UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

or

INVO FERTILITY, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in Charter)

5582 Broadcast Court Sarasota, Florida, 34240

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (978) 878-9505

NAYA Biosciences, Inc.

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

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

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 Section 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 every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). YES ☒ NO ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a 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.

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. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐ 

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). YES ☐ NO ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting stock and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2024 was $7,381,118 based upon the closing price of the registrant’s common stock of $10.08 on the NASDAQ as of that date.

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value, as of April 29, 2025 was 1,066,065.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

None.

FORM 10-K

INVO FERTILITY, INC.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements, other than purely historical information, including estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives, and expected operating results, and the assumptions upon which those statements are based, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believes,” “project,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “strategy,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are including this statement for purposes of complying with those safe-harbor provisions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Our ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain. Factors which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and future prospects on a consolidated basis include, but are not limited to, changes in economic conditions, legislative or regulatory changes, availability of capital, interest rates, competition, and unforeseen events that may impair our ability to advance our clinical programs and raise additional financing. These risks and uncertainties should also be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Further information concerning our business, including additional factors that could materially affect our financial results, is included herein and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

Part I

Item 1. Business

Introduction

This Annual Report on Form 10-K should be read together and in connection with the other reports that have been filed by us with the SEC for a comprehensive description of our financial condition and operating results. In the interest of disclosure, we have included in this Form 10-K certain material events and developments that have taken place through the date of filing of this Form 10-K with the SEC.

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, INVO Fertility, Inc., formerly known as NAYA Biosciences, Inc., (INVO Fertility, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is referred to in this document as “we”, “us”, “INVO Fertility”, “INVO”, or the “Company”), incorporates by reference certain information from parts of other documents filed with the SEC. The SEC allows us to disclose important information by referring to it in that manner. Please refer to all such information when reading this Annual Report on Form 10-K. All information is as of December 31, 2024, unless otherwise indicated. For a description of the risk factors affecting or applicable to our business, see “Risk Factors,” below.

The Company

We are, primarily, a healthcare services company focused on the fertility marketplace and dedicated to expanding access to assisted reproductive technology (“ART”) care to patients in need. Our principal commercial strategy is focused on building, acquiring, and operating fertility clinics, including “INVO Centers” dedicated primarily to offering the intravaginal culture (“IVC”) procedure enabled by our INVOcell® medical device (“INVOcell”) and US-based, profitable in vitro fertilization (“IVF”) clinics. As of the date of this filing, we have two operational INVO Centers and one IVF clinic in the United States. We also continue to engage in the sale and distribution of our INVOcell technology solution into third-party owned and operated fertility clinics.

In October 2024, we acquired a 100% interest in Naya Therapeutics, Inc. (“NAYA Therapeutics” or “NTI”), a clinical-stage oncology and autoimmune technology company. As further described below, we recently announced our strategic decision to separate from this wholly owned subsidiary, rather than attempt to integrate with our existing operations. With this separation, we will return to an exclusive focus on the fertility marketplace, change our name and ticker symbol to “INVO Fertility, Inc.” and “IVF”, respectively, and retain a minority interest in NAYA Therapeutics.

Fertility Clinics

On August 10, 2023, we consummated the first acquisition of an existing IVF clinic, the Wisconsin Fertility Institute (“WFI”). As an established and profitable clinic, the closing of the WFI acquisition more than tripled our annual revenue and became a major part of our clinic-based operations. The acquisition accelerated our transformation from a medical device company to a healthcare services company and immediately added scale and a significant source of positive cash flow to our operations. The acquisition of profitable IVF clinics complements our efforts to build new INVO Centers, and we expect to continue this strategy to accelerate overall growth.

On March 10 and June 28, 2021, we established joint ventures to open INVO Centers in Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, respectively. We established these clinics to increase use of the INVOcell, to accelerate the growth and awareness of the IVC procedure and to expand the availability of statistical and clinical data supporting its use. These clinics also enabled us to expand our revenue per fertility cycle from hundreds of dollars (from the sale of each INVOcell device) to thousands of dollars, and to significantly advance our path to profitability. We believe a dedicated INVO Centers requires less investment than a traditional IVF clinic and are operationally efficient, making them ideal for underserved secondary markets. We plan on opening additional, wholly owned INVO Centers in the coming years.

INVOcell Device

Our proprietary technology, INVOcell®, is an innovative medical device that allows fertilization and early embryo development to take place in vivo within the woman’s body. This treatment solution is the world’s first intravaginal culture technique for the incubation of oocytes and sperm during fertilization and early embryo development and provides patients with a natural, intimate, and affordable experience. As reflected in available data, we believe the IVC procedure can deliver comparable results at a lower cost than traditional IVF and is a significantly more effective treatment than intrauterine insemination (“IUI”).

Unlike IVF, where the oocytes and sperm develop into embryos in an expensive laboratory incubator, the INVOcell allows fertilization and early embryo development to take place in the woman’s body. The IVC procedure can provide many benefits, including the following:

In both current utilization of the INVOcell, and in clinical studies, the IVC procedure has demonstrated equivalent pregnancy success and live birth rates as IVF.

While INVOcell remains part of our efforts, our commercial and corporate development strategy within the fertility market has expanded to focus more broadly on providing ART services through our emphasis on operating clinics.

NAYA Therapeutics 

On October 11, 2024, we acquired NAYA Therapeutics with the intent to expand our business activities beyond fertility and to create a healthcare portfolio company initially focused on a commercial-stage fertility business combined with a unique clinical-stage oncology and autoimmune technology business.

In April 2025, not having received sufficient shareholder support for key elements of the NAYA Therapeutics transaction at a shareholder meeting scheduled for March 10, 2025 (further detail available below under Recent Developments – 2024 Annual Meeting), upon advice of counsel and of our proxy solicitation firm, as well general feedback from stakeholders, we elected to re-focus exclusively on our fertility business. As such, we recently changed our name to “INVO Fertility, Inc.”, and expect to divest a majority interest in NAYA Therapeutics and change our ticker symbol “IVF,”. This planned divestiture is subject to completing definitive transaction documents and key closing conditions, including receipt of necessary approvals. We anticipate completing the transaction during the second quarter of 2025.

We remain enthusiastic about its prospects and will retain a minority stake in NAYA Therapeutics, which we hope to monetize in the future through value appreciation that could be generated from the clinical development of its bifunctional antibodies. We intend to retain this minority stake in NTI as an asset on our balance sheet.

NAYA Therapeutics is advancing a portfolio of highly-competitive clinical candidates including NY-303, a first-in-class GPC3 x NKp46 bifunctional antibody for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a unique mode of action targeting non-responders to the current immunotherapy standard of care (approximately 70% of the current treatable market) cleared to enroll patients in a Phase i/ii a monotherapy trial in 2025, NY-500, an AI-Optimized bifunctional antibody aiming to be the first PD1 x VEGF therapeutic to market in HCC, and NY-338, a CD38 x NKp46 bifunctional antibody for the treatment of multiple myeloma with a differentiated safety and efficacy profile.

Recent Developments 

Name Change

On April 14, 2025, we changed our corporate name to INVO Fertility, Inc., pursuant to an Amendment to Articles of Incorporation filed with the Nevada Secretary of State on April 14, 2025 (the “Name Change”). Pursuant to Nevada law, a stockholder vote was not necessary to effectuate the Name Change.

We also announced that we intend for our common stock to cease trading under the ticker symbol “NAYA” and begin trading under our new ticker symbol, “IVF”, on the Nasdaq Capital Market, on April 28, 2025.

Reverse Split

On March 18, 2025, we filed a certificate of change (the “Certificate of Change”) with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a 1-for-12 reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) of our shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Common Stock”). The Reverse Stock Split became effective at 12:01 a.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, and our Common Stock began trading on a split-adjusted basis when The Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”) opened on March 18, 2025.

When the Reverse Stock Split became effective, every 12 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding were automatically reclassified and combined into one share of Common Stock, without any change in the par value per share, and a proportionate adjustment was made to our authorized shares of Common Stock such that the Company now has 4,166,667 shares of authorized Common Stock. In addition, a proportionate adjustment has been made to the per share exercise price and the number of shares issuable upon the exercise of all outstanding stock options and warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock and the number of shares reserved for issuance pursuant to our equity incentive compensation plans. No fractional shares of Common Stock were issued in connection with the Reverse Stock Split. Stockholders who otherwise would have been entitled to receive fractional shares of Common Stock had their holdings rounded up to the next whole share.

2024 Annual Meeting

On February 11, 2025, we filed a definitive proxy statement (the “February Proxy”) in connection with our annual meeting of stockholders (the “2024 ASM”). The 2024 ASM was scheduled for March 10, 2025, at 12 pm Eastern Time, and had a record date of January 24, 2025.

The February Proxy included standard proposals (the “Standard Proposals”) for stockholders (i) to elect five new directors (the “New Board Slate”) to our board of directors (the “Board”) and (i) to ratify the appointment of M&K CPAS, PLLC as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. The Standard Proposals customarily would have been voted on at a stockholder meeting in calendar year 2024. We opted to delay holding our 2024 annual stockholder meeting until 2025 to hold a single meeting that would cover both the Standard Proposals and a number of special proposals (the “Special Proposals”) requesting that the stockholders approve (i) the issuance, in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(a), of Common Stock, upon conversion of our outstanding Series C-1 and C-2 Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock, upon conversion of an outstanding 7.0% Senior Secured Convertible Debenture in the principal balance of $3,934,146 due December 11, 2025 (the “Debenture”), and upon settlement of restricted stock units and exercise of stock options issued in exchange for restricted stock units and stock options that were previously granted to certain directors, employees, and consultants of the NAYA Therapeutics, (ii) an amendment to our Second Amended and Restated 2019 Stock Incentive Plan to increase the number of shares of Common Stock available for issuance thereunder to an amount of 8,200,000 (pre-reverse split), equal to approximately 15% of the total of the total issued and outstanding stock, including shares issued upon conversion of our Series C-1 and C-2 Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock, and (iii) an amendment to our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of Common Stock from 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 after a reverse split of our Common Stock approved by the Board at a ratio ranging from any whole number between 1-for-2 and 1-for-20, as determined by the Board in its discretion, subject to the Board’s authority to abandon such reverse stock split.

While Standard Proposals received sufficient votes for approval, several Special Proposals did not garner the necessary votes required for approval. Upon advice of counsel and our proxy solicitation firm, the Board approved the postponement of the 2024 ASM to April 9, 2025, the fixing of a new record date on March 10, 2025, and the filing of a new definitive proxy statement (the “March Proxy”).

As a result of this postponement and of the new record date, all votes cast by stockholders with respect to the proposals included in the February Proxy became null and void. The March Proxy was delivered with a new proxy card pursuant to which stockholders were asked to vote again on the Standard Proposals.

The 2024 ASM was held solely to cover the Standard Proposals and to regain compliance under Nasdaq Rules 5620(a) and 5801(s)(2)(G) that require companies listed on Nasdaq to hold an annual meeting of stockholders within twelve months of the fiscal year’s end (the “ASM Rule”). Pursuant to the previously disclosed notice received from the staff (the “Staff”) of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, we had until February 25, 2025, to submit a plan to regain compliance under the ASM Rule. We submitted a plan to the Staff in a timely fashion and, on February 28, 2025, the Staff notified us that we were granted an extension until June 30, 2025, to regain compliance with the ASM Rule.

The Standard Proposals in the March Proxy included (a) the re-election of existing directors to the Board (as would have been submitted for approval had the 2024 ASM been held in calendar year 2024, and in lieu of the New Board Slate included in the February Proxy), and (b) ratification of M&K CPAs LLC as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024.

At the 2024 ASM, the stockholders approved the Standard Proposals in the March Proxy.

Nasdaq

On January 10, 2025, we received notice (the “Notice”) from the Staff advising us that we no longer complied with the ASM Rule, as we did not hold an annual meeting of stockholders in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. The Notice had no immediate effect on the listing of our common stock.

Pursuant to the Notice, Nasdaq gave us 45 calendar days, or until February 24, 2025, to submit a plan to regain compliance. On February 24, 2025, we wrote to the Staff to present our plan to hold the 2024 ASM and, on February 28, 2025, we were granted our request for an extension until June 30, 2025. Having held the 2024 ASM on April 9, 2025, we have completed the required action to regain compliance with the ASM Rule and, on April 15, 2025, we received confirmation from the Staff that we have regained compliance under the ASM Rule.

On September 18, 2024, we received a letter from the Staff indicating that we failed to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share for the prior 34 consecutive days and, as such, no longer satisfied Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Minimum Bid Rule”). In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were provided a grace period of 180 calendar days, or until March 17, 2025, to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule.

On March 18, 2025, we effected a 1-for-12 reverse stock split (the “March 2025 Reverse Split”) in an effort to evidence compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule. To regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule, an issuer must evidence a closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10, but generally not more than 20, consecutive trading days.

On March 25, 2025, we were notified by the Staff that because we did not evidence compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule by March 17, 2025, the Staff determined that our securities should be delisted from Nasdaq.

As of the close of business on March 31, 2025, we evidenced a closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share for 10 consecutive business days and, on March 31, 2025, the Staff determined that we had regained compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule. Accordingly, our securities are no longer subject to delisting under the Minimum Bid Rule and the matter has been closed.

On April 16, 2025, we, received a letter from the Staff indicating that we failed to file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 (the “Filing”), on a timely basis and, as such, no longer satisfy Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) (the “Timely Filing Rule”).

The letter had no immediate effect on the listing of our common stock.

The letter also stated that, in accordance with Nasdaq rules, we have 60 calendar days from the date of the letter to submit a plan to regain compliance with the Timely Filing Rule. Should the Staff accept such plan, it could grant an exception of up to 180 calendar days from the Filing’s due date, or until October 13, 2025, to regain compliance.

Public Offering

On January 14, 2025, we consummated a public offering (the “January 2025 Offering”) of 1,134,598 units (“Units”), each consisting of either one share of Common Stock, or one pre-funded warrant to purchase one share of Common Stock (the “January 2025 PFWs”) in lieu thereof, and one warrant to purchase one share of Common Stock at an offering price of $8.40 per Unit (the “January 2025 Warrants”). The January 2025 Warrants are exercisable from and after the date of their issuance and expire on the five-year anniversary of such date, at an exercise price of $8.40 per share of Common Stock. Each January 2025 PFW is immediately exercisable at an exercise price of $0.0012 per share and may be exercised at any time until all of the January 2025 PFWs are exercised in full. In connection with the January 2025 Offering, we entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “January 2025 SPA”) with certain institutional investors who purchased Units in this January 2025 Offering.

The securities issued in the January 2025 Offering were offered pursuant to our registration statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333-283872) (the “January 2025 S-1”), initially filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), on December 17, 2024 and declared effective on January 13, 2025.

We closed the January 2025 Offering on January 14, 2015, raising gross proceeds of approximately $9.5 million before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses payable.

The stated intention for net proceed utilization included (i) up to $2,500,000 to fund the second installment of the purchase price for WFI; (ii) $4,000,000 to redeem 4,000 shares of our Series C-2 preferred stock with a stated value of $4,000,000; (iii) up to $1,950,000 towards outstanding debt obligations that were payable prior to or upon completion of the January 2025 Offering and that we did not otherwise restructure or refinance, and (iv) the balance for clinical trials, product development, marketing, strengthening the corporate management team, working capital, and general corporate purposes.

Also in connection with the January 2025 Offering, on January 13, 2025, we entered into a placement agency agreement (the “January 2025 PAA”) with Maxim Group LLC (“Maxim”), pursuant to which (i) Maxim agreed to act as lead placement agent on a “best efforts” basis in connection with the January 2025 Offering, and (ii) we agreed to pay Maxim an aggregate fee equal to 6.5% of the gross proceeds raised in the January 2025 Offering (or 5.0% in the case of certain investors) and warrants to purchase up to 62,197 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $10.50 per share (the “Maxim January 2025 Warrants”). The Maxim January 2025 Warrants are exercisable at any time after the six-month anniversary of the closing date, from time to time, in whole or in part, until five (5) years from the commencement of sales of the securities in the January 2025 Offering. Additionally, we reimbursed Maxim for certain expenses and legal fees up to $90,000.

The January 2025 PAA and the January 2025 SPA contain customary representations, warranties and agreements made by us, customary conditions to closing, indemnification obligations by us, Maxim or the investors, as the case may be and other obligations of the parties.

Pursuant to the terms of the January 2025 SPAs and January 2025 PAA, we agreed that for a period of up to ninety (90) days from the closing of the January 2025 Offering, that neither we nor any subsidiary may (i) issue, enter into any agreement to issue or announce the issuance or proposed issuance of any shares of Common Stock or Common Stock equivalents or (ii) file any registration statement or prospectus, or any amendment or supplement thereto, in each case, subject to certain exceptions. We also agreed not to effect or enter into an agreement to effect any issuance of Common Stock or Common Stock equivalents involving a Variable Rate Transaction, as defined in the January 2025 SPA, for a period of up to twelve (12) months following the closing of the January 2025 Offering, subject to certain exceptions.

On January 14, 2025, we entered into a warrant agency agreement (the “January 2025 WAA”), with Transfer Online, Inc. appointing Transfer Online, Inc. as warrant agent for the January 2025 Warrants. 

In connection with the January 2025 Offering, on January 13, 2025, we entered into a Class C-2 Preferred Stock Redemption Agreement (the “FNL C-2 Redemption Agreement”) with Five Narrow Lane, LP (“FNL”), pursuant to which we agreed to purchase and acquire from FNL 4,000 shares of our Series C-2 Convertible Preferred Stock (the “C-2 Preferred Stock”) for $4,000,000. Accrued dividends of $104,444.44, plus any other accrued payments under the Certificate of Designations for the C-2 Preferred Stock, remain outstanding.

Operations

Our critical management and leadership functions are carried out by our management team. In the Fertility Clinic segment, each clinic is separately staffed with employees necessary to manage daily activities, while most administrative tasks are centralized and handled by the INVO corporate staff. With respect to the INVOcell Device segment, we have contracted out the manufacturing, assembly, packaging, and labeling to a medical manufacturing company, sterilization of the device to a sterilization specialist, and storage and shipping to a third part logistics company. In the Therapeutics Segment, we have a separate staff dedicated to the development of our intellectual property.

Wisconsin Fertility Institute

On August 10, 2023, we consummated the first acquisition of an existing IVF clinic, WFI. As an established and profitable clinic, WFI has a full staff, including a reproductive and endocrinology and infertility medical doctor (“REI”), an OBGYN trained to provide fertility treatment and a full complement of medical, laboratory and administration staff. In June 2024, we replaced WFI’s REI with an REI that had previously worked at the clinic and was well acquainted with its staff and procedures. WFI’s staff manages most day-to-day activities, which, except for medical matters, is overseen by our VP operations. Upon closing the acquisition, our corporate staff assumed finance, accounting, tax and other overhead responsibilities.

Alabama JV

On March 10, 2021, our wholly owned subsidiary, INVO Centers, LLC (“INVO CTR”) formed a joint venture with HRCFG, LLC (“HRCFG”) to establish an INVO Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The name of the joint venture is HRCFG INVO, LLC (the “Alabama JV”). The responsibilities of HRCFG’s principals include providing clinical practice expertise, performing recruitment functions, providing all necessary training, and providing day-to-day management of the INVO Center. Our responsibilities include providing funding to the Alabama JV and being the exclusive provider of the INVOcell. We also perform all required, industry-specific compliance and accreditation functions, and product documentation for product registration. The Birmingham INVO Center opened to patients on August 9, 2021.

Georgia JV

On June 28, 2021, INVO CTR formed a joint venture with Bloom Fertility, LLC (“Bloom”) to establish an INVO Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The name of the joint venture is Bloom INVO LLC (the “Georgia JV”). The responsibilities of Bloom include providing all medical services required for the operation of the INVO Center. Our responsibilities include providing funding to the Georgia JV, lab services, quality management, and being the exclusive provider of the INVOcell. We also perform all required, industry specific compliance and accreditation functions, and product documentation for product registration. The Atlanta INVO Center opened to patients on September 7, 2021.

INVOcell

To date, we have completed a series of important steps in the successful development and manufacturing of the INVOcell:

NAYA Therapeutics

On October 11, 2024, we acquired NAYA Therapeutics, which has its own staff of experts, advisors, and management with a long history in the development of biotechnology assets. The operational approach is based on a diversified intellectual property portfolio that is managed through early stages of development before partnering with large pharmaceutical companies for clinical trial completion and commercialization.

Employees

As of December 31, 2024, INVO employed 8 full time employees. The clinics employed an additional 20 full time and 4 part time employees. NAYA Therapeutics had 5 full time employees. We also engage consultants to further support our operations.

Market Opportunity 

Fertility Clinics and INVOcell Device

The global ART marketplace is a large and growing, multi-billion-dollar industry across the world as increased infertility rates, greater patient awareness and improving financial incentives, such as insurance and governmental assistance, continue to drive demand. According to the European Society for Human Reproduction’s 2024 ART Fact Sheet, one in six couples worldwide experience fertility challenges. Additionally, the worldwide market remains vastly underserved as a high percentage of patients in need of care continue to go untreated each year for many reasons, but key among them are capacity constraints and cost barriers. There have been large increases in the use of IVF, with current estimates of approximately 4 million ART cycles performed globally each year, producing around 1 million babies. Regrettably, this only amounts to less than 5% of the infertile couples worldwide being treated and less than 2% of such couples having a child though IVF. The industry remains capacity constrained which creates challenges in providing access to care for the volume of patients in need. A survey by “Resolve: The National Infertility Association,” indicates the two main reasons couples do not use IVF is cost and geographical availability (and/or capacity).

In the United States, infertility affects an estimated 10%-15% of the couples of childbearing-age, according to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (2017). According to the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”), there are approximately 6.7 million women with impaired fertility. Based on 2022 data from the CDC’s National ART Surveillance System, approximately 435,000 IVF cycles were performed across ~500 IVF centers, leaving the U.S. with a large, underserved patient population, similar to most markets around the world.

Our corporate development strategy is aimed at taking advantage of the fertility market’s imbalance between supply and demand. We have identified a number of locations in the United States with attractive demographics and fertility service levels that would be ideal for the opening of new INVO Centers. Similarly, we have identified several profitable US-based IVF practices suitable for acquisition.

NAYA Therapeutics 

According to international market research firm, Research and Markets, the global bispecific antibodies market is projected to witness over 40% compound annual growth rate and reach over $80 billion by 2030.

The development of bispecific antibodies began when scientists recognized the potential of monoclonal antibodies. This marked the start of a new era in therapeutics in the late 1990s. Bispecific antibodies offer multiple benefits, including dual targeting of different antigens, improved specificity, enhanced targeting ability, reduced dose-limiting toxicities, and the potential for drug-drug or drug-to-protein conjugates. These antibodies provide diversity by targeting two different tumor and/or immune cell antigens or epitopes simultaneously.

NAYA Therapeutics’ addressable market is significant. According to a Delveinsight July 2023 report on the multiple myeloma, the global market size in 2022 for multiple myeloma treatments was $20 billion and is expected to continue to grow significantly with the introduction of new products. The current market leader, CD38 targeting monoclonal antibody, Darzalex (daratumumab) reached $8 billion in global sales in 2022.

Market growth is supported by the FDA’s recent approvals for bispecific antibodies, including BCMA targeting CARVYKTI™, TECVAYLI™ in 2022 and GPRC5D targeting Talvey in 2023 from Johnson & Johnson. The new BCMA targeting bispecific antibody from Pfizer, Elrexfio, was approved in August 2023. Additional bispecific antibodies from Abbvie, Regeneron and Roche are in early stage of clinical development. There also are several other GPC3-targeting antibodies or cell therapies being developed by AstraZeneca, Takeda, Legend Biotech, and Adicet Bio in collaboration with Regeneron.

According to Polaris Market Research, the market size for liver cancer treatment was $2.44 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow a compounded annual growth rate of 20% to reach $10.48 billion in 2030. Market growth is supported by increased incidence and the 2022 approval of a new standard of care, Merck’s Keytruda and a combination of two biological drugs commercialized by Genentech Roche, Telecentriq and Avastatin.

Competitive Advantages

INVOcell Device and INVO Centers

Over the past several years, the principal focus of our commercial efforts has shifted from the distribution of our INVOcell device to the provision of fertility clinic services through our INVO Centers and IVF clinic acquisition. For the most part, our clinical activities have been focused on secondary markets where there is a greater imbalance between the need for ART treatment and the number of cycles available. Combined with our ability to offer a wider range of advanced fertility care, including IVC, IVF and IUI, at multiple price points, our clinics have the opportunity for differentiation from our competitors. As with our INVOcell technology, we continuously look for new solutions that can create greater efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of fertility cycles and support our efforts to democratize fertility care.

While a smaller part of our current business, we continue to believe that our INVOcell device, and the IVC procedure it enables, can play a key role in making advanced fertility care more affordable and accessible. We continue to engage with sympathetic third-party clinics that share our same vision and that use our one-of-a-kind INVOcell device.

Unlike IVF, where the oocytes and sperm develop into embryos in a laboratory incubator, the INVOcell allows fertilization and early embryo development to take place in the woman’s body. We believe that the IVC procedure can provide the following benefits:

In both current utilization of the INVOcell, and in clinical studies, the IVC procedure has demonstrated equivalent pregnancy success and live birth rates as IVF and generally may be offered at a significant discount to IVF cycles.

NAYA Therapeutics

Given the rapid growth of the bispecific antibody market, the competition has increased significantly. There are many companies developing bispecific antibodies including Amgen, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merus, Pfizer, Sanofi, Xencor, Zymeworks. We believe that NAYA is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for multifunctional antibodies as the current and next generation of therapies demonstrate increased efficacy and safety over the legacy monoclonal antibodies, which are currently dominating the oncology and auto-immune disease market. NAYA Therapeutics’ NY-338, is, to the best of our knowledge, the first CD38-targeting NK engager to enter clinical trials, and the first bispecific antibody to target both NKp46 to redirect NK cells and CD38, with the potential to demonstrate both efficacy and safety advantages. We aim to differentiate ourselves from the companies and products as the first company to enter clinic trials with a GPC3 targeting NK engager bispecific antibody.

Sales and Marketing

Fertility Clinics

Our two INVO Centers and our Wisconsin IVF clinic employ various strategies to build awareness for their services and/or to maintain and grow patient flow and fertility cycle volume. The principal source of patient flow comes through OBGYN referrals and patient word of mouth. Our clinical staff maintain relationships with the local OBGYN community and organize virtual and in person events to showcase our centers’ services, fertility treatment effectiveness statistics and quality of our clinical personnel. We also conduct regular social and other media campaigns to attract new patients and to build awareness.

At the corporate level, we seek to build general awareness for our clinical activities and IVC procedure results with a view to drive patients to our centers and to grow demand for our INVOcell device. These efforts also support our ongoing work to open new INVO Centers and to acquire additional IVF clinics.

The acquisition of existing IVF clinics requires less sales and marketing effort compared to opening new INVO Centers, as they have established patient flows that can be built upon. When entering a new market with an INVO Center, we leverage the experience developed in establishing our Alabama and Georgia joint ventures. We employ fine-tuned strategies to secure patient flow levels that can enable new INVO Centers to become profitable and contribute economically to our overall business as soon as possible. Primarily, our INVO Centers seek to employ local, reputable physicians with strong ties to the OBGYN community.

INVOcell Device

Historically, our approach to marketing INVOcell was focused on identifying partners within targeted geographic regions that we believe could best support our efforts to expand access to advanced fertility treatment using the INVOcell and IVC procedure for the large number of underserved infertile people around the world. Those efforts resulted in the execution of a series of distribution agreements with partners across the globe. More recently, as we shifted our focus to opening INVO Centers and acquiring IVF clinics, which activities have been centered in the US, and as a result of the limited traction experienced in international markets, proactive marketing efforts for the INVOcell have been limited to the United States. In our domestic market, we distribute the INVOcell directly to a number of third-party IVF clinics and we remain open to pursuing foreign markets that present a realistic opportunity for incremental revenue on a profitable basis.

NAYA Therapeutics

Given the early stage of development for NAYA Therapeutics’ technologies, our focus is entirely on clinical activities. Our strategy is to partner with large pharmaceutical companies for the commercialization of FDA-approved solutions.

Competition

Fertility Clinics and INVOcell Device

Our fertility clinics, within their own local markets, compete with other local fertility clinics largely on the basis of reputation, quality of patient care, and general pricing. Our INVO Centers (in Alabama and Georgia) as well as our newly acquired IVF clinic in Wisconsin, have at least 1 or more competing fertility clinics within a 25-mile radius. We believe each of our existing centers compete effectively on price and quality of care in their respective markets.

The fertility treatment regimens with whom the INVOcell and IVC procedure compete when infertile people, in conjunction with their physician, are choosing the treatment method include drug-only stimulation, IUI, and conventional IVF. The fertility industry is highly competitive and characterized by long-standing well-entrenched procedures. Our INVOcell device enables the first new advanced treatment incubation alternative in over forty years. We face competition from all ART practitioners and device manufacturers. To date, most advancements in the ART market have been limited to incremental improvements to the various products designed to simply support conventional IVF.

The only ART medical device competitor for INVOcell that we are aware of was an intrauterine device called AneVivo™, developed by Anecova, a Swiss life sciences company. The principal difference between the INVOcell and AneVivo™ is the latter’s placement inside the woman’s uterus for early embryo development. We believe that placing the device in the uterus may be more invasive and thus may increase the risk to patients compared to the INVOcell, which is placed in the vaginal cavity. It appears that Anecova is no longer active. 

NAYA Therapeutics

There are several other GPC3-targeting antibodies or cell therapies being developed by AstraZeneca, Takeda, Legend Biotech, and Adicet Bio in collaboration with Regeneron.

The principal competitors for liver cancer treatment include Merck’s Keytruda™ as well as a combination of two biological drugs commercialized by Genentech Roche, Tecentriq™ and Avastin™.

The current market leader for multiple myeloma, CD38 targeting monoclonal antibody, is Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex ™ (daratumumab).

For bi-specific antibodies, competitors include BCMA targeting Tecvaly™ in and GPRC5D targeting talquetamab (Talvey ™, J&J) from Johnson & Johnson, as well as Elrexfio™ from Pfizer. Additional bispecific antibodies from Abbvie, Regeneron, and Roche are in early stage of clinical development.

For additional information about competition, see Risk Factors in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Government Regulation

With respect to our Clinic Segment, all our clinics are subject to standard governmental and oversight regulations and must meet certain standards to be certified and operational. With respect to our NAYA Therapeutics segment, our activities are at an embryonic stage and pursued in accordance with FDA regulations.

With respect to our INVOcell segment, in November 2015, the FDA granted our petition for de novo classification of the INVOcell. Special controls include clinical and non-clinical performance testing, biocompatibility, sterility and shelf-life testing, and labeling. These special controls also apply to competing products that seek 510(k) clearance under the classification regulation for IVC systems, including our own 510(k) effort to expand the labeling on INVOcell from a 3-day incubation period to up to a 5-day incubation period. In June 2023, we received FDA 510(k) clearance to expand the labeling on the INVOcell device and its indication for use to provide for a 5-day incubation period.

We are not actively targeting international markets for INVOcell, although we are willing to engage with potential foreign partners that seek us out and demonstrate a commitment to apply sufficient resources to develop their specific market. Every country has its own, often different regulatory and registration requirements for medical devices, and our decision to support a potential partner will also be based on those requirements.

In general, we may be subject to healthcare fraud, waste, and abuse regulation and enforcement by the federal government and the governments in the states and foreign countries in which we might conduct our business. The federal laws and many state laws generally apply only to entities or individuals that provide items or services for which payment may be made under a government healthcare program. These include laws that prohibit the following:

These laws are subject to extensive and increasing enforcement by numerous federal, state, and local government agencies including the Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and various state authorities. At present, our products and services are not reimbursable under any government healthcare program. If, however, that changes in the future and it were determined that we were not in compliance with these federal fraud, waste, and abuse laws, we would be subject to liability.

We are subject to the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH Act”), and related implementing regulations (together, “HIPAA”). Under HIPAA, we must have in place administrative, physical, and technical standards to guard against the misuse of individually identifiable health information. In the ordinary course of our business as a Business Associate, and with INVO Centers, as a Covered Entity, we may use, collect, and store sensitive data, including protected health information (“PHI”). We face risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate disclosure risk, inappropriate modification risk, and the risk of being unable to adequately monitor our controls. Our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance, or other disruptions. Failure to comply with HIPAA, including through a breach of PHI, could result in penalties and sanctions, and materially harm our business.

For additional information about government regulation applicable to our business, see Risk Factors in Item 1A.

Intellectual Property

Fertility Clinics and INVOcell

We rely on a combination of copyright and trademark laws in the United States and other countries to obtain and maintain our intellectual property. In the past, we protected our intellectual property by, among other methods, filing patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”) and its foreign counterparts on inventions related to the development of our business. Our recent attempt to redesign the INVOcell device, including process improvements on the IVC procedure, in support of a new patent application were not successful as the USPTO’s preliminary findings opined that the new application was not sufficiently different from our expired patents. Given our limited resources and, pursuant to advice of counsel and the expected difficulty in reversing the USPTO’s initial finding, we decided to abandon the application.

Our portfolio of U.S. registered trademarks includes the following:

We also have pending U.S. applications to register the trademark Life Begins Within (App. No. 90803801). 

NAYA Therapeutics Segment

NAYA Therapeutics owns a total of twenty-two (22) pending patent applications in two families. Each family includes one (1) US and one (1) European patent application, and nine (9) patent applications in other foreign jurisdictions. One family is based on WO 2022/216744 and covers NY-303, while the other family is based on WO 2022/216723 and covers NY-338.

The Kadouche/CNRS multispecific antibody license with NAYA for NY-303 and NY-338 includes thirteen (13) patents and patent applications, including two (2) granted US patents, two (2) pending US patent applications, two (2) granted European patents, and one (1) pending European patent application, as well as six (6) granted patents in other foreign jurisdictions.

NAYA licenses from Yissum ten (10) pending patent applications for NY-303 and NY-338, which include one (1) US and one (1) European patent application and eight (8) patent applications in other foreign jurisdictions. NAYA licenses from INSERM five (5) pending patent applications for NY-338, which includes one (1) US and one (1) European patent application and three (3) patent applications in other foreign jurisdictions.

NAYA entered into a direct licensing agreement for the use of NY-303 and the necessary intellectual property rights Bispecific antibody technology from Dr. Jean Kadouche and CNRS (The French Center for National Scientific Research) fully paid through by Cytovia Therapeutics. Additionally, NAYA entered into a direct licensing agreement to utilize the product-specific NKp46 license from Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

For additional information about our intellectual property, see Risk Factors in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Available Information

We maintain several internet websites, including www.invobio.com, www.nayabiosciences.com, and www.invocell.com. We make available, free of charge through our website, our annual report on Form 10-K, current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and each amendment to these reports. Each such report is posted on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such report is filed with the SEC via the EDGAR system.

The information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be considered a part of this Annual Report. Our website address is included in this Annual Report as an inactive textual reference only.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information in this report on Form 10-K, including the section of this report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes. If any of the events described in the following risk factors and the risks described elsewhere in this report on Form 10-K occurs, our business, operating results and financial condition could be seriously harmed. This report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this report.

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Our Need for Additional Capital

Our financial situation creates doubt whether we will continue as a going concern.

From the inception of our consolidated subsidiaries on January 5, 2007, through December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated net loss of $67.2 million. There can be no assurances that we will be able to achieve a level of revenues adequate to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or additional financing through private placements, public offerings and/or bank financing necessary to support our working capital requirements. To the extent that funds generated from any private placements, public offerings and/or bank financing are insufficient, we will have to raise additional working capital. No assurance can be given that additional financing will be available, or if available, will be on acceptable terms. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If adequate working capital is not available, we may be forced to discontinue operations, which would cause investors to lose their entire investment.

We have substantial indebtedness outstanding, and our operations are significantly leveraged.  If we were unable to service our indebtedness, our business would be adversely affected.

In order to finance our operations we have incurred substantial indebtedness, including our secured convertible debenture held by Five Narrow Lane LP and our secured obligation to Decathlon. We may not be able to continue to service our debt in the future. If we are unable to service our debt and fail to pay our debt obligations in a timely fashion, we will be in default under one or more of our loan agreements.  Upon such a default, our secured creditors could exercise their rights and remedies under the applicable loan agreements, which could include seizing all of our assets and selling them off under the Uniform Commercial Code and the loan agreements. Any such action would have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects.

We will need to raise additional funding, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed may force us to delay, limit or terminate operations.

We do not expect that our current cash position will be sufficient to fund our current operations and service our current debt obligations for the next 12 months. Our operating plan may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings, government or other third-party funding or a combination of these approaches. Raising funds in the current economic environment may present additional challenges. Even if we believe we have raised or generated sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital if market conditions are favorable or if we have specific strategic considerations.

Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. In addition, we cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Moreover, the terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our shares to decline. The sale of additional equity or convertible securities may dilute our existing stockholders. The incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations, and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or otherwise at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or product candidates or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects.

If we are unable to obtain funding on a timely basis, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if we can raise additional funding, we may be required to do so on terms that are dilutive to you.

The capital markets have been unpredictable in the past for unprofitable companies such as ours. In addition, it is generally difficult for development stage companies to raise capital under current market conditions. The amount of capital that a company such as ours is able to raise often depends on variables that are beyond our control. As a result, we may not be able to secure financing on terms attractive to us, or at all. If we are able to consummate a financing arrangement, the amount raised may not be sufficient to meet our future needs. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, or at all, our business, including our results of operations, financial condition and our continued viability will be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to the Acquisition of NAYA Therapeutics

NAYA Therapeutics has a limited operating history and has no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of NAYA Therapeutics business to date and to assess its future viability.

NAYA Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company with a limited operating history upon which we can evaluate NAYA Therapeutics business and prospects. Although the management of NAYA Therapeutics and its service providers have substantial experience in successfully conducting and completing clinical trials, including large-scale, pivotal clinical trials, obtain marketing approval, manufacturing a clinical or commercial scale product or arranging for a third party to do so on our behalf or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization, there is no guarantee that NAYA may be able to successfully advance its pipeline. Typically, it takes about three to six years to develop a new biological drug from the time it enters Phase I clinical trials to when it is approved for treating patients, but in many cases it may take longer. Predictions about NAYA Therapeutics future success or viability are highly dependent on sufficient timely financing and the ability of our leadership to execute its development plans and scale-up efficiently its operations.

Risks Related to the Acquisition of Wisconsin Fertility Institute

We may not be able to successfully manage Wisconsin Fertility Institute and to achieve the benefits expected to result from the acquisition.

The acquisition of WFI may present challenges to management, including the integration of our operations and personnel and that of WFI, continued management of the clinic and special risks, including possible unanticipated liabilities, unanticipated integration costs and diversion of management attention.

We cannot assure you that we will successfully integrate or profitably manage WFI’s businesses. Even if we are able to integrate and profitably manage WFI’s business, we cannot assure you that our business will achieve sales levels, profitability, efficiencies or synergies that justify the acquisition or that the acquisition will result in increased earnings for us in any future period.

If we fail to make the required $7.5 million in additional payments required in our acquisition of WFI, our business would be adversely affected.

Following closing of our acquisition of the WFI, we are required to make additional annual payments of approximately $2.5 million each year, for a total of $7.5 million, through 2026, which payments are secured by the sellers having a lien on the assets purchased to acquire WFI. We have not made the first annual payment, and we are currently in negotiations with the sellers of WFI to restructure the terms of the acquisition, including payment terms, and otherwise resolve this payment. If we do not resolve this payment with the sellers of WFI or otherwise negotiate new terms, including payment terms, or if we default on our additional payment obligations to the sellers of WFI, such sellers could exercise their rights and remedies under acquisition agreements, which could include foreclosing on the assets sold to us to acquire WFI. Any such action would have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects.

We may incur additional debt financing to provide the cash proceeds necessary to acquire WFI. If we were unable to service any such debt, our business would be adversely affected.

In order to finance our acquisition of WFI, we secured debt financing and may look to raise additional debt proceeds. The current debt financing requires us to pledge all or substantially all of our assets as collateral. If we were unable to satisfy any such debt obligation or fail to pay such debt obligations in a timely fashion, we would be in default under such debt financing agreement and such lender could exercise its rights and remedies under such debt financing agreements, which could include seizing all of our assets. Any such action would have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Our business has posted net operating losses, has a limited operating history, and needs additional capital to grow and finance its operations.

From the inception of our consolidated subsidiary BioXcell Inc. on January 5, 2007, through December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated net loss of $67.2 million. We have a limited operating history and are essentially an early-stage operation. We will continue to be dependent on having access to additional new capital and/or generating positive operating cash flow primarily through the growth of our clinics, the development of new INVO Centers and the acquisition of additional IVF clinics, in order to finance the growth of our operations. Continued net operating losses together with limited working capital make investing in our common stock a high-risk proposal. Our limited operating history may make it difficult for management to provide effective insight into future activities, marketing costs, and customer acquisition and retention. This could lead to us missing targets for the achievement of profitability, which could negatively affect the value of your investment.

We are subject to risks associated with doing business globally.

Our operations, both inside and outside the United States, are subject to risks inherent in conducting business globally and under the laws, regulations and customs of various jurisdictions and geographies. Our operations outside the United States are subject to special risks and restrictions, including, without limitation: fluctuations in currency values and foreign-currency exchange rates; exchange control regulations; changes in local political or economic conditions; governmental pricing directives; import and trade restrictions; import or export licensing requirements and trade policy; restrictions on the ability to repatriate funds; and other potentially detrimental domestic and foreign governmental practices or policies affecting U.S. companies doing business abroad, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the trade sanctions laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Acts of terror or war may impair our ability to operate in particular countries or regions and may impede the flow of goods and services between countries. Customers in weakened economies may be unable to purchase our products, or it could become more expensive for them to purchase imported products in their local currency, or sell at competitive prices, and we may be unable to collect receivables from such customers. Further, changes in exchange rates may affect our net earnings, the book value of our assets outside the United States and our stockholders’ equity. Failure to comply with the laws and regulations that affect our global operations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Failure to comply with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or similar laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.

We are subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which generally prohibits United States companies, including their suppliers, distributors and other commercial partners, from engaging in bribery or other prohibited payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Corruption, extortion, bribery, pay-offs, theft and other fraudulent practices occur from time-to-time in the countries in which we distribute products. We have adopted formal policies and procedures designed to facilitate compliance with these laws. If our employees or other agents, including our distributors or suppliers, are found to have engaged in such practices, we could suffer severe penalties and other consequences that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to significant domestic and international governmental regulation.

Our business is heavily regulated domestically in the United States and internationally. In the United States the FDA, and other federal, state and local authorities, implement various regulations that subject us to civil and criminal penalties, including cessation of operations and recall of products distributed, in the event we fail to comply. Any such actions could severely curtail our sales and business reputation. In addition, additional restrictive laws, regulations or interpretations could be adopted, making compliance with such regulations more difficult or expensive. While we devote substantial resources to ensure our compliance with laws and regulations, we cannot completely eliminate the risk that we may be found non-compliant with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

We believe that the healthcare industry will continue to be subject to increased regulation as well as political and legal action, as future proposals to reform the health care system are considered by the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. We do not know of, nor do we have any control over, future changes to health care laws and regulations which may have a significant impact on our business.

We are subject to risks relating to federal and state healthcare fraud, waste, and abuse laws.

We may be subject to healthcare fraud, waste, and abuse regulation and enforcement by the federal government and the governments in the states and foreign countries in which we might conduct our business. Such federal laws generally apply only to entities or individuals that provide items or services for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program. These laws are subject to extensive and increasing enforcement by numerous federal, state, and local government agencies including the Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and various state authorities. The healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include the following:

At present, our products and services are not reimbursable under any federal healthcare program. If, however, that changes in the future and it were determined that we were not in compliance with these federal fraud, waste, and abuse laws, we would be subject to liability.

Also, as noted above, many states have similar laws and regulations, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws that may be broader in scope and may apply regardless of payor, in addition to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs. We may be subject to such laws in Alabama and Georgia due to our joint venture operations in those states. The Georgia State False Medicaid Claims Act (Ga. Code Ann. §§ 49-4-168 – 49-4-168.6), Georgia Medical Assistance Act false statements provision (Ga. Code Ann. §§ 49-4-140 – 49-4-157), and Alabama Medicaid false statements statute (Ala. Code § 22-1-11(a)) contain prohibitions that are analogous to the federal False Claims Act. Alabama law also includes an anti-kickback provision (Ala. Code § 22-1-11(c)) that is analogous to the federal AKS.

The Georgia Patient Self-Referral Act of 1993 (Ga. Code Ann. §§ 43-1B-1 – 43-1B-8) contains prohibitions on self-referral that are similar to those under the Stark Law, however, the Georgia law applies to additional classes of providers, including pharmacists, and is not limited to items or services reimbursable by a federal healthcare program. The Georgia law prohibits health care providers or entities regulated by the law from presenting any claim for payment to any individual, third-party payer, or other entity for a service furnished pursuant to a prohibited referral.

If we are found in violation of applicable laws or regulations, we could suffer severe consequences that would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and stock price, including:

Responding to lawsuits and other proceedings as well as defending ourselves in such matters would require management’s attention and cause us to incur significant legal expense. It is also possible that criminal proceedings may be initiated against us or individuals in our business in connection with investigations by the federal government.

Additionally, to the extent that our product is sold or our services are provided in a foreign country, we may be subject to similar foreign laws.

We are subject to the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH Act”), and related implementing regulations (together, “HIPAA”), and failure to comply, including through a breach of protected health information (“PHI”) could materially harm our business.

HIPAA established comprehensive federal protection for the privacy and security of health information. The HIPAA standards apply to three types of organizations, or “Covered Entities”: (1) health plans, (2) health care clearing houses, and (3) health care providers who conduct certain health care transactions electronically. The HIPAA standards also apply to Covered Entities’ “Business Associates.” Covered Entities and their Business Associates must have in place administrative, physical, and technical standards to guard against the misuse of individually identifiable health information. The HITECH Act promotes the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. The HITECH Act addresses the privacy and security concerns associated with the electronic transmission of health information, in part, through several provisions that strengthen the civil and criminal enforcement of the HIPAA rules. These laws may impact our business in the future. NAYA is currently a Business Associate of various Covered Entities. Failure to comply with these confidentiality requirements, including via a breach of PHI, may result in penalties and sanctions.

In the ordinary course of our business, we may use, collect, and store sensitive data, including PHI. We face risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate disclosure risk, inappropriate modification risk, and the risk of being unable to adequately monitor our controls. Our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as HIPAA, and regulatory penalties. There is no guarantee that we can continue to protect our systems from breach. Unauthorized access, loss, or dissemination could also disrupt our operations.

The U.S. Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services enforces the HIPAA privacy and security rules and may impose penalties for failure to comply with requirements of HIPAA. Penalties vary significantly depending on factors such as whether failure to comply was due to willful neglect. These penalties include civil monetary penalties of $100 to $50,000 per violation, up to an annual cap of $1,500,000 for identical violations. A person who knowingly obtains or discloses individually identifiable health information in violation of HIPAA may face a criminal penalty of up to $50,000 per violation and up to one-year imprisonment. The criminal penalties increase to $100,000 per violation and up to five-years imprisonment if the wrongful conduct involves false pretenses, and to $250,000 per violation and up to 10-years imprisonment if the wrongful conduct involves the intent to sell, transfer, or use identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain, or malicious harm. The U.S. Department of Justice is responsible for criminal prosecutions under HIPAA. Furthermore, in the event of a breach as defined by HIPAA, there are reporting requirements to the Office of Civil Rights under the HIPAA regulations as well as to affected individuals, and there may also be additional reporting requirements to other state and federal regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, and to the media. Issuing such notifications can be costly, time and resource intensive, and can generate significant negative publicity. Breaches of HIPAA may also constitute contractual violations, including violation of our Business Associate contracts with Covered Entities from which we receive PHI, that could lead to contractual damages or terminations.

We may not be able to develop or continue our business if we fail to retain key personnel.

We substantially rely upon the efforts and abilities of our executive management and directors. The loss of any of our executive officers and/or directors services could potentially have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, revenues and/or prospects. If one or more of these persons were to become unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we may not be able to replace them readily or timely, if at all. We do not maintain key man life insurance on the lives of any of our executive management or directors.

Currency exchange rate fluctuations may affect the results of our operations.

We may distribute our INVOcell product internationally with all sales, domestic and international, in U.S. dollars. As a result, our operations could be impacted by fluctuations in currency exchange rates, although we expect to mitigate such risk by invoicing only in U.S. dollars. In spite of this, our operations may still be negatively impacted by foreign currency exchange rates in the event the U.S. dollar strengthens and the local currency where the product is being sold weakens. In the event such international patients are unable to afford the associated increase costs, international doctors and clinics may not be able to offer the INVOcell and IVC procedure. As we expand our international footprint with joint ventures, these joint ventures will likely have a functional currency based on their location and as a result, if we are required to consolidate these financial results it may create currency fluctuations. Additionally, as an international business we may be susceptible to adverse foreign currency fluctuations unconnected to the U.S. dollar. 

We are subject to risks in connection with changes in international, national, and local economic and market conditions.

Our business is subject to risks in connection with changes in international, national and local economic and market conditions, including the effects of global financial crises, effects of terrorist acts, war and global pandemics. Such economic changes could negatively impact infertile people’s ability to pay for fertility treatment around the world.

We could experience additional risks associated with international sales, including:

Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. From 2011 through 2023, we sold products in certain international markets mainly through independent distributors. Although we are not actively pursuing international sales, they could became more meaningful in the future. In the event a distributor fails to meet annual sales goals, we may be required to obtain a replacement distributor, which may be costly and difficult to identify. Additionally, a change in our distributors may increase costs, and create a disruption in our operations resulting in a loss of revenue. 

Changes in the healthcare industry may require us to decrease the selling price for our products or could result in a reduction in the available market size.

Governmental and private sector initiatives in the U.S. and abroad involving trends toward managed healthcare and cost containment could place an emphasis on our ability to deliver more cost-effective medical therapies. The development of other cost-effective devices could eventually adversely affect the prices and/or sales of our products. Companies in the healthcare industry are subject to various existing and proposed laws and regulations, in both domestic and international markets, regulating healthcare pricing and profitability. Additionally, there have been third-party payer initiatives to challenge the prices associated with medical products, which if successful, could affect our ability to sell products on a competitive basis in the future.

In the United States, there has been a trend of consolidation among healthcare facilities and purchasers of medical devices, allowing such purchasers to limit the number of suppliers from whom they purchase medical products. As result, it is unknown whether such purchasers will decide to stop purchasing our products or demand discounts on our prices. Any pressure to reduce our product prices in response to these industry trends and the decrease in market size could adversely affect our anticipated revenue and profitability of our sales, creating a material adverse effect on our business.

If we are unable to effectively adapt to changes in the healthcare industry, our business may be harmed.

Federal, state, and local legislative bodies frequently pass legislation and promulgate regulations relating to healthcare reform or that affect the healthcare industry. As has been the trend in recent years, it is reasonable to assume that there will continue to be increased government oversight and regulation of the healthcare industry in the future. We cannot predict the ultimate content, timing, or effect of any new healthcare legislation or regulations, nor is it possible at this time to estimate the impact of potential new legislation or regulations on our business. It is possible that future legislation enacted by Congress or state legislatures, or regulations promulgated by regulatory authorities at the federal or state level, could adversely affect our business. It is also possible that the changes to federal healthcare program reimbursements to providers who purchase our products or use our services may serve as precedent to possible changes in other payors’ reimbursement policies in a manner adverse to us. Similarly, changes in private payor reimbursements could lead to adverse changes in federal healthcare programs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully address changes in the current regulatory environment. Some of the healthcare laws and regulations applicable to us are subject to limited or evolving interpretations, and a review of our business or operations by a court, law enforcement, or a regulatory authority might result in a determination that could have a material adverse effect on us. Furthermore, the healthcare laws and regulations applicable to us may be amended or interpreted in a manner that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Recent economic trends could adversely affect our financial performance.

Economic downturns and declines in consumption in the healthcare market may affect the levels of both our sales and profitability. If a downturn in economic conditions occurs, or if there is deterioration in financial markets and major economies, our financial performance could be adversely affected. The tightening of credit in financial markets may adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing, which could result in a decrease in, or deferrals or cancellations of, the sale of our products and services. In addition, weakening economic conditions may result in a decline in spending for ART and fertility assistance that could adversely affect our business operations and liquidity. We are unable to predict the likely duration and severity of any disruption in the domestic and global financial markets.

Social media platforms present risks and challenges.

The unauthorized use of certain social media vehicles could result in the improper collection and/or dissemination of personally identifiable information causing brand damage and various legal implications. In addition, negative or inaccurate social media posts or comments about us on any social networking site could damage our brand, reputation, and goodwill.

We are susceptible to cybersecurity breaches and cyber-related fraud.

We depend on information technology (“IT”) systems, networks, and services, encompassing internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities, as well as hardware (including laptops and mobile devices), along with software and technical applications and platforms. Some of these are overseen, hosted, supplied, and/or utilized by third parties or their vendors, supporting us in the administration of our business.

The escalation of IT security threats and the increasing sophistication of cyber-crime pose a potential hazard to the security of our IT systems, networks, and services, as well as to the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our data. Should the IT systems, networks, or service providers we rely on encounter malfunctions or if we experience a loss or disclosure of sensitive information due to various causes such as catastrophic events, power outages, or security breaches, and our business continuity plans fail to address these issues promptly, we could face disruptions in managing operations. This may result in reputational, competitive, and/or business harm, potentially adversely impacting our business operations and financial condition. Furthermore, such incidents could lead to the unauthorized disclosure of critical confidential information, causing financial and reputational damage due to the loss or misappropriation of confidential information belonging to us, our partners, employees, customers, suppliers, or consumers. In such scenarios, significant financial and other resources might be required to rectify the damage caused by a security breach or to repair and replace networks and IT systems.

In addition, in the ordinary course of our business, we may use, collect, and store sensitive data, including personal health information. We face risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate disclosure risk, inappropriate modification risk, and the risk of being unable to adequately monitor our controls. Our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance, or other disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure, or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as HIPAA, and regulatory penalties. There is no guarantee that we can continue to protect our systems from breach. Unauthorized access, loss, or dissemination could also disrupt our operations.

Risks Related to Our Fertility Business

Our existing INVO Centers were established as joint ventures with medical partners. Future INVO Centers may also be established as joint ventures. These joint ventures will be important to our business. If we are unable to maintain any of these joint ventures, or if they are not successful, our business could be adversely affected.

We have established, and plan to establish additional, entered into, and may enter into additional, joint ventures for the operation of our INVO Centers. Our existing and any future joint ventures may have a number of risks, including that our joint venture partners:

Additionally, if one of our joint venture partners seeks to terminate its agreement with us, we may find it difficult to attract new joint venture partners and the perception of our INVO Centers in the business and financial communities could be adversely affected.

Our fertility business is subject to significant competition.

The fertility industry is highly competitive and characterized by well entrenched and long-standing practices as well as technological improvements and advancements. New ART services, devices and techniques may be developed that may render the INVOcell obsolete. Competition in the areas of fertility and ART services is largely based on pregnancy rates and other patient outcomes. Accordingly, the ability of our business to compete is largely dependent on our ability to achieve adequate pregnancy rates and patient satisfaction levels. Our business operates in highly competitive areas that are subject to change. New health care providers and medical technology companies entering the market may reduce our and our INVO Centers’ market share, patient volume and growth rates, and could force us to alter our planned pricing and INVO Center service offerings. Additionally, increased competitive pressures may require us to commit more resources to our and our INVO Centers’ marketing efforts, thereby increasing our cost structure and affecting our ability to achieve, or the timing of achieving, profitability. There can be no assurance that we will not be able to compete effectively, nor can there be any assurance that additional competitors will not enter the market. Such competition may make it more difficult for us to enter into additional contracts with fertility clinics or open profitable INVO Centers.

We need to manage growth in our fertility operations, and we may not be successful in implementing our growth strategy.

In order to maximize potential growth in our current and potential markets, we may need to expand the scope of our services in the medical device/bioscience industry. As a result, we plan to continue to improve our INVOcell technology, operating procedures and management information systems. We will also need to effectively train, motivate and manage our employees. Our failure to manage our growth could disrupt our operations and ultimately prevent us from generating revenues at the levels we expect.

Many factors including, but not limited to, increased competition from similar businesses, unexpected costs, costs associated with marketing efforts and maintaining a strong client base may interfere with our ability to expand successfully. Our inability to implement our internal strategy successfully may have a negative impact on our growth, future financial condition, results of operations and/or cash flows.

We may not be successful at managing clinics.

Our management team has limited experience in managing fertility clinics. We seek to retain experienced personnel to provide clinical practice expertise, perform recruitment functions, provide necessary training, and provide day-to-day management of our clinics. We may not be successful in retaining such personnel, integrating such personnel into our operations, or otherwise successfully manage clinics that we have acquired or may acquire in the future.

We face potential liability as a provider of a medical device. These risks may be heightened in the area of artificial reproduction.

The provision of medical devices entails the substantial risk of potential tort injury claims. We currently utilize product liability insurance to provide coverage against potential tort injury claims, as well as customary insurance protection for our INVO Centers. However, there can be no assurance such coverage will provide adequate protection against any potential claims. Furthermore, any claim asserted against us could generate costly legal fees, consume management’s time and resources, and adversely affect our reputation and business, regardless of the merit or eventual outcome of such claim.

There are inherent risks specific to the provision of fertility and ART services. For example, the long-term effects on women of the administration of fertility medication, integral to most fertility and ART services, are of concern to certain physicians and others who fear the medication may prove to be carcinogenic or cause other medical problems. Additionally, any ban or other limitation imposed by the FDA or other foreign regulatory department on fertility medication and services could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any such action would likely adversely affect the value of your investment.

If we fail to maintain adequate quality standards for our products, our reputation and business may be adversely affected and harmed.

Our customers are expecting that our products and services will perform as marketed and in accordance with industrial standards. For our INVOcell device, we rely on third-party manufacturing companies and their packaging processes in connection with the production of our products. Our key suppliers, which are located in the U.S. and include NextPhase Medical Devices and Casco Bay Molding, and have been steadfast partners since our company first began and can provide us with virtually an unlimited capability to support our growth objectives, with all manufacturing performed in the New England region of the U.S. However, a failure to maintain product quality standards in accordance with our customers’ expectations could result in the loss of demand for our products. Additionally, delays or quality lapses in our production lines could result in substantial economic losses to us. Although we believe that our current quality control procedures adequately address these risks, there can be no assurance that we will not experience occasional or systemic quality lapses in our manufacturing and service operations. Currently, we have limited manufacturing capabilities as we rely on a single manufacturing provider regarding our production process. In the event our manufacturer is unable to produce an adequate supply of products at appropriate quality levels, our growth could be limited, and our business may be harmed. If we experience significant or prolonged disturbance in our quality standards, our business and reputation may be harmed, which may result in the loss of customers, our inability to participate in future customer product opportunities and reduced revenue and earnings.

We heavily rely on third party package delivery services, and a significant disruption in these services or significant increases in prices may disrupt our ability to import or export materials, increase our costs and negatively affect our ability to achieve and maintain profitability.

We ship our products to our customers through known independent package delivery companies, such as FedEx and UPS. If any third party package delivery providers experience a significant disruption such that any of our products, components or raw materials cannot be delivered in a timely fashion or such that we incur additional shipping costs that we are unable to recoup, our costs may increase and our relationships with certain customers may be adversely affected. In particular, if our third-party package delivery providers increase prices and we are not able to find comparable alternatives or adjust our delivery network, our profitability could be adversely affected.

We will need additional, qualified personnel in order to expand our fertility business. Without additional personnel, we will not be able to expand our fertility business.

Expanding our fertility business requires increasing the number of persons engaged in activities for the sale, marketing, administration and delivery of our products as well as clinical training personnel for proper IVC procedure training. Our ability to attract and hire personnel to fulfil these efforts is dependent on our ability to attract and retain potential employees with the proper background and training matching the skills required for the positions. In addition, we may not be able to attract personnel who will be able to successfully implement our business operations and growth strategy in the manner that we currently anticipate.

Risks Related to the Fertility Industry

The FDA regulatory review process for medical devices is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain, and the failure to obtain and maintain required regulatory clearances and approvals could prevent us from commercializing our products.

Unless an exemption applies, each medical device commercially distributed in the United States requires either FDA clearance of a 510(k) premarket notification, approval of a premarket approval, or issuance of a de novo classification order. The FDA clearance, de novo classification, and approval processes for medical devices are expensive, uncertain and time-consuming.

Future modifications to the INVOcell that was classified through de novo may require a 510(k) clearance. We may make minor changes to the INVOcell without seeking clearance for the modifications if we determine such clearances are not necessary and document the basis for that conclusion. However, the FDA may disagree with our determination or may require additional information, including clinical data, to be submitted before a determination is made, in which case we may be required to delay the introduction and marketing of our modified products, redesign our products, conduct clinical trials to support any modifications, or we may be subject to enforcement actions. In addition, the FDA may not clear such modified INVOcell for the indications that are necessary or desirable for successful commercialization.

There is no assurance that we will be able to obtain the necessary clearances on a timely basis or at all. Further, the FDA may change its policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions which may impact our ability to modify the INVOcell on a timely basis, and may prevent or delay clearance of future products. Delays in receipt of, or failure to obtain clearances for any product modifications or future products we may develop would result in delayed or no realization of revenue from such products and the viability of our INVO Centers, and in substantial additional costs, which could decrease our profitability.

In addition, we are required to continue to comply with applicable FDA and other regulatory requirements following de novo classification or clearance. The failure to comply with existing or future regulatory requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Improper marketing and promotion or off-label use of our product could lead to investigations and enforcement by governmental bodies including product recalls or market withdrawal, may harm our reputation and business, and could result in product liability suits.

If the FDA or any foreign regulatory entity determines that our promotional materials or training constitute promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions. These enforcement actions could include, for example, a warning letter or untitled letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. We cannot, however, prevent a physician from using the INVOcell off-label, when in the physician’s independent professional medical judgement, he or she deems it appropriate. There may be increased risk of injury to patients if physicians attempt to use the INVOcell off-label, or the INVOcell may not be as effective, which could harm our reputation.

If we fail to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (“QSR”) or comparable EU requirements, the FDA or EU competent authorities could take various enforcement actions, including suspending our FDA clearance to market, withdrawal of our EU CE Certificate or halting our manufacturing operations, and our business would suffer.

In the United States, as a manufacturer of a medical device, we are required to demonstrate and maintain compliance with the FDA’s QSR. The QSR covers the methods and documentation of the design, testing, control, manufacturing, labeling, quality assurance, packaging, storage and distribution of medical devices. The FDA enforces the QSR through periodic inspections and unannounced “for cause” inspections. Outside the United States, our products and operations are also required to comply with national requirements where the product is sold and also standards set by industrial standards bodies, such as the International Organization for Standardization. Foreign regulatory bodies may evaluate our products or the testing that our products undergo against these standards. The specific standards, types of evaluation and scope of review differ among foreign regulatory bodies. Our failure to comply with FDA or foreign regulatory agency requirements, or failure to take satisfactory and prompt corrective action in response to an adverse inspection, could result in enforcement actions, including a warning letter, adverse publicity, a shutdown of or restrictions on our manufacturing operations, a recall or seizure of our products, fines, injunctions, civil or criminal penalties, or other sanctions, any of which could cause our business and operating results to suffer.

We are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, and failure to comply may materially harm our business.

We are subject to Medical Device Reporting (“MDR”) regulations, which require us to report to the FDA if we become aware of information that reasonably suggests our product may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or has malfunctioned and the device or a similar device we market would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur. We may fail to report adverse events of which we become aware within the prescribed timeframe. We may also fail to recognize that we have become aware of a reportable adverse event. If we fail to comply with our medical device reporting obligations, the FDA could issue warning letters or untitled letters, take administrative actions, commence criminal prosecution, impose civil monetary penalties, request or require a product recall, seize our products, or delay the clearance of our future products. We must report corrections and removals to the FDA where the correction or removal was initiated to reduce a risk to health posed by the device or to remedy a violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, caused by the device that may present a risk to health.

Our failure to comply with these or other applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement actions by the FDA which may include untitled letters, warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties; customer notifications or repair, replacement or refunds; and criminal prosecution.

Our products are generally subject to regulatory requirements in foreign countries in which we sell those products. We will be required to expend significant resources to obtain regulatory approvals or clearances of our products, and there may be delays and uncertainty in obtaining those approvals or clearances.

In order to sell our products in foreign countries, generally we must obtain regulatory approvals and comply with the regulations of those countries. These regulations, including the requirements for approvals or clearances and the time required for regulatory review, vary from country-to-country.

The EU requires that manufacturers certify compliance of medical devices with Council Directive (93/42/EEC) (“MDD”), as amended, and affix the CE mark before selling such devices in member countries of the EU or European Economic Area (“EEA”). The CE mark is an international symbol of adherence to quality assurance standards and compliance with applicable European medical device directives. In order to obtain the authorization to affix the CE mark to products, a manufacturer must certify that its product complies with the applicable directive, which may include a requirement to obtain certification that its processes and products meet certain European quality standards.

In May 2017, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (“MDR”), which will repeal and replace the MDD with effect from May 26, 2021. Under transitional provisions, medical devices with notified body certificates issued under the MDD prior to May 26, 2021, may continue to be placed on the market for the remaining validity of the certificate, until May 27, 2024, at the latest as long as there have been no significant changes made to the product. After the expiry of any applicable transitional period, only devices that have been CE marked under the MDR may be placed on the market in the EU (or EEA). The MDR includes increasingly stringent requirements in multiple areas, such as pre-market clinical evidence (some of which are now in effect), review of high-risk devices, labeling and post-market surveillance. Under the MDR, pre-market clinical data will now be required to obtain CE Mark approval for high-risk, new and modified medical devices. We believe these new requirements have the potential to be expensive and time-consuming to implement and maintain.

Complying with and obtaining regulatory approval in foreign countries, including compliance with the MDR, have caused and will likely continue to cause us to experience more uncertainty, risk, expense and delay in commercializing products in certain foreign jurisdictions, which could have a material adverse impact on our net sales, market share and operating profits from our international operations.

If third-party payers do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement for INVOcell and the IVC procedure, we may be unable to generate significant revenue.

Our success in marketing and commercializing INVOcell and the IVC procedure may depend in part on whether private health insurers and other payer organizations provide adequate coverage and reimbursement. If physicians or insurers do not find our clinical data compelling or wish to wait for additional studies, they may choose not to use or provide coverage and reimbursement for INVOcell and the IVC procedure. We cannot provide assurance that data we or others may generate in the future will be consistent with that observed in our existing clinical studies, or that our current or future published clinical evidence will be sufficient to obtain adequate coverage and reimbursement for our products. Moreover, if we cannot obtain adequate coverage for and reimbursement of the cost of our products, we cannot provide assurance that patients will be willing to incur the full cost of INVOcell and the IVC procedure.

Third-party payers, whether foreign or domestic, or governmental or commercial, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. In addition, in the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for INVOcell and the procedure exists among third-party payers. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for INVOcell and the IVC procedure may differ significantly from payer to payer. In addition, payers continually review new technologies for possible coverage and can, without notice, deny coverage for these new products and procedures. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of INVOcell and the IVC procedure to each payer separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be obtained or maintained if obtained.

Reimbursement systems in international markets vary significantly by country and by region within some countries, and reimbursement approvals must be obtained on a country-by-country basis. In many international markets, a product must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that country. Further, many international markets have government-managed healthcare systems that control reimbursement for new devices and procedures. In most markets, there are private insurance systems as well as government-managed systems. If sufficient and timely coverage and reimbursement is not available for our current or future products, in either the United States or internationally, the demand for our products and our revenues may be adversely affected.

We may be subject to risks related to changes in laws regarding abortion, which can affect how a fertility clinic must treat and handle embryos

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade by holding that there is no constitutional right to abortion. This ended federal legalization on abortion, bringing the matter back to individual states to determine. Soon after the decision was handed down, several U.S. states adopted laws that drastically limited the availability of abortion, with a number of other states working on or proposing similar restrictions. While we believe these actions are more targeted toward abortions during pregnancy, certain laws may also impact embryos and how excess embryos are handled or implicate fertility procedures and travel reimbursement programs, which may decrease the demand for, or availability of, certain fertility services. Although President Biden issued executive orders and federal agencies have issued guidance intended to protect access to reproductive healthcare services, the enactment of certain state laws restricting abortion care and other changes in laws, or in interpretation of laws through court decisions, affecting fertility benefits may conflict with, and ultimately limit, the covered benefits offered by a company to its employees and the types of fertility treatment services available at provider clinics. We cannot predict the timing or impact of any future rulemaking, executive orders, court decisions or other changes in the law, or in how such laws, once enacted, would be interpreted and enforced. This may negatively impact fertility clinics and their patients operating in those states with more restrictive laws.

Risks Related to Our Therapeutics Business and Industry

Our ability to develop proprietary technology platforms and products and our future growth depend on retaining NAYA Therapeutics’ key personnel and recruiting additional qualified personnel.

NAYA Therapeutics is highly dependent on its co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Daniel Teper, who may terminate his current employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of Dr. Teper could impede the achievement of our therapeutics research, development and commercialization objectives.

Recruiting and retaining other senior executives, qualified scientific and clinical personnel and, if we progress the development of any of our product candidates, commercialization, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel, will be critical to our success. The loss of the services of NAYA Therapeutics’ key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in NAYA Therapeutics industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully lead, develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize our product candidates. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.

The regulatory processes that will govern the approval of our product candidates are complex and changes in regulatory requirements could result in delays or discontinuation of development or unexpected costs in obtaining regulatory approval.

Because we are developing novel cellular product candidates that are unique biological entities, the regulatory requirements that it will be subject to are not entirely clear. Regulatory requirements governing gene therapy products and cell therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. Moreover, there is substantial, and sometimes uncoordinated, overlap in those responsible for regulation of existing gene therapy products and cell therapy products. Although the FDA and comparable foreign authorities decides whether individual therapy protocols may proceed, related review processes and determinations by other reviewing bodies can impede or delay the initiation of a clinical study, even if the FDA or comparable foreign authorities have reviewed the study and approved its initiation. Conversely, the FDA or comparable foreign authorities can place an IND application or equivalent foreign application or part of the application on clinical hold even if such other entities have provided a favorable review. Furthermore, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an independent IRB or EC at or servicing each institution at which a clinical trial will be conducted. In addition, adverse developments in clinical trials of gene or cell therapy products conducted by others may cause the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates. Complex regulatory environments exist in other jurisdictions in which we may consider seeking regulatory approvals for our product candidates, further complicating the regulatory landscape.

The various committees and advisory groups involved in regulatory review, and new or revised guidelines that they promulgate from time to time may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies, increase our therapeutic development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of our product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. Because the regulatory landscape for our placental-derived cell product candidates is new, we may face even more cumbersome and complex regulations than those for more traditional pharmaceutical or biological products. Furthermore, even if our product candidates obtain required regulatory approvals, such approvals may later be withdrawn as a result of changes in regulations or the interpretation of regulations by applicable regulatory authorities. Delay or failure to obtain, or unexpected costs in obtaining, the regulatory approval necessary to bring a potential therapeutic to market could decrease our ability to generate sufficient revenue to maintain our therapeutics business.

We are dependent on the successful clinical development, regulatory approval and subsequent commercialization of our product candidates. If we are not able to obtain required regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates and our ability to generate product revenue from therapeutics will be adversely affected.

Our therapeutics business is dependent on our ability to successfully complete development of, obtain regulatory approval for, and, if approved, successfully commercialize our product candidates in a timely manner. We may face unforeseen challenges in its product candidate development strategy, and we can provide no assurances that our product candidate or future clinical trial design will prove to be effective, that we will be able to take advantage of expedited regulatory pathways for any of our product candidates, or that we will ultimately be successful in our future clinical trials. We expect that a substantial portion of our efforts and expenses over the next several years will be devoted to the development of our product candidates, including our lead product candidates, NY—303 and NY-338, in our future clinical trials. Our FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody platform, including the product candidates derived from our platforms, are in early stages of development and may never be commercialized.

We currently anticipate seeking initial regulatory approvals in the United States and the European Union, but may in the future submit applications for the regulatory approval of one or more of our product candidates to additional foreign regulatory authorities. We have not applied or obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate in the United States or abroad, and it is possible that neither our current product candidates nor any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will obtain regulatory approval. Neither us nor any of our partners are permitted to market any of our product candidates in the United States or abroad until it receives regulatory approval from FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities.

All of our product candidates will require additional clinical and non-clinical development, regulatory review and approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment, access to sufficient commercial manufacturing capacity and significant marketing efforts before they can be successfully commercialized. Prior to obtaining approval to commercialize any product candidate in the United States or abroad, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence from its future well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, that such product candidate is safe and effective for its intended uses. Results from preclinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways. Even if we believe that the preclinical or future clinical data for our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may also require us to conduct additional preclinical studies, assay development or future clinical trials for our product candidates either pre- or post-approval, or it may object to elements of our clinical development program, requiring their alteration. We may also decide to modify clinical protocols or procedures in future clinical trials based on clinical and experimental data.

Of the large number of products in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities’ approval processes and are commercialized. The lengthy approval or marketing authorization process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval or marketing authorization to market our product candidates, which could significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval from the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority for many reasons, including, among others:

Additionally, any delay in, or termination of, our future clinical trials will delay the submission of a BLA to the FDA or other equivalent applications with other relevant foreign regulatory authorities and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved, and generate product revenue.

Even if we eventually complete clinical testing and receive approval of a BLA, or equivalent foreign marketing application for its product candidates, the FDA or the comparable foreign regulatory authorities may grant approval or other marketing authorization contingent on the performance of costly additional future clinical trials, including post-market clinical trials. The FDA or the comparable foreign regulatory authorities also may approve or authorize marketing a product candidate for a more limited indication or patient population than we originally request, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not approve or authorize the labeling that we believe is necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of a product candidate. Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approval or other marketing authorization would delay or prevent commercialization of that product candidate and would adversely impact our business and prospects.

Moreover, because all of our product candidates are based on the same FLEX-NK cell engager antibody platform technologies, if any of our product candidates encounter safety or efficacy problems, developmental delays or regulatory issues or other problems, these could impact the development plans for our other product candidates. Our failure to timely complete our future clinical trials, obtain regulatory approval or, if approved, commercialize our product candidates could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our fully integrated product candidates represent new therapeutic approaches that could result in heightened regulatory scrutiny, delays in clinical development or delays in or our inability to achieve regulatory approval, commercialization, or payor coverage of our product candidates.

Our future success is dependent on the successful development of our product candidates in general and our development product candidates in particular. Because these programs represent a new approach to the treatment of cancer, developing and, if approved, commercializing our product candidates subject us to a number of challenges. Moreover, we cannot be sure that the manufacturing processes used in connection with our product candidates will yield a sufficient supply of satisfactory products that are safe, pure and potent, scalable, or profitable.

Actual or perceived safety issues, including adoption of new therapeutics or novel approaches to treatment, may adversely influence the willingness of subjects to participate in future clinical trials, or if approved by applicable regulatory authorities, of physicians to subscribe to the novel treatment mechanics. The FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may ask for specific post-market requirements, and additional information informing benefits or risks of our products may emerge at any time prior to or after regulatory approval.

Physicians, hospitals, and third-party payors often are slow to adopt new products, technologies, and treatment practices that require additional upfront costs and training. Physicians may not be willing to undergo training to adopt this novel therapy, may decide the therapy is too complex to adopt without appropriate training or not cost-efficient, and may choose not to administer the therapy. Based on these and other factors, hospitals and payors may decide that the benefits of this new therapy do not or will not outweigh its costs.

Even if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, we may fail to achieve market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors or others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

The use of FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibodies as a potential treatment for cancer is a recent development and may not become broadly accepted by physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centers and others in the medical community. Therefore, even if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, we may fail to gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. If any such product candidate does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue and may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of any product candidate, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to:

Our efforts to educate physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may never be successful. Such efforts may require more resources than are typically required due to the complexity and uniqueness of our product candidates.

Furthermore, the attention to different types of prospective treatments and proposed cures for cancers has historically varied. In recent years, various forms of oncological immunotherapy have been prominent areas for academic and clinical advancement. While FLEX-NK cell engager antibodies have not yet received prominent negative attention from the mainstream media or the scientific press, it is possible that it could, and it is possible that if immunotherapy generally falls out of favor with these key constituencies, whether due to the failure of one or more competitive products or technologies or otherwise, our business, including our ability to conduct future clinical trials and to raise capital, may in turn suffer.

If our product candidates are approved but fail to achieve market acceptance among physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centers or others in the medical community, we will not be able to generate significant therapeutics revenue. Even if our cell therapies achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to maintain that market acceptance over time if new products or technologies are introduced that are more favorably received than our therapeutics, are more cost effective or render our therapeutics obsolete.

Even if we obtain and maintain approval for our product candidates from the FDA, we may never obtain approval outside the United States, which would limit our market opportunities.

Approval of a product candidate in the United States by the FDA does not ensure approval of such product candidate by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. Sales of our product candidates outside the United States will be subject to foreign regulatory requirements governing clinical trials and marketing approval. Even if the FDA grants marketing approval for a product candidate, comparable foreign regulatory authorities also must approve the manufacturing and marketing of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and more onerous than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials. In many countries outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that country. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for any product candidates, if approved, is also subject to approval. Obtaining approval for our product candidates in the European Union from the European Commission following the opinion of the EMA, if we choose to submit a marketing authorization application there, would be a lengthy and expensive process. Even if a product candidate is approved, the European Commission may limit the indications for which the product may be marketed, require extensive warnings on the labeling or require expensive and time-consuming additional clinical trials or reporting as conditions of approval. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our product candidates in certain countries. We expect the product candidates we develop will be regulated as biologics, and therefore they may be subject to competition sooner than anticipated.

The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”) was enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (“ACA”) to establish an abbreviated pathway for the approval of biosimilar and interchangeable biological products. The regulatory pathway establishes legal authority for the FDA to review and approve biosimilar biologics, including the possible designation of a biosimilar as “interchangeable” based on its similarity to an approved biologic. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product cannot be approved by the FDA until 12 years after the reference product was approved under a BLA. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation, and meaning are subject to uncertainty. While it is uncertain when processes intended to implement BPCIA may be fully adopted by the FDA, any of these processes could have a material adverse effect on the future commercial prospects for our biological products.

We believes that any of the product candidates we develop that are approved in the United States as a biological product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider the subject product candidates to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, will be substituted for any one of the reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biological products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.

The European Union also provides opportunities for market and data exclusivity. In particular, products containing a New Active Substance (“NAS”) (such as a chemical, biological or radiopharmaceutical substance not previously authorized as a medicinal product in the European Union), which have been granted a marketing authorization receive eight years of data exclusivity and an additional two years of market exclusivity. If granted, the data exclusivity period prevents applicants for approval of a biosimilar product from referencing the innovator’s preclinical and clinical trial data contained in the dossier of the reference product in the European Union during a period of eight years from the date on which the reference product was first authorized in the European Union. During the additional two year period of market exclusivity, while an application for marketing authorization of a biosimilar can be submitted, and the innovator’s data referenced no biosimilar product can be marketed until the expiration of the market exclusivity period. The overall 10 year market exclusivity period can be extended to a maximum of eleven years if, during the first eight years of those 10 years, the marketing authorization holder for the innovative product obtains an authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications which, during the scientific evaluation prior to their authorization, are held to bring a significant clinical benefit in comparison with existing therapies.

We believe that any of the product candidates we develop that are approved in the European Union as a biological product should also qualify for the eight years of data exclusivity and 10 years of market exclusivity. However, a biosimilar, once approved, may be substituted for its reference product. The implications of such substitution varies between EU Member States and can, in some Member States, include obligatory substitution in some circumstance. In addition, the approval of a biologic product biosimilar to one of our products could have a material adverse impact on our business as it may be significantly less costly to bring to market and may be priced significantly lower than our products.

Our product candidates are in early stages of development, and therefore will require extensive additional preclinical and clinical testing. Success in preclinical studies or early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials and we cannot assure you that any ongoing, planned or future clinical trials will lead to results sufficient for the necessary regulatory approvals.

Because our product candidates are in early stages of development, they will require extensive preclinical and clinical testing. NY-303 and NY-338 are our only product candidates that have completed preclinical trials. Success in preclinical testing and early-stage clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will generate the same results or otherwise provide adequate data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of a product candidate. Preclinical studies are primarily designed to test safety and biological activity. Phase I/II oncology clinical trials to study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and help to understand the preliminary efficacy and side effects of product candidates at various doses and schedules. Success in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials does not ensure that later efficacy trials will be successful, nor does it predict final results. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in preclinical studies or even if they successfully advance through early-stage clinical trials.

Further, our novel approaches to address solid and hematological tumors through multispecific antibodies are unproven and as such, the cost and time needed to develop our product candidates is difficult to predict and our efforts may not be successful. If we do not observe favorable results in clinical trials of our product candidates, we may decide to delay or abandon clinical development of such product candidate. Any such delay or abandonment could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, the design of a clinical trial can determine whether our results will support approval of a product, and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. As an organization, we have limited experience designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support regulatory approval. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks, including failure in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing and earlier clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval.

Further, we cannot predict with any certainty if or when it might submit a Biologics License Application, (“BLA”), or comparable foreign application, for regulatory approval for any of our product candidates or whether any such BLA or comparable foreign application will be accepted for review by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), or comparable foreign authority or whether any BLA or comparable foreign application will be approved upon review. Even if our future clinical trials are completed as planned, it cannot be certain that their results will support the proposed indications. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and we cannot be sure that the results of later clinical trials will replicate the results of prior clinical trials and preclinical testing. Our future clinical trial process may fail to demonstrate that our product candidates are safe and effective for their proposed uses. This failure could cause us to abandon a product candidate and may delay development of other product candidates. Any delay in, or termination of, our clinical trials will delay and possibly preclude the filing of any BLAs or comparable foreign application with the FDA and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate therapeutic product revenues.

Our approach to the development of product candidates based on our FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody platform is unproven, and we do not know whether we will be able to develop any products of commercial value, or if competing technological approaches will limit the commercial value of our product candidates or render our platforms obsolete.

We believe that our product candidates represent a novel approach to immune-oncology, and we have concentrated significant research and development efforts to date developing our FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody platform technology. The product candidates derived from our technologies, including NY-303 and NY-338, have not been extensively tested over any significant period of time. We have not yet succeeded and may never succeed in demonstrating efficacy and safety for any of our product candidates in clinical trials or in obtaining marketing approval therefor.

For example, FLEX-NK cell engager antibody platform technologies are a novel field of development and are subject to particular risks that are difficult to quantify, which could ultimately affect safety, efficacy and our ability to produce product in a reliable and consistent manner. As such, we may be faced with unforeseen delays and setbacks, in addition to the other foreseeable risks and uncertainties associated with developing immune cell therapies.

Any delay or difficulties in the manufacturing and/or clinical supply of NY-303 and NY-338, or any of our other current or future product candidates would adversely affect our therapeutics business and operations.

Advancing product candidates utilizing such novel approaches to immunotherapy creates significant challenges for us, including, among others:

We must be able to overcome these challenges in order for it to successfully develop, commercialize and manufacture its product candidates utilizing its novel approaches to address solid and hematological tumors.

Clinical product candidate development involves a lengthy and expensive process and involve uncertain outcomes. We may incur additional costs and encounter substantial delays or difficulties in our therapeutics clinical trials.

We may not commercialize, market, promote or sell any product candidate without obtaining marketing approval from the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authority, and it may never receive such approvals. It is impossible to predict when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective or safe in humans and will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, it must complete preclinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, is difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to outcome.

A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products. Additionally, preclinical trials for our product candidates involve studying a relatively small patient population, which makes it difficult to predict whether the favorable results observed in such clinical trial will be repeated in larger and more advanced clinical trials.

We may experience numerous unforeseen events prior to, during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent its ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize its product candidates, including, but not limited to the following:

Any inability to successfully complete preclinical and commence and complete clinical development could result in additional costs or impair its ability to generate revenue from future product sales or other sources. In addition, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to its product candidates, we may need to conduct additional testing to bridge our modified product candidate to earlier versions. Clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize its product candidates, if approved, or allow our competitors to bring competing products to market before it does, which could impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates.

In addition, the clinical trial requirements of the FDA and other foreign regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty, and intended use and market of the potential products. The regulatory approval process for product candidates such as ours can be more expensive and take longer than for other, better known, or more extensively studied pharmaceutical or other product candidates. Regulatory agencies administering existing or future regulations or legislation may not allow production and marketing of products utilizing gene regulation technology in a timely manner or under technically or commercially feasible conditions. Regulatory action or private litigation could result in expenses, delays or other impediments to our research programs or the future commercialization of resulting products.

Further, if the results of our future clinical trials are inconclusive or if there are safety concerns or serious adverse events associated with our product candidates, it may be delayed in obtaining marketing approval, or not obtain marketing approval at all, obtain approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings, and/or have regulatory authorities withdraw or suspend their approval or impose restrictions on distribution in the form of a modified risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (“REMS”) or equivalent steps imposed by foreign authorities among other results. We could also encounter delays if physicians encounter unresolved ethical issues associated with enrolling patients in our future clinical trials of its product candidates in lieu of prescribing existing treatments that have established safety and efficacy profiles.

Additionally, the FDA or comparable foreign authority or an independent institutional review board (“IRB”) or Ethics Committee (“EC”) may also suspend our future clinical trials at any time if it appears that we or our collaborators are failing to conduct a trial in accordance with regulatory requirements, including the FDA’s Good Clinical Practice (“GCP”) regulations, or equivalent foreign rules that it is exposing participants to unacceptable health risks, or if the FDA or comparable foreign authority finds deficiencies in our investigational new drug (“IND”) applications or the conduct of these trials. Therefore, we cannot predict with any certainty the schedule for commencement and completion of future clinical trials. If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of our future clinical trials, or if we terminate a clinical trial prior to completion, the commercial prospects of our product candidates could be negatively impacted, and our ability to generate revenues from our product candidates may be delayed.

If we encounter difficulties in enrolling patients in our future clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

The timely completion of our future clinical trials in part depends on patient enrollment, and as such identifying and qualifying patients to participate in our future clinical trials is critical to our success in therapeutics. We may encounter difficulties in enrolling a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in its future clinical trials, thereby delaying or preventing development and approval of our product candidates. Even once enrolled, we may be unable to retain a sufficient number of patients to complete any of its trials. There are limited patient pools from which to draw in order to complete our future clinical trials in a timely and cost-effective manner. If any such patient enrolled in our future Phase I trials has to drop out due to pre-existing health issues or due to a serious adverse effect, or otherwise dies, and we are not able to recruit additional patients in a timely manner, or at all, our clinical trials could be delayed or otherwise halted. As such, despite diligent planning of our clinical trials and analysis of their feasibility regarding patient recruitment, it may experience difficulties, delays or inability in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons, including:

Our efforts to build relationships with patient communities may not succeed, which could result in delays in patient enrollment in our clinical trials. Any negative results we may report in clinical trials of our product candidates may make it difficult or impossible to recruit and retain patients in other clinical trials of that same product candidate. Delays or failures in planned patient enrollment or retention may result in increased costs, program delays or both, which could have a harmful effect on our ability to develop its product candidates or could render further development impossible. In addition, we may rely on clinical research organizations (“CROs”) and clinical trial sites to ensure proper and timely conduct of our future clinical trials and, while it intends to enter into agreements governing their services, we will be limited in its ability to ensure their actual performance.

We may not be able to file Investigational New Drug Applications to commence future clinical trials on the timelines it expects, and even if it is able to, the FDA or comparable foreign authority may not permit us to proceed.

We expect our pipeline to lead to multiple investigational new drug applications (“INDs”), starting in 2025. We cannot be sure that submission of an IND will result in the FDA or comparable foreign authority allowing testing and clinical trials to begin, or that, once begun, issues will not arise that suspend or terminate such clinical trials. The manufacturing of our product candidates remains an emerging and evolving field. Accordingly, we expect that chemistry, manufacturing and control related topics, including product specifications, will be a focus of IND reviews, which may delay the clearance of INDs or equivalent foreign applications. Additionally, even if such regulatory authorities agree with the design and implementation of the clinical trials set forth in an IND, or equivalent foreign applications or clinical trial application, we cannot guarantee that such regulatory authorities will not change their requirements in the future.

Our product candidates may cause serious adverse events or undesirable side effects or have other properties that may delay or prevent regulatory approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.

During the conduct of clinical trials, patients report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries and discomforts, to their doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the product candidate being studied caused these conditions. Regulatory authorities may draw different conclusions or require additional testing to confirm these determinations, if they occur. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational drugs are tested in large-scale pivotal trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to patients on a commercial scale after approval. If additional clinical experience indicates that any of our product candidates have side effects or cause serious or life-threatening side effects, the development of the product candidate may fail or be delayed, or, if the product candidate has received regulatory approval, such approval may be revoked, which would harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates, delivery methods or dosage levels could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authority. As a result of safety or toxicity issues that we may experience in its clinical trials, we may be placed on clinical hold and not receive approval to market any product candidates, which could prevent it from ever generating revenues or achieving profitability. Results of our trials could reveal an unacceptably high severity and incidence of side effects, or side effects outweighing the benefits of our product candidates. In such an event, our studies could be delayed, suspended or terminated and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled subjects to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims.

As we start developing its lead product candidates and anticipate initiating clinical trials of our additional product candidates, serious adverse events, (“SAEs”), undesirable or potentially fatal side effects, cytokine release syndrome, viral or bacterial infections, relapse of disease or unexpected characteristics may emerge causing it to abandon these product candidates or limit their development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the SAEs or undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective or in which efficacy is more pronounced or durable. Treatment-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, these side effects may not be appropriately recognized or managed by the treating medical staff, and inadequate training in recognizing or managing the potential side effects of our product candidates could result in patient injury or death. Should we observe SAEs in its clinical trials or identify undesirable side effects or other unexpected findings, our trials could be delayed or even terminated and our development programs may be halted entirely.

Additionally, if any of our product candidates receive regulatory approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such product, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result. The product could face a recall or withdrawal from the market, the FDA could also issue a safety alert about the product or require us to adopt a REMS to ensure that the benefits of treatment with such product candidate outweigh the risks for each potential patient, which may include, among other things, a communication plan to health care practitioners, patient education, extensive patient monitoring or distribution systems and processes that are highly controlled, restrictive and more costly than what is typical for the industry. Our collaborators may also be required to adopt a REMS or engage in similar actions, such as patient education, certification of health care professionals or specific monitoring, if we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by any product that we develop alone or with collaborators.

Any of these events could diminish the usage or otherwise limit the commercial success of our product candidates and prevent it from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product candidate, if approved by applicable regulatory authorities.

Interim, “top-line” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that it announces or publishes from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publish interim, “top-line” or preliminary data from its clinical trials. Interim, “top-line” or preliminary data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data becomes available. Interim, “top-line” and preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim, “top-line,” and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Differences between interim, “top-line” and preliminary data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects and may cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.

Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the future approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and our business in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product candidate or our business. If the interim, “top-line,” or preliminary data that we report differs from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for and commercialize our product candidates, our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition may be harmed.

We face significant competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, which may result in others discovering, developing, or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.

The clinical and commercial landscape in the indications we are targeting, as well as the field of immune-oncology, is highly competitive. We may face potential competition with respect to our current product candidates and may face competition with respect to any other product candidates that it may seek to develop or commercialize in the future from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research institutions.

Many of our current or potential competitors have greater financial and other resources, larger research and development staffs, and more experienced capabilities in researching, developing and testing products than we do. Many of these companies also have more experience in conducting clinical trials, obtaining FDA and other equivalent foreign regulatory approvals, and manufacturing, marketing and distributing therapeutic products. Smaller or clinical-stage companies like us may successfully compete by establishing collaborative relationships with larger pharmaceutical companies or academic institutions. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient, or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Furthermore, currently approved products could be discovered to have application for treatment of cancer and other diseases, which could give such products significant regulatory and market timing advantages over any of our product candidates. In addition, large pharmaceutical companies or other companies with greater resources or experience than we may choose to forgo therapy opportunities that would have otherwise been complementary to our product development and collaboration plans. Our competitors may succeed in developing, obtaining patent protection for, or commercializing their products more rapidly than us, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. A competing company developing or acquiring rights to a more effective therapeutic product for the same diseases targeted by us, or one that offers significantly lower costs of treatment could render our products noncompetitive or obsolete. We may not be successful in marketing any product candidates we may develop against competitors.

We have provided information, based on publicly available information, relating to many other companies in our industry throughout this prospectus, including, without limitation, Summit Therapeutics, Keytruda, Bicara Therapeutics, Zenas Biopharma, GSK, Crescent Biopharma, Navigator Medicine, and Janux, as well as larger companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Merus, Pfizer, Sanofi, Xencor, and Zymeworks. Our disclosure of the performance, stage of development, capital raising, market capitalizations, and valuations of the foregoing companies is for informational purposes only and is neither indicative nor predicative of our performance, capital raising, market capitalization, or valuation. There are no guarantees that we may secure similar financing, execute our development plans, or achieve comparable performance, capitalization, or market or other valuations.

We face substantial competition from multiple sources, including large and specialty pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic research institutions and governmental agencies and public and private research institutions.

Our competitors compete with it on the level of the technologies employed, or on the level of development of product candidates. In addition, many small biotechnology companies have formed collaborations with large, established companies to (i) obtain support for their research, development and commercialization of products or (ii) combine several treatment approaches to develop longer lasting or more efficacious treatments that may potentially directly compete with our current or future product candidates. We anticipate that we will continue to face increasing competition as new therapies and combinations thereof, technologies, and data emerge within the field of immunotherapy and, furthermore, within the treatment of cancers.

NY-500 may not surpass the current standard of care or that sales of NY-500, if ever approved, will approach or surpass the market leader.

We aim to advance IND filings with the FDA and phase I/IIa clinical trial initiation in 2026 for NY-500, an AI-optimized PD1-VEGF bifunctional antibody, in first line HCC treatment. NY-500 is a tetravalent bifunctional antibody targeting PD-1, a key immune checkpoint targeted by pembrolizumab (Keytruda®, Merck & Co), and VEGF, a vascular endothelial growth factor targeted by bevacizumab (Avastin®, Genentech Roche) which regulates the production of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). There is no guarantee that PD1 x VEGF bifunctional antibodies will surpass the standard of care demonstrated by Keytruda, or at all, and even if it does surpass the standard of care, there is no guarantee that sales in PD1 x VEGF bifunctional antibody products generally, or sales in our product candidate, if ever approved, and if any, will surpass those of Keytruda.

We intend to study our product candidates in patient populations with significant comorbidities, and these patients may also receive treatment with cytotoxic lymphodepletion agents and other immunotherapies, and/or other treatments, and/or other treatments that may result in deaths or serious adverse or unacceptable side effects and require us to abandon or limit our clinical development activities.

Patients treated with our product candidates in clinical trials may also receive treatment with cytotoxic lymphodepletion agents and other immunotherapies and/or other treatments, and may therefore experience side effects or adverse events, including death, that are unrelated to our product candidates. While these side effects or adverse events may be unrelated to our product candidates, they may still affect the success of our clinical studies. The inclusion of critically ill patients in our clinical studies may result in deaths or other adverse medical events due to underlying disease or to other therapies or medications that such patients may receive. Any of these events could prevent us from advancing its product candidates through clinical development, and from obtaining regulatory approval, and would impair our ability to commercialize its product candidates. Any inability to advance our existing product candidates or any other product candidate through clinical development may have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may not identify or discover other product candidates and may fail to capitalize on programs or product candidates that may present a greater commercial opportunity or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.

Our efforts to identify and develop additional product candidates will require substantial technical, financial and human resources, whether or not any product candidates are ultimately identified. We may also broaden the reach of our FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody platform by selectively in-licensing technologies or product candidates. Alternately, our efforts may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development, approved products or commercial revenues for many reasons, including the following:

We have limited financial and management resources and, as a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater market potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products, including attractive or profitable market opportunities. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in circumstances under which it would have been more advantageous for it to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate. In addition, we may not be successful in replicating our approach to product candidate development for other disease indications. If we are unsuccessful in identifying and developing additional product candidates or are unable to do so, our business may be harmed.

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates.

We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of the future clinical testing of our product candidates and will face an even greater risk if it commercializes any products. For example, we may be sued if our product candidates cause or are perceived to cause injury or are found to be otherwise unsuitable during clinical testing, manufacturing, marketing, or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability or a breach of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend itself against product liability claims, it may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of its product candidates. Even successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in one or more of the following:

Our inability to obtain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of products it develops, alone or with corporate collaborators. Our insurance policies may also have various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which it has no coverage. Assuming we obtain clinical trial insurance for our clinical trials, we may have to pay amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceeds our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts. Even if our agreements with any future corporate collaborators entitle it to indemnification against losses, such indemnification may not be available or adequate should any claim arise.

Risks Related to Our Therapeutics Manufacturing

The manufacturing of our product candidates will be very complex. We are subject to a multitude of manufacturing risks, any of which could substantially increase our costs, delay our programs or limit supply of our product candidates.

Historically, engineered antibodies have been particularly difficult to manufacture and Contract Manufacturing Organizations, (“CMOs”), and we have limited experience in the manufacturing of bispecific antibodies to selectively activate NK cells. The process of manufacturing our product candidates is extremely susceptible to product loss due to contamination, equipment failure or improper installation or operation of equipment, vendor or operator error, contamination and inconsistency in yields, variability in product characteristics and difficulties in scaling the production process. Even minor deviations from normal manufacturing processes could result in reduced production yields, product defects and other supply disruptions. If microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities in which our product candidates are made, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination in accordance with current good manufacturing practice (“cGMP”).

Any adverse developments affecting manufacturing operations for our product candidates, if any are approved, may result in shipment delays, inventory shortages, lot failures, product withdrawals or recalls, or other interruptions in the supply of our products. We may also have to take inventory write-offs and incur other charges and expenses for products that fail to meet specifications, undertake costly remediation efforts or seek more costly manufacturing alternatives. Furthermore, it is too early to estimate our cost of goods sold. The actual cost to manufacture our product candidates could be greater than we expect because it is early in our development efforts.

We depend on strategic partnerships and collaboration arrangements for the development of our FLEX-NK™ bispecific antibody platform, including Yissum for NKp46 antibodies, INSERM for CD38 antibodies, NCI for GPC3 antibodies, and CytoLynx Therapeutics for development and commercialization in Greater China, and if these arrangements are unsuccessful, this could result in delays and other obstacles in the development, manufacture or commercialization of any of our product candidates.

Our strategy for fully developing and commercializing our therapeutic candidates is dependent upon maintaining our current arrangements and establishing new arrangements with research collaborators, corporate collaborators and other third parties. We currently have corporate and academic collaboration agreements with a number of counterparties including INSERM, NCI, Yissum and CytoLynx Therapeutics. These corporate collaboration agreements provide for, among other things, our need to pay for research funding and significant future payments should certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones be achieved. Under certain of these arrangements, our corporate collaborators are responsible for:

As a result, we may not be able to conduct these corporate collaborations in the manner or on the time schedule it currently contemplates, which may negatively impact our therapeutics business operations.

This lack of control over the research funding for, and the development and commercialization of, certain of our product candidates could cause delays or other difficulties in the development and commercialization of our product candidates, which may prevent completion of research and development activities and intended regulatory filings in a timely fashion, if at all. Because we expect to continue to rely on our current corporate collaborators and to enter into new collaborations in the future, the development and commercialization of any of our product candidates could be substantially delayed, and our ability to receive future funding could be substantially impaired if one or more of our current or future collaborators:

In addition, the termination of any future strategic partnership or collaboration arrangement may prevent us from receiving any milestone, royalty payment, sharing of profits, and other benefits under such agreement and prevent us from being able to advance our therapeutic products toward commercialization. Furthermore, disagreements with these parties could require or result in litigation or arbitration, which would be time-consuming and expensive. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to develop and commercialize any of our therapeutic product candidates and may adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.

We rely upon third parties to conduct certain research and development activities and assist us with our preclinical trials and future clinical trials and commercial sale, if approved, of our product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, it may not be able to timely develop, manufacture, obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates.

We utilize independent investigators and collaborators, such as universities, medical institutions, CROs and strategic partners to conduct certain research and future clinical trials as required under our partnership and collaboration agreements. We must negotiate budgets and contracts with CROs and study sites, which may result in delays to our development timelines and increased costs. We will rely on these third parties over the course of our future clinical trials, and we only control certain aspects of their activities. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable GCP regulations, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, such regulatory authorities will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with the GCP regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with biologic product produced under cGMPs and will require many test patients. Our failure or any failure by these third parties to comply with these regulations or to recruit enough patients may require it to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process. Moreover, our business may be implicated if any of these third parties violates federal or state fraud and abuse or false claims laws and regulations or healthcare privacy and security laws.

Any third parties conducting our clinical trials are not and will not be our employees and, except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such third parties, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our ongoing preclinical, clinical and nonclinical programs. These third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical studies or other drug development activities, which could affect their performance. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to complete development of, obtain regulatory approval of or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our commercial prospects for our product candidates could be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate therapeutics revenue could be delayed.

If any of our relationships with trial sites, or any CRO that it may use in the future, terminates, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative trial sites or CROs or do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding third parties to conduct our clinical trials involves substantial cost and requires extensive management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new third party commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines.

A disruption to our internal or third-party manufacturing operations, or our third-party suppliers’ or manufacturers’ inability to manufacture sufficient quantities of our antibody and cell product candidates at acceptable quality levels or costs, or at all, could materially and adversely affect our business.

We work with several third-party manufacturers and suppliers for the production of our antibody and cell product candidates. We have a long-term relationship with STC Biologics for the manufacturing of our NY-303 and NY-338 products.

Developing manufacturing processes to support clinical trial and commercialization requirements is a difficult and uncertain task, and there are risks associated with scaling to the level required for clinical trials or commercialization, including, among others, cost overruns, potential problems with process scale-out, process reproducibility, stability and purity issues, lot consistency, and timely availability of acceptable reagents and raw materials. If we are unable to scale to the level required for the conduct of clinical trials or commercialization, it may not be able to produce our antibody product candidates in a sufficient quantity to conduct ongoing and planned clinical trials, or to meet demand if any antibody product candidates are approved for commercialization.

We will be dependent and expect to continue to be substantially dependent on our third-party manufacturing facility, STC Biologics, for the production of our antibody product candidates, and we rely, and expect to continue to rely, on other future third parties for the manufacture of certain components and also to manufacture our antibody product candidates, when needed for use in conducting clinical trials. The third-party facilities used to manufacture our antibody and cell product candidates, must be evaluated by the FDA or other foreign regulatory agencies pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after it submits an application to the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority finds deficiencies with, takes enforcement actions against, or does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our antibody product candidates or if it later finds deficiencies, take enforcement actions, or withdraw any such approval in the future, it may not be able to locate additional or replacement facilities to produce such antibody product candidates or materials in a timely manner and on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. This would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our antibody product candidates, if approved, and could considerably delay completion of our clinical trials, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our antibody product candidates. We have not yet caused any antibody product candidates to be manufactured or processed on a commercial scale and may not be able to do so. We intend to make changes as we work to optimize the therapeutics manufacturing process, and we cannot be sure that even minor changes in the process will result in products that are capable or safe and effective.

Because we rely on third parties for the manufacture of certain components and the antibody product candidates themselves, we are required to transfer certain manufacturing process know-how and certain intermediates to third parties, including larger-scale facilities operated by a CMO or by us, to facilitate manufacture of our antibody product candidates for clinical trials and commercialization. Transferring manufacturing testing and processes and know-how is complex and involves review and incorporation of both documented and undocumented processes that may have evolved over time. In addition, transferring production to different facilities may require utilization of new or different processes to meet the specific requirements of a given facility. We and any CMOs or third parties that we engage for manufacturing its antibody product candidates will need to conduct significant development work to transfer these processes and manufacture each of our antibody product candidates for clinical trials and commercialization. In addition, we may be required to demonstrate the comparability of material generated by any CMO or third parties that we engage for manufacturing our antibody product candidates with material previously produced and used in testing. Any inability to manufacture comparable drug product by us or its CMOs could delay the continued development of our antibody product candidates.

Furthermore, certain of the components currently used in manufacturing the antibody product candidates are research-grade only, and it may encounter problems obtaining or achieving adequate quantities and quality of clinical grade materials that meet FDA, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”), European Union Member State competent authorities’ or other applicable standards or specifications with consistent and acceptable production yields and costs. In addition, if contaminants are discovered in our supply of antibody product candidates or in our manufacturing facilities or those of our third-party suppliers and manufacturers, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination. Any such events could delay or prevent our ability to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our antibody product candidates, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Further, our reliance on third-party manufacturers entails risks it would not be subject to if it manufactured antibody product candidates, including:

In addition, if we enter into a strategic collaboration with a third party for the commercialization of our current or any future antibody and cell product candidates, we will not be able to control the amount of time or resources that the third party will devote to such efforts. If any strategic collaborator does not commit adequate resources to the marketing and distribution of our current or any future antibody product candidates, it could limit our potential revenues.

Any adverse developments affecting manufacturing operations for our antibody and cell product candidates may result in lot failures, inventory shortages, shipment delays, product withdrawals or recalls or other interruptions in the supply of our drug product which could prevent the administration to patients and delay the development of our antibody product candidates. We may also have to write off inventory, incur other charges and expenses for supply of drug product that fails to meet specifications, undertake costly remediation efforts, or seek more costly manufacturing alternatives.

Any of these events could lead to clinical trial delays or failure to obtain regulatory approval, or impact our ability to successfully commercialize our current or any future antibody product candidates once approved. Some of these events could be the basis for FDA action, including public warnings, injunction, request for recall, seizure, or total or partial suspension of production.

Our product candidates rely on the availability of specialty raw materials, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.

Our product candidates require many specialty raw materials, some of which are manufactured by small companies with limited resources and experience to deliver raw materials to our specifications. Further, some of our suppliers may not be able to scale-up as we move to clinical trials or commercialization. Accordingly, we may experience delays in receiving, or fail to secure entirely, key raw materials to support clinical or commercial manufacturing. Certain raw materials also require third-party testing, and some of the testing service companies may not have capacity or be able to conduct the testing that we request.

We also face competition for supplies from other cell therapy companies. Such competition may make it difficult for us to secure raw materials or the testing of such materials on commercially reasonable terms or in a timely manner.

Some raw materials are currently available from a single supplier, or a small number of suppliers. We cannot be sure that these suppliers will remain in business or that they will not be purchased by one of our competitors or another company that is not interested in continuing to produce these materials for our intended purpose. In addition, the lead time needed to establish a relationship with a new supplier can be lengthy, and we may experience delays in meeting demand in the event we must switch to a new supplier. The time and effort to qualify a new supplier, including to meet any regulatory requirements for such qualification, could result in additional costs, diversion of resources or reduced manufacturing yields, any of which would negatively impact our operating results. Further, we may be unable to enter into agreements with a new supplier on commercially reasonable terms, which could have a material adverse impact on our business.

If conflicts arise between us and our collaborators or strategic partners, these parties may act in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement its strategies.

If conflicts arise between us and our corporate or academic collaborators or strategic partners, the other party may act in a manner adverse to us and could limit our ability to implement our strategies. Some of our academic collaborators and strategic partners are conducting multiple product development efforts within each area that is the subject of the collaboration with us. Our collaborators or strategic partners, however, may develop, either alone or with others, products in related fields that are competitive with the products or potential products that are the subject of these collaborations. Competing products, either developed by the collaborators or strategic partners or to which the collaborators or strategic partners have rights, may result in the withdrawal of partner support for our product candidates.

Some of our collaborators or strategic partners could also become our competitors in the future. Our collaborators or strategic partners could develop competing products, preclude us from entering into collaborations with their competitors, fail to obtain timely regulatory approvals, terminate their agreements with us prematurely, or fail to devote sufficient resources to the development and commercialization of products. Any of these developments could harm our therapeutic product development efforts.

Some of our strategic collaborators or partners have the right to terminate their agreements with us, including for our failing to achieve certain milestones or make payments under the agreements, not actively pursuing development of a licensed product, or for materially breaching the agreement and failing to cure such breach within a specific grace period. Our strategic collaborators or partners may also want to discontinue collaborations upon assessing our progress on such development program. If our strategic collaborators or partners terminate their agreements with them or discontinue joint collaborations on a program, we may be required to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of its product candidates or curtail or restructure its operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

We may seek to form collaborations in the future with respect to our product candidates, but may not be able to do so, which may cause us to alter our development and commercialization plans.

The advancement of our product candidates and development programs and the potential commercialization of our current and future product candidates will require substantial additional cash to fund expenses. For some of our programs, we may seek to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop and commercialize such product candidates, such as our collaborations with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for NKp46 antibodies, INSERM for CD38 antibodies, NCI for GPC3 antibodies, and CytoLynx Therapeutics for development and commercialization in Greater China, any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near- and long-term expenditures, or disrupt our management and business.

We face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for other collaborations will depend, among other things, upon its assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the progress of our clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities outside the United States, the potential market for the subject product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge, and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one for our product candidate. Further, we may not be successful in its efforts to establish a strategic partnership or other alternative arrangements for future product candidates because they may be deemed to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort and third parties may not view them as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy. Any delays in entering into new collaborations or strategic partnership agreements related to any product candidate we develop could delay the development and commercialization of its product candidates.

Our business involves the use of hazardous materials which requires that we, and our third-party manufacturers and suppliers must comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict or interrupt its business.

Our research and development activities and our third-party manufacturers’ and suppliers’ activities involve the generation, storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials, including the components of its product candidates, such as genetically modified cells, and other hazardous compounds and wastes. We and our third-party manufacturers and suppliers are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other matters, the use, manufacture, generation, storage, handling, transportation, discharge and disposal of these hazardous materials and wastes and worker health and safety. In some cases, these hazardous materials and various wastes resulting from their use may be stored at our facilities and our third-party manufacturers’ facilities pending their use and disposal. In addition, we and our third-party manufacturers must supply all necessary documentation in support of a BLA or equivalent foreign application on a timely basis and must comply with the FDA’s applicable regulations, including GLP and cGMP and equivalent foreign provisions. The facilities and quality systems of some or all of our third-party manufacturers and suppliers, as well as any facilities and quality systems it may have in the future, must pass a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable regulations as a condition of regulatory approval of our product candidates or any of our other potential products. In addition, the regulatory authorities may, at any time, audit or inspect a manufacturing facility involved with the preparation of our product candidates or its other potential products or the associated quality systems for compliance with the regulations applicable to the activities being conducted. If these facilities do not pass a pre-approval plant inspection, FDA approval, or comparable foreign approval of the products will not be granted. The regulatory authorities also may, at any time following approval of a product for sale, audit our manufacturing facilities or those of our third-party manufacturers and suppliers. If any such inspection or audit identifies a failure to comply with applicable regulations or if a violation of our product specifications or applicable regulations occurs independent of such an inspection or audit, we or the relevant regulatory authority may require remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for us or a third party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical trial or commercial sales or the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon us or third parties with whom it contracts could materially harm our business.

If we or any of our third-party manufacturers fail to maintain regulatory compliance, the FDA, or comparable foreign authority, can impose regulatory sanctions including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending application for a new drug product or biologic product, or revocation or variation of a pre-existing approval.

Additionally, if supply from one approved manufacturer is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply. An alternative manufacturer would need to be qualified and approved through a BLA supplement, or equivalent foreign step, which could result in further delay. The regulatory agencies may also require additional studies if a new manufacturer is relied upon for commercial production. Switching manufacturers may involve substantial costs and is likely to result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines.

These factors could cause the delay of clinical trials, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of our product candidates, cause us to incur higher costs and prevent us from commercializing our products successfully.

Furthermore, if our suppliers fail to meet contractual requirements, and we are unable to secure one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, our clinical trials may be delayed or we could lose potential revenue.

We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury, which could result in an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development efforts and business operations, damages and significant cleanup costs and liabilities under applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. We also cannot guarantee that the safety procedures utilized by our third-party manufacturers for handling and disposing of these materials and wastes generally comply with the standards prescribed by these laws and regulations. We may be held liable for any resulting damages costs or liabilities, which could exceed our resources, and state or federal or other applicable authorities may curtail our use of certain materials and/or interrupt our business operations. Furthermore, environmental, health and safety laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance. Failure to comply with these environmental, health and safety laws and regulations may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

We have established a partnership with CytoLynx for the development and commercialization of our NY-303 bispecific antibody in greater China and there are substantial operational, financial, regulatory and political risks with this collaboration

We are dependent on CytoLynx for the development of our NY-303 bispecific antibody for commercialization in greater China. There are substantial operational, financial, regulatory and political risks with this collaboration. There is no guarantee that CytoLynx can adequately transfer the required know how from Naya to ensure timely manufacturing and clinical development in China. The China development may require substantial investments and CytoLynx may not be able to raise sufficient capital to fund its operations and therefore we may not realize part of all of the potential $157 million in revenue as described above in the Key Third Party Relationship section.

Accordingly, our partnership with CytoLynx is affected significantly by economic, political and legal developments in China. The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including:

While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth in the past 30 years, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The Chinese economy has also experienced certain adverse effects due to the recent global financial crisis. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may also have a negative effect on us. For example, our operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations that are applicable to us, and by government policies or guidance aimed at curtailing the perceived over-capacity of certain industry sectors, such as pharmaceutical companies. The Chinese government has implemented certain measures, including interest rate increases, to control the pace of economic growth. These measures may cause decreased economic activity in China, which could in turn reduce the demand for our products and materially and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

The Chinese government also exercises significant control over Chinese economic growth through the allocation of resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

Any adverse change in the economic conditions or government policies in China could have a material and adverse effect on overall economic growth and the level of investments in health industries in China, which in turn could lead to a reduction in demand for our products and consequently have a material and adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

Our products incorporate intellectual property rights developed by us that may be difficult to protect or may be found to infringe on the rights of others.

While we currently have U.S. and international patents pending, these potential patents may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, and ultimately may not be granted. In addition, any rights granted under these potential patents may not provide any competitive advantages. Certain countries, including the United States and in Europe, could place restrictions on the patentability of various medical devices which may materially affect our business and competitive position. Additionally, the laws of some foreign countries, in particular China and India, do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as U.S. laws, and we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our proprietary rights in these countries. In addition to relying on patent, copyright and trademark laws, we also utilize a combination of trade secrets, confidentiality policies, non-disclosure and other contractual arrangements to protect our intellectual property rights. However, these measures may not be adequate to prevent or deter infringement or other misappropriation. Further, our intellectual property rights may be found to infringe on intellectual property rights of third parties. Moreover, we may not be able to detect unauthorized use or take appropriate and timely steps to establish and enforce our proprietary rights. Existing laws of some countries in which we conduct business offer only limited protection of our intellectual property rights, if at all. As the number of market entrants as well as the complexity of technology in the fertility marketplace increases, the possibility of functional overlap and inadvertent infringement of intellectual property rights also increases.

We may be forced to defend our intellectual property rights from infringement through expensive legal action.

Third parties may in the future assert claims against us alleging infringement on their intellectual property rights. Defending such claims may be expensive, time consuming and divert the efforts of our management and/or technical personnel. Because of litigation, we could be required to pay damages and other compensation, develop non-infringing products or enter into royalty and/or licensing agreements. However, we cannot be certain that any such licenses, will be made available to us on commercially reasonable terms.

We regard our trade secrets, patents and similar intellectual property as important to our operations. To protect our proprietary rights, we rely on intellectual property and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality and license agreements with certain employees, customers and third parties. No assurance can be given that our intellectual property will not be challenged, invalidated, infringed or circumvented. If necessary, we intend to defend our intellectual property rights from infringement through legal action, which could be very costly and could adversely affect our ability to achieve and maintain profitability. Our limited capital resources could put us at a disadvantage if we are required to take legal action to enforce our intellectual property rights.

Any failure to obtain, maintain, protect, or enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights, or if the scope of intellectual property protection we obtain are not sufficiently broad, that could impair our ability to compete or protect its proprietary technology and brand.

We rely, and will continue to rely, upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection, and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our proprietary manufacturing methods, proprietary technologies, product candidate development programs, and product candidates. Our success depends in large part on our ability to secure and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our current product candidates and any future product candidates we may develop.

Within NAYA Therapeutics, we own a total of twenty-four (24) pending patent applications in two families. Each family includes one (1) US patent application, one (1) 1 European patent application, and ten (10) patent applications in other foreign jurisdictions. One family based on WO 2022/216744 covers CYT303; while the other family based on WO 2022/216723 covers CYT338. The Kadouche/CNRS multispecific antibody license for CYT303 and CYT338 includes thirteen (13) patents and patent applications, including three (3) granted US patents and one (1) pending US patent applications, two (2) granted European patents and one (1) pending European patent application, and six (6) granted patents in other foreign jurisdictions. We license from Yissum ten (10) pending patent applications for CYT303 and CYT338, which include one (1) US patent application, one (1) European patent application, and eight (8) patent applications in other foreign jurisdictions. We license from INSERM five (5) pending patent applications for CYT338, of which one (1) is a US patent application, one (1) is European, and 3 are in other foreign jurisdictions. Within NAYA Women’s Health, we currently have U.S. and international patents pending.

We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing or collaborating with licensors to file patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our proprietary technologies, development programs, and product candidates. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Moreover, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain.

Composition of matter patents for biological and pharmaceutical product candidates often provide a strong form of intellectual property protection for those types of products, as such patents provide protection without regard to any method of use. We cannot be certain that the claims in our pending patent applications directed to composition of matter of our product candidates will be considered patentable by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) or by patent offices in foreign countries. Method of use patents protect the use of a product for the specified method. This type of patent does not prevent a competitor from making and marketing a product that is identical to our product for an indication that is outside the scope of the patented method. Method of manufacturing patents protect the manufacturing process. This type of patent does not prevent a competitor from making and marketing a product that is identical to our product, but manufactured by a method that is outside the scope of the patented manufacturing method. Moreover, even if a competitor’s manufacturing process does infringe or contribute to the infringement of method of manufacturing patents, such infringement is difficult to detect and therefore difficult to prevent or prosecute.

It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. We may not have the right to control the preparation, filing, and prosecution of patent applications or to maintain the rights to patents licensed from or licensed to third parties. Therefore, these patents and patent applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. The patent applications that we own or in-license may fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover our proprietary products and technology, including current product candidates, any future product candidates we may develop, and our FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody technologies in the United States or in other foreign countries, in whole or in part. Alternately, our existing patents and any future patents we obtain may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from using our technology or from developing competing products and technologies. It is possible that not all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications have been found, which can prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application or can later invalidate or narrow the scope of an issued patent. For example, publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. Even if patents do successfully issue and even if such patents cover our current product candidates, any future product candidates we may develop, and FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody technologies, third parties may challenge their validity, ownership, enforceability, or scope thereof, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable or circumvented. Any successful challenge to these patents or any other patents owned by or licensed to us could deprive us of rights necessary for the successful commercialization of any of our product candidates or proprietary technology. In addition, the issuance of a patent does not give us the right to practice the patented invention. Third parties may have blocking patents that could prevent us from marketing our product candidates, if approved, or practicing our own patented technology. Our competitors may be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative product candidates in a non-infringing manner. Further, if we encounter delays in regulatory approvals, the period of time during which it could market a product candidate and its FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody platform under patent protection could be reduced. If any of our patents expire or are challenged, invalidated, circumvented, or otherwise limited by third parties prior to the commercialization of our product candidates, and if we do not own or have exclusive rights to other enforceable patents protecting our product candidates or technologies, competitors and other third parties could market products and use processes that are substantially similar, or superior, to ours, and our business would suffer.

If the patent applications we hold or in-license with respect to our product candidates fail to issue, if the validity, breadth, or strength of protection of the resulting patents is threatened, or if the resulting patents fail to provide meaningful exclusivity for any of our current or future product candidates or technology, that could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to develop product candidates, encourage competitors to develop competing products or technologies, and threaten our ability to commercialize future product candidates. Any such outcome could harm our business.

We are party to several intellectual property license agreements which are important to our business, and we expect to enter into additional license agreements in the future. Our existing license agreements impose, and we expect that future license agreements will impose, various diligence, development, and commercialization timelines, milestone payments, royalties and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, or if we are subject to a bankruptcy, or, in some cases, under other circumstances, a licensor may have the right to terminate the respective license, in which event we would not be able to market such product candidate(s) covered by such license.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies is generally highly uncertain, involves complex legal, scientific, and factual questions, and is characterized by the existence of large numbers of patents and frequent litigation based on allegations of patent or other intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or violation. The standards that the USPTO and its foreign counterparts use to grant patents are not always applied predictably or uniformly. In addition, the laws of jurisdictions outside the United States may not protect our 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. For example, European patent law restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than United States law does. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. Since patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are confidential for a period of time after filing, we cannot be certain that we were the first to file for patents covering our inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in the issuance of patents, or may result in the issuance of patents which fail to protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which fail to effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, ownership, scope, validity, or enforceability, and our owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the U.S. and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of ownership or exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. We may become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review, or interference proceedings challenging our owned or licensed patent rights. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding, or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. Thus, even if our patent applications issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with meaningful protection, prevent competitors from competing with us, or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage.

Moreover, patents have a limited lifespan. The term of an individual patent depends on applicable law in the country where the patent is issued. In the U.S., the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its application filing date or earliest claimed non-provisional filing date. Various extensions may be available; however, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Without patent protection for our current or future product candidates, we may be open to competition from biosimilar versions of such products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing, and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to our own.

We depend on intellectual property licensed from third parties, and any failure to comply with our obligations under our license agreements or a termination of any of these license agreements could result in the loss of significant rights, which would harm our business.

We have entered into license agreements with third parties and may need to obtain additional licenses from our existing licensors and others to advance our research or allow commercialization of product candidates and technologies we may develop.

In most of our license agreements (and we expect in our future agreements), we have the right under specified conditions to bring any actions against any third party for infringing on the patents we has exclusively licensed. Certain of our license agreements also require us to meet development thresholds and other obligations to maintain the license, including establishing a set timeline for developing and commercializing products. Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing agreement, including the following:

In addition, the agreements under which we currently license intellectual property or technology from third parties are complex, and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on commercially acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

Our existing license agreements impose (and we expect that future license agreements will impose) various diligence, development, and commercialization timelines, milestone payments, royalties, and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under our license agreements, our licensors may have the right to terminate these license agreements, in which event we might not be able to market any product or technology that is covered by these agreements, which could adversely affect the value of the product candidate being developed under the respective license agreement. Termination of these license agreements or reduction or elimination of our licensed rights may also result in us having to negotiate new or reinstated licenses with less favorable terms.

We may rely on our licensors to file and prosecute patent applications and maintain patents and otherwise protect the intellectual property we license from them. We may have limited control over these activities. For example, we cannot be certain that such activities by these licensors will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or will result in valid and enforceable patents or other intellectual property rights. We may have limited control over the manner in which one of our licensors initiate an infringement proceeding against a third party who infringes, misappropriates, or otherwise violates such licensor’s intellectual property rights licensed to us, or defend such intellectual property rights. It is possible that the licensor’s infringement proceeding or defense activities may be less vigorous than if we were to conduct them ourselves.

In spite of our best efforts, our licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our license agreements and might therefore terminate (or seek to terminate) the license agreements, thereby removing our ability to develop and commercialize products and technology covered by these license agreements. If these in-licenses are terminated, or if the underlying patents fail to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors would have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products identical to our own. In addition, we may seek to obtain additional licenses from our licensors and, in connection with obtaining such licenses, we may agree to amend our existing licenses in a manner that may be more favorable to the licensors, including by agreeing to terms that could enable third parties (potentially including our competitors) to receive licenses to a portion of the intellectual property that is subject to its existing licenses. The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive practice, and companies that may be more established, or have greater resources than we do, may also be pursuing strategies to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights that we may consider necessary or attractive in order to commercialize our product candidates. We may fail to obtain any of these third-party intellectual property rights at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. Any of these events could harm our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement may prevent or delay our product discovery and development efforts.

Our commercial success depends in part on avoiding the infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing our product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, and as we gain greater visibility and market exposure as a public company, the risk increases that our product candidates may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. In addition, many companies in intellectual property-dependent industries, including the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, have employed intellectual litigation as a means to gain an advantage over their competitors. Some claimants may have substantially greater resources than we do and may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation to a greater degree and for longer periods of time than we could.

Third parties may assert that we infringe their patents or are otherwise employing their proprietary technology without authorization and may sue us. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may be alleged to infringe. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that our technologies infringe upon these patents. If any third-party patent were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the manufacturing process of any of our product candidates, constructs, or molecules used in or formed during the manufacturing process, or any final therapeutic itself, the holder of any such patent may be able to block our ability to commercialize the therapeutic candidate unless we obtain a license under the applicable patent, or until such patent expires, or it is finally determined to be held not infringed, unpatentable, invalid, or unenforceable. Similarly, if any third-party patent were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our formulations, processes for manufacture, or methods of use, including combination therapy or patient selection methods, the holder of any such patent may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the product candidate unless we obtain a license or until such patent expires or is finally determined to be held not infringed, unpatentable, invalid, or unenforceable. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license to a third-party patent on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, our ability to commercialize our product candidates may be impaired or delayed, which could in turn significantly harm our business. Moreover, even if we were able to obtain a license, the rights may be nonexclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property.

Parties making claims against us may seek and obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of management and employee resources from our business and may impact our reputation. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees, for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties, or redesign our infringing products, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. We cannot predict whether any such license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or administrative proceedings, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure. There could also be public announcements of the results of the hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors view these announcements in a negative light, the price of our shares of common stock could be adversely affected. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation or administrative proceeding could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise additional funds or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We may be subject to claims asserting that our employees, consultants, or advisors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Certain of our employees, consultants, or advisors are currently, or were previously, employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, and advisors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that these individuals or that we have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such individual’s current or former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel and face increased competition to business. A loss of key research personnel work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize potential technologies and solutions, which could harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

In addition, we may in the future be subject to claims by our former employees, consultants, or advisors asserting an ownership right in our patents or patent applications, as a result of the work they performed on our behalf. Although it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own, and we cannot be certain that our agreements with such parties will be upheld in the face of a potential challenge or that they will not be breached, for which we may not have an adequate remedy. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful. Further, our issued patents could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court.

Competitors may infringe our intellectual property rights or those of our licensors. To prevent infringement or unauthorized use, we and/or our licensors may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Further, our licensors may need to file infringement claims, and our licensors may elect not to file such claims. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent NAYA Therapeutics owns or licenses is not valid, is unenforceable and/or is not infringed. If we or any of our licensors or potential future collaborators were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent directed at one of our product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable in whole or in part. In a patent litigation, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge include an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty or written description, obviousness or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could include an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent intentionally withheld material information from the USPTO or made a misleading statement during prosecution.

If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on such product candidate. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications or those of our licensors is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop, or commercialize current or future product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to our intellectual property rights may cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. Such litigation or proceedings could result in or substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing, or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources. Damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could compromise our ability to compete in the marketplace.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or other legal proceedings relating to our intellectual property rights, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation or other proceedings.

Changes in U.S. patent law or the patent law of other countries or jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our current and any future product candidates.

Obtaining and enforcing patents in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry is inherently uncertain, due in part to ongoing changes in the patent laws. Depending on decisions by Congress, the federal courts, the USPTO, and comparable institutions in other jurisdictions, the laws and regulations governing patents, and interpretation thereof, could change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our and our licensors’ or collaborators’ ability to obtain new patents or to enforce existing or future patents. For example, in recent years the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have ruled on several patent cases that have been interpreted to have either narrowed the scope of patent protection or weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. Therefore, there is increased uncertainty with regard to our and our licensors’ or collaborators’ ability to obtain patents in the future, as well as uncertainty with respect to the value of patents once obtained. Recent patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our and our licensors’ or collaborators’ patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our or our licensors’ or collaborators’ issued patents.

Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO proceedings to invalidate our patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party as a defendant in a district court action.

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we own, have licensed, or might obtain in the future. Similarly, changes in patent law and regulations in other countries or jurisdictions, changes in the governmental bodies that enforce them, or changes in how the relevant governmental authority enforces patent laws or regulations may weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we own or have licensed or that we may obtain in the future.

Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product candidates for an adequate amount of time. If we or our licensors do not obtain patent term extension for our product candidates, our business may be materially harmed.

Given the amount of time required for the development, testing, and regulatory review of product candidates such as NY-303, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. We expect to seek extensions of patent terms in the United States and, if available, in other countries where we have or will obtain patent rights. In the United States, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 permits a patent term extension of up to five years beyond the normal expiration of the patent. However, the extension cannot extend the total patent term beyond 14 years from the date of drug approval, which is limited to the approved indication (or any additional indications approved during the period of extension). Furthermore, only one patent per approved product can be extended and only those claims covering the approved product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. However, the applicable authorities, including the FDA and the USPTO in the United States, and any comparable regulatory authority in other countries, may not agree with our assessment of whether such extensions are available, and may refuse to grant extensions to our patents, or may grant more limited extensions than we request. If this occurs, the period during which we can enforce our patent rights for the applicable product candidate will be shortened and our competitors may obtain approval to market competing products sooner. Additionally, our competitors may be able to take advantage of our investment in development and clinical trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Although we have rights to issued patents and pending patent applications in the United States and certain other countries, filing, prosecuting, and defending patents in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we or our licensors have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our product candidates, and our or our licensors’ patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of many foreign countries do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our or our licensors’ patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights. Proceedings to enforce our or our licensors’ patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our or our licensors’ patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our or our licensors’ patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We or our licensors may not prevail in any lawsuits that we or our licensors initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our or our licensors’ efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

Many countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patent. If we or our licensors are forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.

We may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope, or expiration of a third-party patent, which might adversely affect our ability to develop, manufacture, and eventually market product candidates.

We are developing certain product candidates in highly competitive areas and cannot guarantee that any patent searches or analyses that we may conduct, including the identification of relevant patents or pending patent applications, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending patent application in the United States and abroad that is or may be relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our product candidates in any jurisdiction. For example, U.S. patent applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain U.S. patent applications filed after that date that were not filed outside the United States remain confidential until patents issue. Patent applications in the United States and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing for which priority is claimed, with such earliest filing date being commonly referred to as the priority date. Therefore, patents or pending patent applications covering our product candidates could have been or may be filed in the future by third parties without our knowledge. Additionally, patents and pending patent applications that have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our product candidates or the manufacturing or use of our product candidates. The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent, and the patent’s prosecution history. our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending patent application may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to market our product candidates. We may incorrectly determine that our product candidates are not covered by a third-party patent or pending patent application or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our product candidates. Our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents or pending patent applications may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our product candidates.

If we fail to identify or correctly interpret relevant patents or pending patent applications or if we are unable to obtain licenses to relevant patents or pending patent applications, we may be subject to infringement claims. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully settle or otherwise resolve such infringement claims. If we fail in any such dispute, in addition to being forced to pay damages, potentially including in the form of future royalties, which may be significant, we may be temporarily or permanently prohibited from commercializing any of our product candidates that are held to be infringing. We might, if possible, also be forced to redesign one or more product candidates so that such candidate no longer infringes the third-party intellectual property rights. Any of these events, even if we were ultimately to prevail, could require us to divert substantial financial and management resources that we would otherwise be able to devote to our business and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent rights depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment, and other requirements imposed by government patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for noncompliance with these requirements.

The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment, and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In addition, periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees, and various other government fees on patents and/or patent applications will have to be paid to the USPTO and various government patent agencies outside the United States over the lifetime of our owned and licensed patents and/or applications and any patent rights we may own or license in the future. We rely on our service providers or our licensors (or their service providers) to pay these fees. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply, and we are also dependent on our licensors to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to our licensed intellectual property. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, nonpayment of fees, and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we, our service providers, or our licensors (or their service providers) fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or technologies, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing products that are the same as or similar to our product candidates, which would have an adverse effect on our business. In many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. There are situations, however, in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, potential competitors might be able to enter the market and this circumstance could harm our business.

In addition, if we fail to apply for or otherwise fail to obtain applicable patent term extensions or adjustments, we will have a more limited time during which we can enforce our granted patent rights. In addition, if we are responsible for patent prosecution and maintenance of patent rights in-licensed to us, any of the foregoing could expose us to liability to the applicable patent owner.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

In addition to seeking patent and trademark protection for our product candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology, and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our trade secrets, in part, by entering into nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors, and other third parties. We have also entered into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees, advisors, and consultants. Despite these efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets. Further, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or has had access to our trade secrets or other proprietary information. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures of our intellectual property is difficult, and NAYA Therapeutics does not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be effective. In addition, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets.

Moreover, our competitors may independently develop knowledge, methods, and know-how equivalent to our trade secrets. Competitors could purchase our products and replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts for technologies on which we do not have patent protection. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed.

We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and other confidential information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations, and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached, and detecting the disclosure or misappropriation of confidential information and enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated confidential information is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Further, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our confidential information may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors, in which case we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us.

Any trademarks we may obtain may be infringed or successfully challenged, resulting in harm to our business.

We rely and expect to continue to rely on trademarks as one means to distinguish any of our product candidates that are approved for marketing from the products of our competitors. We have a registered trademark for our FLEX-NK™ cell engager antibody platform, but have not yet selected trademarks for our product candidates and have not yet begun the process of applying to register trademarks for our current or any future product candidates. Once we select trademarks and apply to register them, our trademark applications may not be approved. Third parties may oppose our trademark applications or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. If our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Our competitors may infringe our trademarks, and we may not have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

In addition, any proprietary name we propose to use with our current or any other product candidate in the United States must be approved by the FDA, regardless of whether we have registered it, or applied to register it, as a trademark. The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product names, including an evaluation of the potential for confusion with other product names. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed proprietary product names, we may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable proprietary product name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties, and be acceptable to the FDA.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our business.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights are uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business. The following examples are illustrative:

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

Our secured debt instruments and preferred stock contain numerous restrictive covenants that limit management’s discretion to operate our business.

In both our secured debt instruments and our certificate of designation for our series C-2 preferred stock, we agreed to certain covenants that place significant restrictions on, among other things, our ability to incur additional indebtedness, to create liens or other encumbrances, to make certain payments and investments, and to sell or otherwise dispose of assets and merge or consolidate with other entities. Any failure to comply with the covenants included in the secured debt instruments could result in an event of default, which could trigger an acceleration of the related debt. If we were unable to repay the debt upon any such acceleration, our senior lenders could seek to foreclose on our assets in an effort to seek repayment under the loans. If our lenders were successful, we would be unable to conduct our business as it is presently conducted and our ability to generate revenues and fund our ongoing operations would be materially adversely affected.

If we are unable to maintain compliance with all applicable continued listing requirements and standards of Nasdaq, our common stock will be delisted from Nasdaq.

Our common stock is currently listed on Nasdaq. In order to maintain that listing, we must satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders’ equity, minimum share price, and certain corporate governance requirements.

Minimum Equity Rule

On April 17, 2024, we received a notice from Nasdaq’s Listing Qualifications Staff stating that it had determined to delist our securities as a result of us having reported stockholders’ equity, for the period ended December 31, 2023, that was not in compliance with Nasdaq’s Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) (the “Equity Rule”). The Equity Rule requires our stockholders’ equity to meet or exceed $2,500,000. Normally, Nasdaq listed companies may be provided up to 180 calendar days in which to regain compliance with the Equity Rule. However, we were not eligible for such compliance period as we remained under Panel monitoring having regained compliance previously with the Equity Rule on November 22, 2023.

Upon receipt of the delisting notice, we requested a Panel hearing to ask for additional time to regain Equity Rule compliance. At a Panel hearing held on June 6, 2024, we requested an extension until October 14, 2024, which represents the maximum amount of time grantable by the Panel under Nasdaq rules.

On November 4, 2024, we received a notice from Nasdaq’s Listing Qualifications Staff stating that we had determined that we have demonstrated compliance with the equity requirement of the Equity Rule but that we will be subject to a Mandatory Panel Monitor for a period of one year from October 14, 2024.

If we fail to maintain compliance with the Equity Rule our common stock may be delisted from Nasdaq which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Minimum Bid Price

On September 18, 2024, we received a letter from the Staff indicating that we failed to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share for the prior 34 consecutive days and, as such, no longer satisfied Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Minimum Bid Rule”). In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were provided a grace period of 180 calendar days, or until March 17, 2025, to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule.

On March 18, 2025, we effected a 1-for-12 reverse stock split (the “March 2025 Reverse Split”) in an effort to evidence compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule. To regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule, an issuer must evidence a closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10, but generally not more than 20, consecutive trading days.

On March 25, 2025, we were notified by the Staff that because we did not evidence compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule by March 17, 2025, the Staff determined that our securities should be delisted from Nasdaq. 

As of the close of business on March 31, 2025, we evidenced a closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share for 10 consecutive business days and, on March 31, 2025, the Staff determined that we had regained compliance with the Minimum Bid Rule. Accordingly, our securities are no longer subject to delisting under the Minimum Bid Rule and the listing matter has been closed.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain compliance with the continued listing requirements for Nasdaq. If we fail to maintain compliance with any such continued listing requirement, there can also be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with any such continued listing requirement in the future or that our common stock will not be delisted from Nasdaq Stock Market in the future.

Timely Filing

On April 16, 2025, we, received a letter from the Staff indicating that we failed to file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 (the “Filing”), on a timely basis and, as such, no longer satisfy Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) (the “Timely Filing Rule”).

The letter had no immediate effect on the listing of our common stock.

The letter also stated that, in accordance with Nasdaq rules, we have 60 calendar days from the date of the letter to submit a plan to regain compliance with the Timely Filing Rule. Should the Staff accept such plan, it could grant an exception of up to 180 calendar days from the Filing’s due date, or until October 13, 2025, to regain compliance.

If we were to be delisted, we would expect our common stock to be traded in the over-the-counter market which could adversely affect the liquidity of our common stock. Additionally, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow our common stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our common stock, prevent our common stock from dropping below the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement, or prevent future non-compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements.

Our common stock is subject to risks arising from restrictions on reliance on Rule 144 by shell companies or former shell companies.

Under a SEC rule known as “Rule 144”, a person who has beneficially owned restricted securities of an issuer and who is not an affiliate of that issuer may sell them without registration under the Securities Act provided that certain conditions have been met. However, Rule 144 is unavailable for the resale of securities issued by an issuer that is a shell company or that has been at any time previously a shell company. The SEC defines a shell company as a company that has no or nominal operations and either (i) no or nominal assets, (ii) assets consisting solely of cash and cash equivalents, or (iii) assets consisting of any amount of cash and cash equivalents and nominal other assets. We are a former shell company.

The SEC has provided an exception to this unavailability if and for as long as the following conditions are met: (a) the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company; (b) the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; (c) the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and materials required to be filed, as applicable during the preceding 12 months, other than certain Current Reports on Form 8-K; and (d) at least one (1) year has elapsed form the time the issuer filed current comprehensive disclosure with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that it is not a shell company.

Because of our prior history as a shell company, stockholders who receive our restricted securities will only be able to sell them pursuant to Rule 144 without registration for only as long as we continue to meet the requirements set forth above. No assurance can be given that we will meet these requirements going forward. Furthermore, any non-registered securities we sell in the future or issue will have limited or no liquidity until and unless such securities are registered with the SEC and/or until we comply with the foregoing requirements.

As a result, it may be harder for us to raise funding through the sale of debt or equity securities unless we agree to register such securities with the SEC, which could require us to deploy additional resources. In addition, if we are unable to attract additional capital, it could have an adverse impact on our ability to implement our business plan and/or sustain our operations. Our status as a former “shell company” could prevent us from raising additional funds to develop additional technological advancements, which could cause the value of our securities to decline in value.

Our directors have the right to authorize the issuance of shares of our preferred stock and additional shares of our common stock.

Our directors, within the limitations and restrictions contained in our articles of incorporation and without further action by our shareholders, have the authority to issue shares of preferred stock from time to time in one or more series and to fix the number of shares and the relative conversion and voting rights, and terms of redemption, liquidation preferences and any other preferences, special rights and qualifications of any such series. While we have no intention of issuing shares of preferred stock at the present time, we may seek to raise capital through the sale of our securities and may issue shares of preferred stock in connection with a particular investment. Any issuance of shares of preferred stock could adversely affect the rights of holders of our common stock.

Should we issue additional shares of our common stock, each investor’s ownership interest in our stock would be proportionally reduced.

The indemnification rights provided to our directors, officers and employees may result in substantial expenditures by us and may discourage lawsuits against its directors, officers and employees.

Our articles of incorporation and applicable Nevada law provide for the indemnification of our directors, officers, employees. The foregoing indemnification obligations could result in us incurring substantial expenditures to cover the costs of settlement or damage awards against directors, officers, and employees, which we may be unable to recoup. These provisions and resultant costs may also discourage us from bringing a lawsuit against our directors and officers for breaches of their fiduciary duties and may similarly discourage the filing of derivative litigation by our stockholders against our directors or officers even though such actions, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders.

Our shares of common stock are thinly traded, and the price may not reflect our value; there can be no assurance that there will be an active market for our shares now or in the future.

We have a trading symbol for our common stock (“IVF”)  and our common stock is currently listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

Our shares of common stock are thinly traded, and as such the price, if traded, may not reflect our value. There can be no assurance that there will be an active market for our shares of common stock either now or in the future. The market liquidity will be dependent on, among other things, the perception of our operating business and any steps that our management might take to bring us to the awareness of investors. There can be no assurance given that there will be any awareness generated or, if given, that it will be positive.

Consequently, investors may not be able to liquidate their investment or may be able to liquidate it only at a price that does not reflect the value of the business. If a more active market should develop, the price may be highly volatile. Due to the possibility of our common stock being priced lower than its actual value, many brokerage firms may not be willing to effect transactions in the securities. Even if an investor finds a broker willing to effect a transaction in the shares of our common stock, the combination of brokerage commissions, transfer fees, taxes, if any, and any other selling costs may exceed the selling price.

We do not expect to pay any dividends to shareholders.

To date, we have never declared or paid any dividends to our stockholders. Our Board does not intend to distribute dividends in the near future. The declaration, payment and amount of any future dividends will be made at the discretion of the Board, and will depend upon, among other things, the results of our operations, cash flows and financial conditions, operating and capital requirements, and other factors as the Board considers relevant. There is no assurance that future dividends will be paid to stockholders. In the event dividends are paid to stockholders, there is no assurance with respect to the amount of any such dividend.

Our revenue and operating results could fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, which may cause our stock price to decline.

Since our inception, we have not generated significant revenue. Our results from year-to-year and from quarter-to-quarter have, and are expected to continue to, vary significantly based on ordering cycles of distributors and partners. As a result, we expect period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful as an indication of our future performance for any future period.

We may have difficulty raising the necessary capital to fund operations and the required additional payments for the Wisconsin Fertility acquisition because of the thin market and market price volatility for our shares of common stock.

Throughout 2024, there has been a thin market for our shares, and the market price for our shares has been volatile. In recent years, the securities markets in the U.S. and around the world have experienced a high level of price and volume volatility, and the market price of securities of many companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have not necessarily been related to the operations, performances, underlying asset values or prospects of such companies. For these reasons, we expect our shares of common stock may also be subject to volatility resulting from market forces over which we will have no control. The success of our products and services may be dependent upon our ability to obtain additional financing through debt and equity or other means. The thin market for our shares, and the volatility in the market price for our shares, may adversely affect our ability to raise needed additional capital.

An active trading market for our common stock may not be sustained. If an active trading market is not sustained, our ability to raise capital in the future may be impaired.

There is limited history of trading for our common stock. Given the lack of trading history of our common stock, there is a risk that an active trading market for our shares may not be sustained, which could put downward pressure on the market price of our common stock and thereby affect your ability to sell shares you purchased. An inactive trading market for our common stock may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund the operations of the combined companies by selling shares and impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration.

The trading price of our common stock is highly volatile, which could result in substantial losses for purchasers of our common stock. Securities class action or other litigation involving our company or members of our management team could also substantially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our stock price is highly volatile. The stock market in general and the market for smaller pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. In addition, if the market for pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks or the broader stock market continues to experience a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition or results of operations. As a result of this volatility, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above the purchase price and you may lose some or all of your investment. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including the following:

● the success of existing or new competitive products or technologies;

● regulatory actions with respect to our product candidates or our competitors’ products and product candidates;

● announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, collaborations or capital commitments;

● the timing and results of clinical trials;

● commencement or termination of collaborations for our development programs;

● failure or discontinuation of any of our development programs;

● results of clinical trials of product candidates of our competitors;

● regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;

● developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;

● the recruitment or departure of key personnel;

● the level of expenses related to any of our product candidates or clinical development programs;

● the results of our efforts to develop additional product candidates or products;

● actual or anticipated changes in estimates as to financial results or development timelines;

● announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;

● sales of our common stock by us, our insiders or other stockholders;

● variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;

● changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, that cover us;

● changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;

● market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors;

● general economic, industry and market conditions; and

● the other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section.

In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of its securities. This risk is especially relevant for biopharmaceutical companies, which have experienced significant stock price volatility in recent years.

Related to Market Uncertainties

Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and stock price.

The global credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions in the past several years, including severe volatility resulting from U.S. trade policy and the threatened or actual implementation of tariffs, severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, volatile interest rates, rising and fluctuating inflation rates, reduced corporate profitability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates and uncertainty about economic stability. U.S. debt ceiling and budget deficit concerns have increased the possibility of additional credit-rating downgrades and economic slowdowns, or a recession in the United States. Although U.S. lawmakers passed legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling on multiple occasions, ratings agencies have lowered or threatened to lower the long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States. The impact of this or any further downgrades to the U.S. government’s sovereign credit rating or its perceived creditworthiness could adversely affect the U.S. and global financial markets and economic conditions. In addition, inflation rates in the U.S. have recently increased to levels not seen in decades.

We believe that the state of global economic conditions are particularly volatile and uncertain, not only in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential global recession resulting therefrom, but also due to recent global tensions and unexpected shifts in political, legislative and regulatory conditions concerning, among other matters, international trade and taxation, and that an uneven recovery or a renewed global downturn may negatively impact our ability to conduct clinical trials on the scale and timelines anticipated. There can be no assurance that further deterioration in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions will not occur. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, volatile business or political environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. If the current equity and credit markets deteriorate, it may make obtaining any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly and more dilutive. For example, as a result of political, social, and economic instability abroad, including as a result of armed conflict, war or threat of war, in particular, the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, including resulting sanctions, terrorist activity and other security concerns in general, there could be a significant disruption of global financial markets, impairing our ability to raise capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to delay or abandon clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current service providers, manufacturers and other partners may not survive an economic downturn, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget. To the extent that our profitability and strategies are negatively affected by downturns or volatility in general economic conditions, our business and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our business may be affected by new tariffs, U.S. trade policy, and trade wars.