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| ARDM.OB > SEC Filings for ARDM.OB > Form 10-Q on 6-Nov-2009 | All Recent SEC Filings |
6-Nov-2009
Quarterly Report
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements that
are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by, and
information currently available to, management. Words such as "anticipate,"
"expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "may," "will," "could," "continue,"
"seek," "estimate," or the negative thereof and similar expressions also
identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our future actual results,
performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or
implied by, any such forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors,
including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties discussed in this
section, as well as in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in this Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q, and elsewhere in the 2008 Form 10-K and our other filings
with the SEC. Forward-looking statements include our belief that our cash, cash
equivalents and short-term investments as of September 30, 2009 and the
anticipated Zogenix milestone payment will be sufficient to enable us to meet
our obligations through at least the second quarter of 2010.
These forward-looking statements and our business are subject to significant
risks including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional financing,
our ability to implement our product development strategy, the success of
product development efforts, obtaining and enforcing patents important to our
business, clearing the lengthy and expensive regulatory approval process and
possible competition from other products. Even if product candidates appear
promising at various stages of development, they may not reach the market or may
not be commercially successful for a number of reasons. Such reasons include,
but are not limited to, the possibilities that the potential products may be
found to be ineffective during clinical trials, may fail to receive necessary
regulatory approvals, may be difficult to manufacture on a large scale, are
uneconomical to market, may be precluded from commercialization by proprietary
rights of third parties or may not gain acceptance from health care
professionals and patients.
You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking
statements contained herein, which speak only as of the date of the filing of
this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements in light of events or circumstances occurring after
the date of the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events.
Overview
We are an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the
development and commercialization of drugs delivered by inhalation for the
treatment and prevention of severe respiratory diseases by pulmonologists. Over
the last decade, we have invested a large amount of capital to develop drug
delivery technologies, particularly the development of a significant amount of
expertise in pulmonary drug delivery. We have also invested considerable effort
into the generation of a large volume of laboratory and clinical data
demonstrating the performance of our AERx pulmonary drug delivery platform. We
have not been profitable since inception and expect to incur additional
operating losses over at least the next several years as we expand product
development efforts, preclinical testing and clinical trial activities, and
possible sales and marketing efforts, and as we secure production capabilities
from outside contract manufacturers. To date, we have not had any significant
product sales and do not anticipate receiving any revenues from the sale of
products in the near term. As of September 30, 2009, we had an accumulated
deficit of $345.1 million. Historically, we have funded our operations primarily
through public offerings and private placements of our capital stock. Most
recently, in February 2009, we closed the sale of 44,663,071 shares of common
stock in a registered direct offering with net proceeds, after offering
expenses, of $3.9 million. In the past, we have also funded our operations
through license fees and milestone payments from collaborators, proceeds from
the January 2005 restructuring transaction with Novo Nordisk, borrowings from
Novo Nordisk, sale of a technology platform (Intraject) and interest earned on
investments.
Over the last three years, our business has focused on opportunities for
developing products for the treatment of severe respiratory disease that we
could potentially develop and commercialize in the United States without a
partner. In selecting our proprietary development programs, we primarily seek
drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") that
can be reformulated for both existing and new indications in respiratory
diseases. Our intent is to use our pulmonary delivery methods and formulations
to improve their safety, efficacy and convenience of administration to patients.
We believe that this strategy will allow us to reduce cost, development time and
risk of failure, when compared to the discovery and development of new chemical
entities. It is our longer term strategy to commercialize our respiratory
product candidates with our own focused sales and marketing force addressing
pulmonary specialty doctors, where we believe that a proprietary sales force
will enhance the return to our shareholders. Where our products can benefit a
broader population of patients in the United States or in other countries, we
may enter into co-development, co-promotion or other marketing arrangements with
collaborators, thereby reducing costs and increasing revenues through license
fees, milestone payments and royalties.
Previously, our development activities consisted primarily of collaborations
and product development agreements with third parties. The most notable
collaboration was with Novo Nordisk on the AERx® insulin Diabetes Management
System ("iDMS') for the treatment of Type I and Type II diabetes. This program
began in 1998 and included nine Phase 3 clinical trials in Type I and Type II
diabetes patients. On April 30, 2008, Novo Nordisk announced that following
recent reports of lung cancer in Type II diabetes patients treated with
Exubera*, an inhaled insulin product from Pfizer, the likelihood of achieving a
positive benefit/risk ratio for future pulmonary diabetes projects had become
more uncertain, and as a result, Novo Nordisk had decided to stop all research
and development activities in the field. In May 2008, the July 3, 2006 License
Agreement between us and Novo Nordisk was terminated. Pursuant to the July 3,
2006 License Agreement, on September 25, 2008, Novo Nordisk assigned to us at no
charge, the inhaled insulin-related patents. These patents were either
previously purchased from us in July 2006 or had originated from Novo Nordisk.
The portfolio includes both U.S. and foreign patents. We assume the
responsibility for the maintenance of this portfolio. Novo Nordisk has provided
us with the data from the preclinical and clinical research generated in
conjunction with the collaboration. We do not intend to complete the development
of AERx iDMS on our own. We are attempting to out-license or sell the assets
associated with inhaled insulin.
Currently, our lead development candidate is a proprietary liposomal
formulation of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin that is delivered by inhalation for
the treatment of infections associated with the severe respiratory diseases
cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. We received orphan drug
designations for both of these indications in the U.S. We have reported the
results of two successful Phase 2a trials with this product candidate in cystic
fibrosis ("CF') and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, respectively. We have
also conducted preclinical studies that included liposomal ciprofloxacin
formulations with different pharmacokinetic profiles in order to maximize the
probability of success in our clinical programs.
In June 2008, we completed an open label, multi-center 14-day treatment Phase
2a trial in Australia and New Zealand in 21 CF patients with once daily dosing
of 6mL of inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin. The primary efficacy endpoint in this
Phase 2a study was the change from baseline in the sputum Pseudomonas aeruginosa
colony forming units ("CFU"), an objective measure of the reduction in pulmonary
bacterial load. Data analysis in 21 patients who completed the study
demonstrated that the CFUs decreased by
a mean 1.43 log against baseline over the 14-day treatment period (p 0.0001).
Evaluation one week after study treatment was discontinued showed that the
Pseudomonas bacterial density in the lung was still reduced from the baseline
without additional antibiotic use. Pulmonary function testing as measured by the
forced expiratory volume in one second ("FEV1") showed a significant mean
increase of 6.86% from baseline after 14 days of treatment (p=0.04).
In December 2008, we completed an open-label, four week treatment study with
once daily inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin in patients with non-CF
bronchiectasis. The study was conducted at eight leading centers in the United
Kingdom and enrolled a total of 36 patients. The patients were randomized into
two equal size groups, one receiving 3 mL of inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin and
the other receiving 6 mL of inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin, once-a-day for the
four-week treatment period. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change from
baseline in the sputum of Pseudomonas aeruginosa CFUs, the standard objective
measure of the reduction in pulmonary bacterial load. The 3 mL and 6 mL doses of
inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin in the evaluable patient population demonstrated
significant mean decreases against baseline in the CFUs over the 28-day
treatment period of 3.5 log (p<0.001) and 4.0 log (p<0.001) units, respectively.
In July 2009, we received clearance from the U.S. FDA for our inhaled
liposomal ciprofloxacin Investigational New Drug ("IND") application. The
initial clinical protocol under this IND is an international, randomized,
double- blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b study designed to evaluate inhaled
liposomal ciprofloxacin in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. We
plan to enroll 96 patients in the Phase 2b study. The primary efficacy endpoint
will be the change from baseline in the sputum of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa colony
forming units following once-daily dosing of two different dose levels vs.
placebo for a four-week treatment period. Secondary endpoints will include
quality of life measurements and improvement of outcomes with respect to
exacerbations. Lung function changes will be monitored for safety. Final
preparations for the initiation of the Phase 2b program to evaluate our
once-daily inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin administered via nebulizer in
patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis are progressing, with
international regulatory, institutional review board and ethics committee
approvals being completed and site initiation underway.
In August 2009, we announced that the European Medicines Agency ("EMEA")
granted Orphan Drug Designation to the Company's inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin
drug product candidate for the treatment of lung infections associated with
cystic fibrosis. Under European guidelines, Orphan Medicinal Product Designation
provides 10 years of potential market exclusivity if the product candidate is
the first product candidate for the indication approved for marketing in the
European Union. Orphan drug designation also allows the candidate's sponsor to
seek assistance from the EMEA in optimizing the candidate's clinical development
through participation in designing the clinical protocol and preparing the
marketing application. Additionally, a drug candidate designated by the
Commission as an Orphan Medicinal Product may qualify for a reduction in
regulatory fees as well as a European Union-funded research grant. The Company
was granted previously orphan drug designations by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration for inhaled liposomal ciprofloxacin for the management of CF and
for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.
In 2004, we executed a development agreement with Defence Research and
Development Canada, a division of the Canadian Department of National Defence,
for the development of liposomal ciprofloxacin for the treatment of biological
terrorism-related inhalation anthrax. If we apply in the future for approval of
this product candidate for the prevention and treatment of inhalation anthrax
and possibly other inhaled life-threatening bioterrorism infections, we
anticipate using safety data from the cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis studies
to support our application. We are seeking U.S. and other government funding to
complete the development of this product.
We have been exploring in preclinical studies the potential for liposomal
formulations to achieve favorable pharmacokinetics profiles for ciprofloxacin
and other drugs to maximize the benefits of the investments in this technology
platform.
We have a proprietary product candidate for smoking cessation treatment. We
have encouraging data from our first human clinical trial delivering aqueous
solutions of nicotine using the palm-sized AERx Essence system. Our randomized,
open-label, single-site Phase 1 trial evaluated arterial plasma pharmacokinetics
and subjective acute cigarette craving when one of three nicotine doses was
administered to 18 adult male smokers. Blood levels of nicotine rose much more
rapidly following a single-breath inhalation compared to published data on other
approved nicotine delivery systems. Cravings for cigarettes were measured on a
scale from 0-10 before and after dosing for up to four hours. Prior to dosing,
mean craving scores were 5.5, 5.5 and 5.0, respectively, for the three doses. At
five minutes following inhalation of the nicotine solution through the AERx
Essence device, craving scores were reduced to 1.3, 1.7 and 1.3, respectively,
and did not return to pre-dose baseline during the four hours of monitoring.
Nearly all subjects reported an acute reduction in craving or an absence of
craving immediately following dosing. No serious adverse reactions were reported
in the study. We believe these results provide the foundation for further
research with the AERx Essence device as a means toward smoking cessation. We
are actively seeking collaborations with government, non-government and
commercial organizations to further develop this product candidate.
Other past programs included a collaboration with Lung Rx, Inc. ("Lung Rx"),
a wholly owned subsidiary of United Therapeutics Corporation ("United
Therapeutics"), for the development of inhalation treatments for pulmonary
arterial hypertension. We conducted two collaborative research projects on
inhaled treprostinil using our AERx delivery system with United Therapeutics.
The first project was with an aqueous formulation of treprostinil. The second
project involved development of a slow-acting liposomal formulation of
treprostinil, with the view to achieving once-a-day dosing. On August 30, 2007,
we signed an Exclusive License, Development and Commercialization Agreement with
Lung Rx ("Lung Rx Agreement"), pursuant to which we granted Lung Rx, upon
payment of specified amounts, an exclusive license to develop and commercialize
inhaled treprostinil using our AERx Essence® technology for the treatment of
pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH, and other potential therapeutic
indications. Under the terms of the Lung Rx Agreement, we received an upfront
fee of $440,000 and an additional fee of $440,000 four months after the signing
date. Under the terms of the Lung Rx Agreement, we were responsible for
conducting and funding the feasibility study that included a clinical trial to
compare AERx Essence to a nebulizer used in a completed Phase 3 registration
trial conducted by United Therapeutics. We began this study in April 2008 and
announced results in November 2008. At the same time, we announced receipt of
$2.75 million from Lung Rx which included the first milestone of $2.0 million
and development costs.
On June 1, 2009, we received a written notice from United Therapeutics
seeking to terminate the Lung Rx Agreement effective July 1, 2009. Lung Rx did
not assert the existence of any technical problems with our AERx technology or
any safety or efficacy concerns. We believe that Lung Rx was not entitled to
terminate the Lung Rx Agreement and, per the terms of the Lung Rx Agreement, we
have requested formal non-binding arbitration of this dispute. There is no
assurance that the non-binding arbitration will result in a favorable outcome
for the Company. We discontinued certain business activities that we were
undertaking to support the collaboration and eliminated the positions of
personnel who were devoting all or substantially all of their time to supporting
the collaboration.
In accordance with GAAP, we recognized in September 2009 all of the revenue
that was related to the Lung Rx Agreement that had previously been included on
the balance sheet as deferred revenue. In addition, we recorded an impairment
charge of $1.6 million since the net book value of the currently idle
AERx-related production equipment exceeded the expected future cash flows from
this equipment.
In August 2006, we sold all of our assets related to the Intraject
needle-free injector technology platform and products, including 12 United
States patents along with foreign counterparts, to Zogenix, Inc., a private
company. Zogenix is responsible for further development and commercialization
efforts of Intraject (now rebranded under the name DosePro*). We received a
$4.0 million initial payment from Zogenix, and we will be entitled to a
$4.0 million milestone payment upon initial U. S. commercialization, and royalty
payments upon any commercialization of products in the U.S. and other countries,
including the European Union, that may be developed and sold using the DosePro
technology. In December 2007, Zogenix submitted a New Drug Application ("NDA")
with the U.S. FDA for the migraine drug sumatriptan using the needle-free
injector DosePro ("SUMAVEL* DosePro"). The NDA was accepted for filing by the
FDA in March 2008. The same month, Zogenix entered into a license agreement to
grant exclusive rights in the European Union to Desitin Pharmaceuticals, GmbH
("Desitin") to develop and commercialize SUMAVEL DosePro in the European Union.
On July 16, 2009, Zogenix announced that it was granted approval by the FDA
of the SUMAVEL DosePro (sumatriptan injection) needle-free delivery system for
the treatment of acute migraine and cluster headache. On August 3, 2009, Zogenix
and Astellas Pharma US, Inc. ("Astellas") announced that they had entered into
an exclusive co-promotion agreement in the U.S. for the SUMAVEL DosePro
needle-free delivery system. SUMAVEL DosePro is expected to be commercially
available in January 2010. Under the announced terms of the agreement, Zogenix
and Astellas will collaborate on the promotion and marketing of SUMAVEL DosePro
with Zogenix focusing their sales activities primarily on the neurology market
while Astellas will focus mostly on primary care physicians. Zogenix will have
responsibility for manufacturing and distribution of the product. On
September 23, 2009, Zogenix announced that it had completed a $51 million
preferred stock financing, with the capital to be used to finance the
January 2010 planned launch of SUMAVEL DosePro. On October 22, 2009, Zogenix and
Astellas announced that positive results from two clinical studies of the
SUMAVEL DosePro system will be published in November 2009 and reiterated the
January 2010 planned product launch. On October 28, 2009 Zogenix and Desitin
announced that Desitin has filed for European regulatory approval of SUMAVEL
DosePro needle-free delivery system following the successful completion of a
European pivotal bioequivalence trial. We will be entitled to receive royalty
payments upon the commercialization of SUMAVEL in the European Union.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
We consider certain accounting policies related to revenue recognition,
impairment of long-lived assets, exit/disposal activities, research and
development, income taxes and stock-based compensation to be critical accounting
policies that require the use of significant judgments and estimates relating to
matters that are inherently uncertain and may result in materially different
results under
different assumptions and conditions. The preparation of financial statements in
conformity with United States generally accepted accounting principles requires
us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the
financial statements and accompanying notes to the financial statements. These
estimates include useful lives for property and equipment and related
depreciation calculations, estimated amortization periods for payments received
from product development and license agreements as they relate to revenue
recognition, and assumptions for valuing options, warrants and other stock-based
compensation. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.
Revenue Recognition
Contract revenues consist of revenue from grants, collaboration agreements
and feasibility studies. We recognize revenue under the provisions of the SEC's
Staff Accounting Bulletin 104, Topic 13, Revenue Recognition Revised and Updated
("SAB 104") and ASC 605-25, Revenue Recognition - Multiple Elements. Revenue for
arrangements not having multiple deliverables, as outlined in this standard, is
recognized once costs are incurred and collectability is reasonably assured.
Under some agreements our collaborators have the right to withhold reimbursement
of costs incurred until the work performed under the agreement is mutually
agreed upon. For these agreements, we recognize revenue upon acceptance of the
work and confirmation of the amount to be paid by the collaborator.
Deferred revenue includes the portion of all refundable and nonrefundable
research billings and payments that have been received, but not earned. In
accordance with contract terms, milestone payments from collaborative research
agreements are considered reimbursements for costs incurred under the agreements
and, accordingly, are recognized as revenue either upon completion of the
milestone effort, when payments are contingent upon completion of the effort, or
are based on actual efforts expended over the remaining term of the agreement
when payments precede the required efforts. Costs of contract revenues are
approximate to or are greater than such revenues, and are included in research
and development expenses. We defer refundable development and license fee
payments until specific performance criteria are achieved. Refundable
development and license fee payments are generally not refundable once specific
performance criteria are achieved and accepted.
Collaborative license and development agreements often require us to provide
multiple deliverables, such as a license, research and development, product
steering committee services and other performance obligations. These agreements
are accounted for in accordance with ASC 605-25. Under this standard, delivered
items are evaluated to determine whether such items have value to our
collaborators on a stand-alone basis and whether objective reliable evidence of
fair value of the undelivered items exists. Deliverables that meet these
criteria are considered a separate unit of accounting. Deliverables that do not
meet these criteria are combined and accounted for as a single unit of
accounting. The appropriate revenue recognition criteria are identified and
applied to each separate unit of accounting.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
In accordance with ASC 360-10, Property Plant and Equipment - Overall we
review for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that
the carrying amount of property and equipment may not be recoverable.
Determination of recoverability is based on an estimate of undiscounted future
cash flows resulting from the use of the asset and its eventual disposition. In
the event that such cash flows are not expected to be sufficient to recover the
carrying amount of the assets, we write down the assets to their estimated fair
values and recognize the loss in the statements of operations.
Accounting for Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities
In accordance with ASC 420, Exit or Disposal Activities ("ASC 420"), we
recognize a liability for the cost associated with an exit or disposal activity
that is measured initially at its fair value in the period in which the
liability is incurred, except for a liability for one-time termination benefits
that is incurred over time. According to this standard, costs to terminate an
operating lease or other contracts are (a) costs to terminate the contract
before the end of its term or (b) costs that will continue to be incurred under
the contract for its remaining term without economic benefit to the entity. In
periods subsequent to initial measurement, changes to the liability are measured
using the credit-adjusted risk-free rate that was used to measure the liability
initially.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses consist of costs incurred for
company-sponsored, collaborative and contracted research and development
activities. These costs include direct and research-related overhead expenses.
Research and development expenses under collaborative and government grants
approximate the revenue recognized under such agreements. We expense research
and development costs as such costs are incurred.
Income Taxes
We make certain estimates and judgments in determining income tax expense for
financial statement purposes. These estimates and judgments occur in the
calculation of certain tax assets and liabilities, which arise from differences
in the timing of recognition of revenue and expense for tax and financial
statement purposes. As part of the process of preparing our financial
statements, we are required to estimate our income taxes in each of the
jurisdictions in which we operate. This process involves us estimating our
current tax exposure under the most recent tax laws and assessing temporary
differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and accounting
purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which
are included in our balance sheets.
We assess the likelihood that we will be able to recover our deferred tax
assets. We consider all available evidence, both positive and negative,
including our historical levels of income and losses, expectations and risks
associated with estimates of future taxable income and ongoing prudent and
feasible tax planning strategies in assessing the need for a valuation
allowance. If we do not consider it more likely than not that we will recover
our deferred tax assets, we will record a valuation allowance against the
deferred tax assets that we estimate will not ultimately be recoverable. At
September 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, we believed that the amount of our
deferred income taxes would not be ultimately recovered. Accordingly, we
recorded a full valuation allowance for deferred tax assets. However, should
there be a change in our ability to recover our deferred tax assets, we would
recognize a benefit to our tax provision in the period in which we determine
that it is more likely than not that we will recover our deferred tax assets.
Employee Stock Based Compensation
We follow the fair value method of accounting for employee stock-based
compensation arrangements in accordance with ASC 718, Compensation-Stock
. . .
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