form10-q.htm



UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-Q

(Mark One)
 
þ
QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
   
 
For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2010
   
OR
 
o
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: 001-33137

EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Delaware
14-1902018
(State or Other Jurisdiction of
Incorporation or Organization)
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
   
2273 Research Boulevard, Suite 400
 
Rockville, Maryland
20850
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Zip Code)

(301) 795-1800
(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

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.  þ Yes     o No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).  o Yes     o No

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

o Large accelerated filer                                             þ Accelerated filer                                        o Non-accelerated filer                                        o Smaller reporting company
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

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

As of April 30, 2010, the registrant had 31,040,676 shares of common stock outstanding.


 
 

 


Emergent BioSolutions Inc.

Index to Form 10-Q

Item 1.
 
 
 
 
Item 2.
Item 3.
Item 4.
Item 1.
Item 1A.
Item 2.
Item 3.
Item 4.
Item 5.
Item 6.
 
 


 
 

 

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This quarterly report on Form 10-Q and the documents incorporated by reference herein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.

These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about:

·  
our ability to perform under our contract with the U.S. government for sales of BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed), our FDA-approved anthrax vaccine, including the timing of deliveries;
·  
our plans for future sales of BioThrax, including our ability to obtain new contracts with the U.S. government;
·  
our efforts to pursue label expansions and improvements for BioThrax;
·  
our ability to win a U.S. government award for development of our recombinant protective antigen anthrax vaccine product candidate;
·  
our ability to win a U.S. government award for scale-up, qualification and validation of our manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan to manufacture BioThrax;
·  
our efforts to expand our manufacturing facilities and capabilities;
·  
the rate and degree of market acceptance and clinical utility of our products;
·  
our ongoing and planned development programs, preclinical studies and clinical trials;
·  
our ability to identify and acquire or in-license products and product candidates that satisfy our selection criteria;
·  
the potential benefits of our existing collaborations and our ability to selectively enter into additional collaborative arrangements;
·  
the timing of, and our ability to obtain and maintain, regulatory approvals for our product candidates;
·  
our commercialization, marketing and manufacturing capabilities and strategy;
·  
our intellectual property portfolio; and
·  
our estimates regarding expenses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing.

We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this quarterly report, particularly in the “Risk Factors” section, that we believe could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make.

You should read this quarterly report, including the documents that we have incorporated by reference herein or filed as exhibits hereto, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

 
 

 


PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 1.                        FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. and Subsidiaries
 
 
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
 
             
   
March 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
 
ASSETS
 
(Unaudited)
       
Current assets:
           
Cash and cash equivalents
  $ 116,384     $ 102,924  
Restricted cash
    215       215  
Accounts receivable
    33,405       54,872  
Inventories
    17,081       13,521  
Note receivable
    10,000       10,000  
Deferred tax assets, net
    2,147       1,870  
Income tax receivable, net
    5,033       2,574  
Prepaid expenses and other current assets
    7,271       7,838  
Total current assets
    191,536       193,814  
                 
Property, plant and equipment, net
    133,493       131,834  
Assets held for sale
    13,411       13,960  
Deferred tax assets, net
    3,174       3,894  
Other assets
    1,177       1,187  
                 
Total assets
  $ 342,791     $ 344,689  
                 
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
               
Current liabilities:
               
Accounts payable
  $ 16,164     $ 17,159  
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities
    1,575       1,570  
Accrued compensation
    9,346       14,926  
Indebtedness under line of credit
    15,000       15,000  
Long-term indebtedness, current portion
    5,797       5,791  
Deferred revenue
    241       255  
Total current liabilities
    48,123       54,701  
                 
Long-term indebtedness, net of current portion
    44,165       44,927  
Other liabilities
    1,387       1,246  
Total liabilities
    93,675       100,874  
                 
Commitments and contingencies
    -       -  
                 
Stockholders’ equity:
               
Preferred stock, $0.001 par value; 15,000,000 shares authorized, 0 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2010 and December 31, 2009, respectively
    -       -  
Common stock, $0.001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized, 31,004,343 and 30,831,360 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2010 and December 31, 2009, respectively
    31       31  
Additional paid-in capital
    123,643       120,492  
Accumulated other comprehensive loss
    (1,261 )     (1,476 )
Retained earnings
    124,675       122,152  
    Total Emergent BioSolutions Inc. stockholders' equity
    247,088       241,199  
Noncontrolling interest in subsidiary
    2,028       2,616  
Total stockholders’ equity
    249,116       243,815  
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity
  $ 342,791     $ 344,689  
                 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 
 

 


Emergent BioSolutions Inc. and Subsidiaries
 
 
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
 
             
   
Three Months Ended
 
   
March 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
 
   
(Unaudited)
 
Revenues:
           
Product sales
  $ 38,853     $ 61,678  
Contracts and grants
    7,947       2,841  
Total revenues
    46,800       64,519  
                 
Operating expenses:
               
Cost of product sales
    7,508       15,368  
Research and development
    19,922       15,910  
Selling, general and administrative
    16,192       15,975  
Income from operations
    3,178       17,266  
                 
Other income (expense):
               
Interest income
    388       300  
Interest expense
    (5 )     (4 )
Other income (expense), net
    (8 )     (24 )
Total other income (expense)
    375       272  
                 
Income before provision for income taxes
    3,553       17,538  
Provision for income taxes
    1,635       7,366  
Net income
    1,918       10,172  
    Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest
    605       947  
Net income attributable to Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
  $ 2,523     $ 11,119  
                 
Earnings per share - basic
  $ 0.08     $ 0.37  
Earnings per share - diluted
  $ 0.08     $ 0.35  
                 
Weighted-average number of shares - basic
    30,879,970       30,184,098  
Weighted-average number of shares - diluted
    31,432,751       31,454,456  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 
 

 


Emergent BioSolutions Inc. and Subsidiaries
 
 
(in thousands)
 
   
Three Months Ended
 
   
March 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
 
   
(Unaudited)
 
Cash flows from operating activities:
           
Net income
  $ 1,918     $ 10,172  
Adjustments to reconcile to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:
               
Stock-based compensation expense
    1,522       860  
Depreciation and amortization
    1,296       1,262  
Deferred income taxes
    819       933  
     Non-cash development expenses from joint venture
    17       1,633  
Gain (loss) on disposal of property and equipment
    (34 )     25  
Provision for impairment of long-lived assets
    548       -  
Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation
    (376 )     (196 )
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
               
Accounts receivable
    21,467       (49,281 )
Inventories
    (3,560 )     6,885  
Income taxes
    (2,459 )     4,599  
Prepaid expenses and other assets
    576       1,070  
Accounts payable
    1,115       (189 )
Accrued compensation
    (5,580 )     (3,094 )
Accrued expenses and other liabilities
    146       (120 )
Deferred revenue
    (14 )     (5 )
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
    17,401       (25,446 )
Cash flows from investing activities:
               
Purchases of property, plant and equipment
    (5,030 )     (4,755 )
Net cash used in investing activities
    (5,030 )     (4,755 )
Cash flows from financing activities:
               
Proceeds from borrowings on long-term indebtedness and line of credit
    15,000       15,000  
Principal payments on long-term indebtedness and line of credit
    (15,755 )     (15,659 )
Issuance of common stock subject to exercise of stock options
    1,253       651  
Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation
    376       196  
Net cash provided by financing activities
    874       188  
                 
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents
    215       (80 )
                 
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
    13,460       (30,093 )
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period
    102,924       91,473  
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period
  $ 116,384     $ 61,380  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 
 

 


EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(UNAUDITED)

1.  Summary of significant accounting policies

Basis of presentation and consolidation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (the “Company” or “Emergent”) and its wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the opinion of the Company’s management, any adjustments contained in the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements are of a normal recurring nature, and are necessary to present fairly the financial position of the Company as of March 31, 2010, results of operations for the three month periods ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, and cash flows for the three month periods ended March 31, 2010 and 2009. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for any other interim period or for an entire year.

Earnings per share

Basic net income attributable to Emergent BioSolutions Inc. per share of common stock excludes dilution for potential common stock issuances and is computed by dividing net income attributable to Emergent BioSolutions Inc. by the weighted average number of shares outstanding for the period. Diluted net income per share attributable to Emergent BioSolutions Inc. reflects the potential dilution that would occur if securities or other contracts to issue common stock were exercised or converted into common stock.

   
Three Months Ended
 
   
March 31,
 
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
 
2010
   
2009
 
Numerator:
           
Net income attributable to Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
  $ 2,523     $ 11,119  
                 
Denominator:
               
Weighted-average number of shares - basic
    30,879,970       30,184,098  
Dilutive securities
    552,781       1,270,358  
Weighted-average number of shares - diluted
    31,432,751       31,454,456  
                 
Earnings per share - basic
  $ 0.08     $ 0.37  
Earnings per share - diluted
  $ 0.08     $ 0.35  

Stock options with exercise prices in excess of the average per share closing price during the period are not considered in the calculation of fully diluted earnings per share. For the three month period ended March 31, 2010, approximately 2.1 million options were excluded from this calculation. For the three month period ended March 31, 2009, no options were excluded from this calculation.


 
 

 

Accounting for stock-based compensation

As of March 31, 2010, the Company has two stock-based employee compensation plans, the Amended and Restated Emergent BioSolutions Inc. 2006 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2006 Plan”) and the Emergent BioSolutions Employee Stock Option Plan (the “2004 Plan”).

The Company utilizes the Black-Scholes valuation model for estimating the fair value of all stock options granted. The fair value of each option is estimated on the date of grant. Set forth below are the assumptions used in valuing the stock options granted and a discussion of the Company’s methodology for developing each of the assumptions used:

   
Three Months Ended
 
   
March 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
 
Expected dividend yield
    0 %     0 %
Expected volatility
    55 %     55 %
Risk-free interest rate
    1.5 %     1.4 %
Expected average life of options
    3.4       3.3  

·  
Expected dividend yield — The Company does not pay regular dividends on its common stock and does not anticipate paying any dividends in the foreseeable future.
·  
Expected volatility — Volatility is a measure of the amount by which a financial variable, such as share price, has fluctuated (historical volatility) or is expected to fluctuate (expected volatility) during a period. The Company analyzed the volatility of similar companies at a similar stage of development to estimate expected volatility. The volatility of these similar companies ranged from 38% to 77%, with an average estimated volatility of 55%. The Company used a rate of 55% for grants made in 2010, approximately the mid-point of this range.
·  
Risk-free interest rate — This is the range of U.S. Treasury rates with a term that most closely resembles the expected life of the option as of the date in which the option was granted.
·  
Expected average life of options — This is the period of time that the options granted are expected to remain outstanding. This estimate is based primarily on the Company’s expectation of optionee exercise behavior subsequent to vesting of options.

The Company determines the fair value of restricted stock units using the closing market price of the Company’s stock on the day prior to the date of grant.

Fair value of financial instruments

The carrying amounts of the Company’s short-term financial instruments, which include cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and accounts payable, approximate their fair values due to their short maturities. The fair value of the Company’s long-term indebtedness is estimated based on the quoted prices for the same or similar issues or on the current rates offered to the Company for debt of the same remaining maturities. The carrying value and fair value of long-term indebtedness were $50.0 million and $49.7 million, respectively, at March 31, 2010 and $41.5 million and $41.2 million, respectively, at March 31, 2009.

Comprehensive income

Comprehensive income is comprised of net income and other changes in equity that are excluded from net income. The Company includes gains and losses on intercompany transactions with foreign subsidiaries that are considered to be long-term investments and translation gains and losses incurred when converting its subsidiaries’ financial statements from their functional currency to the U.S. dollar in accumulated other comprehensive income. Comprehensive income for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 was $2.7 million and $11.0 million, respectively.

 
 

 

Reclassifications

Certain amounts classified as inventory in the consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2009 and in the consolidated statements of cash flow for the three months then ended have been reclassified as other current assets to conform with the current period presentation.

Subsequent events

The Company has evaluated subsequent events through the time of filing these financial statements.
 
2.  Inventories

Inventories consist of the following:

   
March 31,
   
December 31,
 
(in thousands)
 
2010
   
2009
 
Raw materials and supplies
  $ 1,745     $ 1,565  
Work-in-process
    14,150       9,870  
Finished goods
    1,186       2,086  
Total inventories
  $ 17,081     $ 13,521  

3.  Note receivable

In 2008, the Company entered into a loan and security agreement with Protein Sciences Corporation (“PSC”) to loan PSC up to $10 million in conjunction with an agreement pursuant to which the Company would acquire substantially all of the assets of PSC. The loan is secured by substantially all of PSC’s assets, including PSC’s intellectual property. Under this loan agreement and a related promissory note, $10 million of principal is outstanding as of March 31, 2010, and the Company has recorded this as a note receivable. By its original terms, the note accrued interest at an annual rate of 8% and was due and payable no later than December 31, 2008. Thereafter, the note accrued interest at a default rate of 11%. In early 2009, the Company entered into a forbearance agreement with PSC. Under the terms of the forbearance agreement, the note continued to accrue interest at an annual rate of 11%, and became due and payable on May 31, 2009. The Company also agreed not to foreclose on the collateral for the loan prior to May 31, 2009. Since the expiration of the forbearance agreement, the note has accrued interest at a default rate of 14%. As of March 31, 2010, the Company has recorded accrued interest on the note receivable of $2.2 million, included in prepaid expenses and other current assets.

In 2008, the Company initiated litigation against PSC and its senior management alleging fraud and breach of contract, among other claims. In June 2009, after the expiration of a five-month forbearance period on the loan, the Company initiated foreclosure proceedings to acquire possession of PSC’s physical assets. In addition, the Company and several other creditors of PSC filed a federal involuntary bankruptcy petition against PSC in June 2009 in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In September 2009, the bankruptcy court concluded that PSC was insolvent and that PSC’s debt to the Company was valid and not subject to a bona fide dispute. However, the bankruptcy court declined to force PSC into bankruptcy, finding that foreclosure proceedings, not the bankruptcy action, were the proper mechanism of recovery. The Company intends to continue to pursue foreclosure on PSC’s assets and to pursue the two pending lawsuits against PSC and its management.  Based on the Company’s belief that it will recover all amounts recorded, either by repayment from PSC or through foreclosure on PSC’s assets, the Company has concluded that the $10 million note receivable is not impaired as of March 31, 2010, and therefore has not recorded a reserve against this note. In the event that PSC does not voluntarily repay the amounts due, the Company believes that the value of its collateral as a secured creditor is in excess of the principal amount of the note and related accrued and unpaid interest and that a loss is not probable.

4.  Stock options and restricted stock units

As of March 31, 2010, the Company has two stock-based employee compensation plans, the 2006 Plan and the 2004 Plan (together, the “Emergent Plans”).  The Company has granted options to purchase shares of Common Stock under the Emergent Plans and has granted restricted stock units under the 2006 Plan. The Emergent Plans have both incentive and non-qualified stock option features.

 
 

 

As of March 31, 2010, an aggregate of 8,678,826 shares of Common Stock are authorized for issuance under the 2006 Plan, of which a total of 3,476,542 shares of Common Stock remain available for future awards to be made to plan participants. Awards of restricted stock units are counted against the maximum aggregate number of shares of Common Stock available for issuance under the 2006 Plan as one and one-half (1.5) shares of Common Stock for every one restricted stock unit granted. The maximum number of shares subject to awards that may be granted per year under the 2006 Plan to a single participant is 287,700. The exercise price of each incentive option must be not less than 100% of the fair market value of the shares on the date of grant. Awards granted under the 2006 Plan have a vesting period of no more than 5 years and a contractual life of no more than 10 years. The terms and conditions of equity awards (such as price, vesting schedule, term and number of shares) under the Emergent Plans are determined by the Company’s compensation committee, which administers the Emergent Plans.  Each equity award granted under the Emergent Plans becomes exercisable as specified in the relevant agreement, and no option can be exercised after ten years from the date of grant.

The following is a summary of option award activity under the Emergent Plans:

   
2006 Plan
   
2004 Plan
       
   
Number of Shares
   
Weighted-Average Exercise Price
   
Number of Shares
   
Weighted-Average Exercise Price
   
Aggregate Intrinsic Value
 
Outstanding at December 31, 2009
    3,485,499     $ 12.72       130,082     $ 7.52        
Granted
    698,953       15.91       -       -        
Exercised
    (152,983 )     7.91       (20,000 )     3.50        
Forfeited
    (103,098 )     13.13       -       -        
Outstanding at March 31, 2010
    3,928,371     $ 13.47       110,082     $ 8.25     $ 16,757,533  
Exercisable at March 31, 2010
    1,564,279     $ 11.60       110,082     $ 8.25     $ 9,995,160  

The following is a summary of restricted stock unit award activity under the 2006 Plan:

   
Number of Shares
   
Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value
   
Aggregate Intrinsic Value
 
Outstanding at December 31, 2009
    -     $ -     $ -  
Granted
    349,345       15.91          
Vested
    -       -          
Forfeited
    (6,740 )     15.91          
Outstanding at March 31, 2010
    342,605     $ 15.91     $ 5,752,338  

5.  Litigation

Litigation against Protein Sciences Corporation.  The Company is currently pursuing three legal actions against PSC and its senior management arising out of a letter of intent, a loan and security agreement and related promissory note, and an asset purchase agreement between the Company and PSC that were entered into in 2008. Under those agreements, the Company agreed to acquire substantially all of PSC’s assets and to provide funding to PSC to enable it to continue operations through the anticipated closing date of the asset purchase transaction. Between March 2008 and June 2008, the Company provided PSC with $10 million in funding under the loan and security agreement and related promissory note. PSC’s obligations to the Company under these agreements are secured by substantially all of PSC’s assets, including PSC’s intellectual property. In early 2009, the Company entered into a forbearance agreement pursuant to which the Company agreed not to foreclosure on the collateral prior to May 31, 2009. The note accrued interest at an annual rate of 8% through December 31, 2008, a default rate of 11% through May 31, 2009, and a default rate of 14% since June 1, 2009. PSC has not repaid any portion of the loan. As of March 31, 2010, $10 million of principal was outstanding and $2.2 million of interest was accrued and unpaid.


 
 

 

After the expiration of the five-month forbearance period on the loan, the Company and several other creditors of PSC filed a federal involuntary bankruptcy petition against PSC on June 22, 2009 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In September 2009, the bankruptcy court concluded that PSC was insolvent and that PSC’s debt to the Company was valid and not subject to a bona fide dispute, but the bankruptcy court declined to force PSC into involuntary bankruptcy, finding that the Connecticut foreclosure proceeding described below, not the bankruptcy action, was the proper mechanism of recovery.

On June 8, 2009, the Company initiated legal proceedings in the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut, Judicial District of New Haven, to acquire possession of the physical assets by foreclosing on PSC’s physical assets that secure the loan.  PSC has filed a motion to stay the Connecticut action for possession pending a decision in the New York litigation against PSC, which is described below.  Such motion has been briefed and argued and the Company is awaiting a decision from the Connecticut state court. The Company intends to continue to pursue the Connecticut action for possession of its physical assets in an effort to recover amounts due to the Company.

On July 9, 2008, the Company initiated legal proceedings against PSC in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. This lawsuit includes, among other claims, claims for fraud, breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. The Company is seeking monetary damages of no less than $13 million, punitive damages, declaratory judgment, injunctive relief to protect the collateral for the loan, and other appropriate relief. PSC has not asserted any counterclaims in this lawsuit, but stated that it may assert counterclaims for “among other things, breach of contract, intentional misrepresentations, tortious interference with business relations and unfair trade practices”.  The Company intends to pursue full repayment of the loan, as well as other relief as described in pleadings in the lawsuit.

On October 3, 2008, the Company initiated legal proceedings against PSC’s executive management team of Daniel D. Adams, PSC’s Executive Chairman, and Manon M.J. Cox, PSC’s President and Chief Executive Officer. This lawsuit is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut and alleges, among other things, that these individuals engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with their efforts to obtain $10 million in bridge financing from the Company. Mr. Adams and Ms. Cox moved to dismiss this action, and the court denied that motion with respect to the fraud claims and granted it with respect to the unfair business practice claims. The Company is seeking monetary damages of no less than $13 million, punitive damages, declaratory judgment, injunctive relief to protect the collateral for the loan, and other appropriate relief. Mr. Adams and Ms. Cox have not yet asserted any counterclaims in the lawsuit. The Company intends to pursue full repayment of the loan, as well as other relief as described in pleadings in the lawsuit.

From time to time, the Company is involved in product liability claims and other litigation considered normal in the nature of its business. The Company does not believe that any such proceedings would have a material, adverse effect on the results of its operations.

6.  Segment information

        For financial reporting purposes, the Company reports financial information for two business segments: biodefense and commercial. In the biodefense segment, the Company develops, manufactures and commercializes vaccines and antibody therapies for use against biological agents that are potential weapons of bioterrorism or biowarfare. Revenues in this segment relate primarily to the Company’s FDA-licensed product, BioThrax. In the commercial segment, the Company develops vaccines and antibody therapies for use against infectious diseases and other medical conditions that have resulted in significant unmet or underserved public health needs. Revenues in this segment consist predominantly of milestone payments and development and grant revenues received under collaboration, development contracts and grant arrangements. The “All Other” segment relates to the general operating costs of the Company and includes costs of the centralized services departments, which are not allocated to the other segments, as well as spending on product candidates or activities that are not classified as biodefense or commercial. The assets in this segment consist primarily of cash and fixed assets.

 
 

 


   
Reportable Segments
 
(in thousands)
 
Biodefense
   
Commercial
   
All Other
   
Total
 
Three Months Ended March 31, 2010
                       
External revenue
  $ 46,800     $ -     $ -     $ 46,800  
Net income (loss) to Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
    13,111       (8,542 )     (2,046 )     2,523  
Assets
    198,434       23,222       121,135       342,791  
Three Months Ended March 31, 2009
                               
External revenue
  $ 64,519     $ -     $ -     $ 64,519  
Net income (loss) to Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
    24,283       (10,655 )     (2,509 )     11,119  
Assets
    209,975       22,927       70,880       303,782  

7.  Related party transactions

The Company entered into an agreement in February 2009 with an entity controlled by family members of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. The agreement, to market and sell BioThrax, was effective as of November 2008 and requires payment based on a percentage of net sales of biodefense products of 17.5% in Saudi Arabia and 15% in Qatar and United Arab Emirates, and reimbursement of certain expenses.  No payments under this agreement have been triggered for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009.

The Company entered into a consulting agreement in April 2010 with the Company’s former Senior Vice President Legal Affairs and General Counsel. The agreement provides for consulting and support services in connection with the Company’s pending litigation with Protein Sciences Corporation. No payments under this agreement were triggered during the three months ended March 31, 2010.

The Company has entered into a consulting arrangement with a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. At March 31, 2010, $15,000 remained in accounts payable for these services. During each of the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, the Company paid approximately $45,000, under this agreement for strategic consultation and project support for the Company’s marketing and communications group.

The Company has entered into a transportation arrangement with an entity owned by Company’s Chief Executive Officer. At March 31, 2010, $3,000 remained in accounts payable for these services. During each of the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, the Company paid approximately $8,000, respectively, under this arrangement for transportation and logistical support.

8.  Oxford collaboration

In July 2008, the Company entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford (“Oxford”) and certain University of Oxford researchers to conduct clinical trials in the advancement of a vaccine product candidate for tuberculosis, resulting in the formation of the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium (“OETC”).  The Company has a 51% equity interest in OETC and controls the OETC Board of Directors. In addition, the Company has certain funding and services obligations of up to $20.3 million related to its investment. In June 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued an update to the accounting standard that changed the approach in determining the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity and requires companies to continuously assess whether it must consolidate variable interest entities.  The Company has evaluated its variable interests in OETC and has determined that it is the primary beneficiary as it has the ability to direct the activities of OETC and will absorb the majority of expected losses. Accordingly, the Company consolidates the entity. As of March 31, 2010, assets of $79,000 and liabilities of $66,000 related to this entity are included within the Company’s consolidated balance sheet.  During the three months ended March 31, 2010, the entity incurred a net loss of $1.2 million, of which $630,000 is included in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations. During the three months ended March 31, 2009, the entity incurred a net loss of $1.9 million, of which $986,000 is included in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations.


 
 

 

In conjunction with the establishment of OETC, the Company granted a put option to Oxford and the Oxford researchers whereby the Company may be required to acquire all of the OETC shares held by Oxford and the Oxford researchers at fair market value of the underlying shares. This put option is contingent upon the satisfaction of a number of conditions that must exist or occur subsequent to the grant of a marketing authorization for a tuberculosis vaccine by the European Commission. The Company accounts for the put option in accordance with the accounting provisions related to derivatives and distinguishing liabilities from equity. In accordance with this guidance, the Company has determined that the put option has a de minimus fair value as of March 31, 2010.

The following is a summary of the stockholders’ equity attributable to the Company and the noncontrolling interest:

   
Emergent
   
Noncontrolling
       
(in thousands)
 
BioSolutions Inc.
   
Interest
   
Total
 
Stockholders' equity at December 31, 2009
  $ 241,199     $ 2,616     $ 243,815  
Non-cash development expenses from joint venture
    -       17       17  
Net income (loss)
    2,523       (605 )     1,918  
Other
    3,366       -       3,366  
Stockholders' equity at March 31, 2010
  $ 247,088     $ 2,028     $ 249,116  

9.  Assets held for sale

        The Company currently owns two buildings in Frederick, Maryland that it determined in June 2009 would not be placed into service.  Accordingly, the Company committed to a plan to sell the facilities, along with associated improvements. These buildings are classified on the Company’s balance sheet as assets held for sale. Assets held for sale are recorded at the lower of the carrying amount or fair market value less costs to sell, and are no longer depreciated once classified as held for sale. The Company recorded the assets held for sale at fair market value, based on factors that include recent purchase offers, less estimated selling costs, and recorded an impairment charge of $548,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2010.  The charge is classified in the Company’s statement of operations as selling, general and administrative expense, within the Company’s commercial segment. The Company is continuing efforts to sell these buildings. In April 2010, the Company entered into an agreement to sell the buildings.  However, this transaction has not closed.

ITEM 2.  
 
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and the “Risk Factors” sections of this quarterly report for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

Product Portfolio

We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of vaccines and antibody therapies that assist the body’s immune system to prevent or treat disease. For financial reporting purposes, we operate in two business segments, biodefense and commercial.


 
 

 

Our biodefense segment focuses on vaccines and antibody therapies for use against biological agents that are potential weapons of bioterrorism or biowarfare. Our product candidates in this segment are focused on anthrax. We manufacture and market BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed), the only vaccine licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for the prevention of anthrax infection. In addition to BioThrax, we are developing a recombinant protective antigen, or rPA, anthrax vaccine, an anthrax immune globulin therapeutic, an anthrax monoclonal antibody therapeutic, a BioThrax dual adjuvant vaccine, and an advanced double-mutant protective antigen anthrax vaccine.

Our commercial segment focuses on vaccines and antibody therapies for use against infectious diseases and other medical conditions that have resulted in significant unmet or underserved public health needs. Our product candidates in this segment include a tuberculosis vaccine, a typhoid vaccine and an influenza vaccine.

Our biodefense segment has generated net income for each of the last five fiscal years. Our commercial segment has generated revenue through development contracts and grant funding. None of our commercial product candidates has received marketing approval and, therefore, our commercial segment has not generated any product sales revenues. As a result, our commercial segment has incurred a net loss for each of the last five fiscal years.

Product Sales

We have derived substantially all of our product sales revenues from BioThrax sales to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, and the U.S. Department of Defense, or DoD, and expect for the foreseeable future to continue to derive substantially all of our product sales revenues from the sales of BioThrax to the U.S. government. Our total revenues from BioThrax sales were $38.9 million and $61.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively. We are focused on increasing sales of BioThrax to U.S. government customers, expanding the market for BioThrax to other customers domestically and internationally and pursuing label expansions and improvements for BioThrax.

Contracts and Grants

We seek to advance development of our product candidates through external funding arrangements. We may slow down development programs or place them on hold during periods that are not covered by external funding. We have received external funding awards for the following development programs:

·  
BioThrax post-exposure prophylaxis
·  
BioThrax dual adjuvant vaccine
·  
Anthrax immune globulin therapeutic
·  
Anthrax monoclonal antibody therapeutic
·  
Advanced double-mutant protective antigen anthrax vaccine
·  
Recombinant botulinum vaccine
·  
Typhella (typhoid vaccine live oral ZH9)
 
Additionally, our tuberculosis vaccine product candidate is indirectly supported by grant funding provided to The University of Oxford by The Wellcome Trust and Aeras Global Tuberculosis Vaccine Foundation.

We continue to actively pursue additional government sponsored development contracts and grants and to encourage both governmental and non-governmental agencies and philanthropic organizations to provide development funding or to conduct clinical studies of our product candidates.

Manufacturing Infrastructure

We conduct our primary vaccine manufacturing operations at a multi-building campus on approximately 12.5 acres in Lansing, Michigan. To augment our existing manufacturing capabilities, we have constructed a 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility on our Lansing campus. We have incurred costs of approximately $80 million through March 2010 for the building and associated capital equipment, as well as for validation and qualification activities required for regulatory approval and initiation of commercial manufacture of BioThrax.


 
 

 

In November 2009, we paid approximately $8.2 million to purchase a building in Baltimore, Maryland for product development and manufacturing purposes, and have begun renovation and improvement of this facility. Our specific plans for this facility will be contingent on the progress of our existing development programs and the outcome of our efforts to acquire new product candidates. As we proceed with this project, we expect the costs to be substantial and will likely seek external sources of funds to finance the project.

We also own two buildings in Frederick, Maryland that we currently expect to sell. Accordingly, we have classified these buildings as assets held for sale in our consolidated balance sheet, and recorded an impairment charge of approximately $548,000 for the three month period ended March 31, 2010, based on the difference between the carrying value of the assets and their estimated fair value less costs to sell.  We continue to actively seek to sell these buildings. In April 2010, we entered into an agreement to sell the buildings.  However, this transaction has not closed.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

There have been no significant changes to our Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates during the three months ended March 31, 2010. Refer to the Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates section in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Financial Operations Overview

Revenues

On September 30, 2008, we entered into an agreement with HHS to supply up to 14.5 million doses of BioThrax to HHS for placement into the Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS. The term of the agreement is from September 30, 2008 through September 30, 2011. Delivery of doses under the agreement commenced in September 2009 and will continue through September 2011. Funds for the procurement of the first 10.2 million doses of BioThrax have been committed. Procurement of the remaining 4.3 million doses will be funded through the annual appropriations process for the SNS. Four-year expiry dated product is invoiced at a higher price than three-year expiry dated product. The total purchase price for the 14.5 million doses will be up to approximately $400 million, assuming the delivery of four-year expiry dated product. Through March 31, 2010, we have delivered approximately 4.1 million doses under this agreement. We have agreed to provide all shipping services related to delivery of doses into the SNS over the term of the agreement, for which HHS has agreed to pay us approximately $1.9 million. We invoice HHS under the agreement upon acceptance of each delivery of BioThrax doses to the SNS.

We have received contract and grant funding from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, for the following development programs:

Product Candidate
Funding Source
Award Date
Amount (Up to)
Performance Period
Anthrax immune globulin therapeutic
NIAID
Sep-07
$9.5 million
  9/2007 — 12/2011
Recombinant botulinum vaccine
NIAID
Jun-08
$1.8 million
6/2008 — 5/2011
BioThrax dual adjuvant vaccine
NIAID
Jul-08
$2.8 million
7/2008 — 6/2013
Anthrax monoclonal antibody therapeutic
NIAID/BARDA
Sep-08
$24.3 million
9/2008 — 8/2012
BioThrax dual adjuvant vaccine
NIAID/BARDA
Sep-08
$29.7 million
9/2008 — 9/2011
Double-mutant protective antigen anthrax vaccine
NIAID
Sep-09
$4.9 million
9/2009 — 8/2011

Our revenue, operating results and profitability have varied, and we expect that they will continue to vary on a quarterly basis, primarily because of the timing of our fulfilling orders for BioThrax and work done under new and existing contracts and grants.


 
 

 

Cost of Product Sales

The primary expense that we incur to deliver BioThrax to our customers is manufacturing costs, which are primarily fixed costs. These fixed manufacturing costs consist of facilities, utilities and salaries and personnel-related expenses for indirect manufacturing support staff. Variable manufacturing costs for BioThrax consist primarily of costs for materials, direct labor and contract filling operations.

We determine the cost of product sales for doses sold during a reporting period based on the average manufacturing cost per dose in the period those doses were manufactured. We calculate the average manufacturing cost per dose in the period of manufacture by dividing the actual costs of manufacturing in such period by the number of units produced in that period. In addition to the fixed and variable manufacturing costs described above, the average manufacturing cost per dose depends on the efficiency of the manufacturing process, utilization of available manufacturing capacity and the production yield for the period of production.

Research and Development Expenses

We expense research and development costs as incurred. Our research and development expenses consist primarily of:

·  
salaries and related expenses for personnel;
·  
fees to professional service providers for, among other things, preclinical and analytical testing, independently monitoring our clinical trials and acquiring and evaluating data from our clinical trials and non-clinical studies;
·  
costs of contract manufacturing services for clinical trial material;
·  
costs of materials used in clinical trials and research and development;
·  
depreciation of capital assets used to develop our products; and
·  
operating costs, such as the operating costs of facilities and the legal costs of pursuing patent protection of our intellectual property.

We believe that significant investment in product development is a competitive necessity and plan to continue these investments in order to be in a position to realize the potential of our product candidates. We expect that development spending for our product pipeline will increase as our product development activities continue based on ongoing advancement of our product candidates, and as we prepare for regulatory submissions and other regulatory activities. We expect that the magnitude of any increase in our research and development spending will be dependent upon such factors as the results from our ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials, the size, structure and duration of any follow-on clinical programs that we may initiate, costs associated with manufacturing our product candidates on a large scale basis for later stage clinical trials, and our ability to use or rely on data generated by government agencies, such as studies with BioThrax conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and other related costs for personnel serving the executive, sales and marketing, business development, finance, accounting, information technology, legal and human resource functions. Other costs include facility costs not otherwise included in cost of product sales or research and development expense and professional fees for legal and accounting services. We currently market and sell BioThrax directly to HHS with a small, targeted marketing and sales group. As we seek to broaden the market for BioThrax and if we receive marketing approval for additional products, we expect that we will increase our spending for marketing and sales activities.


 
 

 

Total Other Income (Expense)

Total other income (expense) consists primarily of interest income and interest expense. We earn interest income on our cash, cash equivalents and a note receivable, and we incur interest expense on our indebtedness. We capitalize interest expense based on the cost of major ongoing projects which have not yet been placed in service, such as new manufacturing facilities. Some of our existing debt arrangements provide for increasing amortization of principal payments in future periods. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources — Debt Financing” for additional information.

Results of Operations

Quarter Ended March 31, 2010 Compared to Quarter Ended March 31, 2009

Revenues

Product sales revenues decreased by $22.8 million, or 37%, to $38.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $61.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. This decrease in product sales revenues was primarily due to a 47% decrease in the number of doses of BioThrax delivered,  related  to the timing of scheduled deliveries under our contract with HHS, partially offset by an 18% increase in the sales price per dose. Product sales revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2010 consisted of BioThrax sales to HHS of $38.8 million and aggregate international and other sales of $37,000. Product sales revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2009 consisted of BioThrax sales to HHS of $61.6 million and aggregate international and other sales of $54,000.

Contracts and grants revenues increased by $5.1 million, or 180%, to $7.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $2.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. Contracts and grants revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2010 consisted of $7.2 million in development contract and grant revenue from NIAID and BARDA and $750,000 from a milestone payment related to the 2008 sale of technology rights and related materials and documentation pertaining to our Pertussis technology.  Contracts and grants revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2009 consisted of $2.8 million in development contract and grant revenue from NIAID and BARDA.

Cost of Product Sales

Cost of product sales decreased by $7.9 million, or 51%, to $7.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $15.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. This decrease was primarily attributable to the 47% decrease in the number of BioThrax doses sold.


Research and Development Expense

Research and development expenses increased by $4.0 million, or 25%, to $19.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $15.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. This increase reflects higher contract service costs, and includes increased expenses of $5.3 million on product candidates that are categorized in the biodefense segment, decreased expenses of $2.3 million on product candidates categorized in the commercial segment, and increased expenses of $1.0 million in other research and development, which are in support of technology platforms and central research and development activities.

The increase in spending on biodefense product candidates, detailed in the table below, was primarily attributable to the timing of development efforts on various programs as we completed various studies and prepared for subsequent studies and trials. The increase in spending for BioThrax related programs was due to the preparation for and conduct of clinical and non-clinical feasibility, efficacy and stability studies to support applications for marketing approval of these programs, along with formulation development and manufacture of clinical material. The decrease in spending for the recombinant protective antigen anthrax vaccine was primarily due to reduced spending while awaiting a potential development contract award from BARDA. The increase in spending for our double mutant protective antigen vaccine resulted from the timing of formulation and assay development. The decrease in spending for our anthrax immune globulin therapeutic candidate was primarily due to the timing of clinical and non-clinical studies. The increase in spending for the anthrax monoclonal therapeutic candidate was primarily for formulation development, stability studies and the conduct of non-clinical studies. The spending for our botulinum vaccine product candidates resulted from conducting non-clinical studies. We expect that spending for our botulinum vaccine candidates will decrease in the future, due primarily to reduced interest in and funding for these product candidates by the U.S. government.


 
 

 

The decrease in spending on commercial product candidates, detailed in the table below, was primarily attributable to the timing of development efforts and to the termination or scaling back of certain programs. The spending for our tuberculosis vaccine product candidate is related to the preparation for and conduct of a Phase IIb clinical trial, which commenced in April 2009. The spending for Typhella during the first quarter of 2009 resulted from the manufacture of clinical material and conducting a Phase IIb clinical trial in the United States. These activities did not continue in 2010, resulting in the decrease in spending. The increase in spending for our influenza vaccine product candidate is related to preparation for and conduct of feasibility and immunogenicity studies.  The decrease in spending for our hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine product candidate was related to the cessation of the Phase II clinical trial in the United Kingdom and Serbia. We have significantly reduced ongoing spending with regard to this product candidate while we investigate options to sell or outlicense the related technology, and expect that future spending will be reduced. The decrease in spending for our group B streptococcus vaccine product candidate resulted from our decision not to proceed with further development of the vaccine product candidate. We expect that spending for our group B streptococcus vaccine product candidate will continue to be minimal in the future. The decrease in spending for our chlamydia vaccine product candidate is related to a decrease in development activities while seeking external funding. The decrease in spending for our meningitis B vaccine product candidate resulted from our decision not to proceed with further development activities.

The increase in other research and development expenses was primarily attributable to spending associated with the development activities targeting our technology platforms and central research and development activities.

We continue to assess, and may alter, our future development plans for our products based on a variety of factors, including the interest of the U.S. government or non-governmental and philanthropic organizations in providing funding for further development or procurement.

Our principal research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 are shown in the following table:

   
Three Months Ended
 
   
March 31,
 
(in thousands)
 
2010
   
2009
 
             
Biodefense:
           
   BioThrax related programs
  $ 5,837     $ 3,188  
   Recombinant protective antigen anthrax vaccine
    850       1,824  
   Double mutant protective antigen vaccine
    1,507       141  
   Anthrax immune globulin therapeutic
    1,596       1,805  
   Anthrax monoclonal therapeutic
    3,484       1,011  
   Botulinum vaccines
    577       544  
Total biodefense
    13,851       8,513  
Commercial:
               
   Tuberculosis vaccine
    2,254       2,123  
   Typhella
    599       2,332  
   Influenza vaccine
    763       410  
   Hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine
    137       716  
   Group B streptococcus vaccine
    4       153  
   Chlamydia vaccine
    67       267  
   Meningitis B vaccine
    1       125  
Total commercial
    3,825       6,126  
Other
    2,246       1,271  
Total
  $ 19,922     $ 15,910  




 
 

 

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $217,000, or 1%, to $16.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $16.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. This increase includes a $548,000 impairment charge associated with our Frederick, Maryland facilities and increased personnel costs, partially offset by a $1.4 million charge during the period ended March 31, 2009 associated with acquisitions that were in progress but not completed as of December 31, 2008. The majority of the expense is attributable to the biodefense segment, in which selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $791,000, or 7%, to $12.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $11.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. Selling, general and administrative expenses related to our commercial segment decreased by $574,000, or 13%, to $4.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $4.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009.

Total Other Income (Expense)

Total other income increased by $103,000, or 38%, to $375,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $272,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2009. This increase resulted primarily from an increase in interest income of $88,000.

Income Taxes

Provision for income taxes decreased by $5.7 million, or 78%, to $1.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $7.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009. The estimated annual effective tax rate for the three months periods ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 was 39% and 40%¸ respectively.  The decrease in income tax expense is primarily due to a $14.3 million decrease in our income before provision for income taxes and the loss attributable to noncontrolling interest. The decrease in the estimated effective annual tax rate was due to a decrease in state income tax expense, partially offset by an increase in the tax rate caused by the research and development credit not being renewed for the 2010 tax year.

Net Loss Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest

Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest decreased by $342,000, or 36%, to $605,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2010 from $947,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2009. The decrease resulted from the timing of development activities and related expenses incurred by our joint venture with the University of Oxford. These amounts represent the portion of the loss incurred by the joint venture for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively, that is attributable to the University of Oxford.


Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of Liquidity

We have funded our cash requirements from inception through March 31, 2010 principally with a combination of revenues from BioThrax product sales, debt financings and facilities leases, development funding from government entities and non-government and philanthropic organizations, the net proceeds from our initial public offering and from the sale of our common stock upon exercise of stock options. We have operated profitably for each of the five years ended December 31, 2009 and for the three months ended March 31, 2010.

As of March 31, 2010, we had cash and cash equivalents of $116.4 million. Additionally, at March 31, 2010 our accounts receivable balance was $33.4 million.


 
 

 

Cash Flows

The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009:

   
Three Months Ended
 
   
March 31,
 
(in thousands)
 
2010
   
2009
 
Net cash provided by (used in):
           
Operating activities(1)
  $ 17,616     $ (25,526 )
Investing activities
    (5,030 )     (4,755 )
Financing activities
    874       188  
Total net cash provided by (used in)
  $ 13,460     $ (30,093 )

(1)  
Includes the effect of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents.

Net cash provided by operating activities of $17.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010 was due principally to a decrease in accounts receivable of $21.5 million due to amounts billed to and collected from HHS as of March 31, 2010, partially offset by a decrease in accrued compensation of $5.6 million, primarily due to the payment of 2009 annual bonuses.

Net cash used in operating activities of $25.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009 was due principally to an increase in accounts receivable of $49.3 million due to amounts billed primarily to HHS but not collected as of March 31, 2009, partially offset by net income of $10.2 million, an increase in income taxes payable of $4.6 million due to the 2009 income tax liability and a decrease in inventories of $6.9 million reflecting the value of BioThrax lots delivered.

Net cash used in investing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 of $5.0 million and $4.8 million, respectively, resulted principally from the construction and related costs for our manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan and infrastructure investments and other equipment.

Net cash provided by financing activities of $874,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2010 resulted primarily from $15.0 million in proceeds from borrowings under our revolving line of credit with Fifth Third Bank, $1.3 million in proceeds from stock option exercises and $376,000 related to excess tax benefits from the exercise of stock options, partially offset by $15.8 million in principal payments on indebtedness, including $15.0 million in payments on our revolving line of credit with Fifth Third Bank.

Net cash provided by financing activities of $188,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2009 resulted primarily from $15.0 million in proceeds from borrowings under our revolving line of credit with Fifth Third Bank, $651,000 in proceeds from stock option exercises and $196,000 related to excess tax benefits from the exercise of stock options,  partially offset by $15.7 million in principal payments on long-term indebtedness, including $15.0 million in payments on our revolving line of credit with Fifth Third Bank.

Debt Financing

As of March 31, 2010, we had $65.0 million principal amount of debt outstanding, comprised primarily of the following:

·  
$2.5 million outstanding under a loan from the Department of Business and Economic Development of the State of Maryland used to finance eligible costs incurred to purchase our first facility in Frederick, Maryland;
·  
$6.0 million outstanding under a mortgage loan from PNC Bank used to finance the remaining portion of the purchase price for our first Frederick facility;
·  
$7.1 million outstanding under a mortgage loan from HSBC Realty Credit Corporation used to finance a portion of  the purchase price for our second facility on the Frederick site;

 
 

 


·  
$22.4 million outstanding under a term loan from HSBC Realty Credit Corporation used to finance a portion of the costs of our facility expansion in Lansing, Michigan;
·  
$6.9 million outstanding under a mortgage loan from HSBC Realty Credit Corporation used to finance a portion the purchase of our facility in Baltimore, Maryland;
·  
$5.1 million outstanding under a mortgage loan from HSBC Realty Credit Corporation used to finance a portion the purchase of our facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland; and
·  
$15.0 million outstanding under a $15.0 million revolving line of credit with Fifth Third Bank, the balance of which we repaid in April 2010.

Funding Requirements

We expect to continue to fund our anticipated operating expenses, capital expenditures and debt service requirements from existing cash and cash equivalents, revenues from BioThrax product sales and other committed sources of funding. There are numerous risks and uncertainties associated with BioThrax product sales and with the development and commercialization of our product candidates.  We may seek additional external debt financing to provide additional financial flexibility. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

·  
the level and timing of BioThrax product sales and cost of product sales;
·  
the acquisition of new facilities, and capital improvements to new or existing facilities;
·  
the timing of, and the costs involved in, completion of qualification and validation activities related to our manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, the build out of our new manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland and, any other new facilities;
·  
the scope, progress, results and costs of our preclinical and clinical development activities;
·  
the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;
·  
the number of, and development requirements for, other product candidates that we may pursue;
·  
the costs of commercialization activities, including product marketing, sales and distribution;
·  
the extent to which we lend money to third parties;
·  
the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining and enforcing patent claims and other patent-related costs, including litigation costs and the results of such litigation;
·  
the extent to which we acquire or invest in companies, businesses, products and technologies;
·  
our ability to obtain development funding from government entities and non-government and philanthropic organizations; and
·  
our ability to establish and maintain collaborations.

We may require additional sources of funds for future acquisitions that we may make or, depending on the size of the obligation, to meet balloon payments upon maturity of our current borrowings. To the extent our capital resources are insufficient to meet our future capital requirements, we will need to finance our cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or corporate collaboration and licensing arrangements.

Additional equity or debt financing, grants, or corporate collaboration and licensing arrangements may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. If adequate funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate our research and development programs or reduce our planned commercialization efforts. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Any debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms, such as liquidation and other preferences that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us.


 
 

 

ITEM 3.                        QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Our exposure to market risk is currently confined to our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash that have maturities of less than three months, and our long-term indebtedness. We currently do not hedge interest rate exposure or interest on foreign currency exchange exposure, and the movement of foreign currency exchange rates could have an adverse or positive impact on our results of operations. We have not used derivative financial instruments for speculation or trading purposes. Because of the short-term maturities of our cash and cash equivalents, we do not believe that an increase in market rates would have a significant impact on the realized value of our investments, but would likely increase the interest cost associated with our debt.

ITEM 4.                        CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2010. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2010, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

No change in our internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act, occurred during the quarter ended March 31, 2010 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

ITEM 1.                        LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Litigation Against Protein Sciences Corporation.   We are currently pursuing three legal actions against Protein Sciences Corporation, or PSC, and its senior management arising out of a letter of intent, a loan and security agreement and related promissory note, and an asset purchase agreement between us and PSC that were entered into in 2008. Under those agreements, we agreed to acquire substantially all of PSC’s assets and to provide funding to PSC to enable it to continue operations through the anticipated closing date of the asset purchase transaction. Between March 2008 and June 2008, we provided PSC with $10 million in funding under the loan and security agreement and related promissory note. PSC’s obligations to us under these agreements are secured by substantially all of PSC’s assets, including PSC’s intellectual property. In early 2009, we entered into a forbearance agreement pursuant to which we agreed not to foreclosure on the collateral prior to May 31, 2009. The note accrued interest at an annual rate of 8% through December 31, 2008, a default rate of 11% through May 31, 2009, and a default rate of 14% since June 1, 2009. PSC has not repaid any portion of the loan. As of March 31, 2010, $10 million of principal was outstanding and $2.2 million of interest was accrued and unpaid.


 
 

 

After the expiration of the five-month forbearance period on the loan, we and several other creditors of PSC filed a federal involuntary bankruptcy petition against PSC on June 22, 2009 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In September 2009, the bankruptcy court concluded that PSC was insolvent and that PSC’s debt to us was valid and not subject to a bona fide dispute, but the bankruptcy court declined to force PSC into involuntary bankruptcy, finding that the Connecticut foreclosure proceeding described below, not the bankruptcy action, was the proper mechanism of recovery.

On June 8, 2009, we initiated legal proceedings in the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut, Judicial District of New Haven, to acquire possession of the physical assets by foreclosing on PSC’s physical assets that secure the loan.  PSC has filed a motion to stay the Connecticut action for possession pending a decision in the New York litigation against PSC, which is described below.  Such motion has been briefed and argued and we are awaiting a decision from the Connecticut state court. We intend to continue to pursue the Connecticut action for possession of its physical assets in an effort to recover amounts due to us.

On July 9, 2008, we initiated legal proceedings against PSC in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. This lawsuit includes, among other claims, claims for fraud, breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. We are seeking monetary damages of no less than $13 million, punitive damages, declaratory judgment, injunctive relief to protect the collateral for the loan, and other appropriate relief. PSC has not asserted any counterclaims in this lawsuit, but stated that it may assert counterclaims for “among other things, breach of contract, intentional misrepresentations, tortious interference with business relations and unfair trade practices”.  We intend to pursue full repayment of the loan, as well as other relief as described in pleadings in the lawsuit.

On October 3, 2008, we initiated legal proceedings against PSC’s executive management team of Daniel D. Adams, PSC’s Executive Chairman, and Manon M.J. Cox, PSC’s President and Chief Executive Officer. This lawsuit is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut and alleges, among other things, that these individuals engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with their efforts to obtain $10 million in bridge financing from us. Mr. Adams and Ms. Cox moved to dismiss this action, and the court denied that motion with respect to the fraud claims and granted it with respect to the unfair business practice claims. We are seeking monetary damages of no less than $13 million, punitive damages, declaratory judgment, injunctive relief to protect the collateral for the loan, and other appropriate relief. Mr. Adams and Ms. Cox have not yet asserted any counterclaims in the lawsuit. We intend to pursue full repayment of the loan, as well as other relief as described in pleadings in the lawsuit.

From time to time, we are involved in product liability claims and other litigation considered normal in the nature of its business. We do not believe that any such proceedings would have a material, adverse effect on the results of its operations.

Other. We are, and may in the future become, subject to other legal proceedings, claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of our business in connection with the manufacture, distribution and use of our products and product candidates. For example, Emergent BioDefense Operations Lansing Inc., or EBOL, is a defendant, along with many other vaccine manufacturers, in a series of lawsuits that have been filed in various state and federal courts in the United States alleging that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative used in the manufacture of some vaccines, caused personal injuries, including brain damage, central nervous system damage and autism. No specific dollar amount of damages has been claimed. EBOL is currently a named defendant in one lawsuit pending in California.  EBOL had been named a defendant in 37 other lawsuits in Illinois that were all dismissed without prejudice in April 2010. The products at issue in these lawsuits are pediatric vaccines. Because we are not currently, and have not historically been, in the business of manufacturing or selling pediatric vaccines, we do not believe that we manufactured the pediatric vaccines at issue in the lawsuits.  Under a contractual obligation to the State of Michigan, we manufactured one batch of vaccine suitable for pediatric use. However, the contract required the State to use the vaccine solely for Michigan public health purposes. We no longer manufacture any products that contain thimerosal.


 
 

 

ITEM 1A.                        RISK FACTORS

Risks Related to Our Dependence on U.S. Government Contracts

We have derived substantially all of our revenue from sales of BioThrax under contracts with HHS or the DoD. If HHS or DoD demand for BioThrax is reduced, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially harmed.

We have derived and expect for the foreseeable future to continue to derive substantially all of our revenue from sales to the U.S. government of BioThrax, our FDA-approved anthrax vaccine and only marketed product. We are currently party to two contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, to supply doses of BioThrax for placement into the Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS. We are not currently party to a procurement contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, or DoD, which currently procures doses of BioThrax directly from the SNS. If the SNS priorities change, or if the DoD dose requirements from the SNS are reduced, our revenues could be substantially reduced.

Our existing and prior contracts with HHS and the DoD do not necessarily increase the likelihood that we will secure future comparable contracts with the U.S. government. The success of our business and our operating results for the foreseeable future are substantially dependent on the terms of our BioThrax sales to the U.S. government, including price per dose, the number of doses and the timing of deliveries.

Our business may be harmed as a result of the government contracting process, which is a competitive bidding process that involves risks not present in the commercial contracting process.

We expect that a significant portion of our near-term business will be under government contracts or subcontracts awarded through competitive bidding. Competitive bidding for government contracts presents a number of risks or requirements that are not typically present in the commercial contracting process, including:

·  
the commitment of substantial time and attention of management and key employees to the preparation of bids and proposals for contracts that may not be awarded to us;
·  
the need to accurately estimate the resources and cost structure that will be required to perform any contract that we might be awarded;
·  
the possibility that we may be ineligible to respond to a request for proposal issued by the government;
·  
the submission by third parties of protests to our responses to requests for proposal that could result in delays or withdrawals of those requests for proposal; and
·  
if our competitors protest or challenge contract awards made to us pursuant to competitive bidding, the potential that we may incur or could suffer expenses or delays, and that any such protest or challenge would result in the resubmission of bids based on modified specifications, or in termination, reduction or modification of the awarded contract.

The U.S. government may choose not to award us future contracts for the supply of anthrax vaccines and other biodefense product candidates that we are developing, or may instead award such contracts to our competitors. If we are unable to win particular contracts, we may not be able to operate in the market for products that are provided under those contracts for a number of years.  For example, in December 2009, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, cancelled a previously issued procurement request for proposal for a recombinant protective antigen, or rPA, vaccine for the SNS for which we had submitted a proposal.  BARDA subsequently issued a Broad Agency Announcement, or BAA, for rPA vaccine development and we submitted a new proposal responding to the BAA in January 2010 to develop our rPA vaccine product.  Additionally, if we are unable to consistently win new contract awards over an extended period, or if we fail to anticipate all of the costs and resources that will be required to secure such contract awards, our growth strategy and our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.


 
 

 

Our U.S. government contracts for BioThrax require ongoing funding decisions by the government. Reduced or discontinued funding of these contracts could cause our financial condition and operating results to suffer materially.

Our principal customer for BioThrax is the U.S. government. We anticipate that the U.S. government will also be the principal customer for any other biodefense products that we successfully develop. Over its lifetime, a U.S. government program may be implemented through the award of many different individual contracts and subcontracts. The funding of some government programs is subject to Congressional appropriations, generally made on a fiscal year basis even though a program may continue for several years. Our government customers are subject to stringent budgetary constraints and political considerations. For example, the sale of most supplied doses under our most recent contract with HHS is subject to the annual appropriations process. If levels of government expenditures and authorizations for biodefense decrease or shift to programs in areas where we do not offer products or are not developing product candidates, our business, revenues and operating results may suffer.

The success of our business with the U.S. government depends on our compliance with regulations and obligations under our U.S. government contracts and various federal statutes and regulations.

Our business with the U.S. government is subject to specific procurement regulations and a variety of other legal compliance obligations. These laws and rules include those related to:

·  
procurement integrity;
·  
export control;
·  
government security regulations;
·  
employment practices;
·  
protection of the environment;
·  
accuracy of records and the recording of costs; and
·  
foreign corrupt practices.

In addition, before awarding us any future contracts, the U.S. government could require that we respond satisfactorily to a request to substantiate our commercial viability and industrial capabilities. Compliance with these obligations increases our performance and compliance costs. Failure to comply with these regulations and requirements could lead to suspension or debarment, for cause, from government contracting or subcontracting for a period of time. The termination of a government contract or relationship as a result of our failure to satisfy any of these obligations would have a negative impact on our operations and harm our reputation and ability to procure other government contracts in the future.

The pricing under our fixed price government contracts is based on estimates of the time, resources and expenses required to perform those contracts. If our estimates are not accurate, we may not be able to earn an adequate return or may incur a loss under these contracts.

Our existing and prior contracts for the supply of BioThrax with HHS and the DoD have been fixed price contracts. We expect that our future contracts with the U.S. government for BioThrax as well as contracts for biodefense product candidates that we successfully develop also may be fixed price contracts. Under a fixed price contract, we are required to deliver our products at a fixed price regardless of the actual costs we incur and to absorb any costs in excess of the fixed price. Estimating costs that are related to performance in accordance with contract specifications is difficult, particularly where the period of performance is over several years. Our failure to anticipate technical problems, estimate costs accurately or control costs during performance of a fixed price contract could reduce the profitability of a fixed price contract or cause a loss.

Unfavorable provisions in government contracts, some of which may be customary, may harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Government contracts customarily contain provisions that give the government substantial rights and remedies, many of which are not typically found in commercial contracts, including provisions that allow the government to:

 
 

 


·  
terminate existing contracts, in whole or in part, for any reason or no reason;
·  
unilaterally reduce or modify contracts or subcontracts, including equitable price adjustments;
·  
cancel multi-year contracts and related orders if funds for contract performance for any subsequent year become unavailable;
·  
decline to exercise an option to renew a contract;
·  
exercise an option to purchase only the minimum amount, if any, specified in a contract;
·  
decline to exercise an option to purchase the maximum amount, if any, specified in a contract;
·  
claim rights to products, including intellectual property, developed under the contract;
·  
take actions that result in a longer development timeline than expected;
·  
direct the course of a development program in a manner not chosen by the government contractor;
·  
suspend or debar the contractor from doing business with the government or a specific government agency;
·  
pursue criminal or civil remedies under the False Claims Act and False Statements Act; and
·  
control or prohibit the export of products.

Generally, government contracts, including our HHS contracts for BioThrax, contain provisions permitting unilateral termination or modification, in whole or in part, at the government’s convenience. Under general principles of government contracting law, if the government terminates a contract for convenience, the terminated company may recover only its incurred or committed costs, settlement expenses and profit on work completed prior to the termination.

If the government terminates a contract for default, the defaulting company is entitled to recover costs incurred and associated profits on accepted items only and may be liable for excess costs incurred by the government in procuring undelivered items from another source. One or more of our government contracts could be terminated under these circumstances. Some government contracts grant the government the right to use, for or on behalf of the U.S. government, any technologies developed by the contractor under the government contract. If we were to develop technology under a contract with such a provision, we might not be able to prohibit third parties, including our competitors, from using that technology in providing products and services to the government.

Legal proceedings challenging the U.S. government’s use of BioThrax may be costly to defend and could limit future purchases of BioThrax by the U.S. government.

Legal proceedings could be costly to defend, and the results could reduce demand for BioThrax by the U.S. government. For example, a group of unnamed military personnel filed a lawsuit in 2003 seeking to enjoin the DoD from administering BioThrax on a mandatory basis without informed consent of the recipient or a Presidential waiver, and a federal court issued the requested injunction in 2004. In 2005, the FDA issued an order affirming the BioThrax license, and, as a result, an appellate court ruled in February 2006 that the injunction was dissolved. In October 2006, the DoD announced that it was resuming a mandatory vaccination program for BioThrax for designated personnel and contractors. In December 2006, the same counsel who brought the prior lawsuit filed a new lawsuit contending that the FDA’s 2005 final order should be set aside and that BioThrax is not properly approved for use in the DoD’s vaccination program. In February 2008, the federal district court in which that case was pending dismissed the action, concluding that the FDA did not make a clear error of judgment in reaffirming the safety and efficacy of BioThrax. On September 29, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued its opinion in Rempfer v. Torti, affirming the February 29, 2008 finding of the District Court that the FDA did not violate the Administrative Procedure Act in connection with its December 19, 2005 Final Order classifying BioThrax as safe and effective.  The plaintiffs’ petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court was denied on March 1, 2010.

Although we are not a party to any lawsuits challenging the DoD’s mandatory use of BioThrax, if a court were to again enjoin the DoD’s use of BioThrax on a mandatory basis, the amount of future purchases of BioThrax by the U.S. government could be affected. Furthermore, contractual indemnification provisions and statutory liability protections may not fully protect us from all related liabilities, and statutory liability protections could be revoked or amended to reduce the scope of liability protection. For example, although we have invoiced the DoD for reimbursement of our costs incurred with respect to the lawsuits filed against us by current and former members of the U.S. military claiming damages as the result of personal injuries allegedly suffered from vaccination with BioThrax, the DoD has not yet acted on our claim for indemnification for defense costs associated with those claims. In addition, lawsuits brought directly against us by third parties, even if not successful, would require us to spend time and money defending the related litigation that may not be reimbursed by insurance carriers or covered by indemnification under existing contracts.
 

 
 

 

Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Financing

We may not maintain profitability in future periods or on a consistent basis.

Although we have been profitable for each of the last five fiscal years, we have not been profitable for every quarter during that time. Our profitability is substantially dependent on revenues from BioThrax product sales. Revenues from BioThrax product sales have fluctuated significantly in recent quarters, and we expect that they will continue to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter based on several factors, including the timing of our fulfilling orders from the U.S. government. Additionally, our profitability may be adversely affected as we progress through various stages of ongoing or planned clinical trials for our product candidates.  We may not be able to achieve consistent profitability on a quarterly basis or sustain or increase profitability on an annual basis.

Our indebtedness may limit cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business.

As of March 31, 2010, we had $65.0 million principal amount of debt outstanding. We may seek to raise substantial external debt financing to provide additional financial flexibility. Our leverage could have significant adverse consequences, including:

·  
requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of any cash flow from operations to the payment of interest on, and principal of, our debt, which will reduce the amounts available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, product development efforts and other general corporate purposes;
·  
increasing the amount of interest that we have to pay on debt with variable interest rates if market rates of interest increase;
·  
increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
·  
limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we compete; and
·  
placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt.

We may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to pay the amounts due under our existing debt. In addition, a failure to comply with the covenants under our existing debt instruments could result in an event of default under those instruments. In the event of an acceleration of amounts due under our debt instruments as a result of an event of default, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to repay our indebtedness or to make any accelerated payments, and the lenders could seek to enforce security interests in the collateral securing such indebtedness. In addition, the covenants under our existing debt instruments and the pledge of our existing assets as collateral limit our ability to obtain additional debt financing.

We expect to require additional funding and may be unable to raise capital when needed, which would harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

We expect our development expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we conduct additional and later stage clinical trials for our product candidates. We also expect our commercialization expenses to increase in the future as we seek to broaden the market for BioThrax and if we receive marketing approval for additional products. We also may undertake additional facility projects in the future.

As of March 31, 2010, we had $116.4 million of cash and cash equivalents. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

·  
the level and timing of BioThrax product sales and cost of product sales;
·  
the acquisition of new facilities and capital improvements to new or existing facilities;
·  
the timing of, and the costs involved in, completion of qualification and validation activities related to our manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan, the build out of our new manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland and any other new facilities we may acquire;
·  
the scope, progress, results and costs of our preclinical and clinical development activities;
·  
the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;

 
 

 


·  
the number of, and development requirements for, other product candidates that we may pursue;
·  
the costs of commercialization activities, including product marketing, sales and distribution;
·  
the extent to which we lend money to third parties;
·  
the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining and enforcing patent claims and other patent-related costs, including litigation costs and the results of such litigation;
·  
the extent to which we acquire or invest in companies, businesses, products and technologies;
·  
our ability to obtain development funding from government entities and non-government and philanthropic organizations; and
·  
our ability to establish and maintain collaborations.

To the extent our capital resources are insufficient to meet our future capital requirements, we will need to finance our cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or corporate collaboration and licensing arrangements. Difficult economic conditions may make it difficult to obtain financing on attractive terms or at all. Lenders may be able to impose covenants on us that could be difficult to satisfy, which could put us at increased risk of defaulting on debt. If financing is unavailable or lost, we could be forced to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate our research and development programs or reduce our planned commercialization efforts.

Our ability to borrow additional amounts under our revolving line of credit agreement is subject to our satisfaction of specified conditions. Additional equity or debt financing, grants or corporate collaboration and licensing arrangements may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends.

Any debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms, such as liquidation and other preferences that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us.

Risks Related to Manufacturing and Manufacturing Facilities

We are in the process of expanding our manufacturing facilities and entering into arrangements with contract manufacturing organizations. Delays in completing facilities, or delays or failures in obtaining regulatory approvals for new manufacturing facility projects or new contract manufacturing partners, could limit our potential revenues and growth.

We continually evaluate alternatives for the manufacture of various product candidates. We may seek to acquire one or more additional facilities or sign agreements with contract manufacturing organizations. We have constructed a manufacturing facility on our Lansing, Michigan campus, for which we are seeking a U.S. government award for scale-up, qualification and validation to manufacture BioThrax. Additionally, in 2009, we acquired a facility in Baltimore, Maryland that we expect to utilize for certain product development or manufacturing projects. In order to do so, we anticipate that we will be required to make certain capital expenditures to upgrade and maintain this facility.

Constructing, preparing and maintaining a facility for manufacturing purposes is a significant project. For example, for our facility in Lansing, Michigan, the process for qualifying and validating for FDA licensure will be costly and time consuming, may result in unanticipated delays and may cost more than expected due to a number of factors, including regulatory requirements. The costs and time required to comply with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, regulations or similar regulatory requirements for sales of our products outside the U.S., may be significant. If our qualification and validation activities are delayed, we may not be able to meet our obligations to our customers, which may limit our opportunities for growth. Costs associated with constructing, qualifying and validating manufacturing facilities could require us to raise additional funds from external sources, and we may not be able to do so on favorable terms or at all.


 
 

 

BioThrax and our vaccine and therapeutic product candidates are complex to manufacture and ship, which could cause us to experience delays in revenues or shortages of products.

BioThrax and all our product candidates are biologics. Manufacturing biologic products, especially in large quantities, is complex. The products must be made consistently and in compliance with a clearly defined manufacturing process. Accordingly, it is essential to be able to validate and control the manufacturing process to assure that it is reproducible. Slight deviations anywhere in the manufacturing process, including maintaining master seed banks and preventing drift, obtaining materials, seed growth, fermentation, filtration, filling, labeling, packaging, storage and shipping and quality control and testing, may result in lot failures or manufacturing shut-down, delay in the release of lots, product recalls, spoilage or regulatory action. Success rates can vary dramatically at different stages of the manufacturing process, which can reduce yields and increase costs. From time to time we experience deviations in the manufacturing process that may take significant time and resources to resolve and if unresolved may affect manufacturing output and could cause us to fail to satisfy customer orders or contractual commitments, lead to a termination of one or more of our contracts, lead to delays in our clinical trials, result in litigation or regulatory action against us or cause the FDA to cease releasing product until the deviations are explained and corrected, any of which could be costly to us and negatively impact our business.

We also depend on certain single-source suppliers for materials and services necessary for the manufacture of our licensed product and product candidates. A disruption in the availability of such materials or services from these suppliers could require us to qualify and validate alternative suppliers. If we are unable to locate or establish alternative suppliers, our ability to manufacture our products could be adversely affected and also could cause us to fail to satisfy customer orders or contractual commitments, lead to a termination of one or more of our contracts, lead to delays in our clinical trials or result in litigation or regulatory action against us, any of which could be costly to us and otherwise harm our business.

FDA approval is required for the release of each lot of BioThrax. We will not be able to sell any lots that fail to satisfy the release testing specifications. We must provide the FDA with the results of potency testing before lots are released for sale. We have one mechanism for conducting this potency testing that is reliant on a unique animal strain for which we have no alternative. In developing alternatives, we may face significant regulatory hurdles. In the event of a problem with this strain, if we have not developed alternatives, we would not be able to provide the FDA with required potency testing.

In addition, under our contracts with HHS to deliver doses of BioThrax, we are responsible for shipping BioThrax at a prescribed temperature range during shipping, and variations from that temperature range could result in loss of product and could adversely affect our profitability. Delays, lot failures, shipping deviations, spoilage or other loss during shipping could cause us to fail to satisfy customer orders or contractual commitments, lead to a termination of one or more of our contracts, lead to delays in our clinical trials or result in litigation or regulatory action against us, any of which could be costly to us and otherwise harm our business.

Disruption at, damage to or destruction of our manufacturing facilities could impede our ability to manufacture BioThrax, which would harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

We currently rely on our manufacturing facilities at a single location in Lansing, Michigan for the production of BioThrax. Any interruption in manufacturing operations at this location could result in our inability to satisfy the product demands of our customers. A number of factors could cause interruptions, including:

·  
equipment malfunctions or failures;
·  
technology malfunctions;
·  
work stoppages or slow downs;
·  
protests, including by animal rights activists;
·  
damage to or destruction of the facility;
·  
regional power shortages; or
·  
product tampering.


 
 

 

As our equipment ages, it will need to be replaced. Replacement of equipment has the potential to introduce variations in the manufacturing process that may result in lot failures or manufacturing shut-down, delay in the release of lots, product recalls, spoilage or regulatory action.

In addition, providers of bioterrorism countermeasures could be subject to an increased risk of terrorist activities. For example, the U.S. government has designated our Lansing facility as a facility requiring additional security to protect against potential terrorist threats to the facility. Any disruption that impedes our ability to manufacture and ship BioThrax in a timely manner could reduce our revenues and materially harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

If the company on which we rely for filling BioThrax vials is unable to perform these services for us, our business may suffer.

We have outsourced the operation for filling BioThrax into vials to a single company, Hollister-Stier Laboratories LLC, or Hollister-Stier. Our contract with Hollister-Stier expires on December 31, 2010. We have not established internal redundancy for our filling functions, however, we have identified and contracted with an additional provider that we believe can handle our filling needs. Before this party may perform filling services for us, it must be qualified and licensed by the FDA. Such qualification and licensure may require use of a significant number of doses of BioThrax for consistency lots and stability testing that we may not be able to sell in the future once testing is complete. If Hollister-Stier is unable to perform filling services for us, we would need to obtain FDA approval of our potential substitute filler, engage, qualify and license an alternative filling company or develop our own filling capabilities. Any new contract filling company or filling capabilities that we acquire or develop will need to be approved by the FDA. Identifying and engaging a new contract filling company or developing our own filling capabilities and obtaining FDA approval could involve significant time and cost. As a result, we might not be able to deliver BioThrax orders on a timely basis and our revenues could decrease.

Our business may be harmed if we do not adequately forecast customer demand.

The timing and amount of customer demand is difficult to predict. We may not be able to scale-up our production quickly enough to fill any new customer orders on a timely basis. This could cause us to lose new business and possibly existing business. For example, we may not be able to scale-up manufacturing processes for our product candidates to allow production of commercial quantities at a reasonable cost or at all. Furthermore, if we overestimate customer demand, or choose to commercialize products for which the market is smaller than we anticipate, we could incur significant unrecoverable costs from creating excess capacity. In addition, if we do not successfully develop and commercialize any of our product candidates, we may never require the production capacity that we expect to have available.

If third parties do not manufacture our product candidates in sufficient quantities and at an acceptable cost or in compliance with regulatory requirements and specifications, the development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed, prevented or impaired.

We currently rely, or plan to rely, on third parties to manufacture the supplies of some or all of our vaccine and therapeutic product candidates that we require for preclinical and clinical development. Any significant delay in obtaining adequate supplies of our product candidates could adversely affect our ability to develop or commercialize these product candidates. For example, in 2008 the initial manufacturer of our anthrax monoclonal therapeutic informed us it was discontinuing contract manufacturing operations and we were forced to secure alternative manufacturing resources.

In addition, we expect that we will rely on third parties for a portion of the manufacturing process for commercial supplies of product candidates that we successfully develop, including fermentation for some of our vaccine product candidates, plasma fractionation and purification and contract fill and finish operations and we rely on those manufacturers to comply with a wide variety of rules and regulations. If our contract manufacturers are unable to scale-up production to generate enough materials for commercial launch, if manufacturing is of insufficient quality, or if the costs of manufacturing are prohibitively high, the success of those products may be jeopardized. For example, we are currently evaluating manufacturing alternatives for Typhella in countries in which we believe manufacturing costs will be economical. Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates may adversely affect our ability to develop product candidates and commercialize any products that receive regulatory approval on a timely and competitive basis.


 
 

 

We operate under short-term supply agreements with a number of third party manufacturers.  Third party manufacturers under short-term supply agreements are not obligated to accept any purchase orders we may submit. If any third party terminates its agreement with us, based on its own business priorities, or otherwise fails to fulfill our purchase orders, we would need to rely on alternative sources or develop our own manufacturing capabilities to satisfy our requirements.

If alternative suppliers are not available or are delayed in fulfilling our requirements, or if we are unsuccessful in developing our own manufacturing capabilities, we may not be able to obtain adequate supplies of our product candidates on a timely basis. A change of manufacturers would require review and approval from the FDA and the applicable foreign regulatory agencies. This review may be costly and time consuming. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under the cGMP requirements and that are both capable of manufacturing for us and willing to do so.

We currently rely on third parties for regulatory compliance and quality assurance with respect to the supplies of our product candidates that they produce for us. We also will rely for these purposes on any third party that we use for production of commercial supplies of product candidates that we successfully develop. Manufacturers are subject to ongoing, periodic, unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign agencies or their designees to ensure strict compliance with cGMP regulations and other governmental regulations and corresponding foreign standards.

We cannot be certain that our present or future manufacturers will be able to comply with cGMP regulations and other FDA regulatory requirements or similar regulatory requirements outside the U.S. We do not control compliance by manufacturers with these regulations and standards. If we or these third parties fail to comply with applicable regulations, sanctions could be imposed on us, which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our product candidates. The sanctions that might be imposed include:

·  
fines, injunctions and civil penalties;
·  
refusal by regulatory authorities to grant marketing approval of our product candidates;
·  
delays, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, including license revocation;
·  
seizures or recalls of product candidates or products;
·  
operating restrictions; and
·  
criminal prosecutions.

If, as a result of regulatory requirements or otherwise, we or third parties are unable to manufacture our product candidates at an acceptable cost, our product candidates may not be commercially viable.

Our use of hazardous materials, chemicals, bacteria and viruses requires us to comply with regulatory requirements and exposes us to significant potential liabilities.

Our development and manufacturing processes involve the use of hazardous materials, including chemicals, bacteria, viruses and radioactive materials, and produce waste products. Accordingly, we are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, distribution, storage, handling, disposal and recordkeeping of these materials. We are also subject to a variety of environmental laws in Michigan regarding underground storage tanks. One such tank on our Lansing campus has leaked in the past. The State of Michigan removed the tank, continues to monitor the situation and has agreed to indemnify us for any resulting liabilities. In the event that the State of Michigan does not indemnify us, or if our insurance does not cover the exposure of any remediation that may be necessary, we may be required to spend significant amounts on remediation efforts. In addition to complying with environmental and occupational health and safety laws, we must comply with special regulations relating to biosafety administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, HHS and the DoD.

The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act and the Agricultural Protection Act require us to register with the CDC our possession, use or transfer of select biological agents or toxins that could pose a threat to public health and safety, to animal or plant health or to animal or plant products. This legislation requires increased safeguards and security measures for these select agents and toxins, including controlled access and the screening of entities and personnel, and establishes a comprehensive national database of registered entities.


 
 

 

We also are subject to export control regulations governing the export of BioThrax and technology and materials used to develop and manufacture BioThrax and our product candidates. These laws and regulations may limit the countries in which we may conduct development and manufacturing activities. If we fail to comply with environmental, occupational health and safety, biosafety and export control laws, we could be held liable for fines, penalties and damages that result, and any such liability could exceed our assets and resources. In addition, we could be required to cease immediately all use of a select agent or toxin, and we could be prohibited from exporting our products, technology and materials or we could be suspended from the right to do business with the U.S. government.

Our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for all liabilities that we may incur in the event of unanticipated costs, exposing us to potential expense and reduced profitability.

We hold a number of insurance policies in an effort to protect ourselves against extraordinary or unanticipated costs. Our general liability and excess insurance policies provide for coverage up to annual aggregate limits of $12 million, with coverage of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million in the aggregate for general liability and $10 million per occurrence and in the aggregate for excess liability. Both policies exclude coverage for liabilities relating to the release of pollutants. We do not currently hold insurance policies expressly providing for coverage relating to our use of hazardous materials other than storage tank liability insurance for our Lansing facility with coverage of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million annual aggregate limit and a $25,000 per claim deductible. We hold product liability and clinical trial liability insurance policies for our commercial products and each clinical trial we are conducting in amounts we deem appropriate.

These policies are subject to deductibles, exclusions and coverage limitations. Circumstances may arise where we face liabilities that are not covered by these policies, or where our coverage is not adequate, which may expose us to significant liabilities and significantly and adversely affect our business or financial position.

Risks Related to Product Development

Our business depends significantly on our success in completing development and commercialization of our product candidates at acceptable costs. If we are unable to commercialize these product candidates, or experience significant delays or unanticipated costs in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in the development of our vaccines and therapeutic product candidates. In addition to BioThrax product sales, our ability to generate near term revenue is dependent on the success of our development programs, on the U.S. government’s interest in providing development funding for or procuring our product candidates, on the interest of non-governmental organizations in providing grant funding for development of our product candidates and on the commercial viability of those product candidates. The commercial success of our product candidates will depend on many factors, including accomplishing the following in an economical manner:

·  
successful development, formulation and cGMP scale-up of biological manufacturing that meets FDA requirements;
·  
successful development of animal models;
·  
successful completion of non-clinical development, including studies in approved animal models;
·  
the expense of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights;
·  
successful completion of clinical trials;
·  
receipt of marketing approvals from the FDA and similar foreign regulatory authorities;
·  
procurement of our biodefense product candidates prior to FDA approval;
·  
establishing commercial manufacturing processes of our own or arrangements with contract manufacturers;
·  
manufacturing stable commercial supplies of product candidates, including materials based on recombinant technology;
·  
launching commercial sales of the product candidate, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and
·  
acceptance of the product candidate by potential government customers, physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community.


 
 

 

If, as a result of the foregoing factors or otherwise, we are prevented from developing and commercializing a product candidate in an economically acceptable manner, that product program may be adversely affected and the commercial success of the product candidate may be harmed.  For example, we recently agreed with Talecris Biotherapeutics, Inc. to extend the commencement date of the commercial term for manufacture of our anthrax immune globulin therapeutic product candidate.  We are currently in negotiations with Talecris for a longer-term resolution regarding commercial production; however, in the event that we are not able to negotiate a satisfactory resolution we may be required to explore other options for our anthrax immune globulin program that could result in less favorable commercial success for this product candidate, or no commercial success at all.

We will not be able to commercialize our product candidates if our preclinical development efforts are not successful, our clinical trials do not demonstrate safety or our clinical trials or animal studies do not demonstrate efficacy.

Before obtaining regulatory approval for the sale of our product candidates, we must conduct extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials to establish proof of concept, safety and efficacy of our product candidates. Preclinical and clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete, and the outcome of such trials is uncertain. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials or animal efficacy studies will be successful, and interim results of a clinical trial or animal efficacy study do not necessarily predict final results.

For example, in December 2008, we and Sanofi Pasteur determined that the joint efforts of our collaboration related to our meningitis B product development program had not identified a viable product candidate, which effectively ended most material development activities under this collaboration.

We expect to rely on FDA regulations known as the “animal rule” to obtain approval for our biodefense product candidates. The animal rule permits the use of animal efficacy studies together with human clinical safety and immunogenicity trials to support an application for marketing approval. These regulations are relatively new, and we have limited experience in the application of these rules to the product candidates that we are developing. It is possible that results from these animal efficacy studies may not be predictive of the actual efficacy of our vaccine and therapeutic product candidates in humans. If we are not successful in completing the development and commercialization of our vaccine and therapeutic product candidates, or if we are significantly delayed in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

A failure of one or more of our clinical trials or animal efficacy studies can occur at any stage of testing. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, preclinical testing and the clinical trial or animal efficacy study process that could delay or prevent our ability to receive regulatory approval or commercialize our product candidates, including:

·  
regulators or institutional review boards may not authorize us to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;
·  
we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional preclinical testing or clinical trials, or we may abandon projects that we expect to be promising, if our preclinical tests, clinical trials or animal efficacy studies produce negative or inconclusive results;
·  
we might have to suspend or terminate our clinical trials if the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;
·  
regulators or institutional review boards may require that we hold, suspend or terminate clinical development for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements;
·  
the cost of our clinical trials could escalate and become cost prohibitive;
·  
any regulatory approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the product not commercially viable;
·  
we may not be successful in recruiting a sufficient number of qualifying subjects for our clinical trials; and
·  
the effects of our product candidates may not be the desired effects or may include undesirable side effects or the product candidates may have other unexpected characteristics.

 
 

 

In addition, because some of our current and future vaccine product candidates contain live attenuated viruses, our testing of these vaccine product candidates is subject to additional risk. For example, there have been reports of serious adverse events following administration of live vaccine products in clinical trials conducted by other vaccine developers. Also, for some of our current and future vaccine product candidates, we expect to conduct clinical trials in chronic carriers of the disease that our product candidate seeks to prevent. There have been reports of disease flares in chronic carriers following administration of live vaccine products.

If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if our clinical trials are not well designed, if we are unable to successfully complete our clinical trials or other testing, or if the results of these trials or tests are not positive, we may:

·  
be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates;
·  
not be able to obtain marketing approval; or
·  
obtain approval for indications that are not as broad as intended.

Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing, are required to conduct additional testing, or experience delays in product approval. Significant clinical trial delays also could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to commercialize our products or product candidates.

Under the Project BioShield Act, the Secretary of HHS can contract to purchase countermeasures for the SNS prior to FDA approval of the countermeasure in specified circumstances. Project BioShield also allows the Secretary of HHS to authorize the emergency use of medical products that have not yet been approved by the FDA. However, our product candidates might not be selected by the Secretary under this authority. Moreover, this authority could result in increased competition for our products and product candidates.

Risks Related to Commercialization

If we fail to achieve significant sales of BioThrax to customers in addition to the U.S. government, our opportunities for growth could be harmed.

An element of our business strategy is to establish a market for sales of BioThrax to customers in addition to the U.S. government. These potential customers include foreign governments and state and local governments, which we expect will be interested in BioThrax to protect emergency responders such as police, fire and emergency medical personnel, multinational companies, non-governmental organizations and hospitals.

The market for sales of BioThrax to customers other than the U.S. government is undeveloped, and we may not be successful in generating meaningful sales of BioThrax to these potential customers. To date, we have made only modest sales to these customers. In particular, we have supplied small amounts of BioThrax directly to several foreign governments. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, our sales of BioThrax to customers other than the U.S. government represented a small portion of our revenue. If we fail to significantly increase our sales of BioThrax to these customers, our business and opportunities for growth could be materially harmed.

Government regulations may make it difficult for us to achieve significant sales of BioThrax to customers other than the U.S. government. For example, many foreign governments require licensure of BioThrax in their jurisdiction before they will consider procuring doses. Additionally, we are subject to export control laws imposed by the U.S. government. Although there are currently only limited restrictions on the export of BioThrax and related technology, the U.S. government may decide, particularly in the current environment of elevated concerns about global terrorism, to increase the scope of export prohibitions. These prohibitions could limit our sales of BioThrax to foreign governments and other foreign customers. In addition, U.S. government demand for a anthrax vaccine may limit supplies of BioThrax available for sale to non-U.S. government customers. For example, our efforts to develop domestic commercial and international sales may be impeded by the DoD’s right under the Defense Production Act to require us to deliver doses that we do not currently anticipate. Furthermore, the DoD’s sale of BioThrax to foreign governments under the Foreign Military Sales program has and may continue to have an adverse effect on our ability to sell BioThrax internationally.


 
 

 

Our ability to meet any potential increased demand that develops for sales of BioThrax to customers other than the U.S. government depends on our available production capacity. We use substantially all of our current production capacity at our primary manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan to manufacture BioThrax for current sales to U.S. government customers. Additionally, we have constructed another manufacturing facility at our Lansing campus that is available for production of BioThrax, subject to final qualification and validation activities. To prepare for the event that we obtain significant orders for BioThrax from customers other than the U.S. government that cannot be accommodated by our existing facilities, we may explore additional manufacturing alternatives that would enable us to increase our manufacturing capacity and, as a result, allow us to increase sales of BioThrax to customers other than the U.S. government. If we are successful in this effort, it could be several years until a facility is qualified and validated and able to produce saleable vaccine. If we are unsuccessful in this effort, our opportunities for growth could be limited.

Laws and regulations governing international operations may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain product candidates outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.

As we continue to expand our operations outside of the United States, we must comply with numerous laws and regulations relating to international business operations. The creation and implementation of international business practices compliance programs is costly and such programs are difficult to enforce, particularly where reliance on third parties is required.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering or authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations. The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA are enforced primarily by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, is involved with enforcement of the books and records provisions of the FCPA.

Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical studies and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions. China is an example of one jurisdiction in which we are contemplating future expansion where we will need to exercise caution to ensure our compliance with the FCPA.

Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. Our expanding presence outside of the United States will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing or selling certain products and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.

The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial penalties, including suspension or debarment from government contracting. Violation of the FCPA can result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Indictment alone under the FCPA can lead to suspension of the right to do business with the U.S. government until the pending claims are resolved. Conviction of a violation of the FCPA can result in long term disqualification as a government contractor. The termination of a government contract or relationship as a result of our failure to satisfy any of our obligations under laws governing international business practices would have a negative impact on our operations and harm our reputation and ability to procure government contracts. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on United States exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.


 
 

 

The commercial success of BioThrax and any products that we may develop will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by the government, physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community.

Any products that we bring to the market may not gain or maintain market acceptance by potential government customers, physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community. In particular, our biodefense vaccine and therapeutic products and product candidates are subject to the product criteria that may be specified by potential U.S. government customers. The product specifications in any government procurement request may prohibit or preclude us from participating in the government program if our products or product candidates do not satisfy the stated criteria.

In addition, notwithstanding favorable findings regarding the safety and efficacy of BioThrax by the FDA in its final ruling in December 2005, the Government Accountability Office reiterated concerns regarding BioThrax in Congressional testimony in May 2006 that it had previously identified beginning in 1999. These concerns include the then-licensed six-dose regimen and annual booster doses, questions about the long-term and short-term safety of the vaccine, including how safety is affected by gender differences, and uncertainty about the vaccine’s efficacy against inhalational anthrax. Continued reiteration of these concerns could have a detrimental effect on the market acceptance of BioThrax.

The use of vaccines carries a risk of adverse health effects. The adverse reactions that have been associated with the administration of BioThrax include local reactions, such as redness, swelling and limitation of motion in the inoculated arm, and systemic reactions, such as headache, fever, chills, nausea and general body aches. In addition, some serious adverse events have been reported to the vaccine adverse event reporting system database maintained by the CDC and the FDA with respect to BioThrax. The report of any adverse event to the vaccine adverse event reporting system database is not proof that the vaccine caused such event. Serious adverse events, including diabetes, heart attacks, autoimmune diseases, including Guillian Barre syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, lymphoma and death, have not been causally linked to the administration of BioThrax.

If any products that we develop do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate material revenues from sales of these products. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:

·  
the prevalence and severity of any side effects;
·  
the efficacy and potential advantages over alternative treatments;
·  
the ability to offer our product candidates for sale at competitive prices;
·  
the relative convenience and ease of administration;
·  
the willingness of the target patient population to try new products and of physicians to prescribe these products;
·  
the strength of marketing and distribution support; and
·  
the sufficiency of coverage or reimbursement by third parties.

Political or social factors, including related litigation, may delay or impair our ability to market BioThrax and our biodefense product candidates and may require us to spend time and money to address these issues.

Products developed to treat diseases caused by or to combat the threat of bioterrorism will be subject to changing political and social environments. The political and social responses to bioterrorism have been highly charged and unpredictable. Political or social pressures or changes in the perception of the risk that military personnel or civilians could be exposed to biological agents as weapons of bioterrorism may delay or cause resistance to bringing our products to market or limit pricing or purchases of our products, which would harm our business.

In addition, substantial delays or cancellations of purchases could result from protests or challenges from third parties. Furthermore, lawsuits brought against us by third parties or activists, even if not successful, require us to spend time and money defending the related litigation. The need to address political and social issues may divert our management’s time and attention from other business concerns. For example, between 2001 and 2006, members of the military and various activist groups who oppose mandatory inoculation with BioThrax petitioned the FDA and the federal courts to revoke the license for BioThrax and to terminate the DoD program for the mandatory administration of BioThrax to military personnel. Although the DoD has prevailed in those challenges to date, the actions of these groups have created negative publicity about BioThrax.


 
 

 

Additional lawsuits, publicity campaigns or other negative publicity may adversely affect the degree of market acceptance of, and thereby limit the demand for, BioThrax and our biodefense product candidates.  In such event, our ability to market and sell such products may be hindered and the commercial success of BioThrax and other products we develop will be harmed, thereby reducing our revenues.

We have a small sales and marketing group. If we are unable to expand our sales and marketing capabilities or enter into sales and marketing agreements with third parties, we may be unable to generate product sales revenue from sales to customers other than the U.S. government.

To achieve commercial success for any approved product, we must either develop a sales and marketing organization or outsource these functions to third parties. We currently market and sell BioThrax through a small, targeted sales and marketing group. We plan to continue to do so and expect that we will use a similar approach for sales to the U.S. government of any other biodefense product candidates that we successfully develop. However, to increase our sales of BioThrax to state and local governments and foreign governments and create an infrastructure for future sales of other biodefense products to these customers, we plan to expand our sales and marketing organization, which will be expensive and time consuming.

We may not be able to attract, hire, train and retain qualified sales and marketing personnel to build a significant or effective sales and marketing force for sales of biodefense product candidates to customers other than the U.S. government or for sales of our commercial product candidates. If we are not successful in our efforts to expand our internal sales and marketing capability, our ability to independently market and sell BioThrax and any other product candidates that we successfully develop will be impaired. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing capabilities is delayed as a result of FDA requirements or other reasons, we would incur related expenses too early relative to the product launch. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain our sales and marketing personnel.

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

The development and commercialization of new vaccine and therapeutic products is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to BioThrax, our current product candidates and any products we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future from major pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research institutions that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.

Our competitors may develop products that are safer, more effective, have fewer side effects, are more convenient or are less costly than any products that we may develop. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours. We believe that our most significant competitors in the area of vaccine and therapeutics are a number of pharmaceutical companies that have vaccine programs, including Merck & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur, Pfizer, and Novartis, as well as smaller more focused companies engaged in vaccine and therapeutic development, such as Aeras, Crucell, Cangene, Human Genome Sciences, Soligenix, Dynport Vaccine Company, Elusys, Bavarian Nordic and PharmAthene.

Any vaccine and therapeutic product candidate that we successfully develop and commercialize is likely to compete with currently marketed products, including antibiotics and antiviral drugs, and with other product candidates that are in development for the same indications. In many cases, the currently marketed products have well known brand names, are distributed by large pharmaceutical companies with substantial resources and have achieved widespread acceptance among physicians and patients. In addition, we are aware of product candidates of third parties that are in development, which, if approved, would compete against product candidates for which we intend to seek marketing approval.


 
 

 

Although BioThrax is the only anthrax vaccine approved by the FDA for the prevention of anthrax infection, the government is funding the development of new products that could compete with BioThrax, and could eventually procure those new products in addition to, or instead of, BioThrax, potentially reducing our BioThrax revenues. We also face competition for our biodefense product candidates. For example, HHS has awarded a development and SNS procurement contract to a competitor for an anthrax immune globulin therapeutic and is assisting this company by providing it with BioThrax doses that we delivered for placement into the SNS so that the Company can immunize donors and obtain plasma for its product candidate. HHS has also awarded another development and SNS procurement contract to another competitor for an anthrax monoclonal antibody as a post-exposure therapeutic for anthrax infection.

Numerous companies have vaccine product candidates in development that would compete with any of our commercial product candidates for which we are seeking to obtain marketing approval.  One oral typhoid vaccine and one injectable typhoid vaccine are currently approved and administered in the U.S. and Europe. The Aeras Global Tuberculosis Vaccine Foundation is developing or supporting the development of several tuberculosis vaccine product candidates in addition to ours, any of which could present competitive risks.

Many of our competitors 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. Smaller or early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through competing for government funding and through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, as well as in acquiring products, product candidates and technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs or advantageous to our business.

Legislation and contractual provisions limiting or restricting liability of manufacturers may not be adequate to protect us from all liabilities associated with the manufacture, sale and use of our products.

Provisions of our BioThrax contracts with the U.S. government and federal legislation enacted to protect manufacturers of biodefense and anti-terrorism countermeasures may limit our potential liability related to the manufacture, sale and use of BioThrax and our biodefense product candidates. However, these contractual provisions and legislation may not fully protect us from all related liabilities.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP Act, which was signed into law in December 2005, creates immunity for manufacturers of biodefense countermeasures when the Secretary of HHS issues a declaration for their manufacture, administration or use. A PREP Act declaration is meant to provide immunity from all claims under state or federal law for loss arising out of the administration or use of a covered countermeasure. Manufacturers are not entitled to protection under the PREP Act in cases of willful misconduct. Upon a declaration by the Secretary of HHS, a compensation fund is created to provide “timely, uniform, and adequate compensation to eligible individuals for covered injuries directly caused by the administration or use of a covered countermeasure.” The “covered injuries” to which the program applies are defined as serious physical injuries or death. Individuals are permitted to bring a willful misconduct action against a manufacturer only after they have exhausted their remedies under the compensation program. Therefore, a willful misconduct action could be brought against us if any individuals exhausted their remedies under the compensation program and thereby expose us to liability. In October 2008, the Secretary of HHS issued a PREP Act declaration identifying BioThrax and our anthrax immune globulin therapeutic candidate as covered countermeasures. We do not know, however, whether the PREP Act will provide adequate protection or survive anticipated legal challenges to its validity.

In August 2006, the Department of Homeland Security approved our application under the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technology Act, or SAFETY Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2002 for liability protection for sales of BioThrax. The SAFETY Act creates product liability limitations for qualifying anti-terrorism technologies for claims arising from or related to an act of terrorism. In addition, the SAFETY Act provides a process by which an anti-terrorism technology may be certified as an “approved product” by the Department of Homeland Security and therefore entitled to a rebuttable presumption that the government contractor defense applies to sales of the product. The government contractor defense, under specified circumstances, extends the sovereign immunity of the U.S. to government contractors who manufacture a product for the government. Specifically, for the government contractor defense to apply, the government must approve reasonably precise specifications, the product must conform to those specifications and the supplier must warn the government about known dangers arising from the use of the product. Although we are entitled to the benefits of the SAFETY Act, it may not provide adequate protection from any claims made against us.


 
 

 

In addition, although our prior contracts with the DoD and HHS provided that the U.S. government would indemnify us for any damages resulting from product liability claims, our current contracts with HHS do not contain such indemnification, and we may not be able to negotiate similar indemnification provisions in future contracts.

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

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the sale of BioThrax and any other products that we successfully develop and the testing of our product candidates in clinical trials. For example, we have been a defendant in lawsuits filed on behalf of military personnel who alleged that they were vaccinated with BioThrax by the DoD and claimed damages resulting from personal injuries allegedly suffered because of the vaccinations. The plaintiffs in these lawsuits claimed different injuries and sought varying amounts of damages. Although we successfully defended these lawsuits, we cannot ensure that we will be able to do so in the future.

Under our prior BioThrax contracts with the DoD and HHS, the U.S. government agreed to indemnify us against claims by third parties for death, personal injury and other damages related to BioThrax, including reasonable litigation and settlement costs, to the extent that the claim or loss results from specified risks not covered by insurance or caused by our grossly negligent or criminal behavior. As required under such contracts, we have notified the DoD of personal injury claims that have been filed against us as a result of the vaccination of U.S. military personnel with BioThrax and are seeking reimbursement from the DoD for uninsured costs incurred in defending these claims; however, the DoD has not acted on our requests for reimbursement. The collection process can be lengthy and complicated, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to recover these amounts from the U.S. government.

If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against future claims that our product or product candidates caused injuries and if we are not entitled to indemnity by the U.S. government, or if the U.S. government does not honor its indemnification obligations, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:

·  
decreased demand for any product candidates or products that we may develop;
·  
injury to our reputation;
·  
withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
·  
withdrawal of a product from the market;
·  
costs to defend the related litigation;
·  
substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;
·  
loss of revenue; and
·  
the inability to commercialize any products that we may develop.

We currently have product liability insurance for coverage up to a $15 million annual aggregate limit with a deductible of $75,000 per claim up to $375,000 in aggregate. The amount of insurance that we currently hold may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that may occur. Product liability insurance is difficult to obtain and increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost and we may not be able to obtain insurance coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise. For example, from 2002 through February 2006, we were unable to obtain product liability insurance for sales of BioThrax on commercially reasonable terms. We do not believe that the amount of insurance we have been able to obtain for BioThrax is sufficient to manage the risk associated with the potential large scale deployment of BioThrax as a countermeasure to bioterrorism threats. We rely on statutory protections in addition to insurance to mitigate our liability exposure for BioThrax.

If we are unable to obtain adequate reimbursement from governments or third party payors for any products that we may develop or to obtain acceptable prices for those products, our revenues will suffer.

Our revenues and profits from any products that we successfully develop, other than with respect to sales of our biodefense products under government contracts, will depend heavily upon the availability of adequate reimbursement for the use of such products from governmental and other third party payors, both in the U.S. and in other markets. Reimbursement by a third party payor may depend upon a number of factors, including the third party payor’s determination that use of a product is:

 
 

 


·  
a covered benefit under its health plan;
·  
safe, effective and medically necessary;
·  
appropriate for the specific patient;
·  
cost-effective; and
·  
neither experimental nor investigational.

Obtaining a determination that a product is covered is a time-consuming and costly process that could require us to provide supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data for the use of our products to each payor. We may not be able to provide data sufficient to gain coverage.

Even when a payor determines that a product is covered, the payor may impose limitations that preclude payment for some uses that are approved by the FDA or comparable authorities but are determined by the payor to not be medically reasonable and necessary. Moreover, eligibility for coverage does not imply that any product will be covered in all cases or that reimbursement will be available at a rate that permits the health care provider to cover its costs of using the product.

We expect that the success of some of our commercial vaccine product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval will depend on inclusion of those product candidates in government immunization programs. Most non-pediatric commercial vaccines are purchased and paid for, or reimbursed by, managed care organizations, other private health plans or public insurers or paid for directly by patients. In the U.S., pediatric vaccines are funded by a variety of federal entitlements and grants, as well as state appropriations. Foreign governments also commonly fund pediatric vaccination programs through national health programs. In addition, with respect to some diseases affecting the public health generally, particularly in developing countries, public health authorities or non-governmental, charitable or philanthropic organizations fund the cost of vaccines.

Medicare Part B reimburses for physician-administered drugs and biologics based on the product’s “average sales price.” This reimbursement methodology went into effect in 2005 and has generally led to lower Medicare reimbursement levels than under the reimbursement methodology in effect prior to that time. The Medicare Part D outpatient prescription drug benefit went into effect in January 2006. Coverage under Medicare Part D is provided primarily through private entities, which act as plan sponsors and negotiate price concessions from pharmaceutical manufacturers.
 
        Certain products we may develop may be eligible for reimbursement under Medicaid. If the state-specific Medicaid programs do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement for any products we may develop, it may  have a negative impact on our operations.

The scope of coverage and payment policies varies among third party private payors, including indemnity insurers, employer group health insurance programs and managed care plans. These third party carriers may base their coverage and reimbursement on the coverage and reimbursement rate paid by carriers for Medicare beneficiaries. Furthermore, many such payors are investigating or implementing methods for reducing health care costs, such as the establishment of capitated or prospective payment systems. Cost containment pressures have led to an increased emphasis on the use of cost-effective products by health care providers. If third party payors do not provide adequate coverage or reimbursement for any products we may develop, it could have a negative effect on our revenues and results of operations.

In March 2010, Congress enacted sweeping legislation to reform the U.S. health care system. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010, generally is intended to expand health care coverage to currently uninsured Americans and to limit the rate of increase in health care spending. The legislation contains a number of cost-containment measures that could adversely affect our operating results and our overall financial condition. For example, the legislation imposes an annual fee on branded prescription drug manufacturers (including biologics manufacturers), which will be allocated based on market share in the aggregate for certain government programs. In addition, the legislation creates a licensure pathway for biological products shown to be biosimilar to previously licensed biological reference products, and will permit litigation of patent infringement cases between patent owners and biosimilar manufacturers prior to biosimilar market entry. The legislation also establishes a program to phase out the coverage gap under Medicare Part D by 2020 through a combination of manufacturer discounts and federal subsidies, and creates an Independent Payment Advisory Board to recommend changes in Medicare payment rates.


 
 

 

We expect the reforms imposed by the new law to have a significant impact on our business and the entire life sciences industry. Until many of the provisions are implemented, however, the full impact of the legislation cannot be known.

Certain products we may develop may be eligible for reimbursement under Medicaid. If the state-specific Medicaid programs do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement for any products we may develop, it may have a negative impact on our operations.

The scope of coverage and payment policies varies among third party private payors, including indemnity insurers, employer group health insurance programs and managed care plans. These third party carriers may base their coverage and reimbursement on the coverage and reimbursement rate paid by carriers for Medicaid beneficiaries. Furthermore, many such payors are investigating or implementing methods for reducing health care costs, such as the establishment of capitated or prospective payment systems. Cost containment pressures have led to an increased emphasis on the use of cost-effective products by health care providers. If third party payors do not provide adequate coverage or reimbursement for any products we may develop, it could have a negative effect on our revenues and results of operations.

Foreign governments tend to impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our revenues.

In some foreign countries, particularly the countries of the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of 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 adversely affected.

Legislation has been introduced into Congress that, if enacted, would permit more widespread re-importation of drugs from foreign countries into the U.S., which may include re-importation from foreign countries where the drugs are sold at lower prices than in the U.S. Such legislation, or similar regulatory changes, could decrease the price we receive for any approved products which, in turn, could adversely affect our operating results and our overall financial condition.

If we fail to attract and keep senior management and key scientific personnel, we may be unable to sustain or expand our BioThrax operations or develop or commercialize our product candidates.

Our success depends on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified managerial and key scientific personnel. We consider Fuad El-Hibri, chairman of our Board of Directors and our chief executive officer, and Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, a member of our Board of Directors and our president and chief operating officer, to be key to our BioThrax operations and our efforts to develop and commercialize our product candidates. Both of these key employees are at will employees and can terminate their employment at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance on any of our employees.

In addition, our growth will require us to hire a significant number of qualified scientific and commercial personnel, including clinical development, regulatory, marketing and sales executives and field sales personnel, as well as additional administrative personnel. There is intense competition from other companies and research and academic institutions for qualified personnel in the areas of our activities. If we cannot 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 grow.

Additional Risks Related to Sales of Biodefense Products to the U.S. Government

Our business is subject to audit by the U.S. government and a negative audit could adversely affect our business.

U.S. government agencies such as the Defense Contract Audit Agency, or the DCAA, routinely audit and investigate government contractors. These agencies review a contractor’s performance under its contracts, cost structure and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards.


 
 

 

The DCAA also reviews the adequacy of, and a contractor’s compliance with, its internal control systems and policies, including the contractor’s purchasing, property, estimating, compensation and management information systems. Any costs found to be improperly allocated to a specific contract will not be reimbursed, while such costs already reimbursed must be refunded. If an audit uncovers improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including:

·  
termination of contracts;
·  
forfeiture of profits;
·  
suspension of payments;
·  
fines; and
·  
suspension or prohibition from conducting business with the U.S. government.

In addition, we could suffer serious reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us.

Laws and regulations affecting government contracts make it more costly and difficult for us to successfully conduct our business.

We must comply with numerous laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration and performance of government contracts, which can make it more difficult for us to retain our rights under these contracts. These laws and regulations affect how we conduct business with federal, state and local government agencies. Among the most significant government contracting regulations that affect our business are:

·  
the Federal Acquisition Regulations, and agency-specific regulations supplemental to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, which comprehensively regulate the procurement, formation, administration and performance of government contracts;
·  
the business ethics and public integrity obligations, which govern conflicts of interest and the hiring of former government employees, restrict the granting of gratuities and funding of lobbying activities and incorporate other requirements such as the Anti-Kickback Act and the FCPA;
·  
export and import control laws and regulations; and
·  
laws, regulations and executive orders restricting the use and dissemination of information classified for national security purposes and the exportation of certain products and technical data.

In addition, qui tam lawsuits have been brought against us in which the plaintiffs argued that we defrauded the U.S. government by distributing non-compliant doses of BioThrax. Although we ultimately prevailed in this litigation, we spent significant time and money defending the litigation. U.S. States, many municipalities and foreign governments typically also have laws and regulations governing contracts with their respective agencies. These domestic and foreign laws and regulations affect how we and our customers conduct business and, in some instances, impose additional costs on our business. Any changes in applicable laws and regulations could restrict our ability to maintain our existing contracts and obtain new contracts, which could limit our ability to conduct our business and materially adversely affect our revenues and results of operations.

We rely on property and equipment owned by the U.S. government in the manufacturing process for BioThrax.

We have the right to use certain property and equipment that is owned by the U.S. government, referred to as government furnished equipment, or GFE, at our Lansing, Michigan site in the manufacture of BioThrax. We have the option to purchase all or part of the existing GFE from the U.S. government on terms to be negotiated with the U.S. government. If the U.S. government modifies the terms under which we use the GFE in a manner that is unfavorable to us, including substantially increasing the usage fee, or we are unable to reach an agreement with the U.S. government concerning the terms of the purchase of that part of the GFE necessary for our business, our business could be harmed. If the U.S. government were to terminate or fail to extend all BioThrax supply contracts with us, we potentially could be required to rent or purchase that part of the GFE necessary for the continued production of BioThrax in our current manufacturing facility.
 

 
 

 

Risks Related to Regulatory Approvals

If we are not able to obtain required regulatory approvals, we 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 testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. Failure to obtain regulatory approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate. We have limited experience in preparing, filing and prosecuting the applications necessary to gain regulatory approvals and expect to rely on third party contract research organizations and consultants to assist us in this process. Securing FDA approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data, information about product manufacturing processes and inspection of facilities and supporting information to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Our future products may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have significant side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining regulatory approval or prevent or limit commercial use.

In the United States, BioThrax and our product candidates are regulated by the FDA as biologics. To obtain approval from the FDA to market our product candidates, we will be required to submit to the FDA a biologics license application, or BLA. Ordinarily, the FDA requires a sponsor to support a BLA with substantial evidence of the product’s safety and effectiveness in treating the targeted indication based on data derived from adequate and well controlled clinical trials, including Phase III safety and efficacy trials conducted in patients with the disease or condition being targeted. However, our biodefense product candidates require slightly different treatment. Specifically, because humans are rarely exposed to anthrax toxins under natural conditions, and cannot be intentionally exposed, statistically significant effectiveness of our biodefense product candidates cannot be demonstrated in humans, but instead must be demonstrated, in part, by utilizing animal models before they can be approved for marketing. This is known as the FDA’s animal rule.

We intend to use the animal rule in pursuit of FDA approval for BioThrax as a post-exposure prophylaxis, our anthrax immune globulin therapeutic, our rPA anthrax vaccine, our anthrax monoclonal antibody therapeutic, our BioThrax dual adjuvant vaccine, and our double mutant rPA vaccine. We cannot guarantee that the FDA will permit us to proceed with licensure of any of our BioThrax related programs or our other product candidates under the animal rule. Even if we are able to proceed pursuant to the animal rule, the FDA may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies, refuse to approve our products, or place restrictions on our ability to commercialize those products.

The process of obtaining regulatory approvals is expensive, often takes many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Changes in the regulatory approval policy during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in the regulatory review for a submitted product application, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application.
 
The FDA has 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 studies. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval of a product candidate.

Our products could be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from the market and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.

Any vaccine and therapeutic product for which we obtain marketing approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual requirements of and review by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. As an approved product, BioThrax is subject to these requirements and ongoing review.


 
 

 

These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration requirements, cGMP requirements relating to quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, and recordkeeping. The FDA enforces its cGMP and other requirements through periodic unannounced inspections of manufacturing facilities. The FDA is authorized to inspect manufacturing facilities without a warrant or prior notice at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner.

After we acquired BioThrax and related vaccine manufacturing facilities in Lansing, Michigan in 1998 from the Michigan Biologic Products Institute, we spent significant amounts of time and money renovating those facilities before the FDA approved a supplement to our manufacturing facility license in December 2001. The State of Michigan had initiated renovations after the FDA issued a notice of intent to revoke the FDA license to manufacture BioThrax in 1997. The notice of intent to revoke cited significant deviations by the Michigan Biologic Products Institute from cGMP requirements, including quality control failures. In March 2007, the FDA notified us that our manufacturing facility license is no longer subject to the notice of intent to revoke.

After approving the renovated Lansing facilities in December 2001, the FDA conducted routine, biannual inspections of the Lansing facilities in September 2002, May 2004, May 2006 and March 2008. Following each of these inspections, the FDA issued inspectional observations on Form FDA 483, some of which were significant. We responded to the FDA regarding the inspectional observations relating to each inspection and, where necessary, implemented corrective action. All observations from each of those inspections were successfully closed out.  In December 2005, the FDA stated in its final order on BioThrax that at that time we were in substantial compliance with all regulatory requirements related to the manufacture of BioThrax and that the FDA would continue to evaluate the production of BioThrax to assure compliance with federal standards and regulations.

The FDA conducted a routine, biannual inspection of the Lansing facility in December 2009. Following this inspection, the FDA issued inspectional observations on Form FDA 483. We implemented corrective action where necessary and all observations from the 2009 inspection were successfully closed out in April 2010.  If in connection with any future inspection the FDA finds that we are not in substantial compliance with cGMP requirements, or if the FDA is not satisfied with the corrective actions we take in connection with any such inspection, the FDA may undertake enforcement action against us.

Even if regulatory approval of a product is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in:

·  
restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of a product;
·  
warning letters;
·  
withdrawal of the product from the market;
·  
refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications;
·  
voluntary or mandatory product recall;
·  
fines or disgorgement of profits or revenue;
·  
suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, including license revocation;
·  
shut down, or substantial limitations of the operations in, manufacturing facilities;
·  
refusal to permit the import or export of products;
·  
product seizure; and
·  
injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.


 
 

 

If our competitors are able to obtain orphan drug exclusivity for their products that are the same as our products, we may be precluded from selling or obtaining approval of our competing products by the applicable regulatory authorities for a significant period of time.

If one of our competitors obtains orphan drug exclusivity for an indication for a product that competes with one of the indications for one of our product candidates before we obtain orphan drug designation, and if the competitor’s product is the same drug as ours, the FDA would be prohibited from approving our product candidate for the same orphan indication unless we demonstrate that our product is clinically superior or the FDA determines that the holder of the orphan drug exclusivity cannot assure the availability of sufficient quantities of the drug. We have obtained orphan drug status from the FDA and in the European Union for our anthrax immune globulin therapeutic product candidate and in the European Union for our tuberculosis vaccine product candidate; however, none of our other products or product candidates has been designated as an orphan drug and there is no guarantee that the FDA will grant such designation in the future. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for one or more indications for one of our product candidates, we may not be able to maintain it. For example, if a competitive product that is the same drug or biologic as our product is shown to be clinically superior to our product, any orphan drug exclusivity we may have obtained will not block the approval of that competitive product.

The Fast Track designation for our product candidates may not actually lead to a faster development, regulatory review or approval.

We have obtained a Fast Track designation from the FDA for BioThrax as a post-exposure prophylaxis against anthrax infection and for our anthrax immune globulin therapeutic product candidate. However, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw a Fast Track designation if the FDA believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. Fast Track designation does not guarantee that we will qualify for or be able to take advantage of the FDA’s expedited review procedures or that any application that we may submit to the FDA for regulatory approval will be accepted for filing or ultimately approved.

Failure to obtain regulatory approval in international jurisdictions could prevent us from marketing our products abroad.

We intend to have some or all of our products marketed outside the United States. To market our products in the European Union and many other foreign jurisdictions, we may need to obtain separate regulatory approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. With respect to some of our product candidates, we expect that a future collaborator will have responsibility to obtain regulatory approvals outside the United States, and we will depend on our collaborators to obtain these approvals. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval.

The foreign regulatory approval process may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. We and our collaborators may not be able to obtain regulatory approvals to commercialize our products in any market.

Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

We may not be successful in maintaining and establishing collaborations, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates domestically and internationally.

For each of our product candidates, we plan to evaluate the merits of retaining commercialization rights or entering into collaboration arrangements with leading pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies or non-governmental organizations. We expect that we will selectively pursue collaboration arrangements in situations in which the collaborator has particular expertise or resources for the development or commercialization of our products and product candidates or for accessing particular markets.


 
 

 

If we are unable to reach agreements with suitable collaborators, we may fail to meet our business objectives for the affected product or program. We face, and will continue to face, significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Moreover, collaboration arrangements are complex and time consuming to negotiate, document and implement. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish and implement collaborations or other alternative arrangements, or the arrangements that we establish may not turn out to be productive or beneficial for us. The terms of any collaboration or other arrangements that we establish may not be favorable to us.

Any collaboration that we enter into may not be successful. For example, based on preclinical studies performed under a license agreement that we entered into with Sanofi Pasteur, both parties determined that the joint efforts had not identified a promising meningitis B vaccine product candidate and we mutually terminated the collaboration. Additionally, the success of our collaboration arrangements will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators. It is likely that our collaborators will have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations.

The risks that we are subject to in our current collaborations, and anticipate being subject to in future collaborations, include the following:

·  
our collaboration agreements are likely to be for fixed terms and subject to termination by our collaborators in the event of a material breach by us;
·  
our collaborators may have the first right to maintain or defend our intellectual property rights and, although we may have the right to assume the maintenance and defense of our intellectual property rights if our collaborators do not do so, our ability to maintain and defend our intellectual property rights may be compromised by our collaborators’ acts or omissions;
·  
our collaborators may utilize our intellectual property rights in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property rights or expose us to potential liability; or
·  
our collaborators may decide not to continue to work with us in the development of product candidates.

Collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and other third parties often are terminated or allowed to expire by the other party. Such terminations or expirations could adversely affect us financially and could harm our business reputation.

If third parties on whom we rely for clinical or non-clinical trials do not perform as contractually required or as we expect, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and as a result, our business may suffer.

We do not have the ability to independently conduct the clinical or non-clinical trials required to obtain regulatory approval for our products. We depend on independent clinical investigators, contract research organizations and other third party service providers to conduct the clinical and non-clinical trials of our product candidates and expect to continue to do so. We rely heavily on these third parties for successful execution of our clinical and non-clinical trials, but do not exercise day-to-day control over their activities. We are responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with standards, commonly referred to as Good Clinical Practices, for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected.

Our reliance on third parties that we do not control does not relieve us of these responsibilities and requirements. Third parties may not complete activities on schedule, or may not conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols. The failure of these third parties to carry out their obligations could delay or prevent the development, approval and commercialization of our product candidates. In addition, we encourage government entities and non-government organizations to conduct studies of, and pursue other development efforts for, our product candidates.

We expect to rely on data from clinical trials conducted by third parties seeking marketing approval for our product candidates. For example, our BLA supplement for a label expansion of BioThrax for a regimen of fewer doses is based on the results of a clinical trial conducted by the CDC. These government entities and non-government organizations have no obligation or commitment to us to conduct or complete any of these studies or clinical trials and may choose to discontinue these development efforts at any time. In addition, government entities depend on annual Congressional appropriations to fund these development efforts.


 
 

 

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

Protection of our intellectual property rights could be costly, and if we fail to protect them, our business could be harmed.

Our success, particularly with respect to our commercial business, will depend in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain protection in the U.S. and other countries for the intellectual property covering or incorporated into our technology and products. This protection is very costly. The patentability of technology in the field of vaccine and therapeutic development and other pharmaceuticals generally is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and scientific questions.

We may not be able to obtain additional issued patents relating to our technology or products. Even if issued, patents may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing similar products or limit the duration of patent protection we may have for our products. Changes in patent laws or administrative patent office rules or changes in interpretations of patent laws in the U.S. and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection, or result in costly defense measures.

Our patents also may not afford us protection against competitors with similar technology. Because patent applications in the U.S. and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all, and because publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, neither we nor our licensors can be certain that we or they were the first to make the inventions claimed in issued patents or pending patent applications, or that we or they were the first to file for protection of the inventions set forth in these patent applications. In addition, patents generally expire, regardless of their date of issue, 20 years from the earliest claimed non-provisional filing date. As a result, the time required to obtain regulatory approval for a product candidate may consume part or all of the patent term. We are not able to accurately predict the remaining length of the applicable patent term following regulatory approval of any of our product candidates.

Our collaborators and licensors may not adequately protect our intellectual property rights. These third parties may have the first right to maintain or defend our intellectual property rights and, although we may have the right to assume the maintenance and defense of our intellectual property rights if these third parties do not do so, our ability to maintain and defend our intellectual property rights may be compromised by the acts or omissions of these third parties.

For example, we licensed an oligonucleotide adjuvant, CpG 7909, for use in our double mutant rPA product candidate and our BioThrax dual adjuvant vaccine product candidate from Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc. Coley, which was subsequently acquired by Pfizer Inc., is responsible for prosecuting, maintaining and defending these licensed patent rights. Coley notified us that a patent interference had been declared in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office between our licensed patent and a third party patent application, which could result in revocation of the patent we have licensed. We may not know the outcome for a considerable period of time.

If we are unable to in-license any intellectual property necessary to develop, manufacture or sell any of our product candidates, we will not be successful in developing or commercializing such product candidate.

We expect that we may need to in-license various components or technologies, including, for example, adjuvants and novel delivery systems, for some of our current or future product candidates. We may be unable to obtain the necessary licenses on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to obtain such licenses, we could be prevented or delayed from continuing further development or from commercially launching the applicable product candidate.

If we fail to comply with our obligations in our intellectual property licenses with third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

We are a party to a number of license agreements and expect to enter into additional license agreements in the future. For example, we consider our license from the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium to our tuberculosis vaccine product candidate to be material to our business. Our existing licenses impose, and we expect future licenses will impose, various diligence, milestone payment, royalty, insurance and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with these obligations, the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we might not be able to market any product that is covered by the licensed patents.


 
 

 

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected.

In addition to patented technology, we rely upon unpatented proprietary technology, processes and know-how, particularly as to our proprietary manufacturing processes. Because we do not have patent protection for BioThrax or the label expansions and improvements that we are pursuing for BioThrax, our only intellectual property protection for BioThrax, other than the BioThrax trademark, is confidentiality regarding our manufacturing capability and specialty know-how, such as techniques, processes and biological starting materials. However, these types of trade secrets can be difficult to protect. We seek to protect this confidential information, in part, with agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties.
 
These agreements may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently developed by competitors. If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, competitors may be able to use this information to develop products that compete with our products, which could adversely impact our business.

If we infringe or are alleged to infringe intellectual property rights of third parties, it will adversely affect our business.

Our development and commercialization activities, as well as any product candidates or products resulting from these activities, may infringe or be claimed to infringe patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties under which we do not hold licenses or other rights. Additionally, third parties may be successful in obtaining patent protection for technologies that cover development and commercialization activities in which we are already engaged. Third parties may own or control these patents and intellectual property rights in the U.S. and abroad. These third parties could bring claims against us or our collaborators that would cause us to incur substantial expenses and, if successful against us, could cause us to pay substantial damages. Further, if a patent infringement or other similar suit were brought against us or our collaborators, we or they could be forced to stop or delay development, manufacturing or sales of the product or product candidate that is the subject of the suit.

As a result of patent infringement or other similar claims, or to avoid potential claims, we or our collaborators may choose or be required to seek a license from the third party and be required to pay license fees or royalties or both. These licenses may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Even if we or our collaborators were able to obtain a license, the rights may be non-exclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. Ultimately, we could be prevented from commercializing a product, or be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations, if, as a result of actual or threatened patent infringement claims, we or our collaborators are unable to enter into licenses on acceptable terms or if an injunction is granted against us. This could harm our business significantly.

There has been substantial litigation and other proceedings regarding patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. For example, Bavarian Nordic sued Acambis for patent infringement and other claims arising out of Acambis’ importation of an MVA-based smallpox vaccine for biodefense use by the U.S. government. Bavarian Nordic claimed that its patents broadly covered the manufacture of MVA-based biological products and that Bavarian Nordic had rights in the biological materials used by Acambis. The Acambis strain has a distinct lineage from the strains used by us. That litigation was terminated by a settlement and consent order. Bavarian Nordic subsequently sued Oxford BioMedica PLC, Oxford BioMedica Ltd. and Biomedica Inc., collectively Oxford BioMedica, alleging that Oxford BioMedica has infringed certain Bavarian Nordic U.S. patents by making, using, and importing, and inducing others to use Oxford BioMedica’s experimental drug TroVax®, which is an MVA-based therapeutic cancer vaccine.  The Oxford BioMedica strain also has a distinct lineage from the strain used by us.  The lawsuit was settled by agreement between the parties.  While the terms of the settlement have not been published, the parties have announced that Oxford BioMedica received a license for TroVax under Bavarian Nordic’s MVA patents, and in return Bavarian Nordic received a license under Oxford BioMedica’s patents on heterologous prime boost technology and a sublicense under certain patents licensed by Sanofi to Oxford BioMedica. Typically, patent infringement settlements are structured to specifically cover the alleged infringing product, and the settlement has no direct impact on other products in the field.  Accordingly, we do not believe that the Acambis or Oxford BioMedica settlements will have any adverse effect on our plans for commercialization of our tuberculosis vaccine or our MVA platform. Bavarian Nordic also filed legal proceedings against the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Public Health, or StMUG, in which Bavarian Nordic questioned StMUG’s rights to convey MVA strains to third parties. This lawsuit was dismissed and an appeal by Bavarian Nordic was withdrawn in June 2009. We have licensed from StMUG rights to materials and technology related to MVA. Our MVA platform technology, which has the potential to be used as a viral vector for delivery of certain vaccine antigens for different disease-causing organisms, is based in part on these rights.


 
 

 

Our ability to use our MVA platform technology, or to develop and manufacture MVA-based products such as our tuberculosis product candidate, could be negatively affected by pending or future patent infringement litigation or other legal actions brought by Bavarian Nordic or other parties challenging our rights to use MVA materials or technology. To protect our interests, we have filed oppositions in the European Patent Office against four of Bavarian Nordic’s patents covering certain aspects of the MVA technology. The European Patent Office has called for hearings in one of these oppositions to be held in June 2010 and in an additional two of these proceedings in October 2010. We are also a party to a trademark invalidation proceeding in the U.S. and certain foreign trademark offices. In addition, we may in the future become party to additional trademark invalidation or interference proceedings. The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. 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. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time.

Risks Related to Our Acquisition Strategy

Our strategy of generating growth through acquisitions may not be successful.

Since our inception we have pursued an acquisition strategy to build our business. We commenced operations in September 1998 through an acquisition of rights to BioThrax, vaccine manufacturing facilities at a multi-building campus on approximately 12.5 acres in Lansing, Michigan and vaccine development and production know-how from the Michigan Biologic Products Institute. We acquired a portion of our pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic product candidates through our acquisition of Microscience Limited in a share exchange in 2005 and our acquisitions of substantially all of the assets, for cash, of Antex Biologics, Inc. in 2003 and of ViVacs GmbH in 2006.

In the future, we may be unable to license or acquire suitable products or product candidates from third parties for a number of reasons. In particular, the licensing and acquisition of pharmaceutical and biological products is a competitive area. A number of more established companies are also pursuing strategies to license or acquire products in the vaccine and therapeutic field. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, cash resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. Other factors that may prevent us from licensing or otherwise acquiring suitable products and product candidates include the following:

·  
we may be unable to license or acquire the relevant technology on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on the product;
·  
companies that perceive us to be their competitor may be unwilling to assign or license their product rights to us; or
·  
we may be unable to identify suitable products or product candidates within our areas of expertise.

In addition, we expect competition for acquisition candidates in the vaccine and therapeutic field to increase, which may result in fewer suitable acquisition opportunities for us as well as higher acquisition prices. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to suitable products and product candidates, our business, financial condition and prospects for growth could suffer.

If we fail to successfully manage any acquisitions, our ability to develop our product candidates and expand our product candidate pipeline may be harmed.

As part of our business strategy, we intend to continue to seek to obtain marketed products and development stage product candidates through acquisitions and licensing arrangements with third parties. The failure to adequately address the financial, operational or legal risks of these transactions could harm our business. Financial aspects of these transactions that could alter our financial position, reported operating results or stock price include:

 
 

 


·  
use of cash resources;
·  
higher than anticipated acquisition costs and expenses;
·  
potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities;
·  
the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities, impairment losses or restructuring charges;
·  
large write-offs and difficulties in assessing the relative percentages of in-process research and development expense that can be immediately written off as compared to the amount that must be amortized over the appropriate life of the asset; and
·  
amortization expenses related to other intangible assets.
 
Operational risks that could harm our existing operations or prevent realization of anticipated benefits from these transactions include:

·  
challenges associated with managing an increasingly diversified business;
·  
prioritizing product portfolios;
·  
disruption of our ongoing business;
·  
difficulty and expense in assimilating and integrating the operations, products, technology, information systems or personnel of the acquired company;
·  
diversion of management’s time and attention from other business concerns;
·  
inability to maintain uniform standards, controls, procedures and policies;
·  
the assumption of known and unknown liabilities of the acquired company, including intellectual property claims;
·  
challenges and costs associated with reductions in work force; and
·  
subsequent loss of key personnel.

If we are unable to successfully manage and integrate our acquisitions, our ability to develop new products and continue to expand our product pipeline may be limited.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Fuad El-Hibri, chief executive officer and chairman of our Board of Directors, has substantial control over us, including through his ability to control the election of the members of our Board of Directors, and could delay or prevent a change of control.

Mr. El-Hibri has the ability to control the election of the members of our Board of Directors through his ownership interests among our significant stockholders. As of April 30, 2010, Mr. El-Hibri was the beneficial owner of approximately 39% of our outstanding common stock. Because Mr. El-Hibri has significant influence over the election of the members of our board, and because of his substantial control of our capital stock, Mr. El-Hibri will likely have the ability to delay or prevent a change of control of us that may be favored by other directors or stockholders and otherwise exercise substantial control over all corporate actions requiring board or stockholder approval, including any amendment of our certificate of incorporation or by-laws. The control by Mr. El-Hibri may prevent other stockholders from influencing significant corporate decisions and may result in conflicts of interest that could cause our stock price to decline.

Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law may prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to change our management and hinder efforts to acquire a controlling interest in us.

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other changes in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management.


 
 

 

These provisions include:

·  
the classification of our directors;
·  
limitations on changing the number of directors then in office;
·  
limitations on the removal of directors;
·  
limitations on filling vacancies on the board;
·  
limitations on the removal and appointment of the chairman of our Board of Directors;
·  
advance notice requirements for stockholder nominations for election of directors and other proposals;
·  
the inability of stockholders to act by written consent;
·  
the inability of stockholders to call special meetings; and
·  
the ability of our Board of Directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock without stockholder approval.

The affirmative vote of holders of our capital stock representing at least 75% of the voting power of all outstanding stock entitled to vote is required to amend or repeal the above provisions of our certificate of incorporation. The affirmative vote of either a majority of the directors present at a meeting of our Board of Directors or holders of our capital stock representing at least 75% of the voting power of all outstanding stock entitled to vote is required to amend or repeal our by-laws.

In addition, Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of Delaware prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person which together with its affiliates owns or within the last three years has owned 15% or more of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Accordingly, Section 203 may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of us.

Our stockholder rights plan could prevent a change in control of us in instances in which some stockholders may believe a change in control is in their best interests.

Under a rights agreement that establishes our stockholder rights plan, we issue to each of our stockholders one preferred stock purchase right for each outstanding share of our common stock. Each right, when exercisable, will entitle its holder to purchase from us a unit consisting of one one-thousandth of a share of series A junior participating preferred stock at a purchase price of $150 in cash, subject to adjustments.

Our stockholder rights plan is intended to protect stockholders in the event of an unfair or coercive offer to acquire us and to provide our Board of Directors with adequate time to evaluate unsolicited offers. The rights plan may have anti-takeover effects. The rights plan will cause substantial dilution to a person or group that attempts to acquire us on terms that our Board of Directors does not believe are in our best interests and those of our stockholders and may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares.

Our stock price is volatile and purchasers of our common stock could incur substantial losses.

Our stock price has been, and is likely to continue to be, volatile. From November 15, 2006, when our common stock first began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, through April 30, 2010, our common stock has traded as high as $27.00 per share and as low as $4.40 per share. The stock market in general and the market for biotechnology companies in particular have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including:

·  
the success of competitive products or technologies;
·  
results of clinical trials of our product candidates or those of our competitors;
·  
decisions and procurement policies by the U.S. government affecting BioThrax and our biodefense product candidates;
·  
regulatory developments in the U.S. and foreign countries;

 
 

 


·  
developments or disputes concerning patents or other proprietary rights;
·  
the recruitment or departure of key personnel;
·  
variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;
·  
market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors and issuance of new or changed securities analysts’ reports or recommendations;
·  
general economic, industry and market conditions; and
·  
the other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section.

We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. Our current and any future debt agreements that we enter into may limit our ability to pay dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain for our stockholders for the foreseeable future.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares may be sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. For example, we have filed a registration statement that would permit us to issue up to $100 million in common stock.  Moreover, holders of an aggregate of approximately 11.2 million shares of our common stock outstanding as of April 30, 2010 have the right to require us to register these shares of common stock under specified circumstances.

ITEM 2.                      UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

Not applicable.

Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

Purchases of Equity Securities

Not applicable.

ITEM 3.                        DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

Not applicable.

ITEM 4.                        REMOVED AND RESERVED

ITEM 5.                        OTHER INFORMATION

Not applicable.

ITEM 6.                        EXHIBITS

The exhibits required to be filed by Item 601 of Regulation S-K are listed in the Exhibit Index immediately preceding the exhibits hereto.

 
 

 


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS INC.

By: /s/  Fuad El-Hibri                                                                           
Fuad El-Hibri
Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board of Directors
(Principal Executive Officer)

Date: May 5, 2010

By: /s/  R. Don Elsey                                                                
R. Don Elsey
Sr. Vice President Finance, Chief Financial
Officer and Treasurer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

Date: May 5, 2010

 
 

 

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit
Number 
 
Description
10.1#
Consulting Services Agreement, effective April 1, 2010, between the Registrant and The Hauer Group (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K dated April 7, 2010 (File No. 001-33137))
10.2
Annual Bonus Plan for Executive Officers (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.7 to the Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-33137))
31.1
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13a-14(a)
31.2
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13a-14(a)
32.1
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.2
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
 
# Filed herewith