacturing facilities on which we rely, or that otherwise disrupted operations, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place may prove inadequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Increased scrutiny of, and evolving expectations for ESG initiatives could increase our costs, harm our reputation, or otherwise adversely impact our business.
Companies across industries are facing increasing and evolving scrutiny related to their ESG and sustainability practices from certain investors, government entities, customers, employees, and other stakeholders or third parties. Expectations regarding voluntary ESG initiatives and disclosures may result in increased costs (including but not limited to increased costs related to compliance, stakeholder engagement, contracting and insurance), enhanced compliance or disclosure obligations, increased litigation or reputational damage relating to ESG practices or performance, or other adverse impacts to our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
While we may at times engage in voluntary initiatives (such as voluntary disclosures, certifications, or goals, among others), such initiatives may be costly and may not have the desired effect. Moreover, we may not be able to successfully complete such initiatives due to factors that are within or outside of our control. Even if this is not the case, our actions may subsequently be determined to be insufficient by various stakeholders, and we may be subject to investor or regulator engagement on our ESG efforts, even if such initiatives are currently voluntary.