research and development costs as incurred. These expenses include:
•expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations ("CROs") or contract manufacturing organizations (“CMOs”), as well as investigative sites and consultants that conduct our clinical trials, preclinical studies and other scientific development services;
•manufacturing scale-up expenses and the cost of acquiring and manufacturing preclinical and clinical trial materials and commercial materials, including manufacturing validation batches;
•employee-related expenses, including salaries, benefits, travel and non-cash share-based compensation expense for employees engaged in research and development functions;
•costs related to compliance with regulatory requirements;
•development milestone payments incurred prior to regulatory approval of the product candidate;
•rent and operating expenses incurred for leased lab facilities and equipment; and
•payments made in cash, equity securities or other forms of consideration under third-party licensing or other agreements prior to regulatory approval of the product candidate.
We recognize external development costs based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using estimates from our clinical personnel and information provided to us by our service providers.
Our external direct research and development expenses are tracked on a program-by-program basis for our product candidates and consist primarily of external costs, such as fees paid to outside consultants, CROs, CMOs, and central laboratories in connection with our preclinical development, process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities. Our direct research and development expenses by program also include fees and certain development milestones incurred under license agreements. We do not allocate employee costs, or other indirect costs, to specific programs because these costs are deployed across multiple programs and, as such, are not separately classified. We use internal resources primarily to oversee the research and development as well as for managing our preclinical development, process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities.
Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. We expect that our research and development expenses will remain significant over the
next several years as we increase personnel costs, conduct late-stage clinical trials, and prepare regulatory filings for our product candidates. We also expect to incur additional expenses related to milestones payable to third parties with whom we have entered into license agreements to acquire the rights to our product candidates.
The successful development and commercialization of our product candidates is highly uncertain. At this time, we cannot reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing and costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the preclinical and clinical development of any of our product candidates or when, if ever, material net cash inflows may commence from any of our product candidates. This uncertainty is due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, including the uncertainty of:
•the scope, progress, outcome and costs of our preclinical development activities, clinical trials and other research and development activities;
•establishment of an appropriate safety profile with IND-enabling studies;
•successful patient enrollment in, and the initiation and completion of, clinical trials;
•the timing, receipt and terms of any marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;
•establishment of commercial manufacturing capabilities or making arrangements with third-party manufacturers;
•development and timely delivery of commercial-grade drug formulations that can be used in our clinical trials and for commercial launch;
•acquisition, maintenance, defense and enforcement of patent claims and other intellectual property rights;
•significant and changing government regulation;
•initiation of commercial sales of our product candidates, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and
•maintenance of a continued acceptable safety profile of the product candidates following approval.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative ("G&A") expenses consist primarily of personnel costs, including salaries, benefits and travel expenses for our executive, finance, business, corporate development and other administrative functions; and non-cash share-based compensation expense. General and administrative expenses also include facilities and other related expenses, including rent, depreciation, maintenance of facilities, insurance and supplies; and for public relations, audit, tax and legal services, including legal
