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Financial Condition and Business Plan
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Financial Condition and Business Plan

Note 3. Financial Condition and Business Plan

 

Since inception, the Company has incurred substantial operating losses, principally from expenses associated with the Company’s research and development programs, clinical trials conducted in connection with the Company’s product candidates, and applications and submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Company has not generated significant revenue and has incurred significant net losses in each year since our inception. As of September 30, 2020, the Company has incurred approximately $309 million of cumulative net losses and we had approximately $18.3 million in cash and cash equivalents. We have substantial future capital requirements to continue our research and development activities and advance our product candidates through various development stages. The Company believes these expenditures are essential for the commercialization of its technologies.

 

The Company expects its operating losses to continue for the foreseeable future as it continues its product development efforts, and when it undertakes marketing and sales activities. The Company’s ability to achieve profitability is dependent upon its ability to obtain governmental approvals, manufacture, and market and sell its new product candidates. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to commercialize its technology successfully or that profitability will ever be achieved. The operating results of the Company have fluctuated significantly in the past.

 

COVID-19 Pandemic

 

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) declared an outbreak of coronavirus, COVID-19, to be a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19. This virus has spread to over 100 countries, including the United States. Governments and businesses around the world have taken unprecedented actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including, but not limited to, shelter-in-place orders, quarantines, significant restrictions on travel, as well as restrictions that prohibit many employees from going to work. Uncertainty with respect to the economic impacts of the pandemic has introduced significant volatility in the financial markets. The Company did not observe significant impacts on its business or results of operations for the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2020 due to the global emergence of COVID-19. While the extent to which COVID-19 impacts the Company’s future results will depend on future developments, the pandemic and associated economic impacts could result in a material impact to the Company’s future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

The Company’s ability to raise additional capital may be adversely impacted by potential worsening global economic conditions and the recent disruptions to, and volatility in, financial markets in the United States and worldwide resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The disruptions caused by COVID-19 may also disrupt the clinical trials process and enrolment of patients. This may delay commercialization efforts. The Company continues to monitor its operating activities in light of these events, and it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. The specific impact, if any, is not readily determinable as of the date of these financial statements.

 

The actual amount of funds the Company will need to operate is subject to many factors, some of which are beyond the Company’s control. These factors include the following:

 

the progress of research activities;
   
the number and scope of research programs;
   
the progress of preclinical and clinical development activities;
   
the progress of the development efforts of parties with whom the Company has entered into research and development agreements;
   
the costs associated with additional clinical trials of product candidates;
   
the ability to maintain current research and development licensing arrangements and to establish new research and development and licensing arrangements;
   
the ability to achieve milestones under licensing arrangements;
   
the costs involved in prosecuting and enforcing patent claims and other intellectual property rights; and
   
the costs and timing of regulatory approvals.

 

  11  
 

 

On July 13, 2020, the Company announced that it has received a recommendation from the independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) to consider stopping the global Phase III OPTIMA Study of ThermoDox® in combination with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or primary liver cancer. The recommendation was made following the second pre-planned interim safety and efficacy analysis by the DMC on July 9, 2020. The DMC’s analysis found that the pre-specified boundary for stopping the trial for futility of 0.900 was crossed with an actual value of 0.903. The Company followed the advice of the DMC and considered its options to either stop the study or continue to follow patients after a thorough review of the data, and an evaluation of the probability of success. Timing for this decision was made less urgent by the fact that the OPTIMA Study has been fully enrolled since August 2018 and that the vast majority of the trial expenses have already been incurred. On August 4, 2020, the Company issued a press release announcing it will continue following patients for overall survival (“OS”), noting that the unexpected and marginally crossed futility boundary, suggested by the Kaplan-Meier analysis at the second interim analysis on July 9, 2020, may be associated with a data maturity issue. On October 12, 2020, the Company issued a letter to stockholders providing an update on the ongoing data analysis from its Phase III OPTIMA Study with ThermoDox® as well as growing interest among clinical investigators in conducting studies with ThermoDox® as a monotherapy or in combination with other therapies. In summary, the Company will continue to report findings from these independent statistical analyses before the end of the year, either or both of which will guide our decision to continue to follow patients to the final analysis at 197 or more deaths, a milestone that should be reached sometime in mid-2021.

 

During 2019 and 2018, the Company submitted applications to sell a portion of the Company’s State of New Jersey net operating losses as part of the Technology Business Tax Certificate Program sponsored by The New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Under the program, emerging biotechnology companies with unused NOLs and unused research and development credits are allowed to sell these benefits to other New Jersey-based companies. In 2018 and 2019, the Company sold NOLs totaling $13 million receiving net proceeds of $12.2 million. In June 2020 and as updated in September 2020, the Company filed an application with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to sell substantially all of its remaining State of New Jersey net operating losses totaling $2.0 million available under the program.

 

In June 2018, the Company entered into a Credit Agreement with Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (“Horizon”) that provided $10 million in capital (the “Horizon Credit Agreement”). The obligations under the Horizon Credit Agreement are secured by a first-priority security interest in substantially all assets of Celsion other than intellectual property assets. Payments under the loan agreement are interest only (calculated based on one-month LIBOR plus 7.625%) for the first twenty-four (24) months through July 2020, followed by a 24-month amortization period of principal and interest starting on August 1, 2020 and ending through the scheduled maturity date. On August 28, 2020, in connection with an Amendment to the Horizon Credit Agreement, Celsion repaid $5 million of the $10 million loan and $0.2 million in related end of term charges, and the remaining $5 million in obligations were restructured as more fully discussed in Note 10.

 

With $18.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and up to $2.0 million in potential proceeds from the sale of the 2019 State of New Jersey net operating losses, coupled with $10.8 million of remaining availability under the Capital-on-Demand™ Sales Agreement with JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC, as well as up to $24.5 million of remaining availability under the LPC Purchase Agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC, the Company believes it has sufficient capital resources to fund its operations through the end of 2021.

 

The Company has based its estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong. The Company may need to obtain additional funds sooner or in greater amounts than it currently anticipates. Potential sources of financing include strategic relationships, public or private sales of the Company’s shares or debt, the sale of the Company’s State of New Jersey net operating losses and other sources. If the Company raises funds by selling additional shares of common stock or other securities convertible into common stock, the ownership interest of existing stockholders may be diluted.