Significant Accounting Policies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2023

1. Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Operations

FibroGen, Inc. (“FibroGen” or the “Company”) is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with subsidiary offices in Beijing and Shanghai, People’s Republic of China (“China”). FibroGen is a leading biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and commercializing a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutics. The Company applies its pioneering expertise in hypoxia-inducible factor (“HIF”) biology, 2-oxoglutarate enzymology, and connective tissue growth factor to advance innovative medicines for the treatment of anemia, fibrotic disease, and cancer.

Pamrevlumab, a human monoclonal antibody targeting connective tissue growth factor, is in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer, and ambulatory Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Pamrevlumab is also in Phase 2/3 development for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. To date, the Company has retained exclusive worldwide rights for pamrevlumab.

Roxadustat is an oral small molecule inhibitor of HIF prolyl hydroxylase activity. Roxadustat (爱瑞卓®, EVRENZOTM) is approved in China, Europe, Japan, and numerous other countries for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease for patients who are on dialysis and not on dialysis. Roxadustat is in clinical development for chemotherapy-induced anemia in China.

The Company has a pipeline of late-stage clinical programs as well as preclinical drug candidates at various stages of development that include both small molecules and biologics. FibroGen’s goal is to build a diversified pipeline with novel drugs that will address unmet patient needs in oncology, immunology, and fibrosis.

Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation

The condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of FibroGen, its wholly-owned subsidiaries and its majority-owned subsidiaries, as well as any variable interest entity (“VIE”) for which FibroGen is the primary beneficiary. All inter-company transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. For any VIE for which FibroGen is not the primary beneficiary, the Company uses the equity method of accounting.

The Company operates as one reportable segment — the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat serious unmet medical needs.

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) applicable to interim financial reporting and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and, therefore, do not include all information and footnote disclosures normally included in the annual consolidated financial statements. The financial information included herein should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed on February 27, 2023 (“2022 Form 10-K”).

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. The more significant areas requiring the use of management estimates and assumptions include valuation and recognition of revenue and deferred revenue, specifically, estimates in variable consideration for drug product sales, and estimates in transaction price per unit for the China performance obligation. On an ongoing basis, management reviews these estimates and assumptions. Changes in facts and circumstances may alter such estimates and actual results could differ from those estimates. In the Company’s opinion, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include all normal recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of its financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods presented.

Significant Accounting Policies

The accounting policies used by the Company in its presentation of interim financial results are consistent with those presented in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements included in the 2022 Form 10-K, except for the updates to the following:

Asset Acquisition

The Company evaluates acquisitions of entities or assets to assess whether or not the transaction should be accounted for as a business combination or asset acquisition by first applying a screen test to determine whether substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or group of similar identifiable assets. If this screen criteria is met, the transaction is accounted for as an asset acquisition. If not, further determination is required as to whether or not the Company has acquired inputs and processes that have the ability to create outputs which would meet the definition of a business. The Company measures and recognizes asset acquisitions that are not deemed to be business combinations based on the cost to acquire the assets, which includes transaction costs.

In an asset acquisition, the cost allocated to acquire in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) with no alternative future use is charged to research and development expense at the acquisition date. The Company recognizes assets acquired and liabilities assumed in asset acquisitions, including contingent assets and liabilities, and non-controlling interests (“NCI”) in the acquired assets at their estimated fair values as of the date of acquisition.

An NCI represents the non-affiliated equity interest in the underlying entity or asset. The Company presents redeemable NCI in its consolidated statements of changes in equity within mezzanine equity. Nonredeemable NCI and redeemable NCI are initially recorded at their fair values. Subsequently, net loss in the underlying entity or asset is only allocated to nonredeemable NCI. Net income in the underlying entity or asset is allocated to nonredeemable NCI and redeemable NCI based on their respective stated rights.

Net Loss per Share

Potential common shares that would have the effect of increasing diluted earnings per share are considered to be anti-dilutive and as such, these shares are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share. The Company reported a net loss for each of the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022. Therefore, dilutive common shares are not assumed to have been issued since their effect is anti-dilutive for these periods.

Diluted weighted average shares excluded the following potential common shares related to stock options, service-based restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance-based RSUs (“PRSUs”), total shareholder return (“TSR”) awards and shares to be purchased under the 2014 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) for the periods presented as they were anti-dilutive (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Employee stock options		9,701		10,164		8,857		9,837
RSUs, PRSUs and TSR awards		3,084		3,364		3,078		2,893
ESPP		747		645		554		559
		13,532		14,173		12,489		13,289

Risks and Uncertainties

The Company’s future results of operations involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results and cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, the results of clinical trials and the achievement of milestones, research developments, actions by regulatory authorities, market acceptance of the Company’s product candidates, competition from other products and larger companies, the liquidity and capital resources of the Company, intellectual property protection for the Company’s proprietary technology, strategic relationships, and dependence on key individuals, suppliers, clinical organization, and other third parties.