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Edesa Biotech, Inc.CIK 0001540159 · Pharmaceutical Preparations
We are a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative ways to treat inflammatory and immune-related diseases. Our approach is to acquire, develop and commercialize drug candidates based on mechanisms of action that have demonstrated proof-of-concept in human subjects. We prioritize our efforts… About this business →
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About Edesa Biotech, Inc.
Source: Item 1 (Business) from the 10-K filed December 12, 2025. Description as filed by the company with the SEC.
Item 1. BUSINESS.
Overview
We are a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative ways to treat inflammatory and immune-related diseases. Our approach is to acquire, develop and commercialize drug candidates based on mechanisms of action that have demonstrated proof-of-concept in human subjects. We prioritize our efforts on disease indications where there is compelling scientific rationale, no approved therapies or where there are unmet medical needs, and where there are large addressable market opportunities, among other factors. Our clinical pipeline is focused on two therapeutic areas: Medical Dermatology and Respiratory.
In Medical Dermatology we are developing EB06, an anti-CXCL10 monoclonal antibody candidate, as a therapy for vitiligo, a common autoimmune disorder that causes skin to lose its color in patches. CXCL10 has been shown to play a key role in the disease, and neutralization of CXCL10 has been demonstrated to both prevent and reverse depigmentation in animal models. To date, EB06 has demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile. We have received regulatory approval from Health Canada to conduct a Phase 2 proof of concept study of EB06 in patients with moderate-to-severe nonsegmental vitiligo and we are in discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for the same study. Subject to regulatory approval, we anticipate initiating enrollment by midyear 2026. Our Medical Dermatology assets also include EB01 (1.0% daniluromer cream), a Phase 3-ready asset developed for use as a potential therapy for moderate-to-severe chronic Allergic Contact Dermatitis (“ACD”), a common occupational skin condition. This asset is at the partnering stage.
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Our most advanced Respiratory drug candidate is EB05 (paridiprubart). Paridiprubart represents a new class of emerging therapies called Host-Directed Therapeutics (“HDTs”) that are designed to modulate the body’s own immune response when confronted with infectious diseases or even chemical agents. In October 2025, we reported that paridiprubart met primary and secondary endpoints with statistical significance, providing clinically meaningful improvement in survival and recovery, in a truncated Phase 3 clinical study of hospitalized patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (“ARDS”), a life-threatening form of respiratory failure. Paridiprubart is also being evaluated in an ongoing U.S. government-funded platform study investigating three novel threat-agnostic HDTs in hospitalized patients with ARDS. Certain development expenses, including manufacturing scale-up, for our EB05 program are also eligible for reimbursement from the Government of Canada under a 2023 grant and funding award. We are also pursuing additional uses for paridiprubart in chronic diseases.
Competitive Strengths
We believe that we possess a number of competitive strengths that position us to become a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on immuno-inflammatory diseases, including:
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Validated technology and drug development capabilities. We believe that the strength of our technologies and our drug development capabilities have been validated by our favorable clinical data, our multiple arrangements with third parties to develop and commercialize their clinical-stage drug candidates, more than C$37 million in competitive government grant and funding awards, and selection for a U.S. government-funded clinical study by experts from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (“BARDA”), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense, FDA and National Institutes of Health.
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Innovative pipeline addressing large underserved markets. Our product candidates include novel clinical-stage compounds and antibodies that have significant scientific rationale for effectiveness. By initially targeting large markets that have significant unmet medical needs, we believe that we can drive adoption of new products and improve our competitive position. For example, vitiligo affects up to 2% of the world’s population and ARDS is associated with approximately 10% of ICU admissions globally, yet both diseases have limited treatment options.
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Intellectual property protection and market exclusivity. We have opportunities to develop our competitive position through patents, trade secrets, technical know-how and continuing technological innovation. We have exclusive license rights in our target indications to multiple patents and pending patent applications in the U.S. and in various foreign jurisdictions. In addition to patent protection, we intend to utilize trade secrets and market exclusivity afforded to new chemical entities and biologics, where applicable, to enhance or maintain our competitive position.
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Experienced leadership. Our leadership team possesses core capabilities in dermatology, infectious diseases, gastrointestinal medicine, drug development and commercialization, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, and finance. Our founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pardeep Nijhawan, MD, FRCPC, AGAF, is a board-certified gastroenterologist and hepatologist with a successful track record of building life science businesses, including Exzell Pharma Inc., which was sold to BioLab Pharma in 2022, and Medical Futures, Inc., which was sold to Tribute Pharmaceuticals in 2015. In addition to our internal capabilities, we have also established a network of key opinion leaders, contract research organizations, contract manufacturing organizations and consultants. As a result, we believe we are well positioned to efficiently develop novel treatments for inflammatory and immune-related diseases.
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Our Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to develop and commercialize innovative drug products that address unmet medical needs for large, underserved markets with limited competition. Key elements of our strategy include:
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Prioritize the development and commercialization of later-stage product candidates. Our goal is to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize multiple clinical assets in our pipeline. We focus on disease indications that we believe have clear regulatory pathways and interest from potential licensing or development partners. Given the high capital requirement for pivotal clinical studies, our preferred strategy is to seek public and private partners for Phase 3 clinical testing and scale-up. We also plan to evaluate opportunities to apply, as applicable, for expedited regulatory review and orphan drug programs, which could potentially lead to accelerated clinical development and commercialization timelines for our product candidates.
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Maximize our current portfolio opportunity by expanding use across multiple indications. We aim to identify clinical-stage assets that have the potential to treat multiple diseases. Our assets are designed to modulate pathways that are implicated across a number of immune and inflammatory/allergic conditions. For example, we believe that our monoclonal antibody candidates have potential utility in additional indications, including chronic conditions like pulmonary fibrosis.
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Maximize the commercial potential of our product candidates via direct marketing or strategic arrangements. If our product candidates are successfully developed and approved, we plan to either build commercial infrastructure capable of directly marketing the products, or alternatively, outsource the sales and marketing of our products. We also plan to evaluate strategic licensing or partnering arrangements with pharmaceutical companies for the further development or commercialization of our drugs, where applicable, such as in areas or regions outside North America where a partner may contribute additional resources, infrastructure and expertise.
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In-license promising product candidates. We are applying our cost-effective development approach to advance and expand our pipeline. Our current product candidates are in-licensed from academic institutions or other biopharmaceutical companies, and, from time to time, we plan to identify, evaluate and potentially obtain rights to and develop additional assets. Our objective is to maintain a well-balanced portfolio with product candidates across various stages of development. We do not currently intend to invest significant capital in basic research, which can be expensive and time-consuming.
Medical Dermatology
Vitiligo
Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the loss of skin pigmentation in patches. It occurs when melanocytes, the pigment-producing skin cells, die or stop producing melanin. The extent of color loss from vitiligo is unpredictable and can affect the skin on any part of the body. It is estimated that vitiligo prevalence is between 0.5 to 2% of the global population. Vitiligo patients are not born with lesioned skin. Rather, unpigmented spots appear over time, with about 50% of patients having symptom onset before 20 years of age. There are two main forms of vitiligo: segmental, where depigmentation is limited to one area and side of the body, and nonsegmental (generalized), where patches of pale skin occur on both sides of the body, often symmetrically. Nonsegmental vitiligo is the most common type of vitiligo.
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At present, there is only one FDA-approved therapeutic indicated for repigmentation in vitiligo, a Janus Kinase (“JAK”) inhibitor cream (ruxolitinib); however, there is an increased risk of serious infections and malignancies associated with ruxolitinib. Similarly, off-label non-surgical therapies tend to be time-consuming, expensive, or prone to causing side effects. Common treatments include topical drugs, phototherapies and surgical interventions. Based on the availability and limitations of current treatments, we believe there is a significant need for well targeted and systemic immunotherapies.
EB06
EB06 is a fully human monoclonal antibody candidate that binds specifically and selectively to chemokine ligand 10 (“CXCL10”) and inhibits the interaction of CXCL10 with its receptors, CXCR3A and CXCR3B. CXCL10 plays an important role in both the innate and adaptive immune responses in patients with vitiligo. EB06 is currently formulated for intravenous administration, with plans for a potential subcutaneous formulation.
We believe that there is a significant scientific rationale to target CXCL10 in order to reduce disease symptoms and progression in vitiligo patients. CXCL10 is highly expressed in vitiligo patients and has been shown to play both a key role in the trafficking of anti-melanocytic T-cells to the epidermis (adaptive immune system response) as well as in inducing apoptosis (death) of melanocytes (innate immune response). Furthermore, neutralization of CXCL10 has been demonstrated to both prevent and reverse depigmentation in animal models.
We believe that EB06 has a number of anticipated advantages compared to other treatments available and under development for vitiligo, including: a) EB06’s mechanism of action addresses both the adaptive and innate immune systems’ roles in disease maintenance and progression; b) EB06 is designed to treat both lesional and non-lesional skin; c) as a systemic therapy, EB06 can treat larger body surface areas, including patients with lesions on >10% of their body surface area; d) EB06 is administered less frequently than topicals and oral medications; and e) targeted immunotherapies, like EB06, are designed to provide patients a safer and more effective option than drugs with known off-target effects or even Black Box warnings.
We have approval from Health Canada to conduct a Phase 2 study of EB06 in moderate to severe nonsegmental vitiligo patients. As planned, the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of EB06 in approximately 150 subjects, who will be administered intravenous infusions of either EB06 or placebo during the treatment period, followed by a follow-up period. The primary efficacy outcome measurement will be the percentage of patients achieving ≥50% decrease (improvement) from baseline in facial Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (“F-VASI50”). F-VASI is a composite measurement of the overall area of facial vitiligo patches and degree of depigmentation within patches. Before proceeding with enrollment in Canada, we may modify our current Canadian study design with Health Canada to conform the protocol with other jurisdictions. To conduct the planned study at U.S. investigational centers, we must first complete the manufacturing of the drug and submit related data to the FDA as part of an investigational new drug application (“IND”). To date, we have completed a process confirmation batch of EB06 and intend to initiate engineering and clinical-grade (“GMP”) manufacturing runs in the coming weeks. We anticipate data from these activities to be submitted to the FDA once the work is completed. Subject to regulatory approval, we anticipate initiating recruitment by midyear 2026. We anticipate topline results for this Phase 2 study could be available within as few as 9 to 12 months following regulatory clearance in the U.S.
In three previous clinical studies of 65 healthy volunteers and non-vitiligo subjects in total, EB06 has demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile. The first Phase 1 study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, ascending, single-dose study in 20 healthy subjects. Participants received single intravenous doses of EB06, ranging from 0.1 to 20 mg/kg. No deaths or serious adverse events (“AEs”) were reported. EB06 was generally safe and well tolerated at doses up to 20 mg/kg. A second Phase 1 study evaluated the effect of single doses of EB06 to generate proof-of-principle data on the neutralization of CXCL10 in an inflammatory setting in humans using an experimentally nickel-induced allergic contact dermatitis model. For this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 16 subjects were exposed to single intravenous doses of 180 and 720 mg of EB06. No deaths or serious AEs were reported, and EB06 was generally safe and well tolerated. A third, open-label, single-arm Phase 2 study investigating multiple administrations of EB06 in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis with an incomplete response to ursodeoxycholic acid (“UDCA”) was also completed. A total of 29 patients were treated with 10 mg/kg intravenous doses of EB06 every two weeks, for a total of 6 doses. No serious treatment-related AEs were reported. In addition, in a variety of pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo experiments, EB06 demonstrated the ability to neutralize the biological activity of CXCL10. In animal toxicology studies, EB06 was well-tolerated.
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Allergic Contact Dermatitis
Contact dermatitis is a common occupational and work-related skin condition. The disease can be either irritant contact dermatitis or ACD. Based on market research, we believe that together these conditions cost up to $2 billion annually in the U.S. as a result of lost work, reduced productivity, medical care and disability payments. Based on the prevalence data of contact allergy in the general population, which we sourced from scientific literature and market reports, we estimate that there are as many as 30 million people in the seven major markets (US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan) and Canada with ACD, and of these, we estimate that 40% have chronic exposure or frequent recurring exposure to a causative allergen. Based on the mechanism of action and topical delivery, we believe that the total addressable patient population for EB01 is as high as five million people in the seven major markets and Canada.
ACD is caused by an allergen interacting with skin and usually occurs on areas of the body that are open to the environment, with a high prevalence on the hands and face. Common allergens associated with ACD include plants, metals, plastics and resins, rubber additives, dyes, biocides, and various cosmetics. The disease is characterized by inflammation, erythema (redness), pruritus (itchiness), and blistering of the skin. Inflammation can vary from mild irritation and redness to open sores, depending on the type of irritant, the body part affected and the degree of sensitivity. ACD can become chronic if not treated or if the causative allergen is not removed. In many chronic cases, the causative allergen is unknown or difficult to avoid (as an example, the allergen is present in the workplace). The immune mechanisms involved in ACD are well documented. During the initial contact with the offending allergen, the immune system is sensitized. Upon subsequent contact, a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction (Type IV) occurs at the point of contact between the skin and the allergen. As a cell-mediated response, the immune reaction primarily involves the interaction of T cells with antigens rather than an antibody response.
EB01 (daniluromer)
EB01 is a potential first-in-class, topical vanishing cream containing a novel, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory compound. Daniluromer exerts its anti-inflammatory activity through the inhibition of certain pro-inflammatory enzymes known as secretory phospholipase 2, or sPLA2. These enzymes are secreted by immune cells upon their activation and produce arachidonic acid via phospholipid hydrolysis, which, in turn, initiates a broad inflammatory cascade. The sPLA2 enzyme family plays a key role in initiating inflammation associated with many diseases, and we believe that targeting the sPLA2 enzyme family with enzyme inhibitors will have a superior anti-inflammatory therapeutic effect because the inflammatory process will be inhibited at its inception rather than after inflammation has occurred. Our ACD development program is at the partnering stage following completion of a Phase 2b clinical study.
Respiratory
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
ARDS is a life-threatening form of respiratory failure characterized by an exaggerated and dysfunctional immune response, rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs, and hypoxia (an absence of enough oxygen in the tissues to sustain bodily functions). ARDS can be precipitated by a number of conditions including viral and bacterial pneumonia, sepsis, chest injury and even mechanical ventilation, among other causes. ARDS has historically accounted for 10% of ICU admissions, representing more than 3 million patients globally each year. Based on the prevalence data of ARDS, we estimate that there are as many as 600,000 ARDS-related admissions to ICUs each year in the seven major markets (U.S, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan) and Canada. According to medical literature, ICU stays for ARDS patients in the U.S. range from 7 to 21 days on average, at an average cost of more than $100,000 per patient.
For moderate to severe cases of ARDS, treatments remain limited and patients suffer high mortality rates. Countering the exaggerated innate immune response in ARDS patients has been a key area of interest among researchers. One of the most studied targets has been Toll-like receptor 4 (“TLR4”) - a key component of the innate immune system and an important mediator of inflammation. Since TLR4 detects molecules found in pathogens and also binds to endogenous molecules produced as a result of injury, it is a key receptor on which both infectious and noninfectious stimuli converge to induce a proinflammatory response.
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EB05 (paridiprubart)
EB05 is an intravenous formulation of paridiprubart, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody (mAb) that has been engineered to alter inflammatory signaling by binding to and blocking the activation of TLR4. Specifically, paridiprubart dampens TLR4 signaling by blocking receptor dimerization (and subsequent intracellular signaling cascades). The drug has demonstrated the ability to block signaling irrespective of the presence or concentration of the various molecules that frequently bind with TLR4, known as ligands. Based on this broad mechanism of action and clinical results to date, we believe that paridiprubart could ameliorate TLR4-mediated inflammation cascades in ARDS patients, thereby reducing lung injury, ventilation rates and mortality. We are currently exploring development and commercialization partnerships for paridiprubart as well as expedited regulatory pathways that may be available in certain jurisdictions.
Positive Phase 3 Results
In a Phase 3 clinical study, we evaluated paridiprubart (EB05) as a treatment for ARDS. Participants were 18 years or older, receiving Invasive Mechanical Ventilation (“IMV”) with or without additional organ support at the time of hospitalization. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to standard of care treatment (“SOC”) with paridiprubart (n=56), or SOC with placebo (n=48). Efficacy outcomes were 28-day and 60-day mortality and proportion of patients with a decrease of ≥ 2 points in the WHO Covid-19 Severity Scale (“WCSS”) at 28-days. We opted to discontinue enrollment early for business reasons.
The data from the Phase 3 study demonstrated that paridiprubart met primary and secondary endpoints with statistical significance. Paridiprubart led to a clinically significant reduction in mortality through 60 days, as well as a significant reduction in the proportion of patients requiring IMV.
Paridiprubart in the most conservative intention-to-treat (“ITT”) population met the primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful benefit for reduced mortality at 28 days. Patients treated with paridiprubart + SOC had a lower risk of death (39%) compared to those receiving placebo (52%), representing an absolute improvement in survival of 13% at 28 days with paridiprubart demonstrating a relative reduction in the risk of death of 25% compared to placebo (n=104; p<0.001). A durable survival benefit was also demonstrated at 60 days, with patients treated with paridiprubart plus SOC demonstrating a lower risk of death (46%) compared to those receiving placebo (59%), representing an absolute improvement in survival of 13% with a relative risk reduction of 22% for paridiprubart compared to placebo (n=104; p=0.003). In addition, subjects receiving paridiprubart + SOC demonstrated a 41% higher relative rate of clinical improvement, meaning patients no longer required IMV and/or organ support at Day 28.
The results from a safety population of more than 275 subjects, which included patients enrolled during the interim between the Phase 2 and Phase 3 study, demonstrated that EB05 was generally well-tolerated and consistent with the observed safety profile to date.
Previous Phase 2 Clinical Study
In a signal-finding Phase 2 clinical study evaluating paridiprubart in hospitalized Covid-19 patients at various disease severity levels, paridiprubart demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful trend for 28-day mortality for all randomized subjects in the critically ill cohort (the intent to treat, or ITT, population). The 28-day death rate in the EB05 plus SOC arm was 7.7% versus 40% in the placebo + SOC arm in critically severe patients on ECMO therapy (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) IMV plus organ support with ARDS at baseline (p=0.04). The Survival Analysis using Cox’s Proportional Hazard Model also demonstrated that patients treated with paridiprubart + SOC had an 84% reduction in the risk of dying when compared to placebo + SOC at 28 days. The Phase 2 study demonstrated that paridiprubart appears to be well-tolerated and consistent with the observed safety profile.
U.S. Government Funded Study
In June 2024, EB05 was selected through a competitive process by BARDA, part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as one of three drug candidates for evaluation in a U.S. government-funded Phase 2 platform study. The randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multi- center clinical trial is investigating novel threat-agnostic host-directed therapeutics, including EB05, in hospitalized adult patients with ARDS due to a variety of causes. The BARDA-funded study is being managed under a BARDA contract with PPD Development, LP, a clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. For the EB05 cohort of the study, patients are being randomized one-to-one to either EB05 + SOC or to a placebo + SOC control arm. We are providing drug products to the study as well as technical support at our own expense.
Federal Funding from the Government of Canada
Our wholly owned subsidiary Edesa Biotech Research, Inc. (“Edesa Biotech Research”) is party to a multi- year contribution agreement with the Canadian government’s Strategic Innovation Fund, or SIF, dated October 12, 2023, and an Amendment Agreement No. 1 to the agreement, dated September 30, 2025 (together, the “2023 SIF Agreement”). Under the 2023 SIF Agreement, the Government of Canada committed up to C$23 million in partially repayable funding toward (i) conducting and completing a Phase 3 clinical study of our investigational therapy EB05 in critical-care patients with ARDS, and (ii) submitting EB05 for governmental approvals and manufacturing scale-up, following, and subject to, completing the Phase 3 study and (iii) conducting two non-clinical safety studies to assess the potential long-term impact of EB05 exposure. Of the C$23 million committed by SIF, up to C$5.75 million is not repayable. The remaining C$17.25 million is conditionally repayable starting in 2032 only if and when we earn gross revenue. Edesa Biotech Research has agreed to complete the project by December 31, 2028. In the event that we or Edesa Biotech Research breach our obligations under the 2023 SIF Agreement, subject to applicable cure, the SIF may exercise a number of remedies, including suspending or terminating funding under the 2023 SIF Agreement, demanding repayment of funding previously received and/or terminating the 2023 SIF Agreement. The performance obligations of Edesa Biotech Research under the 2023 SIF Agreement are guaranteed by us.
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Our previously completed Phase 2 study of EB05 was also funded, in part, by SIF. Under a February 2021 agreement (the “2021 SIF Agreement” and together with the 2023 SIF Agreement, the “SIF Agreements”), the Government of Canada committed C$14.1 million in nonrepayable funding for an international Phase 2 study and certain pre-clinical experiments. In the event that we or Edesa Biotech Research breach our obligations under the 2021 SIF Agreement, subject to applicable cure, the SIF may exercise a number of remedies, including demanding repayment of funding previously received and/or terminating the agreement. The performance obligations of Edesa Biotech Research under the contribution agreement are guaranteed by us. All potential funding available under the 2021 SIF Agreement has been received.
As of the date of this filing, we have met all of our performance and reporting requirements under our SIF Agreements.
Other Future Product Candidates
We are seeking to advance additional product candidates as well as add new disease indications for current product candidates, and from time to time we may request approval from regulators in various jurisdictions to initiate new clinical studies or amend the scope of current clinical studies. In addition, we plan to continue to identify, evaluate and potentially obtain rights to and develop additional clinical assets across various stages of development, focusing primarily on inflammatory and immune-related diseases. For instance, there is significant evidence that targeting TLR4 in chronic respiratory conditions, such as pulmonary fibrosis, could result in therapeutic benefit for patients. In light of our other development priorities, we are evaluating the timing for the next steps in our EB07 program for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. Initiating recruitment in the EB07 study is subject to, among other limitations, funding, regulatory approvals, drug manufacturing and activation of clinical investigational sites.
Intellectual Property and Key Licenses
We have an exclusive license from Yissum Research Development Company, the technology transfer company of Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd. (“Yissum”), for patents and patent applications that cover EB01 in the U.S., Canada, Australia and various countries in Europe. Method of use patents, for which we hold an inbound license from Yissum and an affiliate of Yissum, have been issued for use in dermatologic and gastrointestinal conditions and infections and expired in 2024. We did not seek patent term extension in the U.S. for these patents, and they no longer provide patent protection for EB01. Additional patents subject to the license agreement have been filed by Yissum which we believe, if issued, could potentially prevent generic substitution until after 2033.
We also hold an exclusive license from NovImmune SA, for patents and patent applications that cover our product candidates that utilize our anti-TLR4 and anti-CXCL10 monoclonal antibody technology in the U.S., Canada and various other countries. Composition of matter patents, for which we hold an inbound license from NovImmune, have been issued that will expire as late as 2033 and 2028, respectively. We expect to seek patent term extension in the U.S. related to time under IND, which could extend protection. We have also filed additional method of use patent applications which we believe, if issued, could potentially prevent biosimilar substitution until as late as 2041. We have also filed provisional patent applications for use of these monoclonal antibody technologies in vitiligo (EB06) and systemic sclerosis and pulmonary fibrosis (EB07).
In the event we are successful in commercializing a new drug candidate, we believe we would be eligible for data/market exclusivity, in addition to exclusivity rights granted through patent protection. We would be eligible for up to five years of exclusivity for EB01 and up to 12 years of exclusivity for EB05/EB07 and EB06 after approval in the U.S., and, for any of these drug products, eight years of exclusivity after approval in Canada and ten years of exclusivity after approval in the European Union (“EU”).
We expect patents and other proprietary intellectual property rights to be an essential element of our business. We intend to protect our proprietary positions by, among other methods, filing U.S. and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions, and improvements. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovation and other in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our product candidates, technology, and know-how, to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others, and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights.
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License Agreement with NovImmune SA
In April 2020, through Edesa Biotech Research, we entered into an exclusive license agreement (the “NovImmune License Agreement”) with NovImmune SA (“NovImmune”), which operates under the brand Light Chain Bioscience, whereby we obtained exclusive rights throughout the world to certain know-how, patents and data relating to the monoclonal antibodies targeting TLR4 and CXCL10 (the “Constructs”). We will use the exclusive rights to develop products containing these Constructs (the “Licensed Products”) for therapeutic, prophylactic and diagnostic applications in humans and animals. Unless earlier terminated, the term of the NovImmune License Agreement will remain in effect for 25 years from the date of first commercial sale of Licensed Products. Subsequently, the NovImmune License Agreement will automatically renew for 5- year periods unless either party terminates the agreement in accordance with its terms.
Under the NovImmune License Agreement, we are exclusively responsible, at our expense, for the research, development manufacture, marketing, distribution and commercialization of the Constructs and Licensed Products and to obtain all necessary licenses and rights. We are required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the Constructs in accordance with the terms of a development plan established by the parties. In exchange for the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the Constructs, we issued to NovImmune $2.5 million of newly designated Series A-1 Convertible Preferred Shares (all of which were subsequently converted into common shares) pursuant to the terms of a securities purchase agreement entered into between the parties concurrently with the NovImmune License Agreement. In addition, we are committed to payments of various amounts to NovImmune upon meeting certain development, approval and commercialization milestones as outlined in the NovImmune License Agreement up to an aggregate amount of $356 million. We also have a commitment to pay NovImmune a royalty based on net sales of Licensed Products in countries where we directly commercialize Licensed Products and a percentage of sublicensing revenue received by us in the countries where we do not directly commercialize Licensed Products. As of the date of this 10-K, the commercialization milestones have not been achieved.
The NovImmune License Agreement provides that NovImmune will remain the exclusive owner of existing intellectual property in the Constructs and that we will be the exclusive owner of all intellectual property resulting from the exploitation of the Constructs pursuant to the license. Subject to certain limitations, we are responsible for prosecuting, maintaining and enforcing all intellectual property relating to the Constructs. During the term of the agreement, we also have the option to purchase the licensed patents and know-how at a price to be negotiated by the parties. If we default or fail to perform any of the terms, covenants, provisions or its obligations under the NovImmune License Agreement, NovImmune has the option to terminate the NovImmune License Agreement, subject to providing us with an opportunity to cure such default. The NovImmune License Agreement is also terminable by NovImmune upon the occurrence of certain bankruptcy related events pertaining to us.
In connection with the NovImmune License Agreement and pursuant to a purchase agreement entered into by the parties in April 2020, we acquired from NovImmune its inventory of the TLR4 antibody for an aggregate purchase price of $5.0 million.
License and Development Agreement with Pendopharm
In August 2017, Edesa Biotech Research entered into an exclusive license and development agreement with Pendopharm, a division of Pharmascience Inc. (the “Pendopharm License Agreement”). Pursuant to the Pendopharm License Agreement, we granted to Pendopharm an exclusive license throughout Canada to certain know-how, patents and data for the sole purpose of obtaining regulatory approval for certain pharmaceutical products to allow Pendopharm to distribute, market and sell the licensed products for human therapeutic use in certain gastrointestinal conditions. If Pendopharm elects not to seek regulatory approval of the applicable product, the applicable product will be removed from the license rights granted to Pendopharm and will revert to us. If Pendopharm elects to seek regulatory approval in Canada for the sale and marketing of the applicable product, Pendopharm will be responsible for obtaining regulatory approval for the applicable licensed product in Canada. In exchange for the exclusive rights to market, import, distribute, and sell the pharmaceutical products, Pendopharm is required to pay us a royalty in respect of aggregate annual net sales for each pharmaceutical product sold in Canada. Unless earlier terminated, the term of the Pendopharm License Agreement will expire, on a licensed product by licensed product basis, on the later to occur of (i) the date that is 13 years after the first commercial sale of the licensed product in Canada; (ii) the date of expiry of the last valid licensed patent in Canada relating to the licensed product; or (iii) the date of expiry of any period of exclusivity granted to the licensed product by a regulatory authority in Canada. The Pendopharm License Agreement shall also terminate upon the termination of certain other license agreements that we have with third parties. Pendopharm also has the right to terminate the Pendopharm License Agreement for convenience upon 120 days’ notice to us.
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License Agreements with Yissum and Inventor
In June 2016, Edesa Biotech Research, entered into an exclusive license agreement with Yissum, which was subsequently amended in April 2017, May 2017 and October 2022 (collectively, the “Yissum License Agreement”). Pursuant to the Yissum License Agreement, as amended, we obtained exclusive rights throughout the world to certain know-how, patents and data relating to a pharmaceutical product for the following fields of use: therapeutic, prophylactic and diagnostic uses in topical dermal applications and anorectal applications. Unless earlier terminated, the term of the Yissum License Agreement will expire on a country by country basis on the later of (i) the date of expiry of the last valid licensed patent in such country; (ii) the date of expiry of any period of exclusivity granted to a product by a regulatory authority in such country or (iii) the date that is 15 years after the first commercial sale of a product in such country.
Under the Yissum License Agreement, we are exclusively responsible, at our expense, for the development of the product, including conducting clinical trials and seeking regulatory approval for the product, and once regulatory approval has been obtained, for the commercialization of the product. We are required to use our commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the product in accordance with the terms of a development plan established by the parties. Subject to certain conditions, we are permitted to engage third parties to perform our activities or obligations under the agreement. In exchange for the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the product for topical dermal applications and anorectal applications, we are committed to payments of various amounts to Yissum upon meeting certain milestones outlined in the Yissum License Agreement up to an aggregate amount of $18.4 million. In addition, in the event of a divestiture of substantially all of our assets, we are obligated to pay Yissum a percentage of the valuation of the licensed technology sold as determined by an external objective expert. We also have a commitment to pay Yissum a royalty based on net sales of the product in countries where we, or an affiliate of ours, directly commercializes the product and a percentage of sublicensing revenue received by us and our affiliates in the countries where we do not directly commercialize the product. As of the date of this 10-K, the commercialization milestones have not been achieved.
The Yissum License Agreement provides that Yissum shall remain the exclusive owner of the licensed technology and that we are responsible for preparing, filing, prosecuting and maintaining the patents on the licensed technology in Yissum’s name. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will be the exclusive owner of all patents and other intellectual property that is made by, or on our behalf, after the date of the agreement, including all improvements to the licensed technology. If we default or fail to perform any of the terms, covenants, provisions or our obligations under the Yissum License Agreement, Yissum has the option to terminate the Yissum License Agreement, subject to providing us with an opportunity to cure such default. We have the right to terminate the Yissum License Agreement if we determine that the development and commercialization of the product is no longer commercially viable. Subject to certain exceptions, we have undertaken to indemnify Yissum against any liability, including product liability, damage, loss or expense derived from the use, development, manufacture, marketing, sale or sublicensing of the licensed product and technology.
In March 2021, through Edesa Biotech Research, we entered into a license agreement with the inventor of the same pharmaceutical product, which was subsequently amended in September 2023 (together, the “Inventor License Agreement”), to acquire global rights for all fields of use beyond those named under the Yissum License Agreement. As a result of the Inventor License Agreement, we now hold exclusive global rights to the pharmaceutical product that forms the basis of EB01 for all fields of use in humans and animals. We are required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the product in accordance with the terms of a development plan established by the parties. We are exclusively responsible, at our expense, for the development of the product. We are committed to remaining payments of up to an aggregate amount of $69.1 million, primarily relating to future potential commercial approval and sales milestones. In addition, if we fail to file an IND application or foreign equivalent for the product within a certain period of time following the date of the agreement, we are required to remit to the inventor a fixed license fee on a quarterly basis as long as the requirement to file an IND remains unfulfilled. We also have a commitment to pay the inventor a royalty based on net sales of the product in countries where we, or an affiliate, directly commercialize the product and a percentage of sublicensing revenue received by us and our affiliates in the countries where we do not directly commercialize the product. Unless earlier terminated, the term of the Inventor License Agreement will expire on a country by country basis on the later of (i) the date of expiry of the last valid licensed patent in such country or (ii) the date that is 15 years after the first commercial sale of a product in such country. If we default or fail to perform any of the terms, covenants, provisions or our obligations under the Inventor License Agreement, the inventor has the option to terminate the Inventor License Agreement, subject to providing us with an opportunity to cure such default. We have the right to terminate the Inventor License Agreement if we determine that the development and commercialization of the product is no longer commercially viable. Subject to certain exceptions, we have undertaken to indemnify the inventor against any liability, including product liability, damage, loss or expense derived from the use, development, manufacture, marketing, sale or sublicensing of the licensed product and technology.
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Manufacturing and Marketing
We rely, and expect to continue to rely for the foreseeable future, on third-party contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, to produce both our synthetic chemical and biological product candidates for clinical testing, as well as for commercial manufacture if our product candidates receive marketing approval. Additional contract manufacturers are used to fill, label, package and distribute investigational drug products. We believe that this strategy will enable us to direct operational and financial resources to the development of our product candidates rather than diverting resources to establishing manufacturing infrastructure. Our current arrangements with our manufacturers are subject to customary industry terms and conditions, and manufacturing is performed on an as-requested basis. While we have not experienced significant shortages of raw materials to date, as a result of increased industry demand, CMOs have generally reported that supplies of raw materials and critical components necessary for manufacturing processes have been more challenging and expensive to obtain, and longer lead times may be required for scheduling future production runs.
To supply future clinical studies and potential commercialization of our product candidates, we are engaged in discussions with various CMOs regarding long-term supply agreements. These supply agreements typically require significant financial commitments, including upfront amounts prior to commencement of manufacturing, progress payments through the course of the manufacturing process as well as payments for technology transfer and other start-up costs. Based on our discussions with CMOs and industry announcements regarding future expansion plans, we believe there will be sufficient supplies of raw materials and manufacturing capacity to service our near-term and future product needs.
Because we are focused on the discovery and development of drugs, we do not have any marketing or distribution capabilities, nor are we at a stage where we would have any customers for our investigational medicines. If we receive marketing approval or emergency use authorization in the U.S., Canada or Europe for a product candidate, we plan to either build the capabilities to commercialize the product candidate in the applicable region with our own focused, specialized sales force, or alternatively, outsource the sales and marketing infrastructure necessary to market and sell our products. We also plan to utilize strategic licensing, collaboration, distribution or other marketing arrangements with third parties for the further development or commercialization of our products and product candidates, where applicable, such as in areas or regions outside North America where a partner may contribute additional resources, infrastructure and expertise.
Competition
The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is highly competitive, and the development and commercialization of new drugs is influenced by rapid technological developments and innovation. We face competition from companies developing and commercializing products that will be competitive with our drug candidates, including large pharmaceutical and smaller biotechnology companies, many of which have greater financial and commercial resources than we do. For our EB01 product candidate, our potential competitors include, among others, Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc., Dermavant Sciences, Inc., Incyte Corporation, Leo Pharma A/S, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi S.A., Astria Therapeutics, Inc. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. For our EB05 product candidate, there are numerous competing therapies, including prophylactic vaccines for the SARS-Cov2 and influenza viruses, experimental stem cell therapies, novel therapeutics and repurposed commercial drugs. Our potential competitors include, among others: Aqualung Therapeutics Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, InflaRx N.V., Enzychem Lifesciences Corp., Merck & Co, Inc., Mesoblast Limited, Pfizer Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Roche Holding AG and Veru Inc. For any future product for vitiligo or fibrotic diseases, potential competitors, include, among others: Bausch Health, Eli Lilly and Company, Incyte Corporation, Boehringer Ingelheim AG, UCB, Chemomab Therapeutics Ltd., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc., Leo Pharma A/S, Merck & Co., Inc., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Vyne Therapeutics Inc, and Sanofi S.A. Some of the competing product development programs may be based on scientific approaches that are similar to our approach, and others may be based on entirely different approaches. Potential competitors also include new entrants to the market, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of products similar to ours or that otherwise target indications that we are pursuing. Key factors affecting the success of any approved product will be its efficacy, safety profile, drug interactions, method of administration, pricing, reimbursement and level of promotional activity relative to those of competing drugs. We believe that our product candidates will compete favorably with respect to such factors. However, we may not be able to maintain our competitive position against current and potential competitors.
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Government Regulation
We plan to conduct clinical studies and seek approvals for our product candidates in the U.S., Canada, EU and other jurisdictions. Therefore, we currently are, and may in the future be, subject to a variety of national and regional regulations governing clinical trials as well as commercial sales and distribution of our products, if approved.
To conduct clinical trials for our product candidates, we rely on third parties, such as contract research organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators. Although we have entered into agreements with these third parties, we continue to be responsible for confirming that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with our investigational plan or research protocol, as well as International Conference on Harmonization Good Clinical Practices, or GCP, which include guidelines for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials.
The FDA in the U.S., Health Canada in Canada, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) in the European Union and comparable regulatory agencies in foreign countries impose substantial requirements on the clinical development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products and product candidates. These agencies and other federal, state, provincial and local entities regulate research and development activities and the testing, manufacture, packaging, importing, distribution, quality control, safety, effectiveness, labeling, storage, record-keeping, approval and promotion of our products and product candidates. All of our product candidates will require regulatory approval before commercialization. In particular, therapeutic product candidates for human use are subject to rigorous preclinical and clinical testing and other statutory and regulatory requirements of the U.S., Canada, the EU and foreign countries. Obtaining these marketing approvals and subsequently complying with ongoing statutory and regulatory requirements require substantial time, effort and financial resources.
U.S. Regulations
In the U.S., the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act as well as the Public Health Service (“PHS”) Act for biological drugs. The process required by the FDA before our product candidates may be marketed in the U.S. generally involves the following:
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Pre-clinical testing. Drug developers complete extensive pre-clinical laboratory tests, animal studies and formulation studies, performed in accordance with the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice regulations and other applicable requirements. These studies typically assess efficacy, toxicology and pharmacokinetics.
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Submission to the FDA of an IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. As part of an IND application to the FDA, trial sponsors submit the results of pre- clinical tests, together with manufacturing information and analytical data. The IND automatically becomes effective 30-days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA, within the 30-day time frame, has questions or concerns about the proposed study. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding items before the clinical trial can begin. A separate submission to an existing IND must also be made for each successive phase of a clinical trial conducted during product development.
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Approval by a central or institutional review board (“IRB”), or ethics committee at each clinical trial site before each trial may be initiated. An IRB is charged with protecting the welfare and rights of trial participants and considers such items as whether the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. The IRB also approves the informed consent form that must be provided to each clinical trial subject or his or her legal representative and must monitor the clinical trial until completion. There are also requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical trials and completed clinical trial results to public registries.
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Multiple Phases of Human Clinical Trials. Drug developers conduct adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials that establish the safety and efficacy of the product candidate for the intended use, typically in the following three stages, which are often sequential but may overlap:
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Phase 1: The clinical trials are initially conducted in a limited population to test the product candidate for safety, dose tolerance, absorption, metabolism, distribution and excretion in healthy human volunteers or, on occasion, in patients, such as cancer patients. Phase 1 clinical trials can be designed to evaluate the impact of the product candidate in combination with currently approved drugs.
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Phase 2: These clinical trials are generally conducted in a limited patient population to identify possible adverse effects and safety risks, to determine the efficacy of the product candidate for specific targeted indications and to determine dose tolerance and optimal dosage. Multiple Phase 2 clinical trials may be conducted by the sponsor to obtain information before beginning a larger and more expensive Phase 3 clinical trial.
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Phase 3: These clinical trials are commonly referred to as pivotal clinical trials. If the Phase 2 clinical trials demonstrate that a dose range of the product candidate is effective and has an acceptable safety profile, Phase 3 clinical trials are then undertaken in large patient populations to further evaluate dosage, to provide substantial evidence of clinical efficacy and to further test for safety in an expanded and diverse patient population at multiple, geographically dispersed clinical trial sites.
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Product Candidate Chemistry, Controls and Manufacturing. Concurrent with clinical trials, companies typically complete additional animal and laboratory studies, develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the drug, and finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”) requirements. The manufacturing process must consistently produce quality batches of the drug, and, among other things, the manufacturer must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final drug. In addition, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested, and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the packaging and that the compound does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
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U.S. Review and Approval Processes
After the completion of clinical trials of an investigational drug or biologic product, an NDA or BLA is prepared and submitted to the FDA. FDA approval must be obtained before commercial marketing and distribution of the product may begin in the U.S. The NDA or BLA must include results of product development, laboratory, and animal studies, human trials, information on the manufacture and composition of the product, proposed labeling and other relevant information. The testing and approval processes require substantial time and effort and there can be no assurance that the FDA will file the NDA or BLA and, even if filed, that any approval will be granted on a timely basis, if at all.
Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, as amended (“PDUFA”), each NDA or BLA must be accompanied by a significant user fee. The FDA adjusts the PDUFA user fees on an annual basis. PDUFA also imposes annual program fees on prescription drugs, including biologics. Fee waivers or reductions are available in certain circumstances, including a waiver of the application fee for the first application filed by a small business. No user fees are assessed on NDAs or BLAs for products designated as orphan drugs, unless the application also includes a non-orphan indication.
Within 60 days following submission, the FDA reviews the NDA or BLA to determine if it is substantially complete before the agency files it. The FDA may request additional information or may refuse to file any NDA or BLA that it deems incomplete or not properly reviewable at the time of submission. In this event, the NDA or BLA must be resubmitted with the additional information. The resubmitted application also is subject to an initial filing review before the FDA files it. Once the submission is filed, the FDA begins an in-depth substantive review of the NDA or BLA. Under PDUFA, FDA has agreed to performance goals to review 90% of original standard NDAs or BLAs within 10 months of the 60-day filing date and 90% of original priority NDAs or BLAs within 6 months of the 60-day filing date, whereupon a review decision is to be made. The FDA does not always meet its PDUFA goal dates for standard and priority NDAs and BLAs. The review process and the PDUFA goal date may be extended by three months if the FDA requests or the NDA/BLA sponsor otherwise provides additional information or clarification regarding information already provided in the NDA or BLA submission. The FDA reviews the NDA or BLA to determine, among other things, whether the proposed product is safe and potent, or effective, for its intended use, and has an acceptable purity profile, and whether the product is being manufactured in accordance with GMP to assure and preserve the product’s identity, safety, strength, quality, potency and purity.
The FDA may refer applications for novel products or products that present difficult questions of safety or efficacy to an advisory committee, typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts, for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations when making decisions. During the product approval process, the FDA also will determine whether a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”) is necessary to assure that the benefits of the biologic outweigh the potential risks of the product to patients. A REMS can include medication guides, communication plans for healthcare professionals, and elements to assure a product’s safe use (“ETASU”). An ETASU can include, but is not limited to, special training or certification for prescribing or dispensing the product, dispensing the product only under certain circumstances, special monitoring, and the use of patient- specific registries. If the FDA concludes that a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the BLA must submit a proposed REMS; the FDA will not approve the BLA without a REMS, if required.
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Before approving an NDA or BLA, the FDA will typically inspect the facilities at which the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve the product unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in substantial compliance with GMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites, to assure that the clinical trials were conducted in compliance with GCP requirements. To assure GMP, GLP and GCP compliance, an applicant must incur significant expenditure of time, money, and effort in the areas of training, record keeping, production, and quality control.
Notwithstanding the submission of relevant data and information, the FDA may ultimately decide that the NDA or BLA does not satisfy its regulatory criteria for approval and deny approval. Data obtained from clinical trials are not always conclusive and the FDA may interpret data differently from how we interpret the same data. If the agency decides not to approve the NDA or BLA in its present form, the FDA will issue a complete response letter that usually describes all of the specific deficiencies identified by the FDA. The deficiencies identified may be minor, for example, requiring labeling changes, or major, for example, requiring additional clinical trials. Additionally, the complete response letter may include recommended actions that the applicant might take to place the application in a condition for approval. If a complete response letter is issued, the applicant may resubmit, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, withdraw the application, or request a hearing.
If a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the FDA will issue an approval letter. The approval may be significantly limited to specific diseases and dosages or the indications for use may otherwise be limited, which could restrict the commercial value of the product. Further, the FDA may require that certain contraindications, warnings, or precautions be included in the product labeling. The FDA may impose restrictions and conditions on product distribution, prescribing, or dispensing in the form of a risk management plan, or otherwise limit the scope of any approval. In addition, the FDA may require post marketing clinical trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, designed to assess further a biological product’s safety and effectiveness, and testing and surveillance programs to monitor the safety of approved products that have been commercialized.
Satisfaction of FDA regulations and requirements or similar requirements of state, local and foreign regulatory agencies typically take several years, and the actual time required may vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product or disease. Typically, if a product candidate is intended to treat a chronic disease, as is the case with some of our product candidates, safety and efficacy data must be gathered over an extended period.
Orphan Designation and Exclusivity
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined as a disease or condition with a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the U.S., or a patient population greater than 200,000 individuals in the U.S. and when there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available the drug or biologic in the U.S. will be recovered from sales in the U.S. for that drug or biologic. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting a BLA or NDA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the generic identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA.
If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for a particular active ingredient for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan product marketing exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full BLA, to market the same biologic for the same use or indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or if FDA finds that the holder of the orphan drug exclusivity has not shown that it can assure the availability of sufficient quantities of the orphan drug to meet the needs of patients with the disease or condition for which the drug was designated. Orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent the FDA from approving a different drug or biologic for the same disease or condition, or the same drug or biologic for a different disease or condition. Among the other benefits of orphan drug designation are tax credits for certain research and a waiver of the BLA or NDA application user fee.
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A designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. In addition, orphan drug exclusive marketing rights in the U.S. may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or, as noted above, if the second applicant demonstrates that its product is clinically superior to the approved product with orphan exclusivity or the manufacturer of the approved product is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.
Expedited Development and Review Programs
The FDA has several programs intended to facilitate and expedite development and review of new drugs to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions. These programs include Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation, Priority Review and Accelerated Approval.
A new drug is eligible for Fast Track designation if it is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for such disease or condition. Fast Track designation provides increased opportunities for sponsor interactions with the FDA during preclinical and clinical development, in addition to the potential for rolling review once a marketing application is filed. Rolling review means that the agency may review portions of the marketing application before the sponsor submits the complete application.
In addition, a new drug may be eligible for Breakthrough Therapy designation if it is intended to treat a serious or life- threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. Breakthrough Therapy designation provides all the features of Fast Track designation in addition to intensive guidance on an efficient drug development program beginning as early as Phase 1, and FDA organizational commitment to expedited development, including involvement of senior managers and experienced review staff in a cross-disciplinary review, where appropriate.
Any product submitted to the FDA for approval, including a product with Fast Track or Breakthrough Therapy designation, may also be eligible for additional FDA programs intended to expedite the review and approval process, including Priority Review designation and Accelerated Approval. A product is eligible for Priority Review, once an NDA or BLA is submitted, if the drug that is the subject of the marketing application has the potential to provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness in the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of a serious disease or condition. Under priority review, the FDA’s goal date to take action on the marketing application is six months compared to ten months for a standard review. Products are eligible for Accelerated Approval if they can be shown to have an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or an effect on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality.
Accelerated Approval is usually contingent on a sponsor’s agreement to conduct additional post-approval studies to verify and describe the product’s clinical benefit. The FDA may withdraw approval of a drug or an indication approved under Accelerated Approval if, for example, the confirmatory trial fails to verify the predicted clinical benefit of the product. In addition, the FDA generally requires, as a condition for Accelerated Approval, that all advertising and promotional materials intended for dissemination or publication within 120 days of marketing approval be submitted to the agency for review during the pre-approval review period. After the 120-day period has passed, all advertising and promotional materials must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the intended time of initial dissemination or publication.
Even if a product qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or the time period for FDA review or approval may not be shortened. Furthermore, Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation, Priority Review and Accelerated Approval do not change the scientific or medical standards for approval or the quality of evidence necessary to support approval, though they may expedite the development or review process.
Emergency Use Authorizations
While, in most cases, a therapeutic must be approved by FDA before the product may be sold, when there is a public health emergency involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents, including infectious diseases like Covid-19, new therapeutics may be distributed pursuant to an Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA. Under an EUA, FDA may authorize the emergency use of an unapproved medical product or an unapproved use of an approved product for certain emergency circumstances to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions when certain statutory criteria have been met, and after the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a declaration of emergency or threat justifying emergency use.
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To receive an EUA, the product sponsor must demonstrate that the product “may be effective” in the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of an applicable disease or condition. Additionally, FDA must determine that the product’s known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks. Further there must be no adequate, approved, and available alternative product for the indication. Potential alternative products may be unavailable if there are insufficient supplies to meet the emergency need. FDA may establish additional conditions on an EUA that are necessary to protect public health, including conditions related to information that must be disseminated to health care providers and patients, the monitoring and reporting of adverse events, and record keeping. Conditions may also relate to how a product is distributed and administered and how a product is advertised. Importantly, EUAs are not full marketing approvals. Rather, EUAs are only effective for the duration of the applicable EUA declaration. Full approval of the product under applicable standards would be necessary to continue to distribute the product absent an EUA. EUAs may also be revised or revoked by FDA at any time.
U.S. Patent Term Restoration
Depending upon the timing, duration, and specifics of the FDA approval of the use of our current and potential product candidates, some of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (“Hatch-Waxman Amendments”). The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, patent term restoration cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. The patent term restoration period is generally one-half the time between the effective date of an IND and the submission date of a BLA plus the time between the submission date of a BLA and the approval of that application. Only one patent applicable to an approved biological product is eligible for the extension and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in consultation with the FDA, reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension or restoration.
Biosimilars and Exclusivity
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”) created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products shown to be highly similar to, or interchangeable with, an FDA-licensed reference biological product. The FDA has issued several guidance documents outlining an approach to review and approval of biosimilars.
Biosimilarity, which requires that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity, and potency, can be shown through analytical studies, animal studies, and a clinical study or studies. Interchangeability requires that a product is biosimilar to the reference product and the product must demonstrate that it can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products that are administered multiple times to an individual, the biologic and the reference biologic may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biologic.
The BPCIA includes, among other provisions: A 12-year exclusivity period from the date of first licensure, or BLA approval, of the reference product, during which approval of a 351(k) application referencing that product may not be made effective; a 4-year exclusivity period from the date of first licensure of the reference product, during which a 351(k) application referencing that product may not be submitted; and, an exclusivity period for certain biological products that have been approved through the 351(k) pathway as interchangeable biosimilars. The BPCIA also establishes procedures for identifying and resolving patent disputes involving applications submitted under section 351(k) of the PHSA.
The BPCIA is complex and its interpretation and implementation by the FDA remains unpredictable. In addition, government proposals have sought to reduce the 12-year reference product exclusivity period. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. As a result, the ultimate effect, implementation, and meaning of the BPCIA is subject to uncertainty.
Disclosure of Clinical Trial Information
Sponsors of clinical trials of FDA-regulated products, including biological products, are required to register and disclose certain clinical trial information on the website www.clinicaltrials.gov. Information related to the product, patient population, phase of investigation, trial sites and investigators, and other aspects of a clinical trial are then made public as part of the registration. Sponsors are also obligated to disclose the results of their clinical trials after completion. Disclosure of the results of clinical trials can be delayed in certain circumstances for up to two years after the date of completion of the trial. Competitors may use this publicly available information to gain knowledge regarding the progress of clinical development programs as well as clinical trial design.
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Pediatric Information
Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act (“PREA”), BLAs or supplements to BLAs must contain data to assess the safety and effectiveness of the biological product for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the biological product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant full or partial waivers, or deferrals, for submission of data. Unless otherwise required by regulation, PREA does not apply to any biological product with orphan product designation except a product with a new active ingredient that is a molecularly targeted cancer product intended for the treatment of an adult cancer and directed at a molecular target determined by FDA to be substantially relevant to the growth or progression of a pediatric cancer that is subject to a BLA submitted on or after August 18, 2020.
The Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (“BPCA”) provides a six-month extension of any non-patent exclusivity for a biologic if certain conditions are met. Conditions for exclusivity include the FDA’s determination that information relating to the use of a new drug or biologic in the pediatric population may produce health benefits in that population, the FDA making a written request for pediatric studies, and the applicant agreeing to perform, and reporting on, the requested studies within the statutory timeframe. Applications under the BPCA are treated as priority applications, with all of the benefits that designation confers.
FDA Post-Approval Requirements
Once an NDA or BLA is approved, maintaining post-approval compliance with applicable federal, state, and local statutes and regulations requires the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved products are required to register the establishments where the approved products are made with the FDA and certain state agencies and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with GMP and other laws. Rigorous and extensive FDA regulation of products continues after approval, particularly with respect to GMP. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production and distribution of clinical and commercial quantities of any products that we may commercialize. Manufacturers of our products are required to comply with applicable requirements in the GMP regulations, including quality control and quality assurance and maintenance of records and documentation. Other post-approval requirements include reporting of GMP deviations that may affect the identity, potency, purity and overall safety of a distributed product, record-keeping requirements, reporting of adverse effects, reporting updated safety and efficacy information, and complying with electronic record and signature requirements. After a BLA is approved, the product also may be subject to official lot release. As part of the manufacturing process, the manufacturer is required to perform certain tests on each lot of the product before it is released for distribution. If the product is subject to official release by the FDA, the manufacturer submits samples of each lot of product to the FDA together with a release protocol showing a summary of the history of manufacture of the lot and the results of all of the manufacturer’s tests performed on the lot. The FDA also may perform certain confirmatory tests on lots of some products before releasing the lots for distribution by the manufacturer. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money, and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain GMP compliance. Discovery of problems with a product after approval may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer, or holder of an approved NDA or BLA, including withdrawal of the product from the market. In addition, changes to the manufacturing process or facility generally require prior FDA approval before being implemented. Other types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications and additional labeling claims, are also subject to further FDA review and approval.
We also must comply with the FDA’s advertising and promotion requirements, such as those related to direct-to-consumer advertising, the prohibition on promoting products for uses or in patient populations that are not described in the product’s approved labeling (known as “off-label use”), industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, and promotional activities involving the internet. Discovery of previously unknown problems or the failure to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements may result in restrictions on the marketing of a product or withdrawal of the product from the market as well as possible civil or criminal sanctions.
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Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements after approval may subject an applicant or manufacturer to administrative or judicial civil or criminal sanctions and adverse publicity. FDA sanctions could include refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, clinical hold, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, mandated corrective advertising or communications with doctors, debarment, restitution, disgorgement of profits, or civil or criminal penalties.
Other Regulatory Requirements
The federal anti-kickback statute prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service, for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid. This statute has been broadly interpreted to apply to manufacturer arrangements with prescribers, purchasers and pharmacy benefit managers, among others. Several other countries, including the United Kingdom, have enacted similar anti-kickback laws and regulations.
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, imposes criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or for knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act, and its implementing regulations, also imposes obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information.
The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, referred to together as the Affordable Care Act, require manufacturers of FDA-approved drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies covered by Medicare or Medicaid to report to the Department of Health and Human Services information related to payments and other transfers of value made to or at the request of covered recipients, such as physicians and teaching hospitals, and physician ownership and investment interests in such manufacturers. Among other payments, the law requires payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals for clinical trials be disclosed.
Analogous state laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, may apply to future potential sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by nongovernmental third-party payors, including private insurers. Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines, or the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, in addition to requiring drug manufacturers to report information related to payments to physicians and other health care providers or marketing expenditures to the extent that those laws impose requirements that are more stringent than the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
Canada Regulations
Health Canada is the Canadian federal authority that regulates, evaluates and monitors the safety, effectiveness, and quality of drugs, medical devices, and other therapeutic products available to Canadians. Health Canada’s regulatory process for review, approval and regulatory oversight of products is similar to the regulatory process conducted by the FDA. To initiate clinical testing of a drug candidate in human subjects in Canada, a Clinical Trial Application (“CTA”) must be filed with and approved by Health Canada. In addition, all federally regulated trials must be approved and monitored by research ethics boards. The review boards study and approve study-related documents and monitor trial data.
Prior to being given market authorization for a drug product, a manufacturer must present substantive scientific evidence of a product’s safety, efficacy and quality as required by the Food and Drugs Act (Canada) and its associated regulations, including the Food and Drug Regulations. This information is usually submitted in the form of a New Drug Submission (“NDS”). Health Canada reviews the submitted information, sometimes using external consultants and advisory committees, to evaluate the potential benefits and risks of a drug. If after the review, the conclusion is that the patient benefits outweigh the risks associated with the drug, the drug is issued a Drug Identification Number (“DIN”), followed by a Notice of Compliance (“NOC”), which permits the market authorization holder (i.e., the NOC and DIN holder) to market the drug in Canada. Drugs granted an NOC may be subject to additional postmarket surveillance and reporting requirements.
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All establishments engaged in the fabrication, packaging/labeling, importation, distribution, and wholesale of drugs and operation of a testing laboratory relating to drugs are required to hold a Drug Establishment License to conduct one or more of the licensed activities unless expressly exempted under the Food and Drug Regulations. The basis for the issuance of a Drug Establishment License is to ensure the facility complies with cGMP as stipulated in the Food and Drug Regulations and as determined by cGMP inspection conducted by Health Canada. An importer of pharmaceutical products manufactured at foreign sites must also be able to demonstrate that the foreign sites comply with cGMP, and such foreign sites are included on the importer’s Drug Establishment License.
Regulatory obligations and oversight continue following the initial market approval of a pharmaceutical product. For example, every market authorization holder must report any new information received concerning adverse drug reactions, including timely reporting of serious adverse drug reactions that occur in Canada and any serious unexpected adverse drug reactions that occur outside of Canada. The market authorization holder must also notify Health Canada of any new safety and efficacy issues that it becomes aware of after the launch of a product.
Employees
As of the date of this filing, we have 17 full-time employees: ten employees are primarily engaged in research and development, and seven employees are engaged in management, administration, business development and finance. All employees are located in Canada or the U.S. None of our employees are members of any labor unions.
We take pride in the diversity of our workforce and being an equal opportunity employer. As a growth-oriented company focused on innovation, we strive to foster diversity and inclusion. As of the date of this filing, women represented more than 50% of all employees, and individuals from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups, or who are foreign born, represented more than 50% of our employees.
Corporate Information
We are a British Columbia, Canada corporation founded in 2007 and operate through our wholly owned subsidiaries, Edesa Biotech Research, Inc., an Ontario, Canada corporation and Edesa Biotech USA, Inc., a California, USA corporation. In June 2019, we acquired the Ontario corporation through a reverse acquisition and changed our name to Edesa Biotech, Inc.
Our executive offices are located at 100 Spy Court, Markham, Ontario, L3R 5H6, Canada. Our phone number is 289-800- 9600. Our registered and records office is 2900 - 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 0A3, Canada. Our website address is www.edesabiotech.com. The contents of our website or social media postings are not part of our Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reports for any purpose or otherwise incorporated by reference. Any references to website addresses contained in this report are intended to be inactive textual references only.
Available Information
We file or furnish periodic reports and amendments thereto, including our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such reports and other information filed or furnished by us with the SEC are available free of charge on our website at www.edesabiotech.com/investors/sec-filings as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Our filings are also available at the Canadian Securities Administrators’ SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Investors and other interested parties should note that we may also use our website and our social media channels to publish information about us that may be deemed material to investors. We encourage investors and other interested parties to review the information we may publish through our website and social media channels.
Smaller Reporting Company
We are currently a “smaller reporting company” as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, and are thus allowed to provide simplified executive compensation disclosures in our filings, are exempt from the provisions of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requiring that an independent registered public accounting firm provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and have certain other reduced disclosure obligations with respect to our SEC filings.
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