qtnt-10k_20180331.htm

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

(Mark One)

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

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018

OR

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

For the transition period from           to          

Commission File Number 001-36415

 

QUOTIENT LIMITED

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Jersey, Channel Islands

 

Not Applicable

(State or Other Jurisdiction of

Incorporation or Organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

 

 

 

B1, Business Park Terre Bonne,

Route de Crassier 13,

1262 Eysins, Switzerland

 

Not Applicable

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

 

(Zip Code)

 

011-41-22-716-9800

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

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

 

Title of each class

 

Name of exchange on which registered

Ordinary Shares, nil par value

 

The NASDAQ Global Market

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act

None

 

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

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

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

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

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. 

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

 

Large accelerated filer

 

Accelerated filer

Non-accelerated filer

(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

 

 

Smaller reporting company

 

Emerging growth company

 

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

As of September 30, 2017, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s ordinary shares held by non-affiliates was approximately $135.4 million based on the closing sales price of the registrant’s ordinary shares on September 30, 2017 as reported on The NASDAQ Global Market.

On May 29, 2018, the registrant had a total of 45,755,978 ordinary shares, nil par value, outstanding.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the 2018 annual meeting of shareholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

 

 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

Page

PART I

 

 

Item 1. Business

 

2

Item 1A. Risk Factors

 

15

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

 

37

Item 2. Properties

 

37

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

 

37

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

 

37

 

 

 

PART II

 

 

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

38

Item 6. Selected Consolidated Financial Data

 

41

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation

 

42

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

 

59

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

 

60

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

 

87

Item 9A. Controls and procedures

 

87

Item 9B. Other information

 

88

 

 

 

PART III

 

 

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

 

89

Item 11. Executive Compensation

 

89

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

 

89

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence

 

89

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services

 

89

 

 

 

PART IV

 

 

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

 

90

Item 16. Form 10-K Summary

 

94

Signatures

 

95

 

 

 

 


FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K, and exhibits thereto, contains estimates, predictions, opinions, projections and other statements that may be interpreted as “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in Part 1, Item 1: “Business,” Part I, Item 1A: “Risk Factors,” and Part II, Item 7: “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Final Condition and Results of Operations,” but are also contained elsewhere in this Annual Report. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “strategy,” “objective,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “potential,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “continue,” “contemplate,” “might,” “design” and other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this Annual Report, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our expectations of the future, about which we cannot be certain, and are subject to numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties.

Forward-looking statements include statements about:

 

the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of MosaiQTM;

 

the design of blood grouping and disease screening capabilities of MosaiQ and the benefits of MosaiQ for both customers and patients;

 

future demand for and customer adoption of MosaiQ, the factors that we believe will drive such demand and our ability to address such demand;

 

our expected profit margins for MosaiQ;

 

the size of the market for MosaiQ;

 

the regulation of MosaiQ by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, or other regulatory bodies, or any unanticipated regulatory changes or scrutiny by such regulators;

 

future plans for our conventional reagent products;

 

the status of our future relationships with customers, suppliers, and regulators relating to our conventional reagent products;

 

future demand for our conventional reagent products and our ability to meet such demand;

 

our ability to manage the risks associated with international operations;

 

anticipated changes, trends and challenges in our business and the transfusion diagnostics market;

 

the effects of competition;

 

the expected outcome or impact of litigation;

 

our ability to protect our intellectual property and operate our business without infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others;

 

our anticipated cash needs and our expected sources of funding, including proceeds from exercises of our outstanding warrants and the issuance of additional 12% Senior Secured Notes due 2023, or the Secured Notes, and our estimates regarding our capital requirements and capital expenditures; and

 

our plans for executive and director compensation for the future.

You should refer to Part I, Item 1A: “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report for a discussion of other important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this Annual Report will prove to be accurate. Further, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report represent our views only as of the date of this Annual Report. Subsequent events and developments may cause our views to change. While we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this Annual Report.

 

 

 

- 1 -


PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

We are a commercial-stage diagnostics company committed to reducing healthcare costs and improving patient care through the provision of innovative tests within established markets. Our initial focus is on blood grouping and donor disease screening, which is commonly referred to as transfusion diagnostics. Blood grouping involves specific procedures performed at donor or patient testing laboratories to characterize blood, which includes antigen typing and antibody detection. Disease screening involves the screening of donor blood for unwanted pathogens using two different methods, a serological approach (testing for specific antigens or antibodies) and a molecular approach (testing for DNA or RNA).

We have over 30 years of experience developing, manufacturing and commercializing conventional reagent products used for blood grouping within the global transfusion diagnostics market. We are developing MosaiQ, our proprietary technology platform, to better address the comprehensive needs of this large and established market. MosaiQ will initially comprise two separate microarrays, one for immunohematology (blood grouping), or IH, and one for serological disease screening, or SDS, and a high-throughput instrument. We are also developing a third microarray for molecular disease screening. We believe MosaiQ has the potential to transform transfusion diagnostics, significantly reducing the cost of blood grouping in the donor and patient testing environments, while improving patient outcomes.

We have designed MosaiQ to offer a breadth of diagnostic tests that is unmatched by existing commercially available transfusion diagnostic instrument platforms. Time to result for MosaiQ is expected to be significantly quicker than existing methods for extended antigen typing and antibody detection and is expected to be equivalent to the time to result for current instrument platforms performing basic antigen typing. We believe that customer adoption of MosaiQ will lead to improved patient outcomes through better and easier matching of donor and patient blood, given cost-effective extended antigen typing offered by MosaiQ. Improved patient outcomes using MosaiQ include the potential for reduced incidence of alloimmunization, where the patient develops antibodies to foreign antigens introduced to the body through transfused blood. Cost savings and efficiencies should also be available to customers that adopt MosaiQ, as a result of:

 

comprehensive characterization of donor or patient blood, eliminating the need for routine manual testing typically undertaken by skilled technicians;

 

simplification of required consumables and testing processes;

 

consolidation of multiple instrument platforms in donor testing laboratories;

 

significant reduction of sample volume requirements;

 

reduction of consumable and reagent waste; and

 

more streamlined processes for matching donor units to patients.

We have designed MosaiQ to match the existing performance of automated platforms used by donor testing laboratories for serological disease screening. We also believe the incorporation of molecular disease screening on MosaiQ will offer considerable advantages over existing approaches in use by donor testing laboratories, delivering operational cost savings and a reduced time to result, while also eliminating the need to pool samples.

Our aim is to provide donor testing laboratories with a single instrument platform to be utilized for blood grouping and, if applicable, both serological and molecular disease screening for donated red blood cells and plasma. Based on historical annual blood donations collected by our key target donor testing customers, we estimate that the potential market for MosaiQ microarrays (for blood grouping, serological disease screening and molecular disease screening) should exceed 100 million microarrays per annum following receipt of applicable regulatory clearances and approvals for MosaiQ.

We have a proven track record and significant expertise in product development, manufacturing and quality assurance, tailored to the highly regulated transfusion diagnostics market. We currently derive revenue from a portfolio of products used for blood grouping, as well as whole blood controls used daily for quality assurance testing of third-party blood grouping instruments. We have introduced a range of FDA-licensed products in the United States under the Quotient brand, which we sell directly to donor testing laboratories, hospitals and independent patient testing laboratories. We also develop, manufacture and sell conventional reagent products to original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, such as Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. (or Ortho), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (or Bio-Rad) and Grifols S.A. (or Grifols). In March and June 2017 the FDA licensed a range of conventional reagent products developed and manufactured by us for use on instrument and semi manual testing platforms commercialized by Ortho.

- 2 -


From our incorporation in 2012 to March 31, 2018, we have raised $110.8 million of gross proceeds through the private placement of our ordinary and preference shares and warrants, $181.1 million of gross proceeds from public offerings of our shares and issuances of ordinary shares upon exercise of warrants and $84.0 million of gross proceeds from the issuance of 12% Senior Secured Notes (which we refer to as the Secured Notes). In addition, on March 23, 2018, we raised $20.9 million from the sale and leaseback of our recently completed new conventional reagents manufacturing facility near Edinburgh, Scotland, which we refer to as the Biocampus facility.

The Secured Notes were issued under an indenture, which provides that, so long as no event of default has occurred, we will issue an additional $36 million aggregate principal amount of the Secured Notes upon the publication of European field trial results for the MosaiQ IH Microarray described below, reflecting concordance with predicate technologies of at least 99% for antigen typing and 95% for antibody detection. In addition, in October 2017, we completed a private placement that include the issuance of warrants that are exercisable for up to 8,414,683 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $5.80 per ordinary share. If the warrants are exercised in full prior to their expiration on July 31, 2018, it would result in additional proceeds of $48.8 million.  However, there can be no assurance that our warrants will be exercised or that we will be able to successfully complete our field trials.

Our Market Opportunity

The global transfusion diagnostics market is large and well established. Total annual product sales in this market amounted to $3.3 billion in 2016, of which the United States accounted for $0.9 billion of sales. Product sales comprise the sale of kits and reagents and instruments. In 2016, we believe blood grouping accounted for $1.0 billion of product sales, disease screening using serological methods accounted for $0.7 billion of sales and disease screening using molecular methods accounted for $1.6 billion of sales. We believe product sales in 2016 to the highly concentrated donor testing market, which includes diagnostic laboratories, accounted for approximately $1.8 billion of sales, while patient testing and others accounted for the remaining $1.5 billion of sales. Performed primarily within hospitals, the patient testing market is highly fragmented.

According to the World Health Organization, 56 million blood donations were collected globally in 2013 within “high-income” countries located in North America, Western Europe and Eastern Asia. In the United States, 14 million units of whole blood and red blood cells were donated during 2013, based on data from the American Association of Blood Bankers and the American Red Cross. In addition, over 20 million plasma donations are collected each year in the United States and Europe. While plasma is not subject to blood grouping, it is subject to disease screening. We estimate that over 90 million patients are blood grouped annually in the developed world, although only a small proportion of these patients actually receive a blood transfusion.

Combined, the cost of procuring and characterizing blood for transfusion represents a significant cost to the global healthcare system. The costs and expenses related to blood grouping and disease screening are typically included in the price a hospital pays for a unit of blood. In the United States, the average price paid by a hospital for a unit of red blood cells is approximately $225. Where a hospital requests units of blood with a specific antigen profile (for patients with blood group antibodies) the average price of those antigen negative units of blood in the United States is estimated to increase by $80 for each antigen screened. The costs and expenses related to patient blood grouping at hospitals are not specifically reimbursed by a third party payor, but are typically absorbed within the reimbursement structure of a broader medical procedure. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2014 laboratory fee schedule, the reimbursement rate for outpatient services associated with basic antigen typing and an antibody screen is $36 per sample. When an antibody screen is positive, an antibody identification procedure will be undertaken on the patient sample for which the reimbursement rate is an additional $92 per sample.

Blood grouping and disease screening techniques have remained generally unchanged for many years. Varying levels of automation are offered by existing instrument platforms, although more complex blood grouping procedures such as extended antigen typing and antibody identification are more typically undertaken manually. The need for ongoing routine manual testing continues to impose a significant cost burden on the healthcare system.

Our Strategy

Our strategy is based on the development and commercialization of a flexible and unique microarray technology and manufacturing capability for serological and molecular testing across a broad array of medical and life science applications.  Our initial strategic focus is on the development and commercialization of a range of consumables (or microarrays) to address the global transfusion diagnostics market.  Each microarray will incorporate existing, well characterized assays to undertake:

(i)

a comprehensive characterization of donor and patient blood, including extended antigen typing and antibody detection/identification.  We expect there to be two blood grouping microarrays, one for the donor testing market and one for the patient testing market.  We refer to the blood grouping microarrays as the MosaiQ IH Microarray;

(ii)

all mandated serological disease screening tests for donor red blood cells or source plasma.  We refer to the serological disease screening microarrays as the MosaiQ SDS Microarray.  The initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray will comprise assays to detect CMV and Syphilis.  We expect to follow our initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray launch with the launch of a range of additional MosaiQ

- 3 -


SDS II Microarrays incorporating all remaining mandated serological disease screening assays, depending upon the final application for the product; and

(iii)

all mandated molecular disease screening tests for donor red cells or source plasma.  We refer to the molecular disease screening microarray as the MosaiQ MDS Microarray.

Together, we refer to the MosaiQ IH Microarray, MosaiQ SDS Microarray and MosaiQ MDS Microarray as MosaiQ Microarrays.

We manufacture the MosaiQ Microarrays at our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in Eysins, Switzerland.  Construction, qualification and validation of the initial manufacturing system to produce MosaiQ Microarrays was completed during 2017.

Development of assays for inclusion on the initial MosaiQ IH Microarray and MosaiQ SDS Microarray and the transfer of these assays to final manufacture was completed during 2017.

Development of the MosaiQ Instrument and formal validation is now complete and we have taken delivery of the first commercially ready MosaiQ Instrument.

Pending regulatory approval, we intend to launch the MosaiQ IH Microarray and initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray into the European donor testing market and, with our commercial partner, Ortho, launch the MosaiQ IH Microarray into the European patient testing market (in each case, with the MosaiQ Instrument). We plan to follow this initial launch with: (i) a second MosaiQ IH II Microarray comprising an expanded antigen typing panel for the donor testing market; (ii) a third MosaiQ IH III Microarray comprising the extended antigen typing panel and an expanded antibody detection panel for the patient testing market which will be commercialized by our commercial partner Ortho; and (iii) the MosaiQ SDS II Microarray incorporating assays for the detection of CMV; Syphilis; Hepatitis B, or HBV, comprising HBV Surface Antigen and HBV Core Antibody; Hepatitis C, or HCV; human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, comprising HIV Type 1 and HIV Type 2; Human T-Lymphotropic Antibodies, or HTLV; and Chagas disease.

In Europe, the MosaiQ Microarrays will be subject to CE-marking and the instrument will be self-certified. In the United States, the FDA has indicated to us that the MosaiQ IH Microarray will be subject to a biologics license application, or BLA, and the MosaiQ instrument will be subject to a 510(k) filing. The initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray, comprising tests for CMV and Syphilis, will be subject to a 510(k) filing, while the MosaiQ SDS II Microarray will be subject to BLA approval. The MosaiQ Instrument is expected to be classified as a Class II medical device.

We expect to commence field trials for both the MosaiQ IH Microarray and initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray in Europe in 2018. We expect to file necessary regulatory submissions for Europe in the second half of 2018 to obtain required marketing clearances for the MosaiQ IH Microarray, and to obtain marketing clearances for the initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray before the end of fiscal year 2019. Field trials in the United States for the MosaiQ IH II Microarray and the MosaiQ SDS Microarray are expected to commence in the first half of 2019, with regulatory submissions planned to be filed shortly after completion of the field trials to obtain required marketing clearances in the United States. Field trials for the MosaiQ SDS II Microarray are expected to be completed in 2019 in Europe and the United States.

In Europe, we are currently responding to invitations to tender by major government blood collection agencies.  First commercial sales will not, however, commence in Europe until receipt of CE-Marking for the MosaiQ IH Microarray and the MosaiQ SDS Microarray. We also anticipate commercial launch of the MosaiQ IH II Microarray in Europe following a regulatory submission based upon the US field trial results, during 2019.

In addition, we intend to continue:

 

to engage and collaborate with our key potential customers on the functionality of the MosaiQ system;

 

our dialogue with regulators to obtain required regulatory licenses and clearances;

 

to build a highly focused sales and support infrastructure to successfully commercialize MosaiQ for the donor testing market in North America, the European Union and certain territories in the Asia-Pacific region; and

 

to collaborate with Ortho, our commercial partner for the global patient testing market. For additional information, see “—Sales, Marketing and Distribution—Ortho Clinical Diagnostics".

In our conventional reagent business, we have obtained FDA approvals to sell 20 new reagent products in the United States in the last 15 months.  Through this business we intend to continue to strengthen the Quotient brand, expand our customer base, reinforce our relationship with the FDA and other key regulators, continue to service our key OEM customers and expand the number of conventional reagent products we offer directly for sale in the United States.

- 4 -


Blood Grouping

Prior to blood transfusion, or when there is likelihood that a blood transfusion might be required, extensive blood grouping procedures are undertaken on patient and donor blood using in vitro diagnostic products. These procedures ascertain the blood group of the patient and ensure the compatibility of donor blood. The testing regime is designed to prevent transfusion reactions, which can range from mild to fatal.

Red blood cells (the cellular portion) and plasma (the fluid portion) are the principal components of blood. On the exterior of red blood cells are blood group antigens that determine an individual’s blood group (A, B, AB, O), or ABO group, and type (RhD positive or RhD negative), or Rh type. In addition, there are other clinically significant blood group antigens that may be present on patient and donor red blood cells. Plasma contains many different kinds of proteins, including: (i) blood group antibodies, such as Anti-A and Anti-B; (ii) unexpected blood group antibodies developed by the body in response to foreign red blood cell antigens introduced during transfusion (alloantibodies); or (iii) blood group antibodies developed following pregnancy. Blood group antibodies mirror the antigen families that are present on red blood cells. In its normal state, blood does not contain antibodies that will react with its own red blood cell antigens (autoantibodies).

Because of the potential for a transfusion reaction, it is crucial that clinicians correctly identify the blood group antigens and antibodies present in donor and patient blood prior to transfusion. If a donor’s red blood cells contain antigens that are recognized by and react with existing blood group antibodies in the patient’s plasma, the transfused red blood cells could be destroyed in a potentially life-threatening reaction. The identification of blood group antigens on donor and patient red blood cells is typically referred to as blood typing or basic antigen typing, with a more comprehensive characterization being referred to as extended antigen typing. The identification of blood group antibodies in plasma is typically referred to as antibody identification.

All patients potentially requiring a blood transfusion will generally be blood grouped, including pregnant women, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, patients undergoing surgery or patients suffering from chronic diseases that require regular blood transfusions, such as thalassemia or sickle cell disease.

Patient blood will typically be subject to a basic antigen typing and an antibody screen. Less than 1% of patients that have not received a blood transfusion will screen positive for an antibody. The incidence of blood group antibodies, however, increases significantly to 3 to 8% in patients who have previously received a blood transfusion and women that have given birth to two or more children. When an antibody screen proves positive, a complex and time-consuming procedure will be performed by skilled technicians to identify all clinically significant blood group antibodies in the patient’s plasma. This largely manual process may take two to six hours to complete, although more complex cases can take one or more days to complete. Antibody identification represents a significant cost to hospitals, particularly those that treat large numbers of chronically transfused patients. Reagents used for antibody identification also have a short shelf life, typically being shipped on a 28-day cycle, making management of blood grouping reagent inventories more complex with increased waste.

The increasing incidence of alloantibodies developing in patients who have received multiple transfusions, commonly referred to as alloimmunization, has prompted clinicians to request costly, extended antigen matching of donor blood for at-risk patient groups, such as those suffering from thalassemia or sickle cell disease. The incidence of antibodies present in these patient groups is estimated to be 20 to 30%. These patients typically also present with multiple antibodies, making the process of antibody identification more complex and time consuming and the procurement of antigen specific units of donor blood much more expensive.

According to a study published in January 2014, the estimated total cost of extended antigen typing for patients is $364, based on a screen for 14 antigens at an estimated cost of $26 per antigen.

Donor blood will typically be subject to a basic antigen typing and an antibody screen. Clinicians will request specific antigen negative donor blood for patients with one or more blood group antibodies. In this instance, multiple donor units will be selected from inventory by the donor collection agency and subjected to an extended antigen typing procedure to identify the most appropriate units for the patient. This procedure is completed to ensure that the corresponding antigen to the patient’s antibody is not present on the donor’s red blood cells.

The number of donor units that need to be screened to identify specific antigen negative units varies depending upon blood group. In the Caucasian population, for example, ten donor units on average would need to be screened to find two units of donor blood negative for the Duffy-A antigen. Similarly, to identify two units of donor blood negative for the little-e antigen, one hundred donations would need to be screened and, to identify two units of blood negative for the little-k antigen one thousand donations would need to be screened. Additionally, the numbers of units needed to be screened increases significantly if the patient has two or more antibodies.

- 5 -


The identification of antigen negative units of blood is largely a manual and labor-intensive process. Because of the additional testing procedures required and the large numbers of donor units that must be screened, antigen negative donor units are more expensive for hospitals to purchase. The average premium charged for antigen negative units of blood in the United States is estimated to be $80 for each antigen screened.

We believe both donor collection agencies and hospitals would prefer to fully characterize donor units and patient blood through extended antigen typing prior to transfusion, although the time and expense required to undertake such procedures is currently prohibitive. As a consequence, extended antigen typing is only undertaken as needed (i.e., where the patient has a specific antibody) on a small percentage of donor units. Extended antigen typing for patients is also typically undertaken only in patients expected to be chronically transfused.

Disease Screening

The safety of donor red blood cells and source plasma is ultimately the responsibility of donor collection agencies, with regulatory agencies in individual countries establishing safeguards and standards to ensure patient safety. In the developed world, donor red blood cells and source plasma is subject to mandatory screening for infectious diseases before it can be released for transfusion or further manufacture. Two different methods of testing have been adopted—a serological approach (testing for specific antigens or antibodies) and, for certain viruses, a molecular approach (testing for DNA or RNA). The United States, many countries in Western Europe and Japan require both serological and molecular disease screening be performed on donor blood. In the United States, it is mandatory to screen donor blood using serological techniques for the following: Syphilis, HBV Surface Antigen, HBV Core Antibody, HCV Antibody, HIV Type 1 and Type 2 Antibodies and HTLV Antibodies. Most blood collection agencies will also screen for CMV, using the same serological approach and the FDA recommends donor blood to be screened for Chagas disease. Molecular disease screening is required to be performed on donated blood to screen for HBV, HCV, HIV, West Nile virus and Zika. Other pathogens, such as Babesia, Dengue and Malaria are transmissible by blood, but there is no test currently available, given cost or technology limitations.

Serological and molecular disease screening is already largely automated. However, it is typically undertaken using instrument platforms that are not integrated with commonly used blood grouping instruments. Automation platforms for serological disease screening have been on the market for many years, but lack many of the attributes users benefit from in other diagnostic fields, such as graphical user-interface, remote diagnostics, links to laboratory automation systems and software compatibility with laboratory information systems. Existing disease screening platforms also lack the ability to easily incorporate additional tests as the market and regulators dictate.

Donor Testing

In the developed world, the testing of donated blood is primarily completed by donor collection agencies. In the United States, following the merger of the testing laboratory operations of the American Red Cross (or ARC) with Creative Testing Solutions (or CTS), effective on January 1, 2018, one organization tests approximately 75% of the U.S. blood supply. Throughout Western Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada, national collection agencies, or a small number of regional collection agencies, typically collect and test all donated blood. Currently, donor testing laboratories must adopt multiple instrument platforms, as well as undertake complex manual testing procedures for extended antigen typing or antibody identification, to complete the required testing for donated blood. Maintaining multiple instrument platforms requires complex quality control and assurance procedures, along with costly service and support infrastructures.

Single instrument platforms for each testing procedure have typically been adopted within and across laboratory networks. In addition, donor testing laboratories typically utilize costly manual testing techniques to identify antigen negative donor units and to carry out any antibody identification procedures required.

Patient Testing

Patients are typically blood grouped in hospitals. Large-to-medium-sized hospitals will generally adopt one of several semi-automated instrument platforms to perform basic blood grouping procedures. These instruments employ either column agglutination technology supplied by companies such as Ortho, Bio-Rad and Grifols, or solid-phase microplate technologies supplied by companies such as Immucor. These platforms offer only a limited number of blood grouping tests per testing run and are therefore cumbersome, especially if a more comprehensive characterization of the patient’s blood is required. Consequently, laboratories that have adopted a blood grouping instrument platform will continue to use manual or semi-manual techniques to undertake more complex procedures, such as antibody identification or extended antigen typing.

- 6 -


Because of the continued need for manual testing, many small-to-medium-sized hospitals choose not to adopt existing instrument platforms. Instead, they will use manual or semi-manual techniques for basic blood grouping. Complex procedures, such as antibody identification, may also be outsourced to independent testing laboratories by these hospitals. We believe the continued requirement for manual testing and drawbacks of existing instrument platforms for blood grouping have limited the attraction of offering blood grouping services to hospitals by large independent testing laboratories, such as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics.

The MosaiQ Solution for Transfusion Diagnostics

We have initially developed MosaiQ to address the comprehensive needs of the global transfusion diagnostics market. We believe MosaiQ has the potential to transform transfusion diagnostics by substantially reducing costs and offering a range of operational efficiencies within donor and patient testing laboratories, while improving patient outcomes through the more complete characterization of donor and patient blood.

Specifically, we have initially developed MosaiQ to:

 

Comprehensively characterize donor and patient blood; and

 

Screen donor blood for specific viruses using serological and molecular methods.

We intend to pursue a “razor/razor blade” business model for MosaiQ, placing MosaiQ Instruments and securing long-term agreements for the supply of MosaiQ IH Microarrays and/or MosaiQ SDS Microarrays and MosaiQ MDS Microarrays used by those instruments. We expect donor and patient laboratories to adopt MosaiQ because it is designed to offer a comprehensive characterization of clinically significant blood group antigens and antibodies, while also offering the opportunity for substantial cost savings and a range of operational efficiencies. We believe these customers would prefer to more fully characterize the blood of all donors and patients to facilitate better blood matching. While MosaiQ is designed to be a highly cost-effective solution for our customers, delivering substantial cost savings, we also expect to generate attractive, long-term profit margins on the sale of MosaiQ Microarrays.

We have designed MosaiQ leveraging our expertise in transfusion diagnostics. MosaiQ combines novel manufacturing techniques and well-characterized blood grouping and disease screening tests to create multiplex testing microarrays for use on a high-throughput instrument, the MosaiQ Instrument. Through miniaturization, we plan to combine a full portfolio of existing serological tests on two distinct microarrays for use on MosaiQ – one for blood grouping or immunohematology (or IH) and one for serological disease screening (or SDS). We are also developing a third microarray for molecular disease screening (or MDS).  We expect there to be multiple variants of each microarray depending upon the stage of development and the end markets in which we expect the MosaiQ Microarrays will be adopted.

In a donor testing environment, the MosaiQ IH Microarray and the MosaiQ SDS Microarray have been designed to run simultaneously, utilizing the same donor sample and the same MosaiQ Instrument. The MosaiQ MDS Microarray would also be utilized in a donor testing environment. In a patient testing environment, only MosaiQ IH Microarrays would be utilized.

Our novel approach incorporates existing, well-characterized tests for blood group antigens and antibodies on a single consumable for the global market. Each MosaiQ IH Microarray consists of two microarrays – one for antigen typing (comprising printed monoclonal antibodies) and one for antibody detection/identification (comprising printed human red blood cells). We believe MosaiQ, when launched, will be the only commercially available automation platform capable of offering this breadth of testing on a single consumable.

The MosaiQ SDS Microarray has been designed to incorporate all tests required to meet current regulatory requirements for serological disease screening of donor blood and source plasma in the markets in which we intend to operate. Initially we will include tests to screen serologically for Syphilis and CMV, and subsequently in the MosaiQ SDS II microarray, we plan to include additional tests for HBV, HCV, HIV, HTLV and Chagas disease. The MosaiQ SDS Microarray has additional capacity to incorporate further serological disease screening tests should it be necessary in the future.

The MosaiQ MDS Microarray is being designed to incorporate all mandated tests required to meet current regulatory requirements for molecular disease screening for donor blood and source plasma in the markets in which we intend to operate. We plan to include molecular tests to screen for HBV, HCV, HIV, West Nile virus and Zika.

MosaiQ Microarrays are manufactured using a novel, patented printing technology we have further developed with TTP plc, or TTP, a leading European technology development company. This print technology enables us to industrialize the manufacture of MosaiQ Microarrays. We have an exclusive license for the use of this technology in our fields of use and we are not aware of any alternative technology suitable and commercially available for this purpose.

- 7 -


We have developed a high-throughput, floor standing MosaiQ Instrument for use by both donor collection agencies and medium to large-sized hospitals. The MosaiQ Instrument has been designed to process up to 3,000 microarrays per day (assuming three eight-hour shifts), giving a capacity to test up to 1,500 donor samples (utilizing a MosaiQ IH Microarray and a MosaiQ SDS Microarray) or 3,000 patient samples (utilizing MosaiQ IH Microarrays only). The MosaiQ Instrument can complete the comprehensive characterization of donor or patient blood in less than 35 minutes and has the capability to prioritize urgent patient sample testing, commonly referred to as STAT testing.

The MosaiQ Instrument is designed to fully automate blood grouping and perform a simultaneous serological disease screen in a donor testing laboratory. Consistent with the typical workflow of donor or patient testing laboratories, centrifuged tubes of whole blood will be placed on the MosaiQ Instrument for processing. The instrument will then complete a comprehensive blood group characterization of each sample, combined with a parallel serological disease screen in a donor testing environment, with the results being reported through existing laboratory information management systems (or LIMS).

We have partnered with STRATEC, a leading global developer of diagnostics instruments, to design, develop and manufacture the MosaiQ Instrument. STRATEC has been operating for over 30 years and has significant experience designing, developing and manufacturing in vitro diagnostics instruments, including a number of existing instruments used today for blood grouping and disease screening. We took delivery of the first commercially ready MosaiQ Instrument in the fourth calendar quarter of 2017.

We are also collaborating with key potential donor and patient testing customers on the development of MosaiQ. This group includes the ARC and CTS, along with several other major hospitals, donor collection organizations and reference laboratories.

Our Conventional Reagent Business

We have over 30 years of experience in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of conventional reagent products for blood grouping. Our conventional reagent products are used primarily to identify blood group antigens and antibodies in donor and patient blood and to perform daily quality assurance testing for third-party blood grouping instrument platforms. We also undertake product development projects for our OEM customers, generating product development fees. Following development, we enter into long-term supply contracts with our OEM customers to manufacture and supply the products we have developed.

We currently develop, manufacture and commercialize the following key products:

 

Antisera Products —These products contain antibodies used to identify blood group antigens. The majority of our antisera products are monoclonal antibodies manufactured from master cell lines we own;

 

Reagent Red Blood Cells —These products are composed of human red blood cells formulated to enable the identification of blood group antibodies. We source human red blood cells with the desired antigen profiles globally, primarily from donor collection organizations;

 

Whole Blood Controls —We are an industry leader in the development and manufacture of whole blood control products, with a significant relationship with Ortho and other major OEM customers. These products contain both human red blood cells and antisera specifically formulated for use as daily quality assurance tests on third-party blood grouping instrument platforms; and

 

Ancillary Products —These products and solutions are used to support blood grouping, but are not directly involved in blood group determination. They include Anti-Human Globulin, enhancement media, and kits for training and staff certification.

We manufacture our conventional reagent products at our Edinburgh, Scotland manufacturing facility using our own cell lines or from raw materials purchased from a limited number of suppliers. We believe we have good relationships with our suppliers. We are in the process of replacing and expanding our existing facility in Edinburgh for the development and manufacture of conventional reagent products. The new Biocampus facility was completed in January 2018 and we expect to complete the relocation to and validation of the new facility before the end of 2018.

- 8 -


Our Customers

In the United States, we currently offer directly to our customers a portfolio of 55 conventional reagent products focused on blood grouping and we have 12 additional products at various stages of development or FDA licensing. Conventional reagent products sold in the United States under the Quotient brand include antisera products, reagent red blood cells and other ancillary products. We currently serve 845 hospitals, donor collection agencies and independent testing laboratory customers throughout the United States. Global direct sales, including sales to distributors, accounted for 29% of our product sales in the years ended March 31, 2018 and 2017.

We sell the majority of our conventional reagent products to our OEM customers for use with their blood grouping instruments as specific tests or controls. Products sold to OEM customers range from bulk material incorporated into the customer’s own products to finished, vialled products sold under our customer’s label. We retain ownership of the intellectual property for these finished, vialled products and their associated regulatory licenses. OEM customers accounted for 71% of product sales in the years ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. We have long-standing relationships with three leading global transfusion diagnostics companies: Ortho, Bio-Rad and Grifols.

We have developed several conventional reagent products launched by Ortho over the past five years. As a result, Ortho accounted for 61% and 60% of our product sales in the years ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. We are currently developing a range of rare antisera products for use on Ortho’s instrument platforms. Several of these products have now received CE-Marking for sale in Europe and have been approved for sale in the United States by the FDA.  We have filed an updated application with the FDA to cover the use of the products on Ortho’s automation platforms in the United States. We also sell a range of whole blood control products, red blood cell products and ancillary products to Ortho worldwide, many of which have been launched over the past five years.

MosaiQ Manufacturing and Supply

We have leased a facility in Eysins, Switzerland (near Geneva), which is the initial manufacturing site for MosaiQ Microarrays.

TTP plc (“TTP”)

We entered into a master development agreement with TTP to design, build, install and validate the initial manufacturing system for the MosaiQ Microarrays being installed at our Eysins, Switzerland facility. TTP agreed to certain development work programs for each phase of the design and build process and we agreed to pay for all development costs, including costs of materials, third party costs and specified professional fees for the time of TTP’s engineers and scientists. The agreement does not have a defined term and will terminate following completion of product qualification procedures for the initial MosaiQ Microarray manufacturing system. Either party may terminate the agreement for certain breaches by the other party or in the event of certain bankruptcy events involving the other party. In addition, we may terminate the agreement upon 30 days’ notice for any reason. Upon termination of the agreement, we are responsible for paying any unpaid development and other costs of TTP.

We have entered into an exclusive, royalty-bearing, worldwide license with TTP to certain patented technologies and trade secrets to enable high volume manufacturing of MosaiQ Microarrays. The license is for uses that include antigen typing, antibody detection and serological disease screening of donated blood for infectious diseases (collectively, the initial purpose), as well as all human blood sample diagnostic testing on batch processing instruments (collectively, the additional purposes), with the exception of companion diagnostics, epigenetics and nucleic acid sequencing. Pursuant to this license agreement, we are paying TTP a $10 million license fee (the TTP License Fee), which is payable in installments through September 30, 2021. We have paid $3 million under this agreement to date, with the balance due in instalments which commence in September 2018. If the TTP License Fee payments are not made by us when due, we will lose the license to the additional purposes, but not to the initial purpose. We will pay a low single digit royalty to TTP based on our net sales for 20 years or for so long as the licensed intellectual property is protected by patent in the country of sale.

TTP has also granted us a non-exclusive, fully paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to use certain other intellectual property TTP owns and has incorporated into bespoke components of the manufacturing system for MosaiQ Microarrays. The agreement will remain in effect so long as the licensed intellectual property is subject to patent or other intellectual property protection. TTP may terminate the agreement if we assist another party in disputing the validity and/or scope of any of TTP’s patented intellectual property covered by the agreement. Either party may terminate the agreement with immediate effect by notice to the other party upon the occurrence of bankruptcy events. Any fee disputes are subject to mandatory dispute resolution.

- 9 -


STRATEC Biomedical AG (“STRATEC”)

We entered into a development agreement with STRATEC pursuant to which it developed a high-throughput instrument for MosaiQ, The MosaiQ Instrument. The project development timeline ran through the end of 2017. STRATEC’s fees under this agreement totaled €13.1 million in aggregate, or $16.1 million using exchange rates on March 31, 2018.

We have also entered into a manufacturing agreement with STRATEC pursuant to which we will be required to purchase a fixed minimum number of MosaiQ Instruments during the six years following delivery of the first field trial instruments. Our aggregate remaining obligation under this agreement totals €58.5 million, or $72.1 million using exchange rates on March 31, 2018. The agreement is terminable by either party for certain breaches by the other party or in the event of certain bankruptcy events involving the other party. If STRATEC terminates the manufacturing agreement, certain termination payments are payable by us depending upon the number of the instruments purchased at the time of termination, and we are also responsible for certain costs.

Pursuant to the development agreement, STRATEC has granted us an irrevocable, fully-paid, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to intellectual property that is developed for use by, or the manufacture of, the MosaiQ Instrument, as well as an exclusive right to market and sell the MosaiQ Instrument. STRATEC has additionally granted us, or agreed to grant, similar rights to its pre-existing technologies for use in development and manufacturing activities for the MosaiQ Instrument. We may only exercise our rights to manufacture in limited circumstances when STRATEC fails to perform under the manufacturing agreement and such rights are subject to a to be negotiated license fee.

Quality

Our quality function (composed of quality assurance, quality control and validation) oversees the quality of our manufacturing as well as the quality systems used in research and development and sales and marketing. We have established a control system that oversees implementation and maintenance, document control, supplier qualification, corrective and preventative actions, as well as employee training processes that we believe ensures quality across our operations. We continuously monitor and seek to improve quality over time and believe the implementation of these processes has supported product performance, customer satisfaction, and a culture of continuous improvement.

Sales, Marketing and Distribution

We market our conventional reagent products directly in the United States. Outside of this territory, we sell our products to a range of third-party distributors and customers. In the United States, we use a combination of sales managers, sales representatives, customer service staff and technical experts to interact with laboratory managers and administrative staff, purchasing directors, medical directors and other individuals and groups involved in the implementation of blood testing programs. Our goal is to educate these groups about the technical and economic benefits of switching from competing offerings to our products. Our customer service staff and technical experts are also involved in the practical training of customers, as well as answering customer questions. These teams are supported by various marketing activities, which include advertising, medical education, attendance at scientific meetings and other awareness-raising activities. As of March 31, 2018, we had 17 employees engaged worldwide in sales, marketing and customer service functions for the conventional reagents business.

Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics

On January 29, 2015, we entered into a distribution and supply agreement with Ortho (the Ortho Agreement) to sell and distribute MosaiQ Microarrays within the $3.3 billion global transfusion diagnostics market. We have retained all rights to commercialize MosaiQ in North America, the European Union and certain Asia-Pacific territories (excluding Japan) for the donor testing market. Pursuant to the Ortho Agreement, and for an initial term of 20 years, Ortho will exclusively commercialize MosaiQ for the global patient testing market (for blood grouping), as well as the donor testing market (for blood grouping and donor disease screening) in territories other than those in which we will commercialize MosaiQ. We will be responsible for the manufacture of all products (instruments, MosaiQ Microarrays and ancillary products) associated with MosaiQ and have retained all other commercial rights to MosaiQ. Ortho has a right of first offer where we decide to commercialize MosaiQ with a third party for an application other than blood grouping. We have also agreed with Ortho to explore opportunities to develop and commercialize MosaiQ in other diagnostics applications outside of blood grouping and serological disease screening, utilizing the combined knowledge and expertise of both parties.  

- 10 -


Ortho has agreed to pay us certain one-time payments upon the achievement of regulatory and commercial milestones totaling in the aggregate $59 million. These milestones primarily relate to the approval and launch of MosaiQ in the United States and the European Union for blood grouping. Ortho has also agreed to reimburse us for the cost of goods sold incurred for MosaiQ Instruments and associated replacement parts sold to Ortho, as well as the cost of ancillary products sold to Ortho. A transfer price mechanism for MosaiQ IH Microarrays and MosaiQ SDS Microarrays sold to Ortho has also been established, which will increase as a percentage of net sales based on agreed-upon revenue milestones. In addition, a basis for calculating minimum transfer prices for MosaiQ IH Microarrays, instruments and ancillary products has also been agreed.

As part of the exclusive sale and distribution rights granted to Ortho for the MosaiQ Instruments and MosaiQ Microarrays (which rights are non-assignable except as provided for in the distribution and supply agreement) we have granted to Ortho: (i) an exclusive, license to use the “MosaiQ” trademark; (ii) access to CE-Mark, biologics license application and 510(k) clearances and other dossiers to be filed or that are approved by regulatory authorities for the MosaiQ Instrument, MosaiQ Microarrays and ancillary products; (iii) access to other confidential information; and (iv) intellectual property rights controlled by the Company as well as intellectual property rights granted to us by STRATEC and TTP, and rights we may control in the future, which are necessary or reasonably useful for the sale and distribution of MosaiQ Instruments and MosaiQ Microarrays and are freely licensable or sub-licensable and free of royalty or other payments (unless Ortho agrees to pay any such royalties or payments). Ortho may not use these intellectual property rights and information to manufacture the MosaiQ Instrument or MosaiQ Microarrays, supply serological screening microarrays to the patient testing market, or to carry out research and development, other than with our consent or pursuant to the distribution and supply agreement. Ortho will grant us a license for the term of the distribution and supply agreement for any know how related to the MosaiQ Instrument and MosaiQ Microarrays that Ortho generates during the course of the distribution and supply agreement, which is necessary or useful for the development, use or sale of the MosaiQ Instrument and MosaiQ Microarrays, or components thereof, or for us to provide maintenance and support.

Research and Development

Our research and development efforts are focused on the further development of MosaiQ and new conventional reagent products. We believe we have assembled an experienced research and development team with the scientific talent needed to develop new products that leverage our significant blood grouping expertise. We believe our experience in developing tests based on existing serological testing methods will allow us to conceive, develop and validate comprehensive multiplex tests utilizing MosaiQ.

As of March 31, 2018, we had 182 employees engaged in research and development functions.

Customer Funding and Reimbursement

In the United States, our products are not directly subject to reimbursement by governmental or commercial third-party payors for health care services. The costs and expenses related to donor blood grouping and disease screening are typically included in the price to a hospital of a unit of blood. The costs and expenses related to patient blood grouping at hospitals are not specifically reimbursed by a third-party payor, but absorbed within the reimbursement structure of a broader medical procedure. We supply products to our customers, including hospitals, donor testing laboratories, independent testing laboratories and OEM customers based on negotiated prices.

Competition

In the past 10 to 15 years, the transfusion diagnostics market has experienced considerable consolidation, particularly in the United States. Given significant barriers to entry, there are only a small number of vendors currently addressing this market. These vendors can be divided into four groups: (i) those offering instrument platforms for blood grouping and related microarrays, in addition to conventional reagent products for manual testing; (ii) those only offering conventional reagent products for manual blood grouping; (iii) those offering raw materials for inclusion in products used on instrument platforms for blood grouping and in conventional reagent products; and (iv) those offering instruments for disease screening and related microarrays. A small number of donor collection agencies continue to manufacture a limited range of products, primarily for internal use.

In our view, barriers to entry for the transfusion diagnostics market include:

 

the need to manufacture a broad range of complex antisera products, with annual volume requirements ranging from hundreds of milliliters to hundreds of liters, depending upon individual blood group specificities;

 

the ability to reliably procure and formulate red blood cell donations with the appropriate antigen profiles to support the manufacture of red blood cells for antibody identification and whole blood control products;

 

rigorous global regulatory requirements; and

 

customers who can be reluctant to change product suppliers.

- 11 -


Our principal competitors in the United States are Immucor, Ortho and Grifols. The principal market participants in Europe are Bio-Rad, Ortho, Grifols and Immucor and the principal market participants in Japan are Ortho and Immucor.

For serological disease screening, only two vendors have instruments approved for sale in the United States – Abbott and Ortho. Outside the United States, Abbott, Ortho, Roche and Bio-Rad are the principal instrument providers for serological disease screening.

For molecular disease screening, only two vendors have instruments approved for sale in the United States – Grifols and Roche. Outside the United States, Grifols and Roche are the principal instrument providers for molecular disease screening.

For products sold to OEM customers, the cost of switching vendors (raw material and/or finished costs) can be considerable, given regulatory scrutiny of the manufacturing process and the potential need to modify instrument platforms and software. For our OEM business, we consider Merck/Millipore and Diagast to be our primary competitors. We are also a customer of each of these two organizations. We believe the complexity and high cost of switching suppliers, together with our ownership of key products and associated regulatory licenses, reduce the risk of loss of our important OEM business. We believe the FDA-licensed status of our manufacturing facility also offers major benefits as our key OEM clients seek to either establish or defend their position in the United States market.

Intellectual Property

We have relied, and expect to continue to rely, on various exclusive and non-exclusive license agreements, granting rights to patent-protected technologies relating to the manufacture of MosaiQ Microarrays and instruments. We have entered into an exclusive license with TTP to patented technologies to enable high volume manufacture of MosaiQ Microarrays. In addition, STRATEC has agreed to grant us licenses to certain of its pre-existing technologies and has granted us licenses to technologies developed under our development agreement with it, for use in the sale of MosaiQ instruments, and in the development and manufacture of the MosaiQ instrument, which it will undertake on our behalf. See “Business— MosaiQ Manufacturing and Supply—TTP plc” and “—STRATEC Biomedical AG” for additional information about these agreements. These licenses are material to the development and commercialization of MosaiQ. The remaining lives of the patents for key existing technologies that we have licensed currently exceed 10 years.

We have an issued U.S. patent related to blood typing that expires in September 2027. This patent provides methods of detecting the presence of red blood cells coated (or sensitized) with host antibody and/or components of the complement system. We received counterpart patents for this U.S. patent in Europe, Australia and Japan, which also expire in September 2027, and filed a counterpart patent application in Canada in September 2007, which is currently pending.

In February 2014, we filed a new UK patent application providing for a new method for detecting red blood cells, also using MosaiQ. The technology finds particular application in immunological assays where it can be used as the basis of positive controls to confirm the addition of red blood cells.

In January 2018, we filed a provisional U.S. patent application relating to methods and kits for detecting nucleic acids, antigens and antibodies in a sample using a microarray platform, in addition to a method for the amplification of nucleic acids.

We also rely upon copyright protection, trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovation and licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our competitive position. Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain patent protection for our products and processes, to preserve our copyrights and trade secrets, and to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties.

We have developed several conventional reagent products launched by Ortho over the past five years. We generally retain ownership of the intellectual property for these products and their associated regulatory licenses.

- 12 -


Government Regulation

In the United States, medical products are subject to extensive regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDC Act, the Public Health Service Act, or the PHSA, and other federal and state statutes and regulations, govern, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, storage, recordkeeping, approval, labeling, promotion and marketing, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, sampling, and import and export of medical products. Prior to marketing certain medical products, manufacturers are required to obtain permission from the FDA via a product approval or clearance. Failure to comply with applicable U.S. requirements may subject a company to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, such as FDA refusal to file submissions, refusal to approve or clear products, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, field actions, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, refusal to permit the importation of product, injunctions, fines, civil penalties, and criminal prosecution.

The FDA regulates in vitro diagnostic, or IVD, products intended to evaluate blood as either biological products or medical devices. In general, reagents used to identify blood types, including extended antigen typing, and detect and identify antibodies in plasma, as well as assays intended for disease screening of the blood supply are regulated as biological products, while the instruments that conduct the analyses and quality assurance products intended to test the accuracy of instrument platforms are regulated as medical devices.

The European Commission is the legislative body responsible for directives with which manufacturers selling medical products in the European Union and the European Economic Area, or EEA, must comply. The European Union includes most of the major countries in Europe, while other countries, such as Switzerland, are not part of the EEA and have voluntarily adopted laws and regulations that generally mirror those of the European Union with respect to medical devices. The European Union has adopted directives that address regulation of the design, manufacture, labeling, clinical studies and post-market vigilance for medical devices, including IVDs. Devices that comply with the requirements of a relevant directive, including the IVD Directive (Directive 98/79 EC), will be entitled to bear the CE conformity marking, indicating that the device conforms to the essential requirements of the applicable directives and, accordingly, can be marketed throughout the European Union and EEA. On May 26, 2017, the European Union adopted a new regulatory framework, the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR 17/746), or IVDR, which replaces the IVD Directive. Our products in the European Union will have to comply with the IVDR requirements after May 26, 2022. Until that time, our products must continue to meet the requirements of IVD Directive for commercialization in the European Union.

Outside of the United States and the European Union, regulatory pathways for the marketing of medical devices vary greatly from country to country. In many countries, local regulatory agencies conduct an independent review of IVD medical devices prior to granting marketing approval. The process in these countries may be lengthy and require the expenditure of significant resources, including the conduct of clinical trials. In other countries, the regulatory pathway may be shorter and/or less costly. The timeline for the introduction of new IVD medical devices is heavily impacted by these various regulations on a country-by-country basis, which may become more lengthy and costly over time.

Environmental Matters

Our operations require the use of hazardous materials, which, among other matters, subjects us to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permitting requirements, including those relating to the handling, storage, transportation and disposal of biological and hazardous materials and wastes. The primary hazardous materials we handle or use include human blood samples and solvents. Some of the regulations under the current regulatory structure provide for strict liability, holding a party liable for contamination at currently and formerly owned, leased and operated sites and at third-party sites without regard to fault or negligence.

Executive Officers

Below is a list of the names, ages as of March 31, 2018 and positions, and a brief account of the business experience of the individuals who serve as our executive officers.

 

Name

 

Age

 

Position

Franz Walt

 

58

 

Chief Executive Officer

Christopher Lindop

 

60

 

Chief Financial Officer

Jeremy Stackawitz

 

43

 

President

Edward Farrell

 

48

 

President

Roland Boyd

 

61

 

Group Financial Controller & Treasurer

- 13 -


Franz Walt, Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Walt, 58, joined the Board of Directors in February 2018 and was appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer upon the retirement of Mr. Paul Cowan in March 2018 and was subsequently appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2018. Mr. Walt served as President of Siemens Healthineers Laboratory Diagnostics, the laboratory diagnostics provider within the healthcare division of Siemens AG, the German based conglomerate, from March 2014 to December 2017. From January 2012 to February 2014, Mr. Walt was the Senior Vice President and head of Siemen Healthineers’ Diagnostic Division North America. Prior to joining Siemens Healthineers, from June 1989 to November 2011, Mr. Walt served in various capacities at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., a Swiss based healthcare company that develops diagnostics and therapeutic products, including as Geschäftsführer (CEO) of Roche Diagnostics GmbH in Mannheim from January 2007 to November 2011, and as a board member of the Roche Diagnostic Executive Committee (DiaEC), from November 1998 to December 2006. During his time as a board member of the DiaEC, Mr. Walt served, among other capacities, as President and Consejero Delegado (CEO) of Roche Diagnostics Spain and Regional President for the LATAM Region from October 2004 to December 2006, and as Managing Director of Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. and Regional President for the APAC Region from November 1998 to September 2004. Mr. Walt holds undergraduate degrees in management from the IMAKA Institute of Management in Zürich, and in marketing from the Swiss Institute of Economics in Zürich, and an MBA from City University of Seattle.

Christopher Lindop, Chief Financial Officer

Christopher Lindop joined us in February 2017 and serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lindop previously served as chief financial officer from January 2007 until June 2016 and as executive vice president of business development from August 2007 until May 2016 of Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE), a global leader in blood processing technology. From September 2003 to December 2006, he served as chief financial officer of Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical diagnostic products. From June 2002 to September 2003, he served as an audit partner with the Boston office of Ernst & Young LLP, an accounting firm. From 1991 to 2002, he served as an audit partner with the Boston office of Arthur Andersen LLP, an accounting firm. In addition, Mr. Lindop served as a director of Parexel International Corporation (NASD: PRXL) from 2006 to its sale in 2017, where he acted as chairman of the audit and finance committee and as a member of the nominating and governance committee. He holds a B.A. in Business from the University of Strathclyde (Scotland).

Jeremy Stackawitz, President

Jeremy Stackawitz joined us in March 2009 and serves as one of our two Presidents. Mr. Stackawitz has over 17 years of healthcare industry experience gained through various consulting and industry roles. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Stackawitz was Worldwide Commercial Director for Immunohematology of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson company. Prior to this senior role, Mr. Stackawitz held positions from 2006 to 2007 at Therakos, a biotechnology company, from 2004 to 2006 at Ortho Biotech, and from 2000 to 2003 at Purdue Pharma L.P. He also held consulting positions at ISO Healthcare Group (now part of Monitor Group) from 1997 to 2000 and McKinsey & Company in 2003. Mr. Stackawitz received a B.S. in chemistry from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Edward Farrell, President

Edward Farrell joined us in February 2013 and serves as one of our two Presidents. Mr. Farrell has over 20 years of engineering and manufacturing experience gained through various industry roles with a particular emphasis on medical diagnostics. From March 2001 to February 2013, Mr. Farrell held several senior positions with Bayer Diagnostics, which was acquired by Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in 2007. Starting in 2010, Mr. Farrell was Managing Director and Vice President of Manufacturing for a high volume immunoassay reagent manufacturing plant in the United Kingdom. From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Farrell was Managing Director and Vice President of Manufacturing for a facility in the United Kingdom that develops and manufactures point-of-care diagnostic instruments and microarrays. From 2005 to 2007, he worked in the United States as Director of Distribution, Service and Repair and initially worked in 2001 as a Senior Manufacturing Manager in a large instrument manufacturing plant in Ireland. Prior to Bayer Diagnostics, Mr. Farrell worked at Ingersoll Rand as a Production Manager from 1999 to 2001, Intel as a Manufacturing Engineer and Supervisor from 1995 to 1999, and Barlo plc as a Project Engineer from 1993 to 1995. Mr. Farrell received a B.E (Mechanical) and a Masters in Engineering Science from University College Dublin.

- 14 -


Roland Boyd, Group Financial Controller and Treasurer

Roland Boyd joined us in August 2012 and serves as our Group Financial Controller and Treasurer. Mr. Boyd has over 35 years of financial experience gained through various roles in industry and public accounting. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Boyd served as the Chief Financial Officer at Chiltern International Group, a global contract research organization. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Boyd was Group Financial Controller at Inveresk Research Group and was a consultant to Charles River Laboratories until 2006 following Charles River’s 2004 acquisition of Inveresk. Prior to that, Mr. Boyd spent over 20 years with Arthur Andersen, becoming a Partner in 1997. Mr. Boyd is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. Mr. Boyd received a B.A. (Hons) in accounting and finance from Lancaster University.

Employees

As of March 31, 2018, we had 407 employees. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered under a collective bargaining agreement, nor have we experienced any work stoppages. We believe our employee relations are good.

Available Information

Access to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to these reports filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, may be obtained through the investor section of our website at www.quotientbd.com as soon as reasonably practical after we electronically file or furnish these reports. We do not charge for access to and viewing of these reports. Information in the investor section and on our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any of our other securities filings unless specifically incorporated herein by reference. In addition, the public may read and copy any materials that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Also, our filings with the SEC may be accessed through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. All statements made in any of our securities filings, including all forward-looking statements or information, are made as of the date of the document in which the statement is included, and we do not assume or undertake any obligation to update any of those statements or documents unless we are required to do so by law.

Corporate Information

Quotient Limited is a limited liability no par value company incorporated under the laws of Jersey, Channel Islands. Our registered address is 28 Esplanade, St Helier, JE2 3QA, Jersey, Channel Islands. Our agent for service of process is our wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Quotient Biodiagnostics, Inc., 301 South State Street, Suite S-204, Newtown, Pennsylvania 18940. We were incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands in 2012. Our principal executive offices are located at B1, Business Park Terre Bonne, Route de Crassier 13, 1262 Eysins, Switzerland, and our telephone number is 011-41-22-716-9800. Our website address is www.quotientbd.com. The information on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business, Industry and Future Plans

You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties we expect to encounter in the markets in which we compete, and the prospects of our development projects, particularly MosaiQ. Factors that may contribute to fluctuations in our operating results include many of the risks described in this section. These fluctuations may make financial planning and forecasting difficult. In addition, these fluctuations may result in unanticipated decreases in our available cash, which could negatively affect our business and prospects. You should not rely on our operating results for any prior periods as an indication of our future operating performance.

We have incurred losses since our commencement of operations and expect to incur losses in the future.

We have incurred net losses and negative cash flows from operations in each year since we commenced operations in 2007. As of March 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $275.6 million. We expect our operating losses to continue for at least the next fiscal year as we continue our investment in the development and commercialization of MosaiQ. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing and commercializing MosaiQ and the other products we may develop, we are unable to predict the magnitude of any future operating losses or if or when we will become profitable. Our historic losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our cash resources, shareholders’ deficit and working capital. Our ability to achieve or sustain profitability is based on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including market acceptance of our products, future product development, and our market penetration and margins. Even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain it.

- 15 -


We may need to raise additional capital, which may not be available on favorable terms, if at all, and which may cause dilution to shareholders, restrict our operations or adversely affect our ability to operate our business.

We expect to fund our operations in the near-term, including the continued development of MosaiQ to commercialization, from a combination of funding sources, including with existing cash and short-term investment balances, and the issuance of new equity, debt or other securities. Our ability to raise additional capital may be significantly affected by general market conditions, the market price of our ordinary shares, our financial condition, uncertainty about the future commercial success of MosaiQ, regulatory developments, the status and scope of our intellectual property, any ongoing litigation, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations and other factors, many of which are outside our control.  Furthermore, the indenture governing the Secured Notes contains limitations on our ability to incur debt and issue preferred and/or disqualified stock. Accordingly, we cannot be certain that we will be able to obtain additional financing on favorable terms or at all.  If we are unable to obtain needed financing on acceptable terms, or otherwise, we may not be able to implement our business plan, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, including a decline in the trading price of our ordinary shares. Any additional equity financings could result in additional dilution to our then existing shareholders.   In addition, we may enter into additional financings that restrict our operations or adversely affect our ability to operate our business and, if we issue equity, debt or other securities to raise additional capital, the new equity, debt or other securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our existing shareholders.

If we do not achieve, sustain or successfully manage our anticipated growth, our business and prospects will be harmed.

If we are unable to maintain adequate revenue growth, our financial results could suffer. Furthermore, significant growth will place strains on our management and our operational and financial systems and processes. If we do not successfully forecast the timing of regulatory authorization for product marketing and subsequent demand for our products or manage our anticipated expenses accordingly, our operating results will be harmed.

The development of MosaiQ includes many factors, including factors beyond our control, and we may not commercialize it on a timely basis, or at all.

Our future revenue growth and profitability will substantially depend on our ability to successfully commercialize MosaiQ. Our ability to successfully commercialize MosaiQ may be affected by the following factors, among others:

 

the scope of and progress made in our development activities;

 

our ability to successfully complete field trial studies;

 

our ability to obtain and maintain FDA and other regulatory authorizations;

 

threats posed by competing technologies;

 

our, Ortho’s or any other commercial partner’s, ability to market MosaiQ to donor collection agencies, hospitals and independent testing laboratories;

 

our ability to successfully optimize the individual tests to be included on the MosaiQ Microarrays;

 

the occurrence of unforeseen technical difficulties associated with the design, build or operation of the manufacturing system for the MosaiQ Microarrays;

 

the occurrence of unforeseen technical difficulties associated with the design, manufacture or operation of the MosaiQ Instrument;

 

the occurrence of unforeseen technical difficulties in the design or development of software and the integration of the MosaiQ Microarrays, the MosaiQ Instrument and software;

 

delays resulting from the failure of third-party suppliers or contractors to meet their obligations in a timely and cost-effective manner; and

 

endorsement and acceptance by donor collection agencies, hospitals and independent testing laboratories.

Development and commercialization of novel products, such as MosaiQ, is inherently uncertain. At any point, we may abandon development of MosaiQ or we may be required to expend considerable resources addressing unforeseen technical challenges or otherwise to complete and commercialize MosaiQ, which would adversely impact potential revenue and our expenses. In addition, any delay in the commercialization of MosaiQ would provide others with additional time to commercialize competing products, which in turn may adversely affect our growth prospects and operating results. Although we believe that our cost estimates and our project completion and commercialization schedule for MosaiQ are reasonable, we cannot assure you that the actual costs or time required to complete the project will not substantially exceed our current estimates.

- 16 -


Obtaining regulatory authorization for MosaiQ will take time, require material expenditures and ultimately may not succeed.

MosaiQ will be subject to CE-marking in Europe. In the United States, the FDA has indicated that it will require MosaiQ to obtain approval of a biologics license application, or BLA, for the MosaiQ IH Microarrays and traditional 510(k) clearances for the instrument and the initial MosaiQ SDS Microarray, comprising two tests, CMV and syphilis. The MosaiQ SDS II Microarray, comprising additional tests, will be subject to BLA approval. The process of complying with the requirements of the FDA and comparable agencies is generally costly, time consuming and burdensome, and regulatory authorization is never guaranteed, irrespective of time and financial expenditures. Furthermore, given the complexities of the regulatory pathway for MosaiQ, there may be delays in obtaining marketing authorization, or we may not be able to obtain marketing authorization at all. Moreover, the manufacturing process of the MosaiQ Microarrays is based on novel technologies and the FDA and regulatory agencies in other jurisdictions may have limited experience reviewing product candidates using these technologies, which may also result in delays in obtaining regulatory authorization for MosaiQ.

Among other things, our manufacturing facility will be subject to pre-approval inspection by the FDA and other applicable regulators. In addition, we are required to perform field trial studies to obtain regulatory authorizations for MosaiQ. Field trial studies are subject to factors within and outside of our control and the outcome of these studies is uncertain. For example, success in performance evaluation studies may not be replicated in later field trial studies. There is no guarantee that our analytical testing will meet the FDA’s or other regulatory authorities’ requirements, that our field trial studies will be successful, that the FDA or other regulatory authorities will provide marketing authorization for MosaiQ based on the studies we have completed or, if we obtain market authorization, that the prognostic information that may be reported will differentiate MosaiQ from alternatives in the United States or other markets. Even if our field trials are successful and we obtain the necessary regulatory authorizations, the regulatory review process will still take time and require material expenditures.

MosaiQ Microarrays have not been manufactured on a commercial scale and are subject to unforeseen scale-up risks.

While we have developed the manufacturing system for MosaiQ Microarrays, there can be no assurance that we will be able to manufacture MosaiQ Microarrays at a scale that is adequate for our increasing commercial needs. We may face significant or unforeseen difficulties in manufacturing the MosaiQ Microarrays, including but not limited to:

 

technical issues relating to manufacturing products on a commercial scale at reasonable cost, and in a reasonable time frame;

 

difficulty meeting demand or timing requirements for Microarray orders due to excessive costs or lack of capacity for part or all of an operation or process;

 

lack of skilled labor or unexpected increases in labor costs needed to produce or maintain our manufacturing systems or perform certain required operations;

 

changes in government regulations or in quality or other requirements that lead to additional manufacturing costs or an inability to supply product in a timely manner, if at all; and

 

increases in raw material or component supply cost or an inability to obtain certain critical supplies needed to complete our manufacturing processes.

These and other difficulties may only become apparent when scaling up the manufacturing of the MosaiQ Microarrays to more substantive commercial scale. In the event our MosaiQ Microarrays cannot be manufactured in sufficient commercial quantities, market acceptance of MosaiQ could be harmed, our prospects could be significantly impacted and our financial prospects would be materially harmed.

We cannot accurately predict the volume or timing of any future sales for MosaiQ, making the timing of any such revenues difficult to predict.

Our limited commercialization experience makes it difficult to evaluate our business and predict our prospects. We may be faced with lengthy customer evaluation and approval processes associated with MosaiQ.  Consequently, we may incur substantial expenses and devote significant management effort and expense in developing customer adoption of MosaiQ, which may not result in revenue generation. As such, we cannot accurately predict the volume or timing of any future sales for MosaiQ.

 

- 17 -


We expect to rely on third parties to conduct studies of MosaiQ and our other transfusion diagnostics products that will be required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily.

We do not have the ability to independently conduct the field trial studies or other studies that may be required to obtain FDA and other regulatory clearances or approvals for MosaiQ as well as our conventional reagent products. Accordingly, we expect to rely on third parties, such as independent testing laboratories and hospitals, to conduct such studies. Our reliance on these third parties will reduce our control over these activities. These third-party contractors may not complete activities on schedule or conduct studies in accordance with regulatory requirements or our study design. We cannot control whether they devote sufficient time, skill and resources to our studies. Our reliance on third parties that we do not control will not relieve us of any applicable requirement to prepare, and ensure compliance with, various procedures required under good clinical practices. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or regulatory obligations or meet expected deadlines, if the third parties need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our studies may be extended, delayed, suspended or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for MosaiQ or our other transfusion diagnostic products.

Our commercial success will largely depend upon the degree of market acceptance of MosaiQ by donor collection agencies, hospitals and independent testing laboratories.

MosaiQ may not gain sufficient market acceptance by donor collection agencies, hospitals and independent testing laboratories. If the product does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by these critical customer groups, our future revenue growth and profitability would be materially impacted. The degree of market acceptance of MosaiQ will depend on many factors, including:

 

the efficacy and potential advantages of MosaiQ over alternative technologies, techniques and products, including both conventional technologies such as existing testing methods from Ortho, Immucor, Bio-Rad, Grifols, Danaher, Abbott and Roche, as well as new technologies from such companies or new competitors;

 

limitations contained in the approved labeling for MosaiQ;

 

the willingness of our target customers to transition from existing technologies, products and procedures and to adopt MosaiQ;

 

our ability to offer attractive pricing for MosaiQ;

 

the strength of marketing and distribution support and the timing of market introduction of competitive products; and

 

outcomes from field trial studies, the regulatory approval process, and other publicity concerning MosaiQ or competing products.

Our efforts to educate donor collection agencies, hospitals, independent testing laboratories and other members of the medical community on the benefits of MosaiQ may require significant resources and may never be successful. Such efforts to educate the marketplace may require more resources than are required by conventional or new technologies marketed by our competitors. If we were to incorrectly forecast our ability to penetrate various markets, expenditures that we make may not result in the benefits that we expect, which could harm our results of operations. Moreover, in the event that MosaiQ is the subject of industry or clinical guidelines, field trial studies or scientific publications that are unhelpful or damaging, or otherwise call into question the benefits of MosaiQ, we may have difficulty convincing prospective customers to adopt MosaiQ.

Our commercialization plan for MosaiQ in the patient testing market depends on our distribution and supply agreement with Ortho, and we may enter into additional distribution or sales arrangements in the future that may subject us to similar risks.

We will rely on Ortho to commercialize MosaiQ in the highly fragmented patient testing market. Under our distribution and supply agreement, Ortho has agreed to commercialize MosaiQ in the global patient testing market and donor testing markets not covered by Quotient. Ortho may not commit sufficient resources to this commercialization arrangement, as MosaiQ may compete for time, attention and resources with Ortho’s internal programs, or Ortho otherwise may not perform its obligations as expected. In addition, Ortho is both a customer and a competitor of our conventional reagent business. If Ortho is unable, or fails, to perform its obligations, there can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into commercialization relationships with other partners with sufficient existing global sales and support infrastructures necessary to successfully commercialize MosaiQ in the patient testing market. Any of these risks could delay the commercialization of MosaiQ in the patient testing market, result in high costs to us or otherwise materially harm our business and adversely affect our future revenues.

We may also enter into additional distribution or sales arrangements to commercialize MosaiQ in other markets.  To the extent that we enter into other distribution or sales arrangements, our product revenue is likely to be lower than if we directly market or sell MosaiQ. In addition, any revenue we receive will depend in whole or in part upon the efforts of third parties, which may not be successful and will generally not be within our control. If we are not successful in commercializing MosaiQ through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future product revenue will suffer and we may incur significant additional losses.

- 18 -


Other companies or institutions may develop and market novel or improved methods for transfusion diagnostics, which may make MosaiQ less competitive or obsolete.

The market for transfusion diagnostics is large and established, and our competitors may possess significantly greater financial resources and have larger development and commercialization capabilities than we do. Although we are not aware of any companies that are pursuing an alternative fully automated blood grouping and disease screening platform like MosaiQ, a platform or technology that competes with MosaiQ may be developed. We may be unable to compete effectively against these competitors either because their diagnostic platforms are superior or because they may have more expertise, experience, financial resources or stronger business relationships.

We have leased a factory in Eysins, Switzerland, which is presently the principal manufacturing site for the MosaiQ Microarrays, and any delay in obtaining regulatory approval for the site may delay or prevent the launch of MosaiQ.

We have leased a manufacturing facility in Eysins, Switzerland, which is presently the principal manufacturing site for the MosaiQ Microarrays. Final approval of the MosaiQ Microarray manufacturing system is subject to many risks, including the fact that, in connection with products that will be sold in the United States, this new facility will be subject to a pre-approval inspection by the FDA, and, in connection with products sold outside the United States, this new facility will be subject to pre-approval inspection by applicable foreign regulators, which could prevent or delay the launch of MosaiQ.

Our near-term success is dependent upon our ability to expand our customer base and introduce new conventional reagent products.

Our current customer base is primarily composed of donor testing laboratories and hospitals that use our conventional reagent products for blood grouping, along with original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs (for example, Ortho, Bio-Rad and Grifols). Our success will depend, in part, upon our ability to expand our customer base and increase our market penetration of existing customers through the development and commercialization of new products after obtaining regulatory authorization. Attracting new customers and introducing new products requires substantial time and expense. Any failure to expand our existing customer base, or launch new products, would adversely affect our operating results.

Our financial performance depends in part upon our ability to successfully develop and market new products in a rapidly changing technological and economic environment. If we fail to successfully introduce new conventional reagent products, we could lose market share. We could also lose market share if our competitors introduce new products or technologies that render our conventional reagent products less competitive or obsolete. In addition, delays in the introduction of new products due to regulatory, developmental or other obstacles could negatively impact our revenue and market share, as well as our earnings.

We are dependent upon our three largest OEM clients for a substantial portion of our total revenues. If any of our key OEM customers terminates or reduces the scope of its relationship with us, our product sales will suffer.

We develop, manufacture and sell a range of our conventional reagent products to customers who are major OEMs. These products are sold in bulk, for inclusion in products manufactured by these OEM customers, or as finished, vialled products. Product sales to our three largest OEM customers accounted for 71% of our total revenues and product sales to Ortho accounted for 61% of our total revenues in the year ended March 31, 2018. If any of our OEM customer agreements are terminated, particularly our agreement with Ortho, or the scope of our OEM customer relationships is otherwise reduced, our product sales could decrease, and our results of operations may be negatively impacted. In particular, a change of control of any of our OEM customers could negatively impact our relationship. Further, we may not be able to enter into new customer agreements on satisfactory terms, or at all.

Our OEM customers, including Ortho, are also our competitors. Our conventional reagent business may be harmed if, as a result of the commercialization of MosaiQ, Ortho or our other OEM customers perceive MosaiQ as a competitive product, resulting in a discontinuation of Ortho’s or our other OEM customers’ purchases from us.

Gross margin volatility in our conventional reagent business may negatively impact our profitability.

Gross margins on our conventional reagent products vary depending upon the product, with whole blood control products, rare antibodies and reagent red blood cell products generating higher margins. Depending upon the sales mix of these products, our gross margin could vary significantly from period to period. Our conventional reagent products are manufactured by us. As such, gross margins for these products could be impacted by a rise in the costs of raw materials and labor, as well as overhead and the efficiency of our manufacturing operations. Our gross margin may also be negatively impacted by increased competition. Specifically, suppliers in the market seeking to maintain or grow market share may foster a competitive environment of pricing pressures that could negatively impact the profitability of product sales.

- 19 -


If we are unable to maintain or redeploy our network of direct sales representatives, we may not be able to generate anticipated sales of our current or future products.

We expect our direct sales representatives to develop long-lasting relationships with the customers they serve. If our direct sales representatives fail to adequately promote, market and sell our conventional reagent products, our sales could significantly decrease. If a substantial number of our direct sales representatives were to leave us within a short period of time, our sales could be adversely affected. If a direct sales representative were to depart and be retained by one of our competitors, we may be unable to prevent them from helping competitors solicit business from our existing customers, which could further adversely affect our sales. We may be unable to hire additional qualified direct sales representatives to work with us. We may also not be able to enter into agreements with them on favorable or commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Failure to hire or retain qualified direct sales representatives would prevent us from expanding our business and generating sales.

We or our suppliers may experience development or manufacturing problems or delays that could limit the growth of our revenue or increase our losses.

We may encounter unforeseen situations in the manufacturing of our conventional reagent products that could result in delays or shortfalls in our production. Our suppliers may also face similar delays or shortfalls. In addition, our or our suppliers’ production processes may have to change to accommodate any significant future expansion of our manufacturing capacity, which may increase our or our suppliers’ manufacturing costs, delay production of our products, reduce our product gross margin and adversely impact our business. If we are unable to keep up with demand for our products by successfully manufacturing and shipping our products in a timely manner, our revenue could be impaired, market acceptance for our products could be adversely affected and our customers might instead purchase our competitors’ products. In addition, developing manufacturing procedures for new products would require developing specific production processes for those products. Developing such processes could be time consuming and any unexpected difficulty in doing so can delay the introduction of a product.

Demand for our products depends in part on the operating budgets of our customers and their spending levels, a reduction in which could limit demand for our products and adversely affect our business.

In the near term, we expect that our revenue will be derived primarily from sales of our conventional reagent products to hospitals and independent testing laboratories for blood grouping, either directly or through our OEM customers. The demand for our products will depend in part upon the operational budgets of these customers, which are impacted by factors beyond our control, such as:

 

global macroeconomic conditions;

 

changes in the regulatory environment;

 

differences in budgetary cycles;

 

market-driven pressures to consolidate operations and reduce costs; and

 

market acceptance of new technologies.

Our operating results may fluctuate due to reductions and delays in expenditures by our customers. Any decrease in our customers’ budgets or expenditures, or in the size, scope or frequency of operating expenditures, could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

The transfusion diagnostics market is highly competitive. If we fail to compete effectively, our business and operating results will suffer.

We face significant competition in the transfusion diagnostics market. We currently compete with established diagnostic companies that design, manufacture and market instruments and microarrays for blood grouping. We believe our principal competitors in the transfusion diagnostics market are Ortho, Immucor, Bio-Rad, Grifols, Danaher, Abbott and Roche.

Most of our current competitors have greater financial resources than we do, making them better equipped to fund research and development, manufacturing and marketing efforts or license technologies and intellectual property from third parties. Our competitors can be expected to continue to improve the performance of their products and to introduce new products with competitive price and performance characteristics. Although we believe we have advantages over our competitors, maintaining these advantages will require us to continue to invest in research and development, sales and marketing and customer service and support.

- 20 -


Our current competitors are either privately owned, publicly-traded companies or are divisions of publicly-traded companies, and enjoy many competitive advantages over us, including:

 

greater name and brand recognition, financial and human resources;

 

broader product lines;

 

larger sales forces and more established distributor networks;

 

substantial intellectual property portfolios;

 

larger and more established customer bases and relationships; and

 

better established, larger scale, and lower cost manufacturing capabilities.

We believe that the principal competitive factors in all of our target markets include:

 

cost of capital equipment;

 

cost of microarrays and supplies;

 

reputation among customers;

 

innovation in product offerings;

 

flexibility and ease-of-use;

 

accuracy and reproducibility of results;

 

compatibility with existing laboratory processes, tools and methods;

 

breadth of clinical decisions that can be influenced by information generated by tests; and

 

economic benefit accrued to customers based on testing services enabled by products.

We cannot assure investors that we will be successful in the face of competition from new products and technologies introduced by our existing competitors or new companies entering our markets. In addition, we cannot assure investors that our competitors do not have or will not develop products or technologies that currently or in the future will enable them to produce competitive products with greater capabilities or at lower costs than ours.

New technologies, techniques or products could emerge that might offer better combinations of price and performance than our current or future products and systems.

It is critical to our success that we anticipate changes in technology and customer requirements and to successfully introduce, on a timely and cost-effective basis, new, enhanced and competitive technologies that meet the needs of current and prospective customers. If we do not successfully innovate and introduce new technology into our product lines or manage the transitions to new product offerings, our revenues, results of operations and business will be adversely impacted. Competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. We may face increased competition in the future if existing companies and competitors develop new or improved products and if new companies enter the market with new technologies.

We are dependent on single source suppliers for some of the components and materials used in our products, and supply chain interruptions could negatively impact our operations and financial performance.

Our products are manufactured by us and we obtain supplies from a limited number of suppliers. In some cases, critical components required to manufacture our products may only be available from a sole supplier or limited number of suppliers, any of whom would be difficult to replace. The supply of any of our manufacturing materials may be interrupted because of poor vendor performance or other events outside our control, which may require us, among other things, to identify alternate vendors and result in lost sales and increased expenses. Even if the manufacturing materials that we source are available from other parties, the time and effort involved in validating the new supplies and obtaining any necessary regulatory approvals for substitutes could impede our ability to replace such components in a timely manner or at all.

In particular, some of our conventional reagent products are derived from blood having particular or rare combinations of antigens, which are found in a limited number of individuals. If we had difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of such blood, we would need to establish a viable alternative, which may take both time and expense to either identify and/or develop.

- 21 -


The loss of a sole supplier would impair our ability to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner and would adversely affect our sales and operating results and negatively impact our reputation. Our business would also be harmed if any of our suppliers could not meet our quality and performance specifications and quantity and delivery requirements.

If any of our manufacturing facilities become unavailable or inoperable, we will be unable to produce and ship many of our products.

All our conventional reagent products are currently produced in our existing Edinburgh, Scotland manufacturing facility. While we believe we have reliable suppliers of raw materials, our reagent production is highly dependent on the uninterrupted and efficient operation of our existing Edinburgh, Scotland facility and we currently have no alternative manufacturing capabilities qualified. Therefore, if a catastrophic event occurred at our existing Edinburgh, Scotland facility, such as a fire or contamination, many of our products could not be produced until the manufacturing portion of the facility was restored and cleared by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. We maintain a disaster plan to minimize the effects of such a catastrophe and we have obtained insurance to protect against certain business interruption losses. However, there can be no assurance that such coverage will be adequate or that such coverage will continue to remain available on acceptable terms, if at all.

Our customers, including our U.S. commercial operations, receive all of their conventional reagent products from our Edinburgh, Scotland manufacturing facility. If circumstances arose that disrupted our international distribution of products from Edinburgh, we would need to establish an alternate distribution channel, which may take both time and expense to establish.

The landlord for our existing Edinburgh, Scotland manufacturing operation is Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, or SNBTS. The lease on our existing Edinburgh, Scotland facility ends in December 2018.

We have leased a manufacturing facility in Eysins, Switzerland, which is presently the principal manufacturing site for MosaiQ Microarrays and we currently have no alternative manufacturing capabilities. Therefore, if a catastrophic event occurred at the Eysins, Switzerland facility, such as a fire or contamination, we would not be able to produce MosaiQ Microarrays until the manufacturing portion of the facility was restored and cleared by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. We maintain a disaster plan to minimize the effects of such a catastrophe and we have obtained insurance to protect against certain business interruption losses.

We have recently completed the Biocampus facility, a new, expanded manufacturing facility for our conventional reagent products, the transition to which carries with it operational, quality and regulatory risks that could result in an interruption of product availability, the risk of overlapping operations with duplicative costs, and the delay or prevention of the launch of new products.

To meet expected future demand for our conventional reagent products, we have built the Biocampus facility, a new expanded manufacturing facility near Edinburgh, Scotland near our existing manufacturing facility. We expect to complete the relocation to and validation of the Biocampus facility before the end of December 2018.  Moving our manufacturing operations to a new facility may result in overlapping operations and duplicative costs during the transition period. Furthermore, changes in our manufacturing process or procedure, including a change in the location where our products are manufactured, will require prior FDA review and approval of the manufacturing process and procedures. Any new facility will be subject to a pre-approval inspection by the FDA and would again require us to demonstrate product comparability to the FDA. There are comparable foreign requirements as well. This review may be costly and time consuming and could delay or prevent the manufacture of our conventional reagent products.  In addition, the lease for our existing manufacturing facility expires in December 2018.  If we don't complete the relocation and validation of our new conventional reagents manufacturing facility before this lease ends, we may not be able to manufacture and conventional reagent products.

We generate a substantial portion of our revenue internationally and are subject to various risks relating to our international activities.

A significant proportion of our revenues are earned in U.S. Dollars but the costs of our manufacturing operations are payable mainly in Pounds Sterling while the costs of MosaiQ development are payable mainly in Swiss Francs. As a result, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. Dollar could impact our financial results adversely. A significant percentage of our future costs will be incurred in international locations.

Engaging in international business also involves many difficulties and risks, including:

 

required compliance with existing and changing foreign regulatory requirements and laws;

 

required compliance with anti-bribery laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and UK Bribery Act, data privacy requirements, labor laws and anti-competition regulations;

- 22 -


 

export or import restrictions;

 

various reimbursement and insurance regimes;

 

laws and business practices favoring local companies;

 

longer payment cycles and difficulties in enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through certain foreign legal systems;

 

political and economic instability;

 

potentially adverse tax consequences, tariffs, customs charges, bureaucratic requirements and other trade barriers;

 

difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations; and

 

difficulties protecting or procuring intellectual property rights.

The occurrence of any of these factors in the countries in which we operate could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our debt and other financings contain restrictive covenants and other provisions that may limit our operating flexibility.

In October 2016, we issued $84.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Secured Notes and, if certain conditions are satisfied, we will issue an additional $36.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Secured Notes.  The Secured Notes are secured by substantially all of our property and assets (subject to certain exclusions). The indenture governing the Secured Notes contains certain restrictive covenants that limit our ability to incur debt, issue preferred and/or disqualified stock, pay dividends, repurchase shares and make certain other restricted payments, prepay, repurchase or redeem subordinated debt, merge, amalgamate or consolidate with other companies, engage in certain transactions with affiliates and make investments other than those permitted by the indenture. We therefore may not be able to engage in any of the foregoing transactions unless we obtain the consent of the note holders or redeem all the Secured Notes that are then outstanding.  There is no guarantee that we will be able to generate sufficient cash flow or sales to pay the principal and interest under the Secured Notes. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that future working capital, borrowings or equity financing will be available to repurchase, redeem or otherwise refinance the Secured Notes.

In addition, upon the occurrence of certain change of control events and, subject to certain conditions, certain asset sales events, holders of the Secured Notes may require us to repurchase for cash all or part of their Secured Notes at a repurchase price equal to 101.0% or 100.0%, respectively, of the principal amount of the Secured Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the date of repurchase.  Furthermore, our outstanding 666,665 7% cumulative redeemable preference shares are subject to automatic redemption in the event of certain changes of control involving us. In connection with such redemption, we are required to first pay the amount of the accrued and unpaid preferential dividend on the preference shares and then redeem the preference shares at a redemption price of $22.50 per preference share. There is no guarantee that we will have sufficient funds legally available to repurchase the Secured Notes or redeem the preference shares under such circumstances.

Undetected errors or defects in our products could expose us to product liability claims, harm our reputation or decrease market acceptance of our products.

The sale and use of products or services based on our technologies could lead to the filing of product liability claims if someone were to allege that one of our products contained a design or manufacturing defect, which resulted in the failure to adequately perform the analysis for which it was designed. A product liability claim could result in substantial damages and be costly and time consuming to defend, either of which could materially harm our business or financial condition. We maintain product liability insurance that we believe is adequate for our business. However, there can be no assurance that insurance coverage for these risks will continue to be available or, if available, that it will be sufficient to cover potential claims or that the present level of coverage will continue to be available at a reasonable cost. Our existing insurance may have to be increased in the future if we are successful at introducing new transfusion diagnostics products and this will increase our costs. Under certain of our customer and license agreements, we have agreed to provide indemnification for product liability claims arising out of the use of our products. If we are held liable for a claim or for damages exceeding the limits of our insurance coverage, we may be required to make substantial payments.

Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

 

decreased demand for our products and product candidates;

 

injury to our reputation;

 

costs of related litigation;

 

substantial monetary awards to patients and others;

- 23 -


 

loss of revenue; and

 

the inability to commercialize our products and product candidates.

Any of these outcomes may have an adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and may increase the volatility of our share price.

We may also be subject to warranty claims for damages related to errors or defects in our products. A material liability claim or other occurrence that harms our reputation or decreases market acceptance of our products could harm our business and operating results. If we experience a product performance problem, we may be required to, or may voluntarily recall or suspend selling the products until the problem is resolved. Depending on the product as well as the availability of acceptable substitutes, such a product recall or suspension could significantly impact our operating results.

The outcome of any future disputes, claims and litigation could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may, from time to time, be party to litigation in the normal course of business, including class action and product liability lawsuits. Due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation, it is not possible to predict the outcome of these lawsuits or determine the amount of any potential losses we may incur. In the event we are required or determine to pay amounts in connection with any such lawsuits, such amounts could be significant and could have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are highly dependent on our senior management team and other key employees, and our success depends on our ability to retain our managerial personnel and to attract additional personnel.

Our success is dependent upon the efforts of our senior management and staff, including sales, technical and management personnel, many of whom have very specialized industry and technical expertise that is not easily replaced. If key individuals leave us, we could be adversely affected if suitable replacement personnel are not quickly recruited. We have entered into employment agreements with our executive officers and senior managers, but none of these agreements guarantees the service of the individual for a specified period. Our future success depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel. There is intense competition for medical technologists and in some markets there is a shortage of qualified personnel in our industry. If we are unable to continue to attract or retain highly qualified personnel, the development, growth and future success of our business could be adversely affected.

We may seek to grow our business through acquisitions of or investments in new or complementary businesses, products or technologies, and the failure to manage acquisitions or investments, or the failure to integrate them with our existing business, could have a material adverse effect on us.

From time to time, we expect to consider opportunities to acquire or make investments in other technologies, products and businesses that may enhance our capabilities, complement our current products or expand the breadth of our product offerings, markets or customer base. Potential and completed acquisitions and strategic investments involve numerous risks, including:

 

problems assimilating the purchased technologies, products or business operations;

 

issues maintaining uniform standards, procedures, controls and policies;

 

unanticipated costs associated with acquisitions;

 

diversion of management’s attention from our core business;

 

adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers;

 

risks associated with entering new markets in which we have limited or no experience;

 

potential loss of key employees of acquired businesses; and

 

increased legal and accounting compliance costs.

We have no current commitments with respect to any acquisition or investment. Any acquisitions we undertake could be expensive and time consuming and may disrupt our ongoing business and prevent management from focusing on our operations. If we are unable to manage acquisitions or investments, or integrate any acquired businesses, products or technologies effectively, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.

- 24 -


We may enter into collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships with third parties that may not result in the development of commercially viable products or the generation of significant future revenues.

In the ordinary course of our business, we may enter into collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships to develop proposed products and to pursue new markets. Proposing, negotiating and implementing collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships may be a lengthy and complex process. Other companies, including those with substantially greater financial, marketing, sales, technology or other business resources, may compete with us for these opportunities or arrangements. We may not identify, secure, or complete any such transactions or arrangements in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis, on acceptable terms or at all. We have limited institutional knowledge and experience with respect to these business development activities, and we may also not realize the anticipated benefits of any such transaction or arrangement. In particular, these collaborations may not result in the development of products that achieve commercial success or result in significant revenues and could be terminated prior to developing any products.

Additionally, we may not be able to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding the transaction or arrangement, which could create the potential risk of creating impasses on decisions, and our collaborators may have economic or business interests or goals that are, or that may become, inconsistent with our business interests or goals. For example, our distribution and supply agreement with Ortho provides for a six-person steering committee composed of three of our representatives and three of Ortho's representatives, which provides liaison, coordination and strategic planning with regard to development and regulatory approval of MosaiQ and the sale and distribution of MosaiQ Instruments and Microarrays by Ortho. It is possible that conflicts may arise with our collaborators, such as conflicts concerning the achievement of performance milestones, or the interpretation of significant terms under any agreement, such as those related to financial obligations or the ownership or control of intellectual property developed during the collaboration. If any conflicts arise with our current or future collaborators, they may act in their self-interest, which may be adverse to our best interest, and they may breach their obligations to us. In addition, we have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our current collaborators or any future collaborators devote to our collaborators’ or our future products. Disputes between us and our collaborators may result in litigation or arbitration which would increase our expenses and divert the attention of our management. Further, these transactions and arrangements are contractual in nature and may be terminated or dissolved under the terms of the applicable agreements and, in such event, we may not continue to have rights to the products relating to such transaction or arrangement or may need to purchase such rights at a premium.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

Recent global economic and political conditions could result in significant changes to legislation, government policies, rules and regulations, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.

The impact of recent political and economic developments in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, including the election of Mr. Donald Trump as president of the United States and the referendum in the United Kingdom in which voters approved an exit from the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” are uncertain.  These political and economic developments could result in changes to legislation or reformation of government policies, rules and regulations pertaining to the U.S. healthcare system, tax and trade.  Such changes could have a significant impact on our business by increasing the cost of doing business, affecting our ability to sell our products and negatively impacting our profitability.

Efforts to repeal and replace the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or the PPACA) have been ongoing since the 2016 election, but it is unclear if these efforts will be successful. Since January 2017, President Trump has signed two Executive Orders and other directives designed to delay, circumvent or loosen the implementation of certain provisions requirements mandated by the PPACA or otherwise circumvent some of the requirements for health insurance mandated by the PPACA. In addition, as part of the December 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the “individual mandate,” which required individuals to purchase insurance, was repealed. The PPACA significantly impacted the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and clinical laboratories, and the repeal, replacement or modification of the PPACA, or other legislative or regulatory actions, could meaningfully further change the way healthcare services are delivered and may materially impact aspects of our business.  We cannot predict whether future healthcare initiatives will be implemented at the federal or state level or in countries outside of the United States in which we may do business, or the effect any future legislation or regulation will have on us.

Our conventional reagent products are manufactured in Scotland and our MosaiQ Instruments and Microarrays will be manufactured in Germany and Switzerland, respectively. There have been public announcements by members of the U.S. Congress, President Trump and his administration regarding the possible implementation of a border tax, tariff or increase in custom duties on products manufactured outside of and imported into the United States, as well as the renegotiation of U.S. trade agreements, and, in March 2018, President Trump issued two proclamations imposing tariffs on imports of certain steel and aluminum products. The implementation of a border tax, tariff or higher customs duties on our products imported into the United States, or any potential corresponding actions by other countries in which we do business, could negatively impact our financial performance.

- 25 -


Lastly, the British government has begun negotiating the terms of the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union. On December 8, 2017, the United Kingdom reached an agreement in principle with the European Union on certain areas under consideration as part of the first phase of negotiations on the terms of its exit from the European Union. Although it is unknown what the final terms will be, it is possible that there will be greater restrictions on imports and exports between the United Kingdom and European Union countries and increased regulatory complexities. These changes may adversely affect our operations and financial results.

If we, Ortho or our other commercial partners fail to comply with extensive foreign and domestic regulations, sales of our products in new and existing markets and the development and commercialization of any new product candidates, including MosaiQ, could be delayed or prevented.

Our reagents and other products are subject to regulation by governmental and private agencies in the United States and abroad, which, among other things, regulate the testing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, distribution, promotion, marketing, import and export of medical supplies and devices. Certain international regulatory bodies also impose import and tax restrictions, tariff regulations, and duties on imported products. Delays in agency review can significantly delay new product introduction and may result in a product becoming “outdated” or losing its market opportunity before it can be introduced.

If any of our products were to fail to perform in the manner represented during review of the product application, particularly concerning clinical performance, one or more of these agencies could place restrictions on the labeling, marketing, distribution or use of the product, require us to modify or cease manufacturing and selling that product, or even recall previously-placed products, and, if the product must be modified in order to resolve the problem, to resubmit the product for market authorization before we could sell it again. Depending upon the product, and the availability of acceptable substitutes, such an agency action could result in significantly reduced revenues and earnings for an indefinite period.

Federal, state and foreign regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of our products are subject to change. We cannot predict what impact, if any, such changes might have on our business. In addition, there can be no assurance that regulation of our products will not become more restrictive in the future and that any such development would not have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we or our suppliers fail to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements, or if we experience unanticipated problems with our products, these products could be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from the market.

Any product for which we obtain marketing approval or clearance in the United States or in international jurisdictions, along with the manufacturing processes and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. Furthermore, our suppliers may be subject to similar regulatory oversight and may not currently be or may not continue to be in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. Our failure or the failure of one of our suppliers to comply with statutes and regulations administered by the FDA and other regulatory bodies, or our failure to take adequate action in response to any observations, could result in, among other things, any of the following enforcement actions, any one of which could harm our reputation and could cause our product sales and profitability to suffer:

 

fines and civil penalties;

 

the requirement to take corrective actions;

 

delays in approving or clearing, or refusal to approve or clear, our products;

 

withdrawal or suspension of approval or clearances by the FDA or other regulatory bodies;

 

product recall or seizures;

 

interruption of production;

 

restrictions on labeling, marketing, distribution or use of our products;

 

an import or export ban on our products;

 

injunctions; and

 

criminal prosecution.

We may also receive warning letters or untitled letters regarding compliance with current good manufacturing practices at one or more of our manufacturing facilities.

Any regulatory approval or clearance of a product may also be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed. If the FDA or another regulatory body determines that our promotional materials, training or other activities constitute promotion of an unapproved use, it could request that we cease or modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory enforcement actions. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might act if they consider

- 26 -


our training or promotional materials to constitute promotion of an unapproved use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under applicable statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement. Additionally, we may be required to conduct costly post-market testing and we may be required to report adverse events and malfunctions related to our products. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products, including unanticipated adverse events, manufacturing problems or failure to comply with regulatory requirements may result in restrictions on such products or manufacturing processes. Other potential consequences include revisions to the approved labeling, withdrawal of the products from the market, voluntary or mandatory recalls, fines, suspension of regulatory approvals, product seizures, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

Furthermore, the FDA and various other authorities will inspect our facilities and those of our suppliers from time to time to determine whether we are in compliance with regulations relating to the manufacture of transfusion diagnostics products, including regulations concerning design, manufacture, testing, quality control, product labeling, distribution, promotion and record-keeping practices. A determination that we are in material violation of such regulations could lead to the imposition of civil penalties, including warning or untitled letters, fines, product recalls, field actions, product seizures or, in extreme cases, criminal sanctions.

Additionally, healthcare policy has been a subject of extensive discussion in the executive and legislative branches of the federal and many state governments and healthcare laws and regulations are subject to change. Our reagent product business strategy, and the development of the commercialization strategy for MosaiQ, have been based on existing healthcare policies. We cannot predict what additional changes, if any, will be proposed or adopted or the effect that such proposals or adoption may have on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Approval and/or clearance by the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities for our transfusion diagnostics products could take significant time and require significant development expenditures.

FDA approval of a BLA or clearance of a 510(k) generally is required before we can market new reagents in the United States or make significant changes to existing products.

Obtaining FDA and other regulatory clearances or approvals for MosaiQ and our newly developed conventional reagent products can be time-consuming, expensive and uncertain. It can take from several months to several years from the date of submission of the application, and generally requires detailed and comprehensive scientific and clinical data. As with all blood transfusion products, the FDA and other regulatory authorities reserve the right to redefine the regulatory path at the time of submission or during the review process, and could require a more burdensome approach than we currently anticipate. Notwithstanding the time and expense, there is no assurance that marketing authorizations will be granted or that agency reviews will not involve delays that would adversely affect our ability to commercialize our products, including MosaiQ.  Even if we were to obtain regulatory approval or clearance, it may not be for the uses we believe are important or commercially attractive, in which case we would not be permitted to market our product for those uses.

Our use of biological and hazardous materials and wastes requires us to comply with regulatory requirements, including environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permitting requirements and subjects us to significant costs and exposes us to potential liabilities.

The handling of materials used in the manufacture of transfusion diagnostics products involves the controlled use of biological and hazardous materials and wastes. The primary hazardous materials we handle or use include human blood donations. Our business and facilities and those of our suppliers are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to the protection of human health and the environment, including those governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of, and exposure to, such materials and wastes. In addition, the collection and use of health data in the European Union is governed by the recently-enacted General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR). The GPDR extends the geographical scope of European Union data protection law to non-E.U. entities under certain conditions, tightens existing European Union data protection principles and creates new obligations for companies and new rights for individuals. Failure to comply with the GDPR may result in substantial fines and other administrative penalties. The GDPR may increase our responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the GDPR. This may be onerous and if our efforts to comply with GDPR or other applicable European Union laws and regulations are not successful, it could adversely affect our business in the European Union.

Additionally, under some environmental laws and regulations, we could be held responsible for costs relating to any contamination at our past or present facilities and at third-party waste disposal sites even if such contamination was not caused by us. A failure to comply with current or future environmental laws and regulations, including the failure to obtain, maintain or comply with any required permits, could result in severe fines or penalties. Any such expenses or liability could have a significant negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, we may be required to incur significant costs to comply with regulatory requirements in the future.

- 27 -


Our relationships with customers are subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other domestic healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers, physicians at hospitals and public health departments play a primary role in the recommendation and ordering of our reagents and other products, and may play an important role in the recommendation and ordering of the MosaiQ system. Our arrangements with customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute our product.

The federal healthcare anti-kickback statute prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service, for which payment may be made under federally funded healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. This statute has been broadly interpreted to apply to manufacturer arrangements with prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers, among others. Several other countries, including the United Kingdom, have enacted similar anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, and healthcare laws and regulations.

The federal False Claims Act imposes criminal and civil penalties against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement material to a false or fraudulent action or improperly avoiding, decreasing or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal government.

HIPAA imposes criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program and also imposes obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. In addition, HIPAA created criminal liability for knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services.

The federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act requirements under the PPACA require manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies to report to HHS information related to payments and other transfers of value made to or at the request of covered recipients, such as physicians and teaching hospitals, and physician ownership and investment interests in such manufacturers. Payments made to physicians and research institutions for clinical trials are included within the ambit of this law. Certain state laws and regulations also require the reporting of certain items of value provided to health care professionals.

Analogous state laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers.

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations involve substantial costs. We may be subject to qui tam litigation brought by private individuals on behalf of the government under the federal False Claims Act, with potential liability including mandatory treble damages and significant per-claim penalties, currently set at $5,500 to $11,000 per false claim. Additionally, it is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Exclusion, suspension and debarment from government funded healthcare programs would significantly impact our ability to commercialize, sell or distribute any product. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

We are subject to the UK Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws, as well as export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations. If we fail to comply with these laws, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, other remedial measures, and legal expenses, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our operations are subject to anti-corruption laws, including the UK Bribery Act 2010, or Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and other anti-corruption laws that apply in countries where we do business. The Bribery Act, FCPA and these other laws generally prohibit us and our employees and intermediaries from bribing, being bribed or making other prohibited payments to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage. We, Ortho and our other commercial partners operate in many jurisdictions that pose a high risk of potential Bribery Act or FCPA violations, and we participate in collaborations and relationships with third parties whose actions could potentially subject us to liability under the Bribery Act, FCPA or local anti-corruption laws. In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory

- 28 -


requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted.

We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States and authorities in the European Union, including applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions on countries and persons, customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as the Trade Control laws.

There is no assurance that we will be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all applicable anti-corruption laws, including the Bribery Act, the FCPA or other legal requirements and Trade Control laws. If we are not in compliance with the Bribery Act, the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Likewise, any investigation of any potential violations of the Bribery Act, the FCPA, other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws by UK, U.S. or other authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

The extent to which we can protect our products and technologies through intellectual property rights that we own, acquire or license is uncertain.

We employ a variety of proprietary and patented technologies and methods in connection with the products we sell or are developing, including MosaiQ. We license some of these technologies from third parties. We cannot provide any assurance that the intellectual property rights that we own or license provide effective protection from competitive threats or that we would prevail in any litigation in which our intellectual property rights are challenged. In addition, we cannot provide any assurances that we will be successful in obtaining new proprietary or patented technologies or methods in the future, whether through acquiring ownership or through licenses from third parties.

We cannot assure investors that any of our currently pending or future patent applications will result in issued patents, and we cannot predict how long it may take for a patent to issue on any of our pending patent applications, assuming a patent does issue. Further, we cannot assure investors that other parties will not challenge any patents issued or exclusively licensed to us or that courts or administrative agencies will hold our patents or the patents we license on an exclusive basis to be valid and enforceable. We cannot guarantee investors that we will be successful in defending challenges made against our patents and other intellectual property rights. Any third-party challenge to any of our patents could result in the unenforceability or invalidity of some or all of the claims of such patents and could be time consuming and expensive.

The extent to which the patent rights of life sciences companies effectively protect their products and technologies is often highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. No consistent policy regarding the proper scope of allowable claims of patents held by such companies has emerged to date in the United States. Various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have rendered decisions that impact the scope of patentability of certain inventions or discoveries relating to diagnostics tests or genomic diagnostics. These decisions generally stand for the proposition that inventions that recite laws of nature are not themselves patentable unless they have sufficient additional features that provide practical assurance that the processes are genuine inventive applications of those laws rather than patent drafting efforts designed to monopolize a law of nature itself. What constitutes a “sufficient” additional feature for this purpose is uncertain. While we do not generally rely on gene sequence patents, this evolving case law in the United States may adversely impact our ability to obtain new patents and may facilitate third-party challenges to our existing owned and exclusively licensed patents.

We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in patents we own or in those to which we have exclusive license rights. For example:

 

the inventor(s) named in one or more of our patents or patent applications might not have been the first to have made the relevant invention;

 

the inventor (or his assignee) might not have been the first to file a patent application for the claimed invention;

 

others may independently develop similar or alternative products and technologies or may successfully replicate our product and technologies;

 

it is possible that the patents we own, or in which have exclusive license rights may not provide us with any competitive advantages or may be challenged by third parties and found to be invalid or unenforceable;

 

any patents we obtain or exclusively license may expire before, or within a limited period after, the products and services relating to such patents are commercialized;

- 29 -


 

we may not develop or acquire additional proprietary products and technologies that are patentable; and

 

others may acquire patents that could be asserted against us in a manner that could have an adverse effect on our business.

Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States or other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property rights. In particular, in September 2011, the U.S. Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the AIA, which became effective in March 2013. The AIA reforms U.S. patent law in part by changing the standard for patent approval for certain patents from a “first to invent” standard to a “first to file” standard and developing a post-grant review system. It is too early to determine what the effect or impact the AIA will have on the operation of our business and the protection and enforcement of our intellectual property. However, the AIA and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. Patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are not published until at least eighteen months after filing and it is possible for a patent application filed in the United States to be maintained in secrecy until a patent issues on the application. In addition, publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries. We therefore cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications that cover inventions that are the subject of pending applications that we own or exclusively license or that we or our licensors, as applicable, were the first to invent the technology (pre-AIA) or first to file (post-AIA). Our competitors may have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications covering technology that is similar to or the same as our technology. Any such patent application may have priority over patent applications that we own or exclusively license and, if a patent issues on such patent application, we could be required to obtain a license to such patent to carry on our business. If another party has filed a U.S. patent application covering an invention this is similar to, or the same as, an invention that we own or license, we or our licensors may have to participate in an interference or other proceeding in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, or a court to determine priority of invention in the United States, for pre-AIA applications and patents. For post-AIA applications and patents, we or our licensors may have to participate in a derivation proceeding to resolve disputes relating to inventorship. The costs of these proceedings could be substantial, and it is possible that such efforts would be unsuccessful, resulting in our inability to obtain or retain any U.S. patent rights with respect to such invention.

Some of our competitors may be better able to sustain the costs of complex patent disputes and litigation than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any disputes or litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we seek to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into intellectual property assignment and non-disclosure agreements with our employees, consultants and third party collaborators. See “—We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.”

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

The PTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent prosecution process and following the issuance of a patent. There are situations in which noncompliance with these requirements can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case if our patent were in force.

Our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to protect our competitive position and to prevent others from manufacturing, using or selling competing products.

The scope of our owned and exclusively licensed intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to prevent others from manufacturing, using or selling competing products. For example, our manufacturing process for MosaiQ Microarrays depends in part on intellectual property that we in-license on an exclusive basis, and such rights may be limited. Our competitors may have obtained or be able to develop or obtain a license to similar intellectual property. Competitors could purchase our product and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies and thereby avoid infringing our intellectual property rights. If our intellectual property is not sufficient to effectively prevent our competitors from developing and selling similar products, our competitive position and our business could be adversely affected.

- 30 -


MosaiQ depends on certain technologies that are licensed to us. We do not control these technologies and any loss of our rights to them could prevent us from manufacturing our products.

We rely on licenses to various proprietary technologies that are material to our business, including the development of MosaiQ. We have entered into an exclusive license with TTP, to use patented technologies to enable high volume manufacturing of MosaiQ Microarrays. In addition, STRATEC Biomedical AG, or STRATEC, has agreed to grant us licenses to certain of its pre-existing technologies, and has granted us licenses to its technologies that were developed under our development agreement with it for the MosaiQ Instrument. Our rights to use these technologies will be subject to the continuation of and our compliance with the terms of those licenses. If we were to lose access to these licenses, we would be unable to manufacture MosaiQ Microarrays or commercialize MosaiQ Instruments until we obtained access to a comparable technology.

We may not control the prosecution, maintenance or filing of the patents to which we now hold or in the future intend to acquire licenses. Enforcement of our licensed patents or defense of any claims asserting the invalidity of these patents may be subject to the control or cooperation of our licensors. We cannot be certain that our licensors will prosecute, maintain, enforce and defend the licensed patent rights in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. We also cannot be certain that drafting or prosecution of the licensed patents and patent applications by the relevant licensors have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, will result in valid and enforceable patents or that any patents or patents that may issue in the future on any patent applications owned by or exclusively licensed to us will provide any competitive advantage.

Certain of our licenses contain, and any future licenses may contain, provisions that allow the licensor to terminate the license upon the occurrence of certain events, such as material breach by us or our insolvency. For example, the TTP license is for uses that include antigen typing, antibody detection and serological screening of donated blood for infectious diseases (collectively, the initial purpose), as well as all human blood sample diagnostic testing on batch processing instruments (collectively, the additional purposes), with the exception of companion diagnostics, epigenetics, and nucleic acid sequencing. If any of certain agreed upon license payments are not made by us when due, we will lose the license to the additional purposes, but not the initial purpose. TTP may terminate its license agreement with us if we assist another party in disputing the validity and/or scope of any of TTP’s patented intellectual property covered by the agreement. If the licensors of the technologies we rely on were to terminate our license agreements, the commercialization of MosaiQ could be prevented or delayed, and we may be unable to find a suitable replacement technology at an acceptable cost or at all. Our rights under each of the licenses may be subject to our continued compliance with the terms of the license, including certain diligence, disclosure and confidentiality obligations and the payment of fees. If we breach any of our license agreements and fail to cure the breach within any applicable cure period, our licensors may take action against us, including termination of the applicable license. Determining the scope of our licenses and related obligations can be difficult and could lead to disputes between us and the licensors. An unfavorable resolution of such a dispute could lead to termination of the license to which a dispute relates. If a licensor terminates a license agreement because of a breach by us that we fail to timely cure, we might no longer have the right to produce or sell some or all of our products and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may become involved in disputes relating to our intellectual property rights, and may need to resort to litigation in order to defend and enforce our intellectual property rights.

Extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights has been common in the medical diagnostics industry. Litigation may be necessary to assert infringement claims, protect trade secrets or know-how and determine the enforceability, scope and validity of certain proprietary rights. Litigation may even be necessary to resolve disputes of inventorship or ownership of proprietary rights. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property lawsuits, PTO interference or derivation proceedings and related legal and administrative proceedings (e.g., a re-examination) in the United States and internationally involve complex legal and factual questions. As a result, such proceedings are costly and time consuming to pursue, and their outcome is uncertain.

Even if we prevail in such a proceeding in which we assert our intellectual property rights against third parties, the remedy we obtain may not be commercially meaningful or adequately compensate us for any damages we may have suffered. If we do not prevail in such a proceeding, our patents could potentially be declared to be invalid, unenforceable or narrowed in scope, or we could otherwise lose valuable intellectual property rights. Similar proceedings involving the intellectual property we exclusively license could also have an impact on our business. Further, if any of our other owned or exclusively licensed patents are declared invalid, unenforceable or narrowed in scope, our competitive position could be adversely affected.

We could face claims that our activities or the manufacture, use or sale of our products infringe the intellectual property rights of others, which could cause us to pay damages or licensing fees and limit our ability to sell some or all of our products and services.

Our commercial success depends significantly on our ability to operate without infringing the patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties. Other entities may have or obtain patents or other intellectual property rights that could limit our ability to manufacture or commercialize MosaiQ, or may claim that our research, development and commercialization activities infringe patents

- 31 -


or other intellectual property rights owned by them of which we may be unaware because the relevant patent applications may have been filed but not yet published. Certain of our competitors and other companies have substantial patent portfolios, and may attempt to use patent litigation as a means to obtain a competitive advantage or to extract licensing revenue. In addition to patent infringement claims, we may also be subject to other claims relating to the violation of intellectual property rights, such as claims that we have misappropriated trade secrets or infringed third party trademarks. The risks of being involved in such litigation may also increase as we gain greater visibility as a public company and as we gain commercial acceptance of our products and move into new markets and applications for our products.

Regardless of merit or outcome, our involvement in any litigation, interference or other administrative proceedings could cause us to incur substantial expense and could significantly divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Any public announcements related to litigation or interference proceedings initiated or threatened against us could cause our share price to decline. An adverse determination, or any actions we take or agreements we enter into in order to resolve or avoid disputes, may subject us to the loss of our proprietary position or to significant liabilities, or require us to seek licenses that may include substantial cost and ongoing royalties. Licenses may not be available from third parties, or may not be obtainable on satisfactory terms. An adverse determination or a failure to obtain necessary licenses may restrict or prevent us from manufacturing and selling our products and offering our services. These outcomes could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property outside of the United States.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents and for licensors, if they were to seek to do so, to stop infringement of patents that are licensed to us. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Additionally, prosecuting and maintaining intellectual property (particularly patent) rights are very costly endeavors, and for these and other reasons we may not pursue or obtain patent protection in all major markets. We do not know whether legal and government fees will increase substantially and therefore are unable to predict whether cost may factor into our global intellectual property strategy.

In addition to the risks associated with patent rights, the laws in some foreign jurisdictions may not provide protection for our trade secrets and other intellectual property. If our trade secrets or other intellectual property are misappropriated in foreign jurisdictions, we may be without adequate remedies to address these issues. Additionally, we also rely on confidentiality and assignment of invention agreements to protect our intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions. These agreements may provide for contractual remedies in the event of misappropriation, but we do not know to what extent, if any, these agreements and any remedies for their breach, will be enforced by a foreign court. In the event our intellectual property is misappropriated or infringed upon and an adequate remedy is not available, our prospects will likely diminish. The sale of products that infringe our intellectual property rights, particularly if such products are offered at a lower cost, could negatively impact our ability to achieve commercial success and may materially and adversely harm our business.

Our failure to secure trademark registrations could adversely affect our business and our ability to market our products and product candidates.

Our trademark applications in the United States and any other jurisdictions where we may file may not be allowed for registration, and our registered trademarks may not be maintained or enforced. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections. Although we are given an opportunity to respond to those rejections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, in the PTO and in corresponding foreign agencies, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and to seek to cancel registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our applications and/or registrations, and our applications and/or registrations may not survive such proceedings. Failure to secure such trademark registrations in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions could adversely affect our business and our ability to market our products and product candidates.

We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information, or the misappropriation of the intellectual property we regard as our own.

We rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary know how and technological advances, particularly where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. Nevertheless, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, third party collaborators and other advisors to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information. These agreements generally require that the other party to the agreement keep confidential and not disclose to third parties all confidential information developed by us or made known to the other party by us during the course of the other party’s

- 32 -


relationship with us. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to seek to pursue a claim that a third party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time consuming, and the outcome would be unpredictable. Further, courts outside the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information and therefore be free to use such trade secrets and proprietary information. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights. In addition, our trade secrets and proprietary information may be misappropriated because of breaches of our electronic or physical security systems in which case we may have no legal recourse. Failure to obtain, or maintain, trade secret protection could enable competitors to use our proprietary information to develop products that compete with our products or cause additional, material adverse effects upon our competitive business position.

We may be subject to claims that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.

As is common our industry, we employ individuals who were previously employed at other companies in our industry or in related industries, including our competitors or potential competitors. We may be subject to claims that these employees or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares

We are eligible to be treated as an emerging growth company and we cannot be certain that the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will not make our ordinary shares less attractive to investors.

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including (1) not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (2) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and (3) exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We could be an emerging growth company until March 31, 2020, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of September 30 in any fiscal year before that time or if we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more during any fiscal year before that time, in which cases we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following March 31 or, if we issue more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during any three-year period before that time, we would cease to be an emerging growth company immediately. We cannot predict if investors will find our ordinary shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our ordinary shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ordinary shares and the price of our ordinary shares may be more volatile.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

The price of our ordinary shares is likely to be volatile, and purchasers of our ordinary shares could incur substantial losses.

Like other emerging life sciences companies, the market price of our ordinary shares is likely to be volatile. The factors below may also have a material adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares:

 

fluctuations in our results of operations;

 

delays in the planned commercialization of MosaiQ;

 

speed and timing of adoption of MosaiQ by key target customers;

 

our ability to enter new markets;

 

negative publicity;

 

changes in securities or industry analyst recommendations regarding our company, the sectors in which we operate, the securities market generally, conditions in the financial markets and the perception of our ability to raise additional funding;

- 33 -


 

regulatory developments affecting MosaiQ or our industry, including announcement of new adverse regulatory decisions affecting our industry or MosaiQ;

 

announcements of studies and reports relating to our products, including MosaiQ, or those of our competitors;

 

changes in economic performance or market valuations of our competitors;

 

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our annual and quarterly financial results;

 

conditions in the industries in which we operate;

 

announcements by us or our competitors of new products, acquisitions, strategic relations, joint ventures or capital commitments;

 

additions to or departures of our key executives and employees;

 

fluctuations of exchange rates;

 

release or expiry of lock-up or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding ordinary shares subject to such restrictions; and

 

sales or perceived sales of additional ordinary shares.

In addition, the securities of life sciences companies have recently experienced significant volatility. The volatility of the securities of life sciences companies often does not relate to the operating performance of those companies. As we operate in a single industry, we are especially vulnerable to these factors to the extent that they affect our industry or our products, or to a lesser extent our markets. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been initiated against companies following periods of volatility in their stock price. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources, and could also require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments or to settle litigation.

If securities analysts do not continue to cover our ordinary shares or publish unfavorable research or reports about our business, this may have a negative impact on the market price of our ordinary shares.

The trading market for our ordinary shares depends on the research and reports that securities analysts publish about our business and our company. We do not have any control over these analysts. There is no guarantee that securities analysts will continue to cover our ordinary shares. If securities analysts do not cover our ordinary shares, the lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares. If our shares are the subject of an unfavorable report, our share price and trading volume would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover our company or fails to publish regular reports on our company, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

Substantial future sales of our ordinary shares in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the price of our ordinary shares to decline, irrespective of the underlying performance of our business.

Additional sales of our ordinary shares in the public market, and in particular sales by our directors, executive officers and principal shareholders, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ordinary shares to decline. We had outstanding 45,646,424 ordinary shares as of March 31, 2018, of which approximately 34,879,491 ordinary shares were sold or issued pursuant to effective registration statements or resold pursuant to Rule 144 under the Securities Act, or Rule 144, or are registered for public resale under an effective registration statement under the Securities Act and are freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act. Approximately 10,766,933 ordinary shares were restricted or control securities that are available, or will be available, for resale subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rule 144. In addition, as of March 31, 2018, 9,140,208 ordinary shares were subject to outstanding warrants at a weighted average exercise price of $5.60 per share and 2,096,283 ordinary shares were subject to outstanding options at a weighted exercise price of $7.79 per share. To the extent any of these shares are sold into the market, particularly in substantial quantities, the market price of our ordinary shares could decline.

We have never paid cash dividends and do not intend to pay cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future.

We have never paid dividends on ordinary shares and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. In addition, the indenture governing the Secured Notes contains covenants that limit our ability to pay dividends on our ordinary shares. Under Jersey, Channel Islands law, any payment of dividends would be subject to relevant legislation and our Amended Articles of Association provide that all dividends must be approved by our Board of Directors and, in some cases, our shareholders, and may only be paid from our distributable profits available for the purpose, determined on an unconsolidated basis.

- 34 -


Galen Partners LLP own a significant percentage of our ordinary shares and will be able to exercise significant influence over matters subject to shareholder approval.

Certain entities affiliated with Galen Partners LLP hold a substantial percentage of our outstanding ordinary shares. These shareholders will be able to exert a significant degree of influence over our management and affairs and over matters requiring shareholder approval, including the election of our Board of Directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership could have the effect of entrenching our Board of Directors, delaying or preventing a change in our control or otherwise discouraging a potential acquirer from attempting to obtain control of us, which in turn could have a material and adverse effect on the fair market value of our ordinary shares.

We incur increased costs as a result of being a public company whose ordinary shares are publicly traded in the United States and our management must devote substantial time to public company compliance programs.

As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, insurance, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We intend to continue to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment will result in increased general and administrative expenses and may divert management’s time and attention. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed. Our insurance costs have increased, particularly for directors and officers’ liability insurance. Such costs may further increase in the future, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our Board of Directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and remuneration committee, and qualified executive officers.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting, and, once we cease to be an emerging growth company, will be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. During the evaluation of our internal controls over financial reporting, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls, and concluded that our internal controls over financial reporting was not effective as of March 31, 2018. For additional information, see "Item 9A. Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting." We cannot assure you that there will not be additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls in the future.

We cannot guarantee that we will be able to satisfy the continued listing standards of The NASDAQ Global Market going forward.

Our ordinary shares are listed on NASDAQ. However, we cannot ensure that we will be able to satisfy the continued listing standards of NASDAQ going forward. If we cannot satisfy the continued listing standards going forward, The NASDAQ Stock Market may commence delisting procedures against us, which could result in our ordinary shares being removed from listing on NASDAQ. If our ordinary shares were to be delisted, the liquidity of our ordinary shares could be adversely affected and the market price of our ordinary shares could decrease. Delisting could also adversely affect the ability of a holder of our ordinary shares to trade or obtain quotations on our ordinary shares because of lower trading volumes and transaction delays.

These factors could contribute to lower prices and larger spreads in the bid and ask price for our ordinary shares. You may also not be able to resell your ordinary shares at or above the price you paid for such ordinary shares or at all.

The dilutive effect of our warrants and options could have an adverse effect on the future market price of our ordinary shares or otherwise adversely affect the interests of our ordinary shareholders.

As of March 31, 2018, there were outstanding warrants (i) to purchase 64,000 of our ordinary shares at an exercise price of $9.375 per share, (ii) to purchase 111,525 of our ordinary shares at an exercise price of $16.14 per share, (iii) to purchase 8,414,683 ordinary shares at $5.80 per share and (iv) to purchase 550,000 ordinary shares at $0.01 per share. In addition, as of March 31, 2018, there were outstanding options to purchase 2,096,283 ordinary shares at a weighted average exercise price of $7.79 per share. These warrants and options are likely to be exercised if the market price of our ordinary shares equals or exceeds the applicable warrant’s or option's exercise price. To the extent such warrants and options are exercised, additional ordinary shares will be issued, which would dilute the ownership of existing shareholders.

Risks Related to Being a Jersey, Channel Islands Company Listing Ordinary Shares

Our ordinary shares are issued under the laws of Jersey, Channel Islands, which may not provide the level of legal certainty and transparency afforded by incorporation in a United States state.

We are organized under the laws of the Jersey, Channel Islands, a British crown dependency that is an island located off the coast of Normandy, France. Jersey is not a member of the European Union. Jersey, Channel Islands legislation regarding companies is largely

- 35 -


based on English corporate law principles. However, there can be no assurance that Jersey, Channel Islands law will not change in the future or that it will serve to protect investors in a similar fashion afforded under corporate law principles in the United States, which could adversely affect the rights of investors.

A change in our tax residence could have a negative effect on our future profitability.

We are organized under the laws of Jersey, Channel Islands. Our directors seek to ensure that our affairs are conducted in such a manner that we are not resident in any other jurisdiction for tax purposes. It is possible that in the future, whether as a result of a change in law or the practice of any relevant tax authority or as a result of any change in the conduct of our affairs following a review by our directors or for any other reason, we could become, or be regarded as having become, a resident in another higher tax jurisdiction. Should we become a tax resident in another jurisdiction, we may be subject to unexpected tax charges in such jurisdiction. Similarly, if the tax residency of any of our subsidiaries were to change from their current jurisdiction for any of the reasons listed above, we may be subject to similar tax consequences.

We may be or become classified as a passive foreign investment company for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which could result in materially adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors in our ordinary shares.

A non-U.S. corporation will be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for any taxable year in which (1) at least 75% of its gross income is passive income or (2) at least 50% of the value (determined on a quarterly basis) of its assets is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. Our status as a PFIC depends on certain facts outside of our control and the application of U.S. federal income tax rules that are not entirely clear. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will not be classified as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any future taxable year. If we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ordinary shares, such treatment could result in materially adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to you if you are a U.S. taxable investor. For example, if we are or become a PFIC, you may become subject to increased tax liabilities under U.S. federal income tax laws and regulations, and will become subject to additional reporting requirements. Although we do not believe we were a PFIC for our taxable year ended March 31, 2018 and do not expect to be a PFIC for the taxable year ending March 31, 2019 or any future taxable year, we cannot assure you that we have not been or will not be a PFIC for any particular taxable year. U.S. investors considering an investment in our ordinary shares are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding our possible status as a PFIC.

U.S. withholding tax could apply to a portion of certain payments on the ordinary shares.

The United States has enacted rules, commonly referred to as “FATCA,” that generally impose a reporting and withholding regime with respect to certain U.S. source payments (including dividends and interest), gross proceeds from the disposition of property that can produce U.S. source interest and dividends and certain payments made by entities that are classified as financial institutions under FATCA. The governments of Jersey, Channel Islands and the United States have entered into an agreement with respect to the implementation of FATCA. Under this agreement, we do not expect to be subject to withholding under FATCA on any payments we receive. Similarly, as currently drafted, we do not expect that withholding under FATCA will apply to payments on the ordinary shares. However, significant aspects of whether or how FATCA will apply to non-U.S. issuers like us remain unclear, and no assurance can be given that withholding under FATCA will not become relevant with respect to payments on the ordinary shares in the future. Even if FATCA were to become relevant to payments on the shares, it would not be applicable earlier than January 1, 2019. Prospective investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the potential impact of FATCA, including the agreement relating to FATCA between the governments of Jersey and the United States, to an investment in the ordinary shares.

U.S. shareholders may not be able to enforce civil liabilities against us.

A number of our directors and executive officers and a number of directors of certain of our subsidiaries are not residents of the United States, and a substantial portion of the assets of such persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon such persons.

Judgments of U.S. courts may not be directly enforceable outside of the United States and the enforcement of judgments of U.S. courts outside of the United States may be subject to limitations. Investors may also have difficulties pursuing an original action brought in a court in a jurisdiction outside the United States for liabilities under the securities laws of the United States.


- 36 -


Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

 

Item 2. Properties

Our corporate headquarters, including our principal manufacturing site for MosaiQ Microarrays are located in Eysins, Switzerland. Our UK corporate offices and other office facilities, a development laboratory facility and our manufacturing facilities for conventional reagent products are located near Edinburgh, Scotland. Our U.S. corporate offices are located in Newtown, Pennsylvania. The table below provides selected information regarding our existing facilities, all of which are leased.

 

Facility/Use

 

 

 

 

Size (sq. ft.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location

 

 

Office

 

 

Laboratory

 

 

Expiration

 

UK Corporate Offices/Development Laboratory and New Conventional Reagents Manufacturing Facility (Biocampus)

 

 

Edinburgh, Scotland

 

 

 

27,400

 

 

 

59,800

 

 

 

September 30, 2052

 

Manufacturing Operations—Conventional Reagents (Existing Facility)

 

 

Edinburgh, Scotland

 

 

 

6,200

 

 

 

16,000

 

 

 

December 31, 2018

 

MosaiQ Laboratory Facility

 

 

Edinburgh, Scotland

 

 

 

3,600

 

 

 

3,600

 

 

 

December 31, 2018

 

Corporate Headquarters and Manufacturing Operations—MosaiQ

 

 

Eysins, Switzerland

 

 

 

13,600

 

 

 

31,600

 

 

 

March 15, 2020

 

U.S. Corporate Offices

 

 

Newtown, PA, USA

 

 

 

1,200

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 30, 2018

 

U.S. Direct Sales Operation

 

 

Chapel Hill, NC, USA

 

 

 

1,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 31, 2018

 

We are in the process of moving our conventional reagents manufacturing operations and our Edinburgh MosaiQ laboratories to the Biocampus facility, our new facility in Edinburgh Scotland which was completed earlier in 2018 and we expect to be able to vacate our other Edinburgh facilities before December 31, 2018.  We believe our current facilities are suitable and adequate to meet our current needs and that suitable additional or substitute space will be available to accommodate future growth of our business. 

 

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are not currently a party to any pending legal proceedings that we believe could have a material adverse effect on our business or financial condition. However, we may be subject to various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business from time to time.

 

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

 

 

- 37 -


 

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

Our ordinary shares are traded on the NASDAQ Global Market. On May 29, 2018, the last reported sale price of our ordinary shares on NASDAQ was $7.29 per share.

The following table sets forth the high and low sales price per ordinary share reported on NASDAQ as traded for each of the quarters indicated:

 

 

 

High

 

 

Low

 

Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth Quarter

 

$

6.39

 

 

$

2.78

 

Third Quarter

 

$

5.64

 

 

$

4.09

 

Second Quarter

 

$

7.52

 

 

$

3.22

 

First Quarter

 

$

7.74

 

 

$

5.96

 

Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth Quarter

 

$

7.10

 

 

$

4.54

 

Third Quarter

 

$

8.42

 

 

$

3.75

 

Second Quarter

 

$

8.64

 

 

$

5.67

 

First Quarter

 

$

12.96

 

 

$

7.25

 

Shareholders

On May 29, 2018, there were 24 shareholders of record of our ordinary shares. This number does not include shareholders for whom shares were held in a “nominee” or “street” name.

Dividends

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our ordinary shares. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings, if any, to fund the development and expansion of our business and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, the indenture governing the Secured Notes contains certain restrictive covenants that limit our ability to pay dividends. Any future determination as to the declaration and payment of dividends, if any, will be made at the complete discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on then existing conditions, including our results of operations, financial conditions, contractual restrictions (including under the indenture for the Secured Notes), capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our Board of Directors may deem relevant.

- 38 -


 

Performance Graph

Below is a graph which compares the cumulative shareholder return on our ordinary shares from May 27, 2014 (the date the ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units issued in our initial public offering began trading separately on NASDAQ) through March 31, 2018 against the cumulative total return for the same period on the NASDAQ Stock Market Composite Index and the NASDAQ Healthcare Index. The results are based on an assumed $100 invested on May 27, 2014.

$0  $50  $100  $150  $200  $250  $300  COMPARISON OF 46 MONTH CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*  AMONG QUOTIENT LIMITED, THE NASDAQ STOCK MARKET COMPOSITE INDEX  AND THE NASDAQ HEALTHCARE INDEX  $0  $50  $100  $150  $200  $250  $300  COMPARISON OF 46 MONTH CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*  AMONG QUOTIENT LIMITED, THE NASDAQ STOCK MARKET COMPOSITE INDEX  AND THE NASDAQ HEALTHCARE INDEX  3/31/18  2/28/181/31/1812/31/1711/30/1710/31/179/30/178/31/177/31/176/30/175/31/174/30/173/31/172/28/171/31/1712/31/1611/30/1610/31/169/30/168/31/167/31/166/30/165/31/164/30/163/31/162/29/161/31/1612/31/1511/30/1510/31/159/30/158/31/157/31/156/30/155/31/154/30/153/31/152/28/151/31/1512/31/1411/30/1410/31/149/30/148/31/147/31/146/30/145/31/145/27/14  QUOTIENT LIMITED NASDAQ HEALTHCARE INDEX NASDAQ COMPOSITE  * $100 invested on 5/27/14 in stock or index- including reinvestment of dividends.  46 Months ended March 31, 2018  

- 39 -


 

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

The following table presents certain information about our equity compensation plans as of March 31, 2018:

 

 

 

Number of securities to

be issued upon exercise

of outstanding options

and rights

 

 

Weighted

average exercise

price of

outstanding

options and

rights

 

 

Number of

shares remaining

available for

future issuance

 

Equity compensation plans approved

   by shareholders (1)

 

 

2,869,662

 

 

$

5.69

 

 

 

278,760

 

Equity compensation plans not approved

   by shareholders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1)

Composed of the 2012 Option Plan, pursuant to which 501,829 ordinary shares are issuable upon exercise of outstanding options and rights at a weighted average exercise price of $2.29, and the 2014 Stock Incentive Plan, pursuant to which 2,367,833 ordinary shares are issuable upon exercise of outstanding options and rights at a weighted average exercise price of $6.41.  At March 31, 2018, 278,760 ordinary shares remain available for future issuance under the 2014 Stock Incentive Plan.

Recent Sale of Unregistered Securities

Since April 1, 2017, we issued the following securities that were not registered under the Securities Act.

On October 24, 2017, we entered into subscription agreements with certain institutional and individual accredited investors for the private placement of (i) 7,864,683 newly issued ordinary shares, at a subscription price of $4.64 per share, (ii) newly issued warrants, at a purchase price of $0.125 per underlying warrant share, exercisable for up to 8,414,683 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $5.80 per ordinary share, and (iii) newly issued pre-funded warrants at a purchase price of $4.755 per underlying pre-funded warrant share, exercisable for up to 550,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $0.01 per ordinary share. Affiliates of our company, including Galen Partners LLP, our largest shareholder, and certain of our officers and directors, purchased, in the aggregate, 526,758 new ordinary shares and 526,758 new warrants in the private placement. The above issuance was exempt from registration under the Securities Act under Section 4(a)(2) thereof, as a transaction by an issuer not involving a public offering. No underwriters were used in connection with the foregoing transaction. Each purchaser of securities in such transaction represented that he was an accredited investor as defined in Regulation D with no present intention of distributing any of such securities or any arrangement or understanding with any other persons regarding the distribution of such securities, and appropriate legends were affixed to the securities.

 

 

- 40 -


 

Item 6. Selected Consolidated Financial Data

The following tables summarize our consolidated financial and other data. The consolidated statement of income data for the years ended March 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of March 31, 2018 and 2017 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The consolidated statement of income data for the year ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of March 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future. You should read the following selected financial data together with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and accompanying notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected financial data in this section are not intended to replace our financial statements and the accompanying notes.

 

 

 

Year ended March 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

2015

 

 

2014

 

 

 

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

 

Consolidated statement of loss:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product sales

 

$

23,913

 

 

$

20,127

 

 

$

18,022

 

 

$

17,658

 

 

$

16,987

 

Other revenues

 

 

819

 

 

 

2,100

 

 

 

500

 

 

 

750

 

 

 

2,768

 

Total revenue

 

 

24,732

 

 

 

22,227

 

 

 

18,522

 

 

 

18,408

 

 

 

19,755

 

Cost of revenue

 

 

(10,471

)

 

 

(10,844

)

 

 

(9,658

)

 

 

(9,763

)

 

 

(8,406

)

Gross profit

 

 

14,261

 

 

 

11,383

 

 

 

8,864

 

 

 

8,645

 

 

 

11,349

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sales and marketing

 

 

(7,347

)

 

 

(5,660

)

 

 

(3,073

)

 

 

(2,750

)

 

 

(2,705

)

Research and development, net of government grants

 

 

(51,202

)

 

 

(57,064

)

 

 

(28,781

)

 

 

(19,216

)

 

 

(8,066

)

General and administrative expense:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compensation expense in respect of share

   options and management equity incentives

 

 

(4,156

)

 

 

(4,221

)

 

 

(2,004

)

 

 

(1,138

)

 

 

(933

)

Other general and administrative expenses

 

 

(21,544

)

 

 

(18,497

)

 

 

(24,094

)

 

 

(15,255

)

 

 

(8,537

)

Total general and administrative expense

 

 

(25,700

)

 

 

(22,718

)

 

 

(26,098

)

 

 

(16,393

)

 

 

(9,470

)

Total operating expense

 

 

(84,249

)

 

 

(85,442

)

 

 

(57,952

)

 

 

(38,359

)

 

 

(20,241

)

Operating loss

 

 

(69,988

)

 

 

(74,059

)

 

 

(49,088

)

 

 

(29,714

)

 

 

(8,892

)

Other income (expense):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest expense, net

 

 

(15,365

)

 

 

(9,903

)

 

 

(4,151

)

 

 

(2,315

)

 

 

(1,076

)

Change in financial liability for share warrants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15,857

 

 

 

(22,966

)

 

 

 

Other, net

 

 

2,366

 

 

 

(1,107

)

 

 

3,504

 

 

 

(4,064

)

 

 

(197

)

Other income (expense), net

 

 

(12,999

)

 

 

(11,010

)

 

 

15,210

 

 

 

(29,345

)

 

 

(1,273

)

Loss before income taxes

 

 

(82,987

)

 

 

(85,069

)

 

 

(33,878

)

 

 

(59,059

)

 

 

(10,165

)

Provision for income taxes

 

 

649

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(82,338

)

 

$

(85,069

)

 

$

(33,878

)

 

$

(59,059

)

 

$

(10,165

)

Net loss available to ordinary shareholders

   - basic and diluted

 

$

(82,338

)

 

$

(85,069

)

 

$

(33,878

)

 

$

(59,059

)

 

$

(10,165

)

Loss per share - basic and diluted

 

$

(2.02

)

 

$

(3.02

)

 

$

(1.73

)

 

$

(4.00

)

 

$

(54.41

)

Weighted-average shares outstanding - basic and

   diluted

 

 

40,839,309

 

 

 

28,145,472

 

 

 

19,558,152

 

 

 

14,773,386

 

 

 

186,817

 

 

 

 

As of March 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

2015

 

 

2014

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

Consolidated balance sheet data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

20,165

 

 

$

4,754

 

 

$

44,100

 

 

$

37,525

 

 

$

7,192

 

Short-term investments

 

 

5,669

 

 

 

16,057

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total assets

 

 

123,841

 

 

 

109,971

 

 

 

119,750

 

 

 

80,204

 

 

 

28,296

 

Long-term debt

 

 

85,063

 

 

 

80,704

 

 

 

27,910

 

 

 

9,853

 

 

 

13,593

 

Total liabilities

 

 

138,472

 

 

 

134,062

 

 

 

73,027

 

 

 

81,819

 

 

 

30,581

 

Total shareholders' funds (deficit)

 

$

(14,631

)

 

$

(24,091

)

 

$

46,723

 

 

$

(1,615

)

 

$

(31,536

)

 

- 41 -


 

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the financial statements and the related notes to those statements included later in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, beliefs and expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Annual Report, particularly in “Risk Factors.”

Overview

We were incorporated in Jersey, Channel Islands on January 18, 2012. On February 16, 2012, we acquired the entire issued share capital of Alba Bioscience Limited (or Alba), Quotient Biodiagnostics, Inc. (or QBDI) and QBD (QSIP) Limited (or QSIP) from Quotient Biodiagnostics Group Limited (or QBDG), our predecessor.

The acquisition of Alba, QBDI and QSIP by us is treated for accounting purposes as a combination of entities under common control as these entities were all controlled by QBDG prior to their acquisition by us. We recognized the assets and liabilities of Alba, QBDI and QSIP at their carrying amounts in the financial statements of those companies. We are a continuation of QBDG and its subsidiaries and, accordingly, our consolidated financial statements include the assets, liabilities and results of operations of the subsidiaries transferred since their inception.

Our Business

We are a commercial-stage diagnostics company committed to reducing healthcare costs and improving patient care through the provision of innovative tests within established markets. Our initial focus is on blood grouping and donor disease screening, which is commonly referred to as transfusion diagnostics. Blood grouping involves specific procedures performed at donor or patient testing laboratories to characterize blood, which includes antigen typing and antibody detection. Disease screening involves the screening of donor blood for unwanted pathogens using two different methods, a serological approach (testing for specific antigens or antibodies) and a molecular approach (testing for DNA or RNA).

We have over 30 years of experience developing, manufacturing and commercializing conventional reagent products used for blood grouping within the global transfusion diagnostics market. We are developing MosaiQ, our proprietary technology platform, to better address the comprehensive needs of this large and established market. We believe MosaiQ has the potential to transform transfusion diagnostics, significantly reducing the cost of blood grouping in the donor and patient testing environments, while improving patient outcomes.

We currently operate as one business segment with over 400 employees in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States. Our principal markets are the United States, Europe and Japan. Based on the location of the customer, revenues outside the United States accounted for 48%, 49% and 52% of total revenue during the years ended March 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

We have incurred net losses and negative cash flows from operations in each year since we commenced operations in 2007. As of March 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $275.6 million. We expect our operating losses will continue for at least the next fiscal year as we continue our investment in the commercialization of MosaiQ. Our total revenue was $24.7 million for the year ended March 31, 2018, 22.2 million for the year ended March 31, 2017, and $18.5 million for the year ended March 31, 2016. Our net loss was $82.3 million for the year ended March 31, 2018, $85.1 million for the year ended March 31, 2017, and $33.9 million for the year ended March 31, 2016.

From our incorporation in 2012 to March 31, 2017, we have raised $70.6 million of gross proceeds through the private placement of our ordinary and preference shares and warrants, $132.8 million of gross proceeds from public offerings of our shares and issuances of ordinary shares upon exercise of warrants and $84.0 million of gross proceeds from the issuance of the Secured Notes.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, on April 10, 2017, we completed a public offering of 8,050,000 newly issued ordinary shares at a price of $6.00 per share which raised $48.3 million of gross proceeds before underwriting discounts and other offering expenses.

- 42 -


 

On October 24, 2017, we entered into subscription agreements for the private placement of (i) 7,864,683 newly issued ordinary shares at a subscription price of $4.64 per share, (ii) newly issued warrants, at a purchase price of $0.125 per underlying warrant share, exercisable for up to 8,414,683 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $5.80 per ordinary share, and (iii) newly issued pre-funded warrants, at a purchase price of $4.755 per underlying pre-funded warrant share, exercisable for up to 550,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of $0.01 per ordinary share. The aggregate gross proceeds were $40.2 million. If the warrants are exercised in full prior to their expiration on July 31, 2018, it would result in additional proceeds of $48.8 million.  However, there can be no assurance that the warrants will be exercised.

In addition, on March 23, 2018, we raised $20.9 million from the sale and leaseback of our recently completed Biocampus facility, near Edinburgh, Scotland.

Revenue

We generate product sales revenue from the sale of conventional reagent products directly to hospitals, donor collection agencies and independent testing laboratories in the United States, the United Kingdom and to distributors in Europe and the rest of the world, and indirectly through sales to our OEM customers. We recognize revenues in the form of product sales when the goods are shipped. Products sold by standing purchase orders as a percentage of product sales revenue were 75% for the year ended March 31, 2018, 76% for the year ended March 31, 2017 and 73% for the year ended March 31, 2016. We also provide product development services to our OEM customers. We recognize revenue from these contractual relationships in the form of product development fees, which are included in Other revenues. For a description of our revenue recognition policies, see “—Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates—Revenue Recognition and Accounts Receivable.” In the year ended March 31, 2018, other revenues also included the sale of two MosaiQ instruments to a development partner.

Our revenue is denominated in multiple currencies. Sales in the United States and to certain of our OEM customers are denominated in U.S. Dollars. Sales in Europe and the rest of the world are denominated primarily in U.S. Dollars, Pounds Sterling or Euros. Our expenses are generally denominated in the currencies in which our operations are located, which are primarily in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States. We operate globally and therefore changes in foreign currency exchange rates may become material to us in the future due to factors beyond our control. See “—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk—Foreign Currency Exchange Risk.”

Cost of revenue and operating expenses

Cost of revenue consists of direct labor expenses, including employee benefits, overhead expenses, material costs and freight costs, along with the depreciation of manufacturing equipment and leasehold improvements. Our gross profit represents total revenue less the cost of revenue, and gross margin represents gross profit expressed as a percentage of total revenue. Our gross margin was 58% for year ended March 31, 2018, 51% for year ended March 31, 2017 and 48% for the year ended March 31, 2016. Excluding other revenues, which consist of product development fees and certain sales of MosaiQ instruments and related products, our gross margin on product sales, which excludes other revenues, was 56% for the year ended March 31, 2018, 46% for the year ended March 31, 2017 and 46% for the year ended March 31, 2016. We expect our overall cost of revenue to increase in absolute U.S. Dollars as we continue to increase our product sales volumes. However, we also believe that we can achieve efficiencies in our manufacturing operations, primarily through increasing production volumes.

Our sales and marketing expenses include costs associated with our sales organization for conventional reagent products, including our direct sales force, as well as our marketing and customer service personnel. These expenses consist principally of salaries, commissions, bonuses and employee benefits, as well as travel and other costs related to our sales and product marketing activities. Starting April 1, 2016, these expenses also include the costs of the newly established MosaiQ commercial team. We expense all sales and marketing costs as incurred. We expect sales and marketing expense to increase in absolute U.S. Dollars, primarily as a result of commissions on increased product sales in the United States and as we grow the MosaiQ commercial team.

Our research and development expenses include costs associated with performing research, development, field trials and our regulatory activities, as well as production costs incurred in advance of the commercial launch of MosaiQ. Research and development expenses include research personnel-related expenses, fees for contractual and consulting services, travel costs, laboratory supplies and depreciation of laboratory equipment. In the year ended March 31, 2017 these expenses also included $2 million in respect of the costs of our intellectual property license with TTP relating to MosaiQ.

We expense all research and development costs as incurred, net of government grants received and tax credits. Our UK subsidiary claims certain tax credits on its research and development expenditures and these are included as an offset to our research and development expenses. Our research and development efforts are focused on developing new products and technologies for the global transfusion diagnostics market. We segregate research and development expenses for the MosaiQ project from expenses for other

- 43 -


 

research and development projects. We do not maintain detailed records of these other costs by activity. We are nearing completion of the initial development of MosaiQ and as we move to commercialization, we expect overall research and development expense to decrease.

Our general and administrative expenses include costs for our executive, accounting and finance, legal, corporate development, information technology and human resources functions. We expense all general and administrative expenses as incurred. These expenses consist principally of salaries, bonuses and employee benefits for the personnel performing these functions, including travel costs. These expenses also include share-based compensation, professional service fees (such as audit, tax and legal fees), costs related to our Board of Directors, and general corporate overhead costs, which includes depreciation and amortization. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase as our business develops and also due to the costs of operating as a public company, such as additional legal, accounting and corporate governance expenses, including expenses related to compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, directors’ and officers’ insurance premiums and investor relations expenses.

Net interest expense consists primarily of interest charges on our note and loan balances and the amortization of debt issuance costs, as well as accrued dividends on the 7% cumulative redeemable preference shares issued in January 2015. We amortize debt issuance costs over the life of the note or loan and report them as interest expense in our statements of operations. Net interest also includes the expected costs of the royalty rights agreements we entered into in October 2016 with the purchasers of the Secured Notes. See Note 3 “Debt” and Note 8 “Ordinary and Preference Shares – Preference shares” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report for additional information.

Other income (expense), net consists primarily of realized exchange fluctuations resulting from the settlement of transactions in currencies other than the functional currencies of our businesses. Monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies are measured at the period-end closing rate with resulting unrealized exchange fluctuations. The functional currencies of our businesses are Pounds Sterling, Swiss Franc and U.S. Dollars depending on the entity. Other income (expense) also includes exceptional costs related to deferred debt issue costs expensed on the repayment of debt facilities and certain other non-recurring items as mentioned below under “—Results of Operations— Comparison of Years ended March 31, 2018 and 2017— Other income (expense)” and “—Results of Operations— Comparison of Years ended March 31, 2017 and 2016— Other income (expense).” In the years ended March 31, 2016, net other expense also includes the change in the fair value of our warrants issued in 2014 at the time of our initial public offering.

Provision for income taxes in the year ended March 31, 2018 reflected a reduction in the valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in a subsidiary as a result of an improvement in the profitability of this subsidiary. No provision for income taxes arose in prior years.

- 44 -


 

Results of Operations

Comparison of Years ended March 31, 2018 and 2017

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the amounts of certain components of our statements of operations and the percentage of total revenue represented by these items, showing period-to-period changes.

 

 

 

Year ended March 31,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

Change

 

 

 

Amount

 

 

% of revenue

 

 

Amount

 

 

% of revenue

 

 

Amount

 

 

%

 

 

 

(in thousands, except percentages)

 

Revenue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product sales

 

$

23,913

 

 

 

97

%

 

$

20,127

 

 

 

91

%

 

$

3,786

 

 

 

19

%

Other revenues

 

 

819

 

 

 

3

%

 

 

2,100

 

 

 

9

%

 

 

(1,281

)

 

 

-61

%

Total revenue

 

 

24,732

 

 

 

100

%

 

 

22,227

 

 

 

100

%

 

 

2,505

 

 

 

11

%

Cost of revenue

 

 

10,471

 

 

 

42

%

 

 

10,844

 

 

 

49

%

 

 

(373

)

 

 

-3

%

Gross profit

 

 

14,261

 

 

 

58

%

 

 

11,383

 

 

 

51

%

 

 

2,878

 

 

 

25

%

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sales and marketing

 

 

7,347

 

 

 

30

%

 

 

5,660

 

 

 

25

%

 

 

1,687

 

 

 

30

%

Research and development

 

 

51,202

 

 

 

207

%

 

 

57,064

 

 

 

257

%

 

 

(5,862

)

 

 

-10

%

General and administrative

 

 

25,700

 

 

 

104

%

 

 

22,718

 

 

 

102

%

 

 

2,982

 

 

 

13

%

Total operating expenses

 

 

84,249

 

 

 

341

%

 

 

85,442

 

 

 

384

%

 

 

(1,193

)

 

 

-1

%

Operating (loss)

 

 

(69,988

)

 

 

-283

%