As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 24, 2021

Registration No. 333-                

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Paragon 28, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware		3841		27-3170186
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

14445 Grasslands Drive

Englewood, CO 80112

(730) 399-3400

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

Albert DaCosta

Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer

14445 Grasslands Drive

Englewood, CO 80112

(730) 399-3400

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Charles K. Ruck B. Shayne Kennedy Phillip S. Stoup Latham & Watkins LLP 650 Town Center Drive, 20th Floor Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (714) 540-1235		Ilir Mujalovic Shearman & Sterling LLP 599 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10022 (212) 848-4000

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box.  ☐

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

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

 

Large accelerated filer		☐		Accelerated filer		☐
Non-accelerated filer		☒		Smaller reporting company		☐
				Emerging growth company		☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

Title of each class of securities to be registered		Proposed maximum aggregate offering price(1)(2)		Amount of registration fee(3)
Common stock, par value $0.01 per share		$100,000,000		$10,910

(1)	Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

(2)	Includes the aggregate offering price of shares of common stock that may be sold if the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares of common stock.

(3)	To be paid in connection with the initial filing of the registration statement.

 

 

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to Completion

Preliminary Prospectus dated September 24, 2021

PROSPECTUS

             Shares

 

Paragon 28, Inc.

Common Stock

 

 

This is Paragon 28, Inc.’s initial public offering. We are selling                  shares of our common stock.

We expect the public offering price to be between $         and $         per share. Currently, no public market exists for the shares of our common stock. We have applied to list our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “FNA.”

We are an emerging growth company as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws and, as such, may elect to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements for this and future filings. See “Prospectus Summary—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company.”

Investing in the common stock involves risks that are described in the ‘‘Risk Factors’’ section beginning on page 14 of this prospectus.

 

 

 

		Per Share				Total
Public offering price		$				$
Underwriting discount(1)		$				$
Proceeds, before expenses, to us		$				$

 

(1)

We refer you to “Underwriting” beginning on page 185 of this prospectus for additional information regarding underwriting compensation.

The underwriters may also exercise their option to purchase up to an additional              shares of common stock from us, at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount, for 30 days after the date of this prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The shares of common stock will be ready for delivery on or about                     , 2021.

 

 

Joint Book-Running Managers

 

BofA Securities		Piper Sandler

 

 

Lead Manager

Canaccord Genuity

 

 

Co-Managers

 

JMP Securities		Needham & Company

 

 

The date of this prospectus is                    , 2021.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Market and Industry Data			ii
Certain Trademarks			ii
Prospectus Summary			1
Risk Factors			14
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements			73
Use of Proceeds			75
Capitalization			76
Dividend Policy			78
Dilution			79
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations			82
Business			100
Management			150
Executive Compensation			158
Principal Stockholders			170
Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions			172
Description of Capital Stock			175
Shares Eligible for Future Sale			179
Material U.S. Federal Tax Considerations for Non-U.S. Holders of Our Common Stock			181
Underwriting			185
Legal Matters			193
Experts			193
Where You Can Find More Information			193
Index to Consolidated Financial Statements			F-1

We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectuses prepared by or on behalf of us. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell, and we are seeking offers to buy, only the shares of common stock offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus or in any applicable free writing prospectus is accurate only as of its date, regardless of its time of delivery or any sale of shares of our common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects may have changed since that date.

For Investors Outside the United States: We have not, and the underwriters have not, done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.

 

 

i

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

This prospectus includes estimates regarding market and industry data that we prepared based on our management’s knowledge and experience in the markets in which we operate, together with information obtained from various sources, including publicly available information, industry reports and publications, surveys, our customers, distributors, suppliers, trade and business organizations and other contacts in the markets in which we operate. Management estimates are derived from publicly available information released by independent industry analysts and third-party sources, as well as data from our internal research, and are based on assumptions made by us upon reviewing such data and our knowledge of such industry and markets which we believe to be reasonable.

In presenting this information, we have made certain assumptions that we believe to be reasonable based on such data and other similar sources and on our knowledge of, and our experience to date in, the markets for the products we distribute. Any such market data, information or forecast is subject to change and may prove to be inaccurate because of the method by which we obtain it or because it cannot always be verified with complete certainty given the limits on the availability and reliability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process and other limitations inherent in any statistical survey of market shares, including those discussed in the “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” sections. In addition, customer preferences are subject to change.

Our estimates presented elsewhere in this prospectus of our addressable market are based on multiple assumptions and our analysis of multiple sources, including publicly available information, academic articles, data from governmental agencies and reports by industry organization as well as on our internal estimates.

CERTAIN TRADEMARKS

This prospectus includes references to trademarks and service marks owned by us, including Gorilla, Baby Gorilla, Monster, Mini-Monster, JAWS, PROMO, Phantom, Paragon 28, P28, TUFFNEK, BOW & ARROW, Phantom ActivCore Nail, HammerGraft System, Avitrac, TenoTac, HammerTube and PRECISION Jones. This prospectus also contains references to trademarks, trade names and service marks of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks, trade names and service marks referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ^®, ^™ or ^SM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, trade names and service marks. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply, a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in shares of our common stock. The risks described below are not the only ones facing us. The occurrence of any of the following risks or additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Please also see the sections titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Market, Industry and Other Data.”

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements

We have a limited operating history and have grown significantly in a short period of time.

We were formed in August 2010. Accordingly, we have a limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. Our operating results have fluctuated in the past, and we expect our future quarterly and annual operating results to continue to fluctuate as we focus on increasing the demand for our products and continue to develop clinical evidence to support the safety and efficacy of our foot and ankle products and procedures, as well as develop new foot and ankle product innovations. We may need to make business decisions that could adversely affect our operating results, such as modifications to our pricing strategy, business structure or operations.

If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business could be materially and adversely affected.

We have experienced recent rapid growth and anticipate further growth. This growth has placed significant demands on our management, financial, operational, technological and other resources, and we expect that our growth will continue to place significant demands on our management and other resources and will require us to continue developing and improving our operational, financial and other internal controls. In particular, continued growth increases the challenges involved in a number of areas, including recruiting and retaining sufficient skilled personnel for our direct sales force, providing adequate training and supervision to maintain our high-quality standards and preserving our culture and values. We may not be able to address these challenges in a cost-effective manner, or at all. To achieve our revenue goals, we must also successfully increase our supply of products from third party manufacturers to meet expected customer demand. In the future, we may experience difficulties with quality control, component supply and shortages of qualified personnel, among other problems. These problems could result in delays in product availability and increases in expenses. Any such delay or increased expense could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue. In addition, rapid and significant growth will place a strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure. In order to manage our operations and growth, we will need to continue to improve our operational and management controls, hiring process, reporting and information technology systems and financial internal control procedures. If we do not effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy customer requirements or maintain high-quality product offerings, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The terms of our term loan agreement require us to meet certain operating and financial covenants and place restrictions on our operating and financial flexibility. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, the terms of any new debt could further restrict our ability to operate our business.

Under the terms of our term loan agreement with Midcap Financial Trust discussed in more detail under section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—

 

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Liquidity and Capital Resources—Long-Term Obligations,” we are subject to certain affirmative and negative covenants, including (but not limited to), financial covenants related to minimum revenue and minimum liquidity, covenants limiting our ability to incur certain additional indebtedness, create certain liens, enter into a change of control transaction and make certain distributions and investments without our lenders’ consent. Our lenders may also declare us in default for certain types of events such as non-payment of debts, inaccurate representations and warranties, failure to comply with terms of material indebtedness and material agreements, bankruptcy and insolvency, a change of control and/or a material adverse change. Upon such events, our lenders could declare an event of default, which would give them the right to declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and fees, to be immediately due and payable. In addition, our lenders would have the right to proceed against the assets we provided as collateral under the loan agreements. For example, under our term loan agreement, the lenders would have the right to enforce liens and security interests over substantially all of our assets (excluding intellectual property) in the event of certain specified defaults under the term loan. If the debt under any of our loan agreements is accelerated, we may not have sufficient cash or be able to sell sufficient assets to repay this debt or may have to curtail our growth plans, which would harm our business and financial condition.

We received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and our application for the PPP Loan could in the future be determined to have been impermissible or could result in damage to our reputation.

In March 2020, we applied for and received an unsecured $3.7 million loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (the PPP Loan). In December 2020, we determined there is reasonable assurances that we will qualify to have the amount received forgiven and in July 2021, it was fully forgiven. The Paycheck Protection Program was established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), and is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (the SBA).

Our receipt of the PPP Loan or the forgiveness of the PPP Loan could result in adverse publicity. In addition, if we are later determined to have been ineligible to receive the PPP Loan or loan forgiveness, we may be subject to significant penalties, including significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, we could be required to repay the PPP Loan in its entirety, and our reputation could suffer. A review or audit by the SBA or other government entity or claims under the U.S. False Claims Act could consume significant financial and management resources.

Additional capital, if needed, may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

Even if this offering is successful, we may require additional capital to maintain and expand our operations. Our operations are capital-intensive and are expected to increase as we expand our sales force, research and development efforts and product offerings. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-linked or debt securities, those securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of our common stock, and our existing stockholders may experience dilution. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could require that a substantial portion of our operating cash flow be devoted to the payment of interest and principal on such indebtedness, which may decrease available funds for other business activities, and could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital-raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. Additionally, any future collaborations we enter into with third parties may provide capital in the near term but limit our potential cash flow and revenue in the future. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms unfavorable to us. We cannot be certain that we will be able to obtain additional financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we cannot raise funds on acceptable terms, if and when needed, we may not be able to continue as a going concern or we may not be able to grow our business or respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated requirements, which could seriously harm our business.

 

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Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our business plan relies on certain assumptions about the market for our products; however, the size and expected growth of our addressable market has not been established with precision and may be smaller than we estimate, and even if the addressable market is as large as we have estimated, we may not be able to capture additional market share.

Our estimates of the addressable market for our current products and future products are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates and assumptions, including the prevalence of foot and ankle disorders and the difficulty of persuading those suffering from foot and ankle disorders to undergo treatment, including surgery. While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates are reasonable, these assumptions and our estimates may not be correct. For example, we believe that the aging of the general population, increasing incidence of obesity and diabetes and increasingly active lifestyles will continue and that these trends will increase the need for our products and procedures. However, the projected demand for our products could materially differ from actual demand if our assumptions regarding these trends and acceptance of our products by the medical community prove to be incorrect or do not materialize, or if non-surgical treatments or other surgical techniques gain more widespread acceptance as a viable alternative to our foot and ankle solutions and procedures. In addition, even if the number of patients suffering from foot and ankle disorders who elect to undergo surgery increases as we expect, technological or medical advances could provide alternatives to address foot and ankle disorders and reduce demand for foot and ankle surgery. As a result, our estimates of the addressable market for our current or future products and procedures may prove to be incorrect. Even if the total addressable market for our current and future products and procedures is as large as we have estimated, we may not be able to penetrate the existing market to capture additional market share for the reasons discussed in this “Risk Factors” section. If the actual number of patients suffering from foot and ankle disorders who would benefit from our products, the price at which we can sell future products or the addressable market for our products is smaller than we estimate, or if the total addressable market is as large as we have estimated but we are unable to capture additional market share, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Market factors and disruptions in global markets may also affect our future operating results and cash flows. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted the level of economic activity around the world. Almost all U.S. states, including Colorado where our headquarters is located, issued, and others in the future may issue, “shelter-in-place” orders, quarantines, executive orders and similar government orders, restrictions and recommendations to control the spread of COVID-19. As a result of those government restrictions, throughout 2020 and, in some cases, extending into 2021, temporary closures of businesses were ordered, numerous other businesses temporarily closed voluntarily and hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and surgeons were ordered to delay elective surgeries in an attempt to free up medical resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic. While many elective surgery restrictions have been lifted, these and other restrictions may be reinstated in the future.

We have experienced disruptions to our revenue and may experience further business disruptions, including disruptions to our supply chain, independent sales representatives, customers, study enrollment timelines and regulatory processes. Further, patients continue to delay or forego foot and ankle surgery procedures to avoid hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers and comply with quarantine and/or similar directives from local and national health and government officials. The delayed or foregone foot and ankle surgeries have had a significant impact on our operations and resulted in a rapid decrease in revenue and cash flows beginning in March 2020, as compared to prior periods and original expectations. Despite some recovery, this reduction in sales, as compared to original expectations, have continued. We expect the negative impacts to continue especially if more contagious and virulent variants, such as the Delta variant, become more prevalent and may worsen in at least the short-term during the COVID-19 pandemic. While we cannot reasonably estimate

 

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the duration or severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect that it will continue to have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial position and liquidity for at least the remainder of 2021. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to significant volatility in global financial markets, potentially reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity.

For additional information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our company, see the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations—Factors Affecting Our Business—Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Our business is dependent upon the broad adoption of our products by hospitals, physicians and patients.

Our future growth and profitability depend on our ability to increase physician and patient awareness of our products and on the willingness of physicians and hospitals to adopt our products. Physicians may not adopt our products unless they are able to determine, based on experience, clinical data, medical society recommendations and other analyses, that our products provide a safe and effective treatment for foot and ankle conditions. Even if we are able to raise awareness among physicians, they may be slow in changing their medical treatment practices and may be hesitant to select our products for a variety of reasons, including:

 

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lack of experience with our products and concerns that we are relatively new to market;

 

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long-standing relationships with companies and distributors that sell other products;

 

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lack of availability of adequate third-party payor coverage or reimbursement;

 

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competitive response and negative selling efforts from providers of alternative treatments;

 

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perception regarding the time commitment and skill development that may be required to gain familiarity and proficiency with our products;

 

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perceived liability risk generally associated with the use of new products and treatment options;

 

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lack or perceived lack of sufficient clinical evidence, including long-term data, supporting clinical benefits or the cost-effectiveness of our products over existing treatments; and

 

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the failure of key opinion leaders to provide recommendations regarding our products, or to assure physicians, patients and healthcare payors of the benefits of our products as an attractive alternative to other treatment options.

To effectively market and sell our products, we will need to continue to educate the medical community about the safety, efficacy, necessity and efficiency of our products and about the patient population that would potentially benefit from using our products. We cannot assure you that we will achieve broad education or market acceptance among physicians. In addition, some physicians may choose to utilize our products on only a subset of their total patient population or may not adopt our products at all. If we are not able to effectively demonstrate that our products are beneficial for a broad range of patients, adoption of our products will be limited and may not occur as rapidly as we anticipate or at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot assure you that our products will achieve broad market acceptance among hospitals, physicians and patients. Any failure of our products to satisfy demand or to achieve meaningful market acceptance and penetration will harm our future prospects and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

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We operate in a very competitive business environment, and if we are unable to compete successfully against our existing or potential competitors, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our existing foot and ankle products and procedures are, and any new foot and ankle products or procedures we develop and commercialize will be, subject to intense competition. The industry in which we operate is competitive, subject to change and sensitive to the introduction of new products, procedures or other market activities of industry participants. Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to continue to promote awareness, educate and train foot and ankle specialists with our foot and ankle products and procedures and gain their acceptance; develop additional products and procedures to improve our foot and ankle offerings and expand our product offerings in a timely manner; receive adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors; and provide products that are easier to use, safer, less invasive and more effective than the products and procedures of our competitors. In addition, our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products will depend to a significant extent on our ability to expand our marketing efforts. We plan to dedicate significant resources to our marketing programs. It will negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations if our marketing efforts and expenditures do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue. In addition, we believe that developing and maintaining broad awareness of our products in a cost-effective manner is critical to achieving broad acceptance of our products and expanding domestically and internationally. Promotion activities may not generate patient or physician awareness or increase revenue, and even if they do, any increase in revenue may not offset the costs and expenses we incur in building our brand. If we fail to successfully promote, maintain and protect our brand, we may fail to attract or retain the physician acceptance necessary to realize a sufficient return on our brand building efforts, or to achieve the level of brand awareness that is critical for broad adoption of our products.

In the foot and ankle market, we compete with large multinational companies such as Stryker Corporation (Stryker), DePuy Synthes Companies (DePuy Synthes), Arthrex, Inc. (Arthrex), Smith & Nephew plc (Smith and Nephew), Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (Zimmer Biomet) as well as with companies with one or a limited number of foot and ankle products such as DJO Global, Inc. (DJO Global), CrossRoads Extremity Systems, LLC (Crossroads), Medline Industries, Inc. (Medline), Novastep Inc. (Novastep) and Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. (Treace). We also face potential competition from many different sources, including academic institutions, governmental agencies and public and private research institutions.

At any time, these competitors and other potential market entrants may develop new products, procedures or treatment alternatives that could render our products obsolete or uncompetitive. In addition, one or more of such competitors may gain a market advantage by developing and patenting competitive products, procedures or treatment alternatives earlier than we can, obtaining regulatory clearances, approvals or certifications more rapidly than we can or selling competitive products at prices lower than ours. If medical research were to lead to the discovery of alternative therapies or technologies that improve or cure certain foot and ankle maladies as an alternative to surgery, such as by natural correction of the unstable joint in the middle of the foot, the use of pharmaceuticals or breakthrough bio-technological innovations or therapies, our profitability could suffer through a reduction in sales or a loss in market share to a competitor. The discovery of methods of prevention or the development of other alternatives to address certain foot and ankle maladies that we treat could result in decreased demand for our products and, accordingly, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Many of our current and potential competitors have substantially greater sales and financial resources than we do, more established distribution networks, a broader offering of products, entrenched relationships with surgeons and distributors and greater experience in launching, marketing, distributing and selling products or treatment alternatives.

We also compete with our competitors to engage the services of independent sales representatives, both those presently working with us and those with whom we hope to work with as we expand. In addition, we compete with our competitors in acquiring technologies and technology licenses complementary to our products or procedures or advantageous to our business. If we are unable to compete successfully against our existing or

 

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potential competitors, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected, and we may not be able to grow at our expected rate, if at all.

The seasonality of our business creates variance in our quarterly revenue, which makes it difficult to compare or forecast our financial results.

Our revenue fluctuates on a seasonal basis, which affects the comparability of our results between periods. In particular, we have experienced and expect to continue to experience seasonality in our business, with higher U.S. sales volumes in the fourth calendar quarter. Our U.S. sales volumes in the fourth calendar quarter tend to be higher as many patients elect to have surgery after meeting their annual deductible and having time to recover over the winter holidays.

Our long-term growth depends on our ability to enhance our products, expand our indications and develop and commercialize additional products in a timely manner. If we cannot innovate, we may not be able to develop or exploit new products in time to remain competitive.

The market for our products is highly competitive, dynamic, and marked by rapid and substantial technological development and product innovation. New entrants or existing competitors could attempt to develop products that compete directly with ours. For us to remain competitive, it is essential to develop and bring to market new products including for example our Smart 28 initiative. Demand for our products and future related products could be diminished by equivalent or superior products and technologies offered by competitors. If we are unable to innovate successfully, our products could become obsolete and our revenue would decline as our customers purchase our competitors’ products. Developing products is expensive and time-consuming and could divert management’s attention away from our core business. The success of any new product offering or product enhancements to our solution will depend on several factors, including our ability to:

 

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assemble sufficient resources to acquire or discover additional products;

 

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properly identify and anticipate surgeon and patient needs;

 

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develop and introduce new products and product enhancements in a timely manner;

 

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avoid infringing upon the intellectual property rights of third-parties;

 

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demonstrate, if required, the safety and efficacy of new products with data from preclinical studies and clinical trials;

 

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obtain the necessary regulatory clearances, approvals or certifications for expanded indications, new products or product modifications;

 

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be fully compliant with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and be fully compliant with foreign regulations marketing of new devices or modified products;

 

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produce new products in commercial quantities at an acceptable cost;

 

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provide adequate training to potential users of our products;

 

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receive adequate coverage and reimbursement for procedures performed with our products; and

 

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develop an effective and dedicated sales and marketing team.

 

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If we are unable to develop or improve products, applications or features due to constraints, such as insufficient cash resources, high employee turnover, inability to hire personnel with sufficient technical skills or a lack of other research and development resources, we may not be able to maintain our competitive position compared to other companies. Furthermore, many of our competitors have the capability to devote a considerably greater amount of funds to their research and development programs than we do, and those that do not may be acquired by larger companies that could allocate greater resources to research and development programs. Our failure or inability to devote adequate research and development resources or compete effectively with the research and development programs of our competitors could harm our business.

Further, our new initiatives, such as Smart 28, may not gain a substantial degree of market acceptance among specialty physicians, patients or healthcare providers. Our failure to gain widespread of acceptance of our new initiatives, such as Smart 28, could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, we may choose to focus our efforts and resources on potential products or indications that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful, or to license or purchase a marketed product that does not meet our financial expectations. As a result, we may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities, be required to forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other potential products or other diseases that may later prove to have greater commercial potential, or relinquish valuable rights to such potential products through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product or indication and fail to capitalize on product or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.

Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we focus on research programs and products that we identify for specific indications. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other products or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to timely capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and products for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product.

We face the risk of product liability claims that could be expensive, divert management’s attention and harm our reputation and business. We may not be able to maintain adequate product liability insurance.

Our business exposes us to the risk of product liability claims that are inherent in the testing, manufacturing and marketing of medical devices. This risk exists even if a device is cleared or approved for commercial sale by the FDA or approved or certified in foreign jurisdictions and manufactured in facilities licensed and regulated by the FDA or an applicable foreign regulatory authority. Our products are designed to affect, and any future enhancements to our products will be designed to affect, important bodily functions and processes. Any side effects, manufacturing defects, misuse or abuse associated with our products could result in patient injury or death. The medical device industry has historically been subject to extensive litigation over product liability claims, and we may face product liability suits. We may be subject to product liability claims if our products cause, or merely appear to have caused, patient injury or death. In addition, an injury that is caused by the activities of our suppliers, such as those who provide us with components and raw materials, may be the basis for a claim against us. Product liability claims may be brought against us by patients, healthcare providers or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products, among others. If we cannot successfully

 

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defend ourselves against product liability claims, we will incur substantial liabilities and reputational harm. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:

 

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costs of litigation;

 

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distraction of management’s attention from our primary business;

 

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the inability to commercialize our products and develop enhancements to our products;

 

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decreased demand for our products;

 

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damage to our business reputation;

 

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product recalls or withdrawals from the market;

 

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withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

 

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substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants; or

 

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loss of sales.

Additionally, we could experience a material design or manufacturing failure in our products, a quality system failure, other safety issues or heightened regulatory scrutiny that would warrant a recall of some of our products. While we may attempt to manage our product liability exposure by proactively recalling or withdrawing from the market any defective products, any recall or market withdrawal of our products may delay the supply of those products to our customers and may impact our reputation. We may not be successful in initiating appropriate market recall or market withdrawal efforts that may be required in the future and these efforts may not have the intended effect of preventing product malfunctions and the accompanying product liability that may result. Such recalls and withdrawals may also be used by our competitors to harm our reputation for safety or be perceived by patients as a safety risk when considering the use of our products, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although we have product liability and clinical study liability insurance that we believe is appropriate, this insurance is subject to deductibles and coverage limitations. Our current product liability insurance may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all, and, if available, coverage may not be adequate to protect us against any future product liability claims. If we are unable to obtain insurance at an acceptable cost or on acceptable terms or otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we could be exposed to significant liabilities. A product liability claim, recall or other claim with respect to uninsured liabilities or for amounts in excess of insured liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, such product liability matters may negatively impact our ability to obtain insurance coverage or cost-effective insurance coverage in future periods.

Industry trends have resulted in increased downward pricing pressure on medical services and products, which may affect our ability to sell our products at prices necessary to support our current business strategy.

The trend toward health care cost containment through aggregating purchasing decisions and industry consolidation, along with the growth of managed care organizations, is placing increased emphasis on the delivery of more cost-effective medical therapies. For example:

 

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There has been consolidation among health care facilities and purchasers of medical devices, particularly in the United States. One of the results of such consolidation is that group purchasing

 

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organizations (GPOs), integrated delivery networks and large single accounts use their market power to consolidate purchasing decisions, which intensifies competition to provide products and services to health care providers and other industry participants, resulting in greater pricing pressures and the exclusion of certain suppliers from important market segments. For example, some GPOs negotiate pricing for their member hospitals and require us to discount, or limit our ability to increase, prices for certain of our products.

 

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Surgeons increasingly have moved from independent, outpatient practice settings toward employment by or affiliation with hospitals and other larger health care organizations, which aligns surgeons’ product choices with the institutional providers’ price sensitivities and adds to pricing pressures. Hospitals and health care facilities have introduced and may continue to introduce new pricing structures into their contracts to contain health care costs, including fixed price formulas and capitated and construct pricing.

 

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Certain hospitals provide financial incentives to doctors for reducing hospital costs (known as gainsharing), rewarding physician efficiency (known as physician profiling) and encouraging partnerships with health care service and goods providers to reduce costs.

 

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Existing and proposed laws, regulations and industry policies, in both domestic and international markets, regulate or seek to increase regulation of sales and marketing practices and the pricing and profitability of companies in the health care industry.

More broadly, provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could meaningfully change the way health care is developed and delivered in the United States, and may adversely affect our business and results of operations. We cannot predict accurately what health care programs and regulations will ultimately be implemented at the federal or state level, or the effect of any future legislation or regulation in the United States or elsewhere. However, any changes that have the effect of reducing reimbursement by government health care programs and other third-party payors for procedures using our products or reducing medical procedure volumes could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any decline in the amount that payors reimburse our customers for our products could make it difficult for customers to continue using, or to adopt, our products and could create additional pricing pressure for us. If we are forced to lower the price we charge for our products, or if we add more components to our systems, our gross margins will decrease, which will adversely affect our ability to invest in and grow our business. If we are unable to maintain our prices, or if our costs increase and we are unable to offset such increase with an increase in our prices, our margins could erode.

In addition, the largest medical device companies with multiple product franchises have increased their effort to leverage and contract broadly with customers across franchises by providing volume discounts and multi-year arrangements that could prevent our access to these customers or make it difficult, or impossible, to compete on price.

Our employees and independent contractors, including independent sales representatives and any other consultants, any future service providers and other vendors, may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees and independent contractors, including independent sales representatives and any other consultants, any future commercial collaborators, and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or other unauthorized activities that violate: federal, state or local laws and regulations, as well as the laws, regulations and rules of regulatory bodies such as the FDA; manufacturing standards; U.S. federal and state health care fraud and abuse, data privacy laws and other similar non-U.S. laws; or laws that require the

 

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true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with such laws or regulations. In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and financial results, including, without limitation, the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgements, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other U.S. health care programs, other sanctions, imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

Risks Related to Administrative, Organizational and Commercial Operations and Growth

If hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and other health care facilities do not approve the use of our products, our sales may not increase.

In order for foot and ankle specialists to use our products at hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and other health care facilities, we are often required to obtain approval from those hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and health care facilities. Typically, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and health care facilities review the comparative effectiveness and cost of products used in the facility. The makeup and evaluation processes for health care facilities vary considerably, and it can be a lengthy, costly and time-consuming effort to obtain approval by the relevant health care facilities. Additionally, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, other health care facilities and GPOs, which manage purchasing for multiple facilities, may also require us to enter into a purchase agreement and satisfy numerous elements of their administrative procurement process, which can also be a lengthy, costly and time-consuming effort. If we do not obtain access to hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and other health care facilities in a timely manner, or at all, via their approvals or purchase contract processes, or otherwise, or if we are unable to obtain approvals or secure contracts in a timely manner, or at all, our operating costs will increase, our sales may decrease and our operating results may be adversely affected. Furthermore, we may expend significant efforts on these costly and time-consuming processes but may not be able to obtain necessary approvals or secure a purchase contract from such hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, health care facilities or GPOs.

If we fail to receive access to hospital facilities, our sales may decrease.

In the United States, in order for physicians to use our products, we expect that the hospital facilities where these physicians treat patients will typically require us to enter into purchasing contracts. This process can be lengthy and time-consuming and require extensive negotiations and management time. In the European Union (EU) certain institutions may require us to engage in a contract bidding process in the event that such institutions are considering making purchase commitments that exceed specified cost thresholds, which vary by jurisdiction. These processes are only open at certain periods of time, and we may not be successful in the bidding process. If we do not receive access to hospital facilities via these contracting processes or otherwise, or if we are unable to secure contracts or tender successful bids, our sales may decrease and our operating results may be harmed. Furthermore, we may expend significant effort in these time-consuming processes and still may not obtain a purchase contract from such hospitals.

Performance issues, service interruptions or price increases by shipping carriers could adversely affect our business and harm our reputation and ability to provide our products on a timely basis.

Expedited, reliable shipping will be essential to our operations. We intend to rely heavily on providers of transport services for reliable and secure point-to-point transport of our products to our customers and for

 

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tracking of these shipments. Should a carrier encounter delivery performance issues such as loss, damage or destruction of our products, it would be costly to replace our products in a timely manner, could cause surgeries using our products to be delayed or canceled and such occurrences may damage our reputation and lead to decreased demand for our products and increased cost and expense to our business. In addition, any significant increase in shipping rates could adversely affect our operating margins and results of operations. Similarly, strikes, severe weather, natural disasters or other service interruptions affecting delivery services we use would adversely affect our ability to process orders for our products on a timely basis.

If coverage or adequate levels of reimbursement from third-party payors for procedures using our products, or any future products we may seek to commercialize, are not obtained or maintained, foot and ankle specialists and patients may be reluctant to use our products and our business will suffer.

In the United States, health care providers who purchase our products generally rely on third-party payors, principally federally-funded Medicare, state-funded Medicaid and private health insurance plans, to pay for all or a portion of the cost of foot and ankle procedures and products utilized in those procedures. We may be unable to sell our products, or any future products we may seek to commercialize, on a profitable basis if third-party payors deny coverage or reduce their current levels of reimbursement for procedures using our products. Payors continue to review their coverage policies for existing and new therapies and may deny coverage for treatments that include the use of our products or any future products we may seek to commercialize. Third-party payors, whether foreign or domestic, or governmental or commercial, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. In addition, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for procedures using our solution exists among third-party payors. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for procedures using our products can differ significantly from payor to payor.

In addition, some health care providers in the United States have adopted or are considering bundled payment methodologies and/or managed care systems in which providers contract to provide comprehensive health care for a fixed cost per person. Health care providers may attempt to control costs by authorizing fewer elective surgical procedures, including foot and ankle surgeries, or by requiring the use of the least expensive procedure available. In addition, third-party payors increasingly are requiring evidence that medical devices are cost-effective, and if we are unable to meet this requirement, the third-party payor may not cover procedures using our products, which could reduce sales of our products to health care providers who depend upon third-party payor reimbursement for payment. Changes in coverage policies or health care cost containment initiatives that limit or restrict reimbursement for procedures using our products may have an adverse effect on our business.

Outside of the United States, reimbursement levels vary significantly by country and by patient. Reimbursement is obtained from a variety of sources, including government sponsors, hospital budgets, public tenders/bids, or private health insurance plans, or combinations thereof. We participate in and have established appropriate market access in countries where required and applicable. Uncertainties regarding future healthcare policy, legislation and regulation, as well as private market practices and foreign regulations that might prohibit the use of certain of our products, could affect our ability to sell our products in commercially acceptable quantities at acceptable prices.

The majority of our sales force consists of independent sales representatives, and if we are unable to maintain and expand our network of independent sales representatives, we may be unable to generate anticipated sales.

Our revenue and profitability is directly dependent upon the sales and marketing efforts of our sales force. We utilize a sales force comprised primarily of independent sales representatives to sell our products to surgeons, hospitals, clinics, foot and ankle specialists and other end users and to assist us in promoting market acceptance of, and creating demand for, our products and procedures. As we increase our marketing efforts, we will need to retain, develop and grow the number of sales representatives that we employ. We intend to make a significant investment in recruiting and training sales representatives and clinical representatives as we expand our business. There is significant competition for sales personnel experienced in relevant medical device sales. If we are unable to come to commercially reasonable terms with a sales representative or representatives, we may

 

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not generate the expected level of sales and may need to spend more of our capital resources to hire sales personnel as employees. Once hired, the training process can be lengthy because it requires significant education for new sales representatives and to achieve the level of clinical competency with our products expected by foot and ankle specialists. Upon completion of the training, our sales representatives typically require lead time in the field to grow their network of accounts and achieve the productivity levels we expect them to reach in any individual territory. Furthermore, the use of our products often requires or benefits from direct support from us, including through our sales representatives that provide assistance in the operating room.

It will negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations if our efforts to expand and train our sales force do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue, and our higher fixed costs may slow our ability to reduce costs in the face of a sudden decline in demand for our products. Any failure to hire, develop and retain talented sales personnel, to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time or timely reduce fixed costs, could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if we are able to attract and retain additional sales representatives, in situations where our sales representatives are not exclusive to us, there is a risk that a sales representatives that we contract with will give higher priority to the products of other medical device companies, including products directly competitive with our products or may be required by larger medical devices companies to stop offering our products. Though we have established initiatives to further focus our independent sales channel on our products, these initiatives may not translate to the increase sales or penetration which we expect. There can be no assurance that a sales representatives will devote the resources necessary to provide effective sales and promotional support to our products. Also, to the extent we engage sales representatives from our competitors, we may have to wait until applicable non-competition provisions or obligations have expired. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may still be subject to future allegations that these new hires have been improperly solicited, and that they have divulged to us proprietary or other confidential information of their former employers. Additionally, because the market for experienced sales personnel is competitive, our competitors may try to hire our sales representatives away from us. If successful, we would be required to dedicate resources to recruiting, filling and training those vacant positions. The loss of these personnel to competitors, or otherwise, will negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to retain our direct sales force personnel or replace them with individuals of equivalent technical expertise and qualifications, or if we are unable to successfully instill such technical expertise in replacement personnel, it may negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on third-party contract manufacturers and suppliers, some of which are single source, to produce and package all elements comprising our foot and ankle products, and if these suppliers and manufacturers fail to supply us, our products or their components or subcomponents in sufficient quantities or at all, it will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We utilize qualified medical device contract manufacturers and suppliers, some of which are single sources, to produce and package all elements comprising our foot and ankle products. Our significant single source suppliers include Tech Metals, which supplies parts used in our Gorilla plating system, QTS, which provides cleaning, packaging and sterilization services for multiple of our products, 3D Systems, which supplies parts used in our APEX 3D Total Ankle Replacement system, Seaway, which supplies parts for our drill guides and Orchid, which supplies parts used in our Apex Talus Implants. While we estimate replacing these single source suppliers could take up to approximately six months, in some of these examples alternative second source suppliers may not be readily available. We seek to strategically maintain sufficient levels of inventory to help mitigate supply disruption, usually holding sufficient inventory to allow for manufacturing from 90 to 180 days following the loss of a supplier, to accommodate varying demand mix and to achieve more efficient volume-based pricing on our components; however, we may not be accurate in our estimates which could result in insufficient inventory to meet demand or excess inventory and the risk of inventory obsolescence and expiration. Further, while we have entered into several supply agreements in an effort to reinforce our supply chain, there is no guarantee the counter-party suppliers will adhere to the terms of these agreements.

 

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Our suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including, for example, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, equipment malfunction and environmental factors, failure to properly conduct their own business affairs, and infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, any of which could delay or impede their ability to meet our requirements. Our reliance on a third-party manufacturer and third-party suppliers also

subjects us to other risks that could harm our business that we would not be subject to if we manufactured products ourselves, including, among others:

 

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we may not be a major customer of many of our suppliers, and these suppliers may therefore give other customers’ needs higher priority than ours;

 

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third parties may threaten or enforce their intellectual property rights against our suppliers, which may cause disruptions or delays in shipment, or may force our suppliers to cease conducting business with us;

 

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we may not be able to obtain an adequate supply of components in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms;

 

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our suppliers, especially new suppliers, may make errors in manufacturing that could negatively affect the efficacy or safety of our products or cause delays in shipment;

 

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we may have difficulty locating and qualifying alternative suppliers;

 

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switching components or suppliers may require product redesign and possibly submission to FDA, Notified Bodies, or other foreign regulatory bodies, which could significantly impede or delay our commercial activities;

 

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one or more of our single-source suppliers may be unwilling or unable to supply components of our products;

 

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other customers may use fair or unfair negotiation tactics or pressures to impede our use of the suppliers;

 

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the occurrence of a fire, natural disaster or other catastrophe impacting one or more of our suppliers may affect their ability to deliver products to us in a timely manner;

 

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the impact of COVID-19 may impact a manufacturing facility by limiting operating capacity or sideline critical employees involved in the manufacturing processes thereby affecting their ability to deliver products to us in a timely manner;

 

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our suppliers may encounter financial or other business hardships unrelated to our demand, which could inhibit their ability to fulfill our orders and meet our requirements;

 

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our suppliers may not maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary information; and

 

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higher manufacturing and product costs than more vertically integrated companies.

Any of these factors could cause delay or suspension of commercialization and marketing, regulatory submissions or required approvals, clearances or certifications, or cause us to incur higher costs. Furthermore, if our contract manufacturers fail to deliver the required commercial quantities of finished products on a timely basis and at commercially reasonable prices and we are unable to find one or more replacement manufacturers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, in substantially equivalent volumes and quality, and on a timely basis, we would likely be unable to meet demand for our products and we would lose potential revenue. Any difficulties in locating and hiring third-party manufacturers, or in the ability of third-party manufacturers to supply quantities of our products at the times and in the quantities we need, could have a material adverse effect

 

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on our business. It may take a significant amount of time and resources (including costs) to establish an alternative source of supply for our products and to have any such new source authorized by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities or other bodies. Given our reliance on certain single-source suppliers, we are especially susceptible to supply shortages because we do not have alternate suppliers currently available.

Moreover, some third parties are located in markets subject to political and social risk, corruption, infrastructure problems and natural disasters, in addition to country-specific privacy and data security risk given current legal and regulatory environments. Failure of third parties to meet their contractual, regulatory, and other obligations may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any of these matters could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our results of operations will be materially harmed if we are unable to accurately forecast customer demand for our products and manage our inventory.

Given the large variety and number of products we sell, in order to market and sell them effectively, we must maintain significant levels of inventory and surgical instrumentation. As a result, a significant amount of our cash used in operations has been associated with maintaining these levels of inventory. To ensure adequate inventory supply, we must forecast inventory needs and manufacture our products based on our estimates of future demand. Our ability to accurately forecast demand for our products could be negatively affected by many factors, including our failure to accurately manage our expansion strategy, product introductions by competitors, an increase or decrease in customer demand for our products or for products of our competitors, our failure to accurately forecast customer acceptance of new products, unanticipated changes in general market conditions or regulatory matters and weakening of economic conditions or consumer confidence in future economic conditions. Inventory levels in excess of customer demand may result in inventory write-downs or write-offs, which would cause our gross margin to be adversely affected and could impair the strength of our brand. Conversely, if we underestimate customer demand for our product, our internal manufacturing team may not be able to deliver products to meet our requirements, and this could result in damage to our reputation and customer relationships. In addition, if we experience a significant increase in demand, additional supplies of raw materials or additional manufacturing capacity may not be available when required on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, or suppliers or may not be able to allocate sufficient capacity in order to meet our increased requirements, which will negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We seek to maintain sufficient levels of inventory in order to protect ourselves from supply interruptions. As a result, we are subject to the risk that a portion of our inventory will become obsolete or expire, which could have a material adverse effect on our earnings and cash flows due to the resulting costs associated with the inventory obsolescence charges and costs required to replace such inventory.

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

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

 

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commercial success or viable product improvements or result in significant revenues and could be terminated prior to developing any products.

Additionally, we may not be in a position to exercise sole decision making authority regarding the transaction or arrangement, which could create the potential risk of creating impasses on decisions, and our future collaborators may have economic or business interests or goals that are, or that may become, inconsistent with our business interests or goals. It is possible that conflicts may arise with our collaborators, such as conflicts concerning the achievement of performance milestones, or the interpretation of significant terms under any agreement, such as those related to financial obligations or the ownership or control of intellectual property developed during the collaboration. If any conflicts arise with any future collaborators, they may act in their self-interest, which may be adverse to our best interest, and they may breach their obligations to us. In addition, we may have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that any future collaborators devote to our or their future products.

Disputes between us and our collaborators may result in litigation or arbitration which would increase our expenses and divert the attention of our management. Further, these transactions and arrangements will be contractual in nature and will generally be terminable under the terms of the applicable agreements and, in such event, we may not continue to have rights to the products relating to such transaction or arrangement or may need to purchase such rights at a premium. If we enter into in-bound intellectual property license agreements, we may not be able to fully protect the licensed intellectual property rights or maintain those licenses. Future licensors could retain the right to prosecute and defend the intellectual property rights licensed to us, in which case we would depend on the ability of our licensors to obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property protection for the licensed intellectual property. These licensors may determine not to pursue litigation against other companies or may pursue such litigation less aggressively than we would. Further, entering into such license agreements could impose various diligence, commercialization, royalty or other obligations on us. Future licensors may allege that we have breached our license agreement with them, and accordingly seek to terminate our license, which could adversely affect our competitive business position and harm our business prospects.

We may seek to grow our business through acquisitions or investments in new or complementary businesses, products or technologies, through the licensing of products or technologies from third parties or other strategic alliances, and the failure to manage acquisitions, investments, licenses or other strategic alliances, or the failure to integrate them with our existing business, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, dilute our stockholders’ ownership, increase our debt or cause us to incur significant expense.

Our success depends on our ability to continually enhance and broaden our product offerings in response to changing clinician and patients’ needs, competitive technologies and market pressures. Accordingly, from time to time we may consider opportunities to acquire, make investments in or license other technologies, products and businesses that may enhance our capabilities, complement our existing products and technologies or expand the breadth of our markets or customer base. For example, we recently acquired the assets of Additive Orthopaedics. Our ability to realize the potential benefits of this acquisition and to integrate the acquired assets may not be successful or may not occur within our anticipated timeline. Potential and completed acquisitions, strategic investments, licenses and other alliances involve numerous risks, including:

 

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difficulty assimilating or integrating acquired or licensed technologies, products, employees or business operations;

 

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issues maintaining uniform standards, procedures, controls and policies;

 

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unanticipated costs associated with acquisitions or strategic alliances, including the assumption of unknown or contingent liabilities and the incurrence of debt or future write-offs of intangible assets or goodwill;

 

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diversion of management’s attention from our core business and disruption of ongoing operations;

 

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adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers, sales representatives, health care facilities, foot and ankle specialists and other health care providers;

 

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

 

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potential losses related to investments in other companies;

 

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potential loss of key employees of acquired businesses; and

 

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unanticipated or undisclosed liabilities of any target; and

 

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increased legal and accounting costs relating to the acquisitions or compliance with regulatory matters.

We do not know if we will be able to identify acquisitions or strategic relationships we deem suitable, whether we will be able to successfully complete any such transactions on favorable terms, if at all, or whether we will be able to successfully integrate any acquired business, product or technology into our business or retain any key personnel, suppliers, sales representative, health care facilities, surgeons or other health care providers. Our ability to successfully grow through strategic transactions depends upon our ability to identify, negotiate, complete and integrate suitable target businesses, technologies or products and to obtain any necessary financing. These efforts could be expensive and time-consuming and may disrupt our ongoing business and prevent management from focusing on our operations.

If we pursue any foreign acquisitions, they typically involve unique risks in addition to those mentioned above, including those related to integration of operations across different cultures, languages and legal and regulatory environments, currency risks and the particular economic, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries.

To finance any acquisitions, investments or strategic alliances, we may choose to issue shares of our common stock as consideration, which could dilute the ownership of our stockholders. If the price of our common stock is low or volatile, we may be unable to consummate any acquisitions, investments or strategic alliances using our common stock as consideration. Additional funds may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all.

We may not be able to establish or strengthen our brand.

We believe that establishing and strengthening Paragon 28 and our various foot and ankle procedure brands, including Smart 28, is important to achieving widespread acceptance of our foot and ankle products and procedures, particularly because of the highly competitive nature of the market for similar products. We believe the quality and reliability of our products is critical to building physician support for our foot and ankle products and solutions in the United States and abroad, and any negative publicity regarding the quality or reliability of our products and procedures could significantly damage our reputation in the market. In the course of conducting our business, we must adequately address quality issues that may arise with our products, including defects in third-party components included in our products. Although we have established internal procedures designed to minimize risks that may arise from quality issues, we may not be able to eliminate or mitigate occurrences of these issues and associated liabilities. In addition, even in the absence of quality issues, we may be subject to claims and liability if the performance of our products do not meet the expectations of physicians or patients.

In addition, promoting and positioning our brand will depend largely on the success of our medical education efforts and our ability to educate foot and ankle specialists and patients. These brand promotion activities may not yield increased sales and, even if they do, any sales increases may not offset the expenses we incur to promote our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, or if we incur substantial

 

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expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to promote and maintain our brand, our foot and ankle solutions may not be accepted by physicians or patients, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our inability to maintain contractual relationships with health care professionals could have a negative impact on our research and development and medical education programs.

We maintain contractual relationships with respected physicians and medical personnel in hospitals, private practice and universities who assist in clinical studies, product research and development and in the training of foot and ankle specialists on the safe and effective use of our products. We continue to place emphasis on the validation of the benefits of our foot and ankle products and procedures through clinical studies, the development of proprietary products and product improvements to develop our product lines as well as providing high quality training on those products. If we are unable to maintain these relationships, our ability to develop and market new and improved products and train on the use of those products could decrease, and future operating results could be unfavorably affected. At the same time, the medical device industry’s relationship with physicians is under increasing scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the state attorneys general and other foreign and domestic government agencies. Our failure to comply with requirements governing the industry’s relationships with physicians or an investigation into our compliance by the OIG, the DOJ, state attorneys general and other government agencies, could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulatory Matters— Our relationships with customers, foot and ankle specialists and third-party payors are subject to federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, physician payment transparency laws and other health care laws and regulations. If we or our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, or vendors violate these laws we could face substantial penalties.”

We may be unable to continue to successfully demonstrate to foot and ankle specialists or key opinion leaders the merits of our products and technologies compared to those of our competitors, which may make it difficult to establish our products and technologies as a standard of care and achieve market acceptance.

Foot and ankle specialists play the primary role in determining the course of treatment and, ultimately, the type of products that will be used to treat a patient. As a result, our success depends, in large part, on our ability to effectively market and demonstrate to foot and ankle specialists the merits of our products and methodologies compared to those of our competitors. Acceptance of our products and methodologies depends on educating foot and ankle specialists as to the distinctive characteristics, clinical benefits, safety and cost-effectiveness of our products, procedures and technologies as compared to those of our competitors, and on training foot and ankle specialists in the proper use of our products. If we are not successful in convincing foot and ankle specialists of the merits of our products and methodologies or educating them on the use of our products, they may not use our products or may not use them effectively and we may be unable to increase our sales, sustain our growth or achieve and sustain profitability.

Also since a number of our foot and ankle procedures and products are new, some foot and ankle specialists may be reluctant to change their surgical treatment practices for the following reasons, among others:

 

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lack of experience with our products and procedures;

 

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existing relationships with competitors and distributors that sell competitive products;

 

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lack or perceived lack of evidence supporting additional patient benefits;

 

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perceived liability risks generally associated with the use of new products and procedures;

 

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less attractive availability of coverage and reimbursement by third-party payors compared to procedures using competitive products and other techniques;

 

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costs associated with the purchase of new products and equipment; and

 

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the time commitment that may be required for training.

These reasons may affect the pace of adoption of our foot and ankle products and procedures and future products and techniques that we may offer.

In addition, we believe recommendations and support of our products and technologies by surgeons, foot and ankle specialists and other key opinion leaders in our industry are essential for market acceptance and establishment of our products and procedures as a standard of care. If we do not receive support from such surgeons, foot and ankle specialists and other key opinion leaders, if long-term data does not show the benefits of using our products and procedures or if the benefits offered by our products and procedures are not sufficient to justify their cost, foot and ankle specialists, hospitals and other health care facilities may not use our products and we might be unable to establish our products and procedures as a standard of care and continue to achieve market acceptance.

If foot and ankle specialists fail to safely and appropriately use our products, or if we are unable to train podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons on the safe and appropriate use of our products, we may be unable to achieve our expected sales, growth or profitability.

An important part of our sales process includes our ability to screen for and identify podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons who have the requisite training and experience to safely and appropriately use our products and to train a sufficient number of these foot and ankle specialists and to provide them with adequate instruction in use of our products. There is a training process involved for foot and ankle specialists to become proficient in the safe and appropriate use of our products. This training process may take longer or be more expensive than expected. Convincing foot and ankle specialists to dedicate the time and energy necessary for adequate training is challenging, and we may not be successful in these efforts. Recent changes to federal guidance regarding medical education programs under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute also could limit our ability to train podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons, and such programs could be subject to challenge under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulatory Matters—Our relationships with customers, foot and ankle specialists and third-party payors are subject to federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, physician payment transparency laws and other health care laws and regulations. If we or our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, or vendors violate these laws we could face substantial penalties.”

Furthermore, if clinicians are not properly trained, they may misuse or ineffectively use our products. Any improper use of our products may result in unsatisfactory outcomes, patient injury, negative publicity or lawsuits against us, any of which could harm our reputation and affect future product sales. Accordingly, if foot and ankle specialists fail to safely and appropriately use our products or if we are unable to train foot and ankle specialists on the safe and appropriate use of our products, we may be unable to achieve our expected sales, growth or profitability.

The loss of any member on our executive management team or our inability to attract and retain highly skilled members of our sales management and marketing teams and engineers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our success depends on the skills, experience and performance of the members of our executive management team including Albert DaCosta, our co-founder, chairman, president and chief executive officer, in particular. The individual and collective efforts of these executives will be important as we continue to

 

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commercialize our existing products, develop new products and technologies and expand our commercial activities. The loss or incapacity of existing members of our executive management team could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations if we experience difficulties in hiring qualified successors. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or key employees.

Our commercial, quality and research and development programs and operations depend on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled team members. We may be unable to attract or retain qualified team members. All of our U.S. employees are at-will, which means that either we or the employee may terminate his or her employment at any time. The loss of key employees, failure of any key employee to perform, our inability to attract and retain skilled employees, as needed, or our inability to effectively plan for and implement a succession plan for key employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we or our licensors are unable to obtain and maintain significant patent or other intellectual property protection for our products, or if the scope of our patents and other intellectual property rights do not adequately protect our products, our competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours and we may be unable to gain significant market share and be unable to operate our business profitably.

Our success depends in large part on our and our licensors’ ability to obtain, maintain and solidify a proprietary position for our products, which will depend on our and our licensors’ success in obtaining effective intellectual property protection, including through patents, trade secrets, copyrights, know-how, trademarks, license agreements and contractual provisions to establish our intellectual property rights and protect our products. These legal means, however, afford only limited protection and may not completely protect our rights. Any failure to obtain or maintain patent and other intellectual property protection with respect to our products could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As of July 30, 2021, our patent portfolio included 206 owned, registered patents and 3 in-licensed patents. Thirty-three of these patents are U.S. utility patents. As of June 30, 2021, we had 112 pending patent applications globally, including 67 in the United States. Outside of the United States we have patent applications pending in Europe, Australia, Canada, South Africa as well as through our PCT applications (which have been counted as pending U.S. patent applications). We cannot assure you that our intellectual property position will not be challenged or that all patents for which we have applied will be granted. The validity and breadth of claims in patents involve complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, may be highly uncertain. Uncertainties and risks that we face include the following:

 

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our pending or future patent applications may not result in the issuance of patents;

 

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the scope of any existing or future patent protection may not exclude competitors or provide competitive advantages to us;

 

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our patents may not be held valid or enforceable if subsequently challenged;

 

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other parties may claim that our products and designs infringe the proprietary rights of others—even if we are successful in defending our patents and proprietary rights, the cost of such litigation may adversely affect our business; and

 

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other parties may develop similar products, duplicate our products, or design around our patents.

The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we and our licensors may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce or license all necessary or desirable patents or patent applications at a

 

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reasonable cost or in a timely manner, or in all jurisdictions. Although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, any of these parties may breach such agreements and disclose such output before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek and obtain patent protection. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions, and under the laws of certain jurisdictions, patents or other intellectual property rights may be unavailable or limited in scope. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our developments before it is too late to obtain patent protection. In addition, our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents depends in part on whether the differences between our inventions and the prior art allow our inventions to be patented over the prior art. Furthermore, the publication of discoveries in scientific literature often lags behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until eighteen (18) months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. In addition, the laws of foreign jurisdictions may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, certain countries outside of the United States do not allow patents for methods of treating the human body. This may preclude us from obtaining method patents outside of the United States having similar scope to those we have obtained or may obtain in the future in the United States. This includes certain key method patents covering our procedures and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish our ability to protect our inventions, obtain, maintain and enforce our patent rights and, more generally, could affect the value of our patents. Additionally, we cannot predict whether the patent applications we are currently pursuing will issue as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any issued patents will provide sufficient protection from competitors or third parties.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad, and as a result, may not provide us with adequate proprietary protection or competitive advantage against competitors with similar products. Moreover, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or patent offices in foreign jurisdictions, or become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical products and techniques without payment to us, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology.

We cannot ensure that we do not infringe any patents or other proprietary rights held by third parties. If our products were found to infringe any proprietary right of another party, we could be required to pay significant damages or license fees to such party and/or cease production, marketing and distribution of those products. Litigation may also be necessary to defend infringement claims of third parties or to enforce patent rights we hold or to protect trade secrets or techniques we own. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue and because publication schedules for pending applications vary by jurisdiction, there may be applications now pending of which we are unaware and which may result in issued patents which our current or future products infringe. Also, because the claims of published patent applications can change between publication and patent grant, there may be published patent applications that may ultimately issue with claims that we infringe.

We also rely on trade secrets and other unpatented proprietary technology. There can be no assurances that we can meaningfully protect our rights in our trade secrets and other unpatented proprietary technology or that others will not independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary products or processes or otherwise gain access to our proprietary technology. We seek to protect our trade secrets and proprietary know-how and technology, in part, with confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with employees and consultants that include confidentiality obligations and valid, present-tense intellectual property assignment obligations. There can be no assurances, however, that the agreements will not be breached, adequate remedies for any breach

 

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would be available or competitors will not discover our trade secrets or independently develop comparable intellectual property. Further, litigation may be necessary to obtain ownership or to defend against claims challenging ownership. Even if we or our licensors are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our management and other employees, and such claims could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Moreover, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties, and are therefore reliant on our licensors and may be reliant on future licensors or licensees, to protect certain intellectual property used in our business. If our licensors or future licensors or licensees fail to adequately protect this intellectual property, our ability to commercialize products could suffer. For example, we rely on a current licensor to maintain the patents and otherwise protect the intellectual property we license pursuant to a license agreement with such third party. Such licensor may not successfully prosecute, maintain and protect such patents and intellectual property or may determine not to pursue litigation against third-parties that are infringing these rights, or may pursue litigation less aggressively than we would.

Some of our patents and patent applications may in the future be jointly owned with third parties. If we are unable to obtain an exclusive license to any such third party joint owners’ interest in such patents or patent applications, such co-owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. In addition, we may need the cooperation of any such joint owners of our patents in order to enforce such patents against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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

The USPTO, the United States Copyright Office (USCO) and various foreign governmental agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the intellectual property application process. In addition, periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other government fees on intellectual property registrations often must be paid to the USPTO, USCO and foreign agencies over the lifetime of the intellectual property registration and/or application and any intellectual property rights we may obtain in the future. While an unintentional lapse of an intellectual property registration or application can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the registration or application, resulting in partial or complete loss of intellectual property rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a registration or application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we fail to maintain the intellectual property registrations and applications covering our products, we may not be able to stop a competitor from developing and marketing products that are the same as or similar to our products, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are dependent on patents and other intellectual property licensed from others and may become dependent on other patents or other intellectual property licensed from others in the future. If we lose our licenses for intellectual property that is important to our business, we may not be able to continue developing or selling our products.

We have obtained licenses that give us rights to third party intellectual property, including patents and know-how, that is necessary or useful to our business. The license agreements covering our products impose various obligations on us, including the obligation to pay certain royalties on sales of certain of our products. One

 

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or more of our licensors may allege that we have breached our license agreement with them, and accordingly seek to terminate our license. As a result, we may not be able to market products that were covered by the license, which would result in the loss of significant rights, restrict our ability to commercialize certain of our products and could adversely affect our competitive business position and harm our business prospects. In addition, any claims brought against us by our licensors could be costly and time-consuming and would divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations.

We are presently party to lawsuits involving patents and other intellectual property and the possibility exists that we may in the future be party to other lawsuits or administrative proceedings involving patents or other intellectual property. If we were to lose any intellectual property lawsuits, a court could require us to pay significant damages and/or prevent us from selling our products.

The medical device industry is highly competitive and litigious with respect to patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights. Companies in the medical device industry have used intellectual property litigation to gain a competitive advantage. Our commercial success depends in part upon our ability and that of our contract manufacturers and suppliers to manufacture, market, and sell our products, and to use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the proprietary rights or intellectual property of third parties. We may in the future become party to, or be threatened with, adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products and any future products and technology, whether or not we are actually infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the rights of third parties.

We are presently a party to a lawsuit involving Wright Medical, which we describe in greater detail below. In addition, we may in the future be party to other lawsuits or other administrative proceedings involving our patents or other intellectual property, regardless of merit. A legal proceeding, regardless of the outcome, could drain our financial resources and divert the time and effort of our management. Protracted litigation to defend or prosecute our intellectual property rights could result in our customers or potential customers deferring or limiting their purchase or use of the affected products until resolution of the litigation.

If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue selling, developing and marketing our products and techniques. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. The acquisition or licensing of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and our competitors may pursue strategies to acquire or license third party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third party intellectual property rights or maintain the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may have to abandon development of the relevant products or redesign those products that contain the allegedly infringing intellectual property, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing technology or product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. A finding of infringement could force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business. Intellectual property litigation may lead to unfavorable publicity that harms our reputation and causes the market price of our common shares to decline.

Because competition in our industry is intense, competitors may infringe or otherwise violate our issued patents, patents of our licensors or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims or file administrative actions against us alleging

 

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that we infringe their patents. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent’s claims narrowly or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding or administrative action could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Our competitors may assert invalidity on various grounds, including lack of novelty, obviousness or that we were not the first applicant to file a patent application related to our product. We may elect to enter into license agreements in order to settle patent infringement claims or to resolve disputes before litigation, and any such license agreements may require us to pay royalties and other fees that could be significant. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure.

Our competitors, many of which have made substantial investments in patent portfolios, trade secrets, trademarks and competing technologies, may have applied for or obtained, or may in the future apply for or obtain, patents or trademarks that may prevent, limit or otherwise interfere with our ability to make, use, sell and/or export our products or to use our technologies or product names. Moreover, individuals and groups that are non-practicing entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls,” purchase patents and other intellectual property assets for the purpose of making claims of infringement in order to extract settlements. From time to time, we may receive threatening letters, notices or “invitations to license,” or may be the subject of claims that our products and business operations infringe or violate the intellectual property rights of others. The defense of these matters can be time consuming, costly to defend in litigation, divert management’s attention and resources, damage our reputation and brand and cause us to incur significant expenses or make substantial payments. Further, the outcome of litigation is uncertain and such litigation could result in us being forced to stop making, selling or using products or technologies that allegedly infringe the asserted intellectual property; pay substantial damages or royalties to the party whose intellectual property rights we may be found to be infringing; redesign those products that contain the allegedly infringing intellectual property, which could be costly, disruptive, or infeasible; and or attempt to obtain a license to the relevant intellectual property from third parties, which may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all, or, from third parties. In addition, third parties may assert infringement claims against our customers. These claims may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of our customers or indemnify our customers for any costs associated with their own initiation or defense of infringement claims, regardless of the merits of these claims. If any of these claims succeed or settle, we may be forced to pay damages or settlement payments on behalf of our customers or may be required to obtain licenses for the products they use. If we cannot obtain all necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our customers may be forced to stop using our products.

We are currently involved in litigation with Wright Medical in which Wright Medical has asserted against us claims of patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and other related claims, and an adverse result could harm our business and results of operations.

In March of 2018, Wright Medical filed a complaint, which was subsequently amended, against us in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, Case No. 18-cv-00691-STV. Wright Medical presently asserts that we (i) have infringed and continue to infringe upon nine Wright Medical patents, (ii) have misappropriated and continue to misappropriate Wright Medical trade secrets and confidential material, (iii) have and are unfairly competing with Wright Medical and (iv) have intentionally interfered with Wright Medical contracts. The Wright Complaint, as amended, requests customary remedies, including (a) a judgment that we have infringed the Wright Medical patents and misappropriated, used and disclosed Wright Medical’s trade secrets, (b) a permanent injunction preventing us from further engaging in the alleged misconduct, including infringing the Wright Medical patents, from manufacturing, selling or distributing products that allegedly infringe such Wright Medical patents and from misappropriating Wright Medical’s trade secrets and confidential information, (c) damages, including punitive and statutory enhanced damages, (d) attorneys’ fees, (e) interest on any foregoing sums, and (f) any relief as the court deems just and equitable, which could include future royalty payments to Wright Medical.

 

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This litigation with Wright Medical has resulted in and may continue to result in significant expense. Wright Medical has considerable resources available to it; we, on the other hand, are an early-stage commercial company with comparatively few resources available to us to engage in costly and protracted litigation. Intellectual property infringement claims asserted against us could be costly to defend and could limit our ability to use some technologies in the future. They will be time consuming, will divert our chief executive officer’s, management’s and scientific personnel’s attention, may generate negative publicity with our customers, stakeholders and investors, and may result in liability for substantial damages. For example, we have incurred and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant expense and substantial time in defending against our current intellectual property infringement dispute with Wright Medical. The litigation, including court filings, public statements and press releases associated therewith, could, regardless of merit, disrupt our business and create uncertainty about our future prospects, which could create volatility in the trading price of our common stock or damage to our reputation in the marketplace.

An adverse judgment or settlement in the Wright Medical proceeding, if any, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows and could also result in reputation harm. Specifically, an adverse ruling could, among other things, require us to pay substantial monetary damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses, or result in injunctive relief, or generate negative publicity, any of which could prevent us from commercializing and selling our products in the United States and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. For more information on our current legal and regulatory proceedings, see the section captioned “Business—Legal Proceedings.” Similarly, in the event both parties agree to settle the litigation with Wright Medical outside of court, such a settlement may adversely affect our ability to sell our products or require us to pay royalties or make other payments. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, the litigation with Wright Medical could result in delays in future product developments and other collateral consequences. We may also in the future be involved with other litigation. Claims asserted against us could be costly to defend and could limit our ability to use some technologies in the future. We expect that the number of such claims may increase as our scale and the level of competition in our industry segments grows.

If we fail to execute invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors involved in the development of intellectual property or are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, the value of our products and our business and competitive position could be harmed.

In addition to patent protection, we also rely on the protection of trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how and confidential and proprietary information. We generally enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties upon their commencement of a relationship with us. However, we may not enter into such agreements with all employees, consultants and third parties who have been involved in the development of our intellectual property. In addition, these agreements may not provide meaningful protection against the unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets or other confidential information, and adequate remedies may not exist if unauthorized use or disclosure were to occur. The exposure of our trade secrets and other proprietary information would impair our competitive advantages and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In particular, a failure to protect our proprietary rights may allow competitors to copy our products and procedures, which could adversely affect our pricing and market share. Further, other parties may independently develop substantially equivalent know-how and technology.

In addition to contractual measures, we try to protect the confidential nature of our proprietary information using commonly accepted physical and technological security measures. Such measures may not, for example, in the case of misappropriation of a trade secret by an employee or third party with authorized access, provide adequate protection for our proprietary information. Our security measures may not prevent an employee or consultant from misappropriating our trade secrets and providing them to a competitor, and recourse we take against such misconduct may not provide an adequate remedy to protect our interests fully. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to copy or reverse engineer certain aspects of our products that we consider proprietary. Enforcing a claim

 

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that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret can be difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Even though we use commonly accepted security measures, trade secret violations are often a matter of state law, and the criteria for protection of trade secrets can vary among different jurisdictions. In addition, trade secrets may be independently developed by others in a manner that could prevent legal recourse by us. While we have agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties that obligate them to assign their inventions to us, these agreements may not be self-executing, not all employees or consultants may enter into such agreements, or employees or consultants may breach or violate the terms of these agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation. If any of our intellectual property or confidential or proprietary information, such as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or if any such information was independently developed by a competitor, it could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our competitive position may be harmed.

We rely on our trademarks, trade names and brand names to distinguish our products from the products of our competitors and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. We cannot guarantee that our trademark applications will be approved. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. Our registered and unregistered trademarks, trade names, and brand names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic or determined to be violating or infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks, trade names, and brand names which we rely upon to build name recognition among potential partners and customers in our markets of interest. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Further, there can be no assurance that competitors will not infringe our trademarks or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

Patent terms may not be sufficient to effectively protect our products and business for an adequate period of time.

Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a utility patent is generally 20 years after its first effective non-provisional filing date and the natural expiration of a design patent is generally 14 years after its issue date, unless the filing date occurred on or after May 13, 2015, in which case the natural expiration of a design patent is generally 15 years after its issue date. However, the actual protection afforded by a patent varies from country to country, and depends on many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the availability of regulatory-related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in a particular country and the validity and enforceability of the patent. Although various extensions may be available, the term of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering our proprietary technologies and their uses are obtained, once the patent has expired, we may be open to competition, which may harm our business prospects. In addition, although upon issuance in the United States a patent’s term can be extended based on certain delays caused by the USPTO, this extension can be reduced or eliminated based on certain delays caused by the patent applicant during patent prosecution. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new products, patents protecting such products might expire before or shortly after such products are commercialized. If we do not have sufficient patent terms to protect our products, proprietary technologies and their uses, our business would be seriously harmed. As our patents expire, the scope of our patent protection will be reduced, which may reduce or eliminate any competitive advantage afforded by our patent portfolio. As a result, our reduced patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

Changes in U.S. or foreign patent laws or their interpretation may limit our ability to obtain, maintain, defend and/or enforce our patents.

Patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Leahy-Smith Act) includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect

 

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the way patent applications are prosecuted and also affect patent litigation. The USPTO has developed regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first to file provisions, which became effective on March 16, 2013. The first to file provisions limit the rights of an inventor to patent an invention if not the first to file an application for patenting that invention, even if such invention was the first invention. Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business.

However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the enforcement and defense of our issued patents. For example, the Leahy-Smith Act provides that an administrative tribunal known as the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB), provides a venue for challenging the validity of patents at a cost that is much lower than district court litigation and on timelines that are much faster. Although it is not clear what, if any, long-term impact the PTAB proceedings will have on the operation of our business, the initial results of patent challenge proceedings before the PTAB since its inception in 2013 have resulted in the invalidation of many U.S. patent claims. The availability of the PTAB as a lower-cost, faster and potentially more potent tribunal for challenging patents could increase the likelihood that our own patents will be challenged, thereby increasing the uncertainties and costs of maintaining and enforcing them.

The America Invents Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way U.S. patent applications will be prosecuted and also may affect patent litigation. These include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by the USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, interpartes review and derivation proceedings.

Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in U.S. federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Therefore, the America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. In addition, future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO could cause the laws and regulations governing patents to change in unpredictable ways. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have limited foreign intellectual property rights and may be unable to enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

We have limited intellectual property rights outside the United States. Filing, prosecuting and defending patents or trademarks on our products and any future products in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions or utilizing our trademarks in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products and any future products, and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing in these jurisdictions.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. This could make it difficult for us to stop infringement of our foreign patents, if obtained, or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. For example, some foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. In addition, some countries limit the enforceability of patents against third parties, including government

 

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agencies or government contractors. In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit. Patent protection must ultimately be sought on a country-by-country basis, which is an expensive and time-consuming process with uncertain outcomes. Accordingly, we may choose not to seek patent protection in certain countries, and we will not have the benefit of patent protection in such countries.

Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our technology and the enforcement of our intellectual property.

We are and in the future may be subject to claims that we or our employees have misappropriated the intellectual property of a third party, including trade secrets or know-how, or are in breach of non-competition or non-solicitation agreements with our competitors and third parties may claim an ownership interest in intellectual property we regard as our own.

Many of our employees and consultants were previously employed at or engaged by other medical device companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Some of these employees, consultants and contractors may have executed proprietary rights, non-disclosure and non-competition agreements in connection with such previous employment. Although we try to ensure that our employees and consultants do not use the intellectual property, proprietary information, know-how or trade secrets of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these individuals have, inadvertently or otherwise, misappropriated the intellectual property or disclosed the alleged trade secrets or other proprietary information, of these former employers, competitors or other third parties. Additionally, we may be subject to claims from third parties challenging our ownership interest in or inventorship of intellectual property we regard as our own, for example, based on claims that our agreements with employees or consultants obligating them to assign intellectual property to us are ineffective or in conflict with prior or competing contractual obligations to assign inventions to another employer, to a former employer, or to another person or entity. Litigation may be necessary to defend against claims, and it may be necessary or we may desire to enter into a license to settle any such claim; however, there can be no assurance that we would be able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If our defense to those claims fails, in addition to paying monetary damages or a settlement payment, a court could prohibit us from using technologies, features or other intellectual property that are essential to our products, if such technologies or features are found to incorporate or be derived from the trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. An inability to incorporate technologies, features or other intellectual property that are important or essential to our products could have a material adverse effect on our business and competitive position and may prevent us from selling our products. In addition, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and could be a distraction to management. Any litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with independent sales representatives. A loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize our products, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flows and prospects.

If our third-party manufacturing partners do not respect our intellectual property and trade secrets and produce competitive products using our designs or intellectual property, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be harmed.

Although our agreements with third-party manufacturing partners generally seek to prevent them from misusing our intellectual property and trade secrets, or using our designs to manufacture products for our competitors, we may be unsuccessful in monitoring and enforcing our intellectual property rights against these manufacturing partners and may find counterfeit goods in the market being sold as our products or future products similar to ours produced for our competitors using our intellectual property. Although we take steps to stop counterfeits, we may not be successful and network operators who purchase these counterfeit goods may

 

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experience product defects or failures, harming our reputation and brand and causing us to lose future sales. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Regulatory Matters

We are subject to substantial government regulation that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our products and our business are subject to extensive regulation and review by numerous governmental authorities both in the United States and abroad. U.S. and foreign regulations govern the design, development, testing, clinical trials, premarket clearance, approval, certifications, safety, registration, manufacturing, packaging, storage, reporting, sales, distribution, marketing, labeling, promotion, relationships with health care professionals, recordkeeping procedures, post-marketing surveillance, post-market studies, and product import and export of our products. The regulatory process requires significant time, effort and expenditures to bring our products to market, and we cannot be assured that any of our products will be authorized for marketing. The regulations to which we are subject are complex and have tended to become more stringent over time. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to carry on or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales. The FDA and other regulatory authorities enforce these regulatory requirements through, among other means, periodic unannounced inspections. We do not know whether we will be found compliant in connection with any future regulatory inspections. Moreover, the FDA and other authorities have broad enforcement powers.

Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in:

 

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adverse publicity, warning letters, untitled letters, or “it has come to our attention” letters from the FDA, or similar letters from foreign regulatory authorities alleging noncompliance;

 

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fines, penalties, injunctions, or consent decrees;

 

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operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

 

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denial of requests for regulatory clearance, approval or certification of new products, new intended uses or modifications to existing products;

 

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repair, replacement, refunds, recalls, or seizures of our products; or

 

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withdrawal or suspension of regulatory clearance, approval or certification that have already been granted and/or obtained.

Any of these events could result in a higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our relationships with customers, physicians and third-party payors are subject to federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, physician payment transparency laws and other health care laws and regulations. If we or our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, or vendors violate these laws, we could face substantial penalties.

Our relationships with customers, physicians and third-party payors are subject to federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, transparency laws with respect to payments and other transfers of value made to physicians and other licensed health care professionals, and other health care laws and regulations. In particular, the promotion, sales and marketing of health care items and services is subject to extensive laws and regulations designed to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and

 

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promotion, sales commission, customer incentive and other business arrangements. The U.S. health care laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not limited to:

 

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the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, any person or entity from knowingly and willfully, offering, paying, soliciting or receiving any remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce, or in return for, the purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for the purchase, lease, or order of any item or service reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health care programs. The term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. Although there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting some common activities from prosecution, the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly. Practices that may be alleged to be intended to induce the purchases or recommendations, include any payments of more than fair market value, may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. In addition, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation;

 

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federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the federal civil False Claims Act, and civil monetary penalty laws, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment or approval from Medicare, Medicaid or other federal government programs that are false or fraudulent or knowingly making a false statement to improperly avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government, including federal health care programs. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act;

 

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the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) which created new federal civil and criminal statutes that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any health care benefit program or obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any health care benefit program, including private third-party payors and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick, scheme or device, a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statements in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, health care benefits, items or services. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation;

 

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federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers;

 

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the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which requires certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to the government information related to payments or other transfers of value made to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, such obligations will include payments and other transfers of value provided in the previous year to certain other health care professionals, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologist assistants and certified nurse midwives; and

 

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state and foreign equivalents of each of the health care laws described above, among others, some of which may be broader in scope including, without limitation, state anti-kickback and false claims

 

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laws that may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving health care items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third party payors, including private insurers, or that apply regardless of payor; state laws that require device companies to comply with the industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government; state laws that require device manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other health care providers, marketing expenditures; and state and local laws requiring the registration of device sales and medical representatives. Greater scrutiny of marketing practices in the medical device industry has resulted in numerous government investigations by various government authorities, and this industry-wide enforcement activity is expected to continue. The shifting regulatory environment, along with the requirement to comply with multiple jurisdictions with different and difficult compliance and reporting requirements, increases the possibility that we may run afoul of one or more laws. The costs to comply with these regulatory requirements are becoming more expensive and will also impact our profitability.

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities, patient outreach programs or our arrangements with independent sales representatives and customers could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. We have also entered into consulting and royalty agreements with physicians, including some who have ownership interests in us and/or influence the ordering of or use our products in procedures they perform. Compensation under some of these arrangements includes the provision of stock or stock options. We could be adversely affected if regulatory agencies determine our financial relationships with such physicians to be in violation of applicable laws. Greater scrutiny of marketing practices in the medical device industry has resulted in numerous government investigations by various government authorities, and this industry-wide enforcement activity is expected to continue. The shifting regulatory environment, along with the requirement to comply with multiple jurisdictions with different and difficult compliance and reporting requirements, increases the possibility that we may run afoul of one or more laws. The costs to comply with these regulatory requirements are becoming more expensive and will also impact our profitability. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct or business noncompliance, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent inappropriate conduct may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If we or our employees, agents, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners and vendors violate these laws, we may be subject to investigations, enforcement actions and/or significant penalties, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, imprisonment, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting requirements and/or oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, and/or curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

We may not receive, or may be delayed in receiving, the necessary clearances, approvals or certifications for our future products or modifications to our current products, and failure to timely obtain necessary clearances, approvals or certifications for our future products or modifications to our current products would adversely affect our ability to grow our business.

In the United States, before we can market a new medical device, or a new use of, new claim for or significant modification to an existing medical device product, we must first receive either clearance under Section 510(k) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) or approval of a premarket approval (PMA), from the FDA, unless an exemption applies or we qualify for de novo classification. In the 510(k) clearance process, before a device may be marketed, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a legally-marketed “predicate” device, which includes a device that has been previously cleared through the 510(k) process, a device that was legally marketed before May 28, 1976

 

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(pre-amendments device), a device that was originally on the U.S. market pursuant to an approved PMA and later down-classified, or a 510(k)-exempt device. To be “substantially equivalent,” the proposed device must have the same intended use as the predicate device, and either have the same technological characteristics as the predicate device or have different technological characteristics and not raise different questions of safety or effectiveness than the predicate device. Clinical data are sometimes required to support substantial equivalence. In the process of obtaining PMA approval, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is safe and effective for its intended use based, in part, on extensive data, including, but not limited to, technical, pre-clinical, clinical trial, manufacturing and labeling data. The PMA process is typically required for devices that are deemed to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices.

In the de novo classification process, a manufacturer whose novel device under the FDCA would otherwise be automatically classified as Class III and require the submission and approval of a PMA prior to marketing is able to request down-classification of the device to Class I or Class II on the basis that the device presents a low or moderate risk. If the FDA grants the de novo classification request, the applicant will receive authorization to market the device. This device type may be used subsequently as a predicate device for future 510(k) submissions.

We also recently acquired the total talus spacer, which has been authorized for marketing pursuant to an approved HDE. An HDE allows for marketing of a Humanitarian Use Device, or HUD, which is a medical device designated by the FDA as intended to benefit patients in the treatment or diagnosis of a disease or condition that affects not more than 8,000 individuals in the United States per year. To market a HUD, the device must have received a HUD designation by the FDA and be approved by the FDA pursuant to an HDE application. An HDE approval is based on the applicant’s demonstration that there is no comparable device available and that the probable benefit to health from the proposed HUD outweighs the risk of injury or illness from its use, taking into account alternative treatments that are available for the condition or disease. However, a medical device approved pursuant to an HDE is exempt from the effectiveness requirements that would otherwise apply and to which the device would be subject if approved pursuant to a PMA, and clinical studies demonstrating effectiveness are not required to support approval. An approved HDE must be labeled with a disclaimer stating that the effectiveness of the device has not been established. In addition, HUDs that receive HDE approval may not be sold for profit except in limited circumstances. In any case, to sell the device for profit, HDE holders must notify the FDA of the intent to sell for profit and are limited in the number of devices that may be sold for profit on an annual basis. Prior to HUD use following HDE approval, the HDE holder is required to ensure that use of the use of the HUD has been approved by the facility’s IRB. Post-approval clinical studies may also be required. Our total talus spacer is subject to the requirement for a post-approval study as a condition of approval of the HDE.

Modifications to products that are approved through a PMA application generally require FDA approval. Similarly, certain modifications made to products cleared through an HDE require FDA approval, and products cleared through a 510(k) or authorized for marketing pursuant to a de novo classification may require a new 510(k) clearance. The marketing authorization process can be expensive, lengthy and uncertain. The FDA’s 510(k) clearance process usually takes from three to 12 months, but can last longer. The process of obtaining a PMA is much more costly and uncertain than the 510(k) clearance process and generally takes from one to three years, or even longer, from the time the application is submitted to the FDA. In addition, a PMA generally requires the performance of one or more clinical trials. Despite the time, effort and cost, a device may not be approved or cleared by the FDA. Any delay or failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals could harm our business. Furthermore, even if we are granted regulatory clearances or approvals, they may include significant limitations on the indicated uses for the device, which may limit the market for the device.

In the United States, except for the total talus spacer, we have obtained clearance of all of our products through the 510(k) clearance process. Any modification to these products that has not been previously cleared may require us to submit a new 510(k) premarket notification and obtain clearance, or submit a PMA and obtain FDA approval, before implementing the change. Specifically, any modification to a 510(k)-cleared device that

 

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could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in its intended use, design or manufacture, requires a new 510(k) clearance or, possibly, approval of a PMA. The FDA requires every manufacturer to make this determination in the first instance, but the FDA may review any manufacturer’s decision. The FDA may not agree with our decisions regarding whether new clearances or approvals are necessary. We have made modifications to 510(k)-cleared products in the past and have determined based on our review of the applicable FDA regulations and guidance that in certain instances new 510(k) clearances or PMA approvals were not required. We may make modifications or add additional features in the future that we believe do not require a new 510(k) clearance or approval of a PMA. If the FDA disagrees with our determination and requires us to submit new 510(k) premarket notifications or PMA applications for modifications to our previously cleared products for which we have concluded that new clearances or approvals are unnecessary, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain clearance or approval, and we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties. If the FDA requires us to go through a lengthier, more rigorous examination for future products or modifications to existing products than we had expected, product introductions or modifications could be delayed or canceled, which could adversely affect our ability to grow our business. The FDA, applicable foreign regulatory authorities and Notified Body can delay, limit or deny clearance, approval or certification of a device for many reasons, including:

 

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our inability to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or the applicable regulatory entity or Notified Body that our products are safe or effective for their intended uses;

 

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the disagreement of the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory body with the design or implementation of our clinical trials or the interpretation of data from pre-clinical studies or clinical trials;

 

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serious and unexpected adverse device effects experienced by participants in our clinical trials;

 

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our inability to demonstrate that the clinical and other benefits of the device outweigh the risks;

 

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the manufacturing process or facilities we use may not meet applicable requirements; and

 

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the potential for approval or certification policies or regulations of the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory bodies to change significantly in a manner rendering our clinical data or regulatory filings insufficient for clearance, approval or certification.

Until May 25, 2021, medical devices were regulated by the Council Directive 93/42/EEC (Medical Devices Directive) which has been repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) No 2017/745 (Medical Devices Regulation) which became effective on May 26, 2021. Our current certificates have been granted and renewed under the Medical Devices Directive. Devices lawfully placed on the market pursuant to the Medical Devices Directive prior to May 26, 2021 may generally continue to be made available on the market or put into service until May 26, 2025, provided that the requirements of the transitional provisions are fulfilled. In particular, the certificate in question must still be valid. However, as of May 26, 2021, we must comply with the Medical Devices Regulation requirements applying in place of the corresponding requirements of the Medical Devices Directive with regard to registration of economic operators and of devices, post-market surveillance, market surveillance and vigilance requirements.

Under the Medical Devices Directive, all medical devices placed on the market in the EU must meet the relevant essential requirements laid down in Annex I to the Medical Devices Directive, including the requirement that a medical device must be designed and manufactured in such a way that it will not compromise the clinical condition or safety of patients, or the safety and health of users and others. In addition, the device must achieve the performance intended by the manufacturer and be designed, manufactured, and packaged in a suitable manner. The European Commission has adopted various standards applicable to medical devices. These include standards governing common requirements, such as sterilization and safety of medical electrical equipment and

 

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product standards for certain types of medical devices. There are also harmonized standards relating to design and manufacture. While not mandatory, compliance with these standards is viewed as the easiest way to satisfy the essential requirements as a practical matter as it creates a rebuttable presumption that the device satisfies that essential requirement.

To demonstrate compliance with the essential requirements laid down in Annex I to the Medical Devices Directive, medical device manufacturers must undergo a conformity assessment procedure, which varies according to the type of medical device and its (risk) classification. As a general rule, demonstration of conformity of medical devices and their manufacturers with the essential requirements must be based, among other things, on the evaluation of clinical data supporting the safety and performance of the products during normal conditions of use. Specifically, a manufacturer must demonstrate that the device achieves its intended performance during normal conditions of use, that the known and foreseeable risks, and any adverse events, are minimized and acceptable when weighed against the benefits of its intended performance, and that any claims made about the performance and safety of the device are supported by suitable evidence. Except for low-risk medical devices (Class I non-sterile, non-measuring devices), where the manufacturer can self-declare the conformity of its products with the essential requirements (except for any parts which relate to sterility or metrology), a conformity assessment procedure requires the intervention of a Notified Body. Notified Bodies are independent organizations designated by EU member states to assess the conformity of devices before being placed on the market. A Notified Body would typically audit and examine a product’s technical dossiers and the manufacturers’ quality system (Notified Body must presume that quality systems which implement the relevant harmonized standards – which is ISO 13485:2016 for Medical Devices Quality Management Systems – conform to these requirements). If satisfied that the relevant product conforms to the relevant essential requirements, the Notified Body issues a certificate of conformity, which the manufacturer uses as a basis for its own declaration of conformity. The manufacturer may then apply the CE Mark to the device, which allows the device to be placed on the market throughout the EU.

Pursuing marketing of medical devices in the EU will notably require that our devices be certified under the new regime set forth in the Medical Devices Regulation when our current certificates expire.

If we fail to remain in compliance with applicable EU legislation, we would be unable to continue to affix the CE mark to our products, which would prevent us from selling them within the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA)(which consists of the 27 EU member states plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland).

We also market certain products that are comprised of human cells, tissues and cellular or tissue-based products (HCT/P). In the U.S., we are marketing our HCT/Ps pursuant to Section 361 of the PHSA and 21 CFR Part 1271 of FDA’s regulations. We do not manufacture these HCT/P products, but serve as a distributor for them. So-called Section 361 HCT/Ps are not currently subject to the FDA requirements to obtain marketing authorizations as long as they meet certain criteria provided in FDA’s regulations. HCT/Ps regulated as “361 HCT/Ps” are currently subject to requirements relating to registering facilities and listing products with the FDA, screening and testing for tissue donor eligibility, current good tissue practice requirements, or cGTPs, when processing, storing, labeling and distributing HCT/Ps, including required labeling information, stringent record keeping and adverse event reporting. If we or our suppliers fail to comply with these requirements, we could be subject to FDA enforcement action, including, for example, warning letters, fines, injunctions, product recalls or seizures, and, in the most serious cases, criminal penalties. To be regulated as Section 361 HCT/Ps, these products must meet FDA’s criteria to be considered “minimally manipulated” and intended for “homologous use,” among other requirements. HCT/Ps that do not meet the criteria to be considered Section 361 HCT/Ps are subject to the FDA’s regulatory requirements applicable to medical devices, orthbiologics or drugs. Device, orthobiologic or drug HCT/Ps must comply both with the requirements exclusively applicable to Section 361 HCT/Ps and, in addition, with other requirements, including requirements for marketing authorization. For example, Section 361 HCT/Ps do not require 510(k) clearance, PMA approval, approval of a Biologics License Application, or BLA, or other premarket authorization from FDA before marketing. We believe our HCT/Ps are

 

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regulated solely under Section 361 of the PHSA, and therefore, we have not sought or obtained 510(k) clearance, PMA approval, or licensure through a BLA for such HCT/Ps.

The FDA could disagree with our determination that these human tissue products are Section 361 HCT/Ps and could determine that these products are orthobiologics requiring a BLA or medical devices requiring 510(k) clearance or PMA approval, and could require that we cease marketing such products and/or recall them pending appropriate clearance, approval or licensure from the FDA. If we have to cease marketing and/or have to recall any of our Section 361 HCT/P products, our net sales would decrease, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. HCT/Ps that do not meet the criteria of Section 361 are regulated under Section 351 of the PHSA. Unlike Section 361 HCT/Ps, HCT/Ps regulated as “351” HCT/Ps are subject to premarket review and approval by the FDA. In November 2017, the FDA released a guidance document entitled “Regulatory Considerations for Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue—Based Products: Minimal Manipulation and Homologous Use—Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff.” The guidance indicated that the FDA would exercise enforcement discretion, using a risk-based approach, with respect to the IND application and pre-market approval requirements for certain HCT/Ps that it considered to be marketed unlawfully as Section 361 HCT/Ps for a period of 36 months from the issuance date of the guidance to allow manufacturers to pursue its IND application. Under this approach, FDA indicated that high-risk products and uses could be subject to immediate enforcement action; FDA has not clearly stated what must happen by the end of its enforcement discretion period in order to avoid enforcement (i.e., whether a marketing application must be approved by that time, or merely submitted). In July 2020, the FDA extended its period of enforcement discretion to May 31, 2021.

In addition, the FDA may in the future modify the scope of its enforcement discretion with respect to Section 361 HCT/Ps or change its position on which current or future products qualify as Section 361 HCT/Ps, or determine that some or all of our HCT/P products may not be lawfully marketed under the FDA’s policy of enforcement discretion. Any regulatory changes could have adverse consequences for us and make it more difficult or expensive for us to conduct our business by requiring pre-market clearance or approval and compliance with additional post-market regulatory requirements with respect to those products.

Modifications to our marketed medical device products may require new 510(k) clearances, PMA approvals, or certifications or may require us to cease marketing or recall the modified products until clearances, approvals or certifications are obtained.

Modifications to any of our current 510(k)-cleared products may require new regulatory approvals or clearances, including 510(k) clearances or PMAs, or require us to recall or cease marketing the modified systems until these clearances or approvals are obtained. The FDA requires device manufacturers to initially make and document a determination of whether or not a modification requires a new approval, supplement or clearance. A manufacturer may determine that a modification could not significantly affect safety or efficacy and does not represent a major change in its intended use, so that no new 510(k) clearance is necessary. However, the FDA can review a manufacturer’s decision and may disagree. The FDA may also on its own initiative determine that a new clearance or approval is required. We have made modifications to our products in the past and may make additional modifications in the future that we believe do not or will not require additional clearances or approvals. If the FDA disagrees and requires new clearances or approvals for the modifications, we may be required to recall and to stop marketing our products as modified, which could require us to redesign our products and/or seek new marketing authorizations and harm our operating results. In these circumstances, we may be subject to significant enforcement actions. If the FDA requires us to go through a lengthier, more rigorous examination for future products or modifications to existing products than we had expected, product introductions or modifications could be delayed or canceled, which could adversely affect our ability to grow our business.

If a manufacturer determines that a modification to an FDA-cleared device could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or would constitute a major change in its intended use, then the manufacturer must file for a new 510(k) clearance or possibly a PMA application. Where we determine that modifications to our products

 

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requires a new 510(k) clearance or PMA application, we may not be able to obtain those additional clearances or approvals for the modifications or additional indications in a timely manner, or at all. Obtaining clearances and approvals can be a time-consuming process, and delays in obtaining required future clearances or approvals would adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn would harm our future growth.

In the EU, we must inform the Notified Body that carried out the conformity assessment of the medical devices that we market or sell in the EU and EEA of any planned substantial changes to our quality system or substantial changes to our medical devices that could affect compliance with the General safety and performance requirements laid down in Annex I to the Medical Devices Regulation or cause a substantial change to the intended use for which the device has been CE marked. The Notified Body will then assess the planned changes and verify whether they affect the products’ ongoing conformity with the Medical Devices Regulation. If the assessment is favorable, the Notified Body will issue a new CE Certificate of Conformity or an addendum to the existing certificate attesting compliance with the General safety and performance requirements and quality system requirements.

Failure to comply with post-marketing regulatory requirements could subject us to enforcement actions, including substantial penalties, and might require us to recall or withdraw a product from the market.

We are subject to ongoing and pervasive regulatory requirements governing, among other things, the manufacture, marketing, advertising, medical device reporting, sale, promotion, import, export, registration and listing of devices. For example, medical device manufacturers must submit periodic reports to the FDA as a condition of obtaining marketing authorization. These reports include information about failures and certain adverse events associated with the device after its clearance. Failure to submit such reports, or failure to submit the reports in a timely manner, could result in enforcement action by the FDA. Following its review of the periodic reports, the FDA might ask for additional information or initiate further investigation. In addition, any marketing authorizations we are granted are limited to the authorized indications for use. Further, the manufacturing facilities for a product are subject to periodic review and inspection. Subsequent discovery of problems with a product, manufacturer, or manufacturing facility may result in restrictions on the product, manufacturer or manufacturing facility, withdrawal of the product from the market or other enforcement actions.

The regulations to which we are subject are complex and have become more stringent over time. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to continue or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs, or lower than anticipated sales. Plus regulations, such as the FDA and other state and foreign regulatory authorities, have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA, state or foreign regulatory authorities, which may include any of the following sanctions:

 

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untitled letters or warning letters;

 

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fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;

 

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recalls, termination of distribution, administrative detention or seizure of our products;

 

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customer notifications or repair, replacement or refunds;

 

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operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

 

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delays in or refusal to grant our requests for future clearances or approvals or foreign marketing authorizations or certifications of new products, new intended uses or modifications to existing products;

 

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withdrawals or suspensions of our current 510(k) clearances or HDE approval or certifications, resulting in prohibitions on sales of our products;

 

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FDA refusal to issue certificates to foreign governments needed to export products for sale in other countries; and

 

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criminal prosecution.

Any of these sanctions could result in higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the FDA may change its clearance policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations or take other actions, which may prevent or delay clearance or approval of our future products under development or impact our ability to modify our currently cleared products on a timely basis. Such changes may also occur in foreign jurisdictions where we market our products. Such policy or regulatory changes could impose additional requirements upon us that could delay our ability to obtain new clearances, approvals or certifications, increase the costs of compliance or restrict our ability to maintain our clearances or certifications of our current products.

In addition, we are required to conduct post-market testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or effectiveness of some of our products. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products, including unanticipated adverse events or adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, manufacturing problems, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements such as QSR, may result in changes to labeling, restrictions on such products or manufacturing processes, withdrawal of the products from the market, voluntary or mandatory recalls, a requirement to repair, replace or refund the cost of any medical device we manufacture or distribute, fines, suspension of regulatory approvals or certifications, product seizures, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties which would adversely affect our business, operating results and prospects.

Legislative or regulatory reforms may have a material adverse effect on us.

From time to time, legislation is drafted and introduced in Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the regulation of medical devices. In addition, the FDA may change its clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations or take other actions, which may prevent or delay approval or clearance of our future products under development or impact our ability to modify our currently cleared products on a timely basis. Over the last several years, the FDA has proposed reforms to its 510(k) clearance process, and such proposals could include increased requirements for clinical data and a longer review period, or could make it more difficult for manufacturers to utilize the 510(k) clearance process for their products. For example, in November 2018, FDA officials announced steps that the FDA intends to take to modernize the 510(k) premarket notification pathway. Among other things, the FDA announced that it plans to develop proposals to drive manufacturers utilizing the 510(k) pathway toward the use of newer predicates. These proposals include plans to potentially sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k) clearance pathway, and to potentially publish a list of devices that have been cleared on the basis of demonstrated substantial equivalence to predicate devices that are more than 10 years old. In September 2019, the FDA also issued revised final guidance establishing a “Safety and Performance Based Pathway” for “manufacturers of certain well-understood device types” allowing manufacturers to rely on objective safety and performance criteria recognized by the FDA to demonstrate substantial equivalence, obviating the need for manufacturers to compare the safety and performance of their medical devices to specific predicate devices in the clearance process. The FDA has developed and maintains a list of device types appropriate for the “safety and performance based” pathway and will continue to develop product-specific guidance documents that identify the performance criteria and recommended testing methodologies for each such device type, where feasible. Some of these proposals have not yet been finalized or adopted, and the FDA announced that it would seek public feedback before publication of any such proposals, and may work with Congress to implement such proposals through legislation. Accordingly, it is unclear the extent to which any proposals, if adopted, could impose additional regulatory requirements on us that could delay our ability to obtain new 510(k) clearances, increase the costs of

 

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compliance, or restrict our ability to maintain our current clearances, or otherwise create competition that may negatively affect our business.

In addition, FDA and foreign regulations and guidance are often revised or reinterpreted by the FDA and other foreign authorities’ in ways that may significantly affect our business and our products. Any new statutes, regulations or revisions or reinterpretations of existing regulations may impose additional costs or lengthen review times of any future products or make it more difficult to obtain clearance, approval or certification for, manufacture, market or distribute our products. We cannot determine what effect changes in regulations, statutes, legal interpretation or policies, when and if promulgated, enacted or adopted may have on our business in the future. Such changes could, among other things, require additional testing before obtaining clearance, approval or certification; changes to manufacturing methods; recall, replacement or discontinuance of our products; or additional record keeping.

The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be promulgated that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory clearance, approval or certification of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, the new administration following the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump administration took several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of executive orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities, such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance and review and approval of marketing applications. It is difficult to predict whether or how these executive actions will be implemented, or whether they will be rescinded and replaced under the Biden administration. The policies and priorities of the incoming administration are unknown and could materially impact the regulations governing our product candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to enforcement action, and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

The EU landscape concerning medical devices in the EU recently evolved. On April 5, 2017, the Medical Devices Regulation was adopted, which repeals and replaces the Medical Devices Directive and the Council Directive 90/385/EEC (the Active Implantable Medical Devices Directive). Unlike directives, which must be implemented into the national laws of the EU member states, the regulations is directly applicable, i.e., without the need for EU member states to implement into national laws, in all EU member states and are intended to eliminate current differences in the regulation of medical devices among EU member States. The Medical Devices Regulation is also applicable in the EEA. The Medical Devices Regulation, among other things, is intended to establish a uniform, transparent, predictable and sustainable regulatory framework across the EU for medical devices and ensure a high level of safety and health while supporting innovation.

The Medical Devices Regulation became effective on May 26, 2021. The new regulation among other things:

 

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strengthens the rules on placing devices on the market (e.g. reclassification of certain devices and wider scope than the Medical Devices Directive) and reinforces surveillance once they are available;

 

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establishes explicit provisions on manufacturers’ responsibilities for the follow-up of the quality, performance and safety of devices placed on the market;

 

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establishes explicit provisions on importers’ and distributors’ obligations and responsibilities;

 

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imposes an obligation to identify a responsible person who is ultimately responsible for all aspects of compliance with the requirements of the new regulation;

 

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improves the traceability of medical devices throughout the supply chain to the end-user or patient through the introduction of a unique identification number to increase the ability of manufacturers and regulatory authorities to trace specific devices through the supply chain and to facilitate the prompt and efficient recall of medical devices that have been found to present a safety risk;

 

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sets up a central database (Eudamed) to provide patients, healthcare professionals and the public with comprehensive information on products available in the EU; and

 

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strengthens rules for the assessment of certain high-risk devices, such as implants, which may have to undergo a clinical evaluation consultation procedure by experts before they are placed on the market.

Devices lawfully placed on the market pursuant to the Medical Devices Directive prior to May 26, 2021 may generally continue to be made available on the market or put into service until May 26, 2025, provided that the requirements of the transitional provisions are fulfilled. In particular, the certificate in question must still be valid. However, even in this case, we must comply with a number of new or reinforced requirements set forth in the Medical Devices Regulation with regard to registration of economic operators and of devices, post-market surveillance, market surveillance and vigilance requirements. These modifications may have an effect on the way we conduct our business in the EU and the EEA.

In addition, in response to perceived increases in health care costs in recent years there have been and continue to be proposals by the federal government, state governments, regulators and third-party payors to control these costs and, more generally, to reform the U.S. health care system. Certain of these proposals could limit the prices we will be able to charge for our products or the amount of reimbursement available for our products and could limit the acceptance and availability of our products.

In March 2010, the federal government enacted the ACA. Among other provisions, the ACA established new value-based payment programs, increased funding of comparative effectiveness research, reduced hospital payments for avoidable readmissions and hospital acquired conditions, and pilot programs to evaluate alternative payment methodologies that promote care coordination (such as bundled physician and hospital payments). Also, Medicare payments to providers are subject to a 2% reduction per fiscal year, effective on April 1, 2013 and will remain in effect through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unless additional Congressional action is taken.

Since its enactment, there have been judicial, executive and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. On June 17, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the most recent judicial challenge to the ACA brought by several states without specifically ruling on the constitutionality of the ACA. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, President Biden issued an executive order to initiate a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through August 15, 2021 for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace. The executive order also instructed certain governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to health care, including among others, reexamining Medicaid demonstration projects and waiver programs that include work requirements, and policies that create unnecessary barriers to obtaining access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the ACA. It is unclear how other health care reform measures of the Biden administration or other efforts, if any, to challenge, repeal or replace the ACA will impact the ACA or our business. There are additional state and federal health care reform measures under consideration that may be adopted in the future which could have a material adverse effect on our industry generally and on our customers. We cannot predict what health care programs and regulations will be ultimately implemented at the federal or state level, or the effect of any future legislation or regulation. However, any regulatory and legal changes that lower reimbursement for our products, increase taxes on our medical devices, increase cost containment pressures on us or others in the health care sector or reduce medical procedure volumes could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

 

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Our products must be manufactured in accordance with federal and state quality regulations and are subject to FDA inspection, and our failure to comply with these regulations could result in fines, product recalls, product liability claims, limits on future product clearances, reputational damage and other adverse impacts.

The methods used in, and the facilities used for, the manufacture of our products must comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (QSR) which is a complex regulatory scheme that covers the procedures and documentation of the design, testing, production, process controls, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, handling, storage, distribution, installation, servicing and shipping of medical devices. Furthermore, we are required to verify that our suppliers maintain facilities, procedures and operations that comply with our quality standards and applicable regulatory requirements. The FDA enforces the QSR through periodic announced or unannounced inspections of medical device manufacturing facilities, which may include the facilities of subcontractors. Our products are also subject to similar state regulations.

We or our third-party manufacturers may not take the necessary steps to comply with applicable regulations, which could cause delays in the delivery of our products. In addition, failure to comply with applicable FDA or foreign regulatory requirements or later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products or manufacturing processes could result in, among other things: (i) warning letters or untitled letters; (ii) fines, injunctions or civil penalties; (iii) suspension or withdrawal of approvals, clearances or certifications; (iv) customer notifications or repair, replacement, refunds, detention, seizures or recalls of our products; (v) total or partial suspension of production or distribution; (vi) administrative or judicially imposed sanctions; (vii) the FDA’s or foreign authorities or Notified Body’s refusal to grant pending or future clearances, approvals or certifications for our products; (viii) clinical holds; (ix) refusal to permit the import or export of our products; and (x) criminal prosecution of us or our employees. Any of these actions could significantly and negatively impact supply of our products. If any of these events occurs, our reputation could be harmed, we could be exposed to product liability claims and we could lose customers and suffer reduced revenue and increased costs.

The misuse or off-label use of our products may harm our reputation in the marketplace, result in injuries that lead to product liability suits or result in costly investigations, fines or sanctions by regulatory bodies if we are deemed to have engaged in the promotion of these uses, any of which could be costly to our business.

Except for our total talus spacer, which is authorized for marketing under a HDE, and our orthobiologics such as our PRESERVE Bone Graft System, which are regulated as HCT/Ps, our marketed products are either Class II medical devices cleared by the FDA for specific indications or they are Class I exempt for general orthopaedic use. We have no products that are Class III medical devices. We train our marketing personnel and direct sales force to not promote our devices for uses outside of the FDA-authorized indications for use, known as “off-label uses.” We cannot, however, prevent a physician from using our devices off-label, when in the physician’s independent professional medical judgment he or she deems it appropriate. There may be increased risk of injury to patients if physicians attempt to use our devices off-label. Furthermore, the use of our devices for indications other than those cleared, approved or certified by the FDA may not effectively treat such conditions, which could harm our reputation in the marketplace among physicians and patients.

If the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitute promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance or imposition of an untitled letter, which is used for violators that do not necessitate a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. We could face similar consequences from action by foreign regulatory bodies if we should offer our products outside the United States. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action under other regulatory authority, such as false claims laws, if they consider our business activities to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant penalties, including, but not limited to, criminal, civil and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, exclusion from participation in government health care programs and the curtailment of our operations.

In addition, physicians may misuse our products or use improper techniques if they are not adequately trained, potentially leading to injury and an increased risk of product liability. If our devices are misused or used

 

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with improper technique, we may become subject to costly litigation by our customers or their patients. As described above, product liability claims could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend and result in sizeable damage awards against us that may not be covered by insurance.

Our medical device products may cause or contribute to adverse medical events or be subject to failures or malfunctions that we are required to report to the FDA, and if we fail to do so, we would be subject to sanctions that could harm our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. The discovery of serious safety issues with our products, or a recall of our products either voluntarily or at the direction of the FDA or another governmental authority, could have a negative impact on us.

We are subject to the FDA’s medical device reporting regulations and similar foreign regulations, which require us to report to the FDA and similar foreign regulations when we receive or become aware of information that reasonably suggests that one or more of our medical device products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that, if the malfunction were to recur, it could cause or contribute to a death or serious injury. The timing of our obligation to report is triggered by the date we become aware of the adverse event as well as the nature of the event. We may fail to report adverse events of which we become aware within the prescribed timeframe. We may also fail to recognize that we have become aware of a reportable adverse event, especially if it is not reported to us as an adverse event or if it is an adverse event that is unexpected or removed in time from the use of the product. If we fail to comply with our reporting obligations, the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities could take action, including warning letters, untitled letters, administrative actions, criminal prosecution, imposition of civil monetary penalties, revocation of our device clearance, approval or certification, seizure of our products or delay in clearance, approval or certification of future products.

The FDA and foreign regulatory bodies have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture of a product or in the event that a product poses an unacceptable risk to health. The FDA’s authority to require a recall must be based on a finding that there is reasonable probability that the device could cause serious injury or death. We may also choose to voluntarily recall a product if any material deficiency is found. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of an unacceptable risk to health, component failures, malfunctions, manufacturing defects, labeling or design deficiencies, packaging defects or other deficiencies or failures to comply with applicable regulations. Product defects or other errors may occur in the future.

Depending on the corrective action we take to redress a product’s deficiencies or defects, the FDA may require, or we may decide, that we will need to obtain new clearances or approvals for the device before we may market or distribute the corrected device. Seeking such clearances or approvals may delay our ability to replace the recalled devices in a timely manner. Moreover, if we do not adequately address problems associated with our devices, we may face additional regulatory enforcement action, including FDA warning letters, product seizure, injunctions, administrative penalties or civil or criminal fines. Similar requirements may apply in foreign jurisdictions.

Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls and corrections, even if they are not reportable to the FDA or foreign authorities. We may initiate voluntary withdrawals or corrections for our products in the future that we determine do not require notification of the FDA or foreign authorities. If the FDA or foreign authorities disagree with our determinations, it could require us to report those actions as recalls and we may be subject to enforcement action. A future recall announcement could harm our reputation with customers, potentially lead to product liability claims against us and negatively affect our sales. In addition, we have had in the past, and may in the future, reports of adverse events associated with our products and procedures. While inherent in the medical device and surgical industry, frequent adverse events can lead to reputational harm and negatively affect our sales. Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as defending ourselves in a lawsuit, will require the dedication of our time and capital, distract management from operating our business and may harm our reputation and financial results.

 

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Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new or modified products from being developed, cleared, approved or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA, foreign regulatory authorities and Notified Bodies to review and clear, approve, or certify new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, statutory, regulatory and policy changes, the FDA’s ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees and other events that may otherwise affect the FDA’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the FDA have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA, other agencies and Notified Bodies may also slow the time necessary for medical devices or modifications to cleared medical devices to be reviewed by necessary government agencies or certified, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities.

Separately, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 10, 2020 the FDA announced its intention to postpone most inspections of foreign manufacturing facilities, and on March 18, 2020, the FDA temporarily postponed routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities. Subsequently, on July 10, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to resume certain on-site inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities subject to a risk-based prioritization system. The FDA intends to use this risk-based assessment system to identify the categories of regulatory activity that can occur within a given geographic area, ranging from mission critical inspections to resumption of all regulatory activities. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on business.

In the EU, Notified Bodies must be officially designated to certify products and services in accordance with the Medical Devices Regulation. Several Notified Bodies have been designated so far but the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly slowed down their designation process. Without Medical Devices Regulation designation, Notified Bodies may not yet start certifying devices in accordance with the new Regulation. This situation could impact the way we are conducting our business in the EU and the EEA.

The clinical trial process is lengthy and expensive with uncertain outcomes. We have limited data and experience regarding the safety and efficacy of our products. Results of earlier studies may not be predictive of future clinical trial results, or the safety or efficacy profile for such products.

We cannot guarantee our on-going post-market clinical studies, or any other clinical study we may conduct or sponsor in the future, will be successful, and such clinical trials could be lengthy and expensive to conduct. Clinical testing is difficult to design and implement, can take many years, can be expensive and carries uncertain outcomes. Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the laws and regulations of the FDA, other applicable regulatory authorities’ and foreign authorities’ legal requirements, regulations or guidelines, and are subject to oversight by these governmental agencies and institutional review board or other reviewing bodies at the medical institutions where the clinical trials are conducted. Furthermore, we rely, and in the future may continue to rely upon, on contract research organizations (CROs), and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and while we have agreements governing their committed activities, we have limited influence over their actual performance. To the extent our collaborators or the CROs fail to enroll participants for our clinical trials, fail to conduct the study to required good clinical practice standards or are delayed for a significant time in the execution of trials, including achieving full enrollment, we may be affected by increased costs, program delays or both.

 

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The initiation and completion of any of clinical studies may be prevented, delayed or halted for numerous reasons, which could adversely affect the costs, timing or successful completion of our clinical trials. In addition, disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may increase the likelihood that we encounter such difficulties or delays in initiating, enrolling, conducting or completing our planned and ongoing clinical trials. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects.

Furthermore, patient enrollment in clinical trials and completion of patient follow-up depend on many factors, including the size of the patient population, the nature of the trial protocol, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the clinical trial, patient compliance, competing clinical trials and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new treatments that may be approved for the indications we are investigating.

If the third parties on which we rely to conduct our clinical trials and to assist us with pre-clinical development do not perform as required or expected, we may not be able to obtain regulatory clearance, approval or certification for or commercialize our products.

We may not have the ability to independently conduct our pre-clinical and clinical trials for our future products and we may need to rely on third parties, such as CROs, medical institutions, collaborators, clinical investigators and contract laboratories to conduct such trials. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, and our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and these third parties are required to comply with GCP requirements, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for products in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites.

If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable GCP regulations, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities or other bodies may require us to perform additional clinical trials before clearing, approving or certifying our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, such regulatory authorities will determine that any of our future clinical trials complies with the GCP regulations. To the extent our collaborators or the CROs fail to enroll participants for our clinical trials, fail to conduct the study to GCP standards or are delayed for a significant time in the execution of trials, including achieving full enrollment, including on account of the outbreak of infectious disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or otherwise, we may be affected by increased costs, program delays or both, any resulting data may be unreliable or unusable for regulatory purposes, and we may be subject to enforcement action.

If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or regulatory obligations or meet expected deadlines, if these third parties need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our pre-clinical development activities or clinical trials may be extended, delayed, suspended or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval or certification for, or successfully commercialize, our products on a timely basis, if at all, and our business, operating results and prospects may be adversely affected.

Actual or perceived failures to comply with applicable data protection, privacy and security laws, regulations, standards and other requirements could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In the course of our operations, we may collect, use, store, disclose, transfer and otherwise process an increasing volume of personal information, including from our employees and third parties with whom we conduct business. We and our partners may be subject to federal, state and foreign data protection laws and

 

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regulations (i.e., laws and regulations that address data privacy and security). In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including data breach notification laws, health information privacy laws and consumer protection laws and regulations (e.g., Section 5 of the FTC Act), that govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information could apply to our operations or the operations of our partners. We may also be subject to U.S. federal rules, regulations and guidance concerning data security for medical devices, including guidance from the FDA. In addition, we may obtain health information from third parties (including research institutions from which we obtain clinical trial data) that are subject to privacy and security requirements under HIPAA, as amended. Depending on the facts and circumstances, we could be subject to significant penalties if we obtain, use or disclose individually identifiable health information maintained by a HIPAA-covered entity or business associate in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA. The regulatory framework for data privacy and security worldwide is continuously evolving and developing and, as a result, interpretation and implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future.

Certain states have also adopted comparable privacy and security laws and regulations, some of which may be more stringent than HIPAA. Such laws and regulations will be subject to interpretation by various courts and other governmental authorities, thus creating potentially complex compliance issues for us and our future customers and strategic partners. In addition, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on June 28, 2018, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA creates individual privacy rights for California consumers and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability, and many similar laws have been proposed at the federal level and in other states. Further, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), recently passed in California. The CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on covered businesses, including additional consumer rights processes, limitations on data uses, new audit requirements for higher risk data, and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. It will also create a new California data protection agency authorized to issue substantive regulations and could result in increased privacy and information security enforcement. The majority of the provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes may be required. In the event that we are subject to or affected by HIPAA, the CCPA, the CPRA or other domestic privacy and data protection laws, any liability from failure to comply with the requirements of these laws could adversely affect our financial condition.

In Europe, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in May 2018 and imposes strict requirements for processing the personal data of individuals within the EEA. Companies that must comply with the GDPR face increased compliance obligations and risk, including more robust regulatory enforcement of data protection requirements and potential fines for noncompliance of up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global revenues of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater. Relatedly, following the United Kingdom’s (UK) withdrawal from the EEA and the EU, and the expiry of the transition period, from January 1, 2021, companies have had to comply with both the GDPR and the GDPR as incorporated into UK national law, the latter regime having the ability to separately fine up to the greater of £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover. The relationship between the UK and the EU in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, and it is unclear how the UK data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term. The European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision in favor of the UK, enabling data transfers from EU member states to the UK without additional safeguards. However, the United Kingdom adequacy decision will automatically expire in June 2025 unless the European Commission re-assesses and renews/ extends that decision. If we do not comply with our obligations under the GDPR and the UK data protection laws, we could be exposed to the fines discussed above. In addition, we may be the subject of litigation and/or adverse publicity, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Further, in July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) limited how organizations could lawfully transfer personal data from the EEA to the United States by invalidating the EU-US Privacy

 

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Shield Framework for purposes of international transfers and imposing further restrictions on use of the standard contractual clauses (SCCs). The European Commission issued revised SCCs on 4 June 2021 to account for the decision of the CJEU and recommendations made by the European Data Protection Board. The revised SCCs must be used for relevant new data transfers from September 27, 2021; existing standard contractual clauses arrangements must be migrated to the revised clauses by December 27, 2022. There is some uncertainty around whether the revised clauses can be used for all types of data transfers, particularly whether they can be relied on for data transfers to non-EEA entities subject to the GDPR. As supervisory authorities issue further guidance on personal data export mechanisms, including circumstances where the SCCs cannot be used, and/or start taking enforcement action, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines, and/or if we are otherwise unable to transfer personal data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, it could affect the manner in which we provide our services, the geographical location or segregation of our relevant systems and operations, and could adversely affect our financial results.

In addition to government regulation, privacy advocates and industry groups have and may in the future propose self-regulatory standards from time to time. These and other industry standards may legally or contractually apply to us, or we may elect to comply with such standards. We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws and regulations concerning data privacy and security, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws, regulations, standards and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. Because the interpretation and application of laws, regulations, standards and other obligations relating to data privacy and security are still uncertain, it is possible that these laws, regulations, standards and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data processing practices and policies or the features of our products. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits, regulatory investigations, public censure, other claims and penalties, and significant costs for remediation and damage to our reputation, we could be materially and adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in our data processing practices and policies or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement their legislation or regulations in ways that negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner, or at all. Any inability to adequately address data privacy or security-related concerns, even if unfounded, or to comply with applicable laws, regulations, standards and other obligations relating to data privacy and security, could result in additional cost and liability to us, harm our reputation and brand, damage our relationships with consumers and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We make public statements about our use and disclosure of personal information through our privacy policies, information provided on our website and press statements. Although we endeavor to comply with our public statements and documentation, we may at times fail to do so or be alleged to have failed to do so. The publication of our privacy policies and other statements that provide promises and assurances about data privacy and security can subject us to potential government or legal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices. Any concerns about our data privacy and security practices, even if unfounded, could damage the reputation of our business and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although we work to comply with applicable laws, regulations and standards, our contractual obligations and other legal obligations, these requirements are evolving and may be modified, interpreted and applied in an inconsistent manner from one jurisdiction to another, and may conflict with one another or other legal obligations with which we must comply. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our employees, representatives, contractors, consultants, collaborators or other third parties to comply with such requirements or adequately address privacy and security concerns, even if unfounded, could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation and adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, if our practices are not consistent, or viewed as not consistent, with legal and regulatory requirements, including changes in laws, regulations and standards or new interpretations or applications of existing laws, regulations and

 

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standards, we may also become subject to audits, inquiries, whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, criminal or civil sanctions, all of which may harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to This Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

There has been no prior public market for our common stock and an active trading market may never develop or be sustained, which may cause shares of our common stock to trade at a discount from the initial public offering price and make it difficult to sell the shares of common stock you purchase.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock and an active public market for our shares may not develop or be sustained after this offering. It is possible that after this offering, an active trading market will not develop or, if developed, that any market will not be sustained, which would make it difficult for you to sell your shares of common stock at an attractive price or at all. The lack of an active market may impair the value of your shares or your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. The initial public offering price per share of common stock will be determined by agreement among us and the representatives of the underwriters, and may not be indicative of the price at which shares of our common stock will trade in the public market, if any, after this offering. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other businesses or technologies or in-license new product candidates using our shares as consideration. Furthermore, although we have applied to list our common stock on the NYSE, there can be no guarantee that we will continue to satisfy the continued listing standards of the NYSE. If we fail to satisfy these listing standards, we could be de-listed, which would have a negative effect on the price of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors purchasing shares in this offering.

The initial public offering price for our common stock was determined through negotiations with the underwriters. This initial public offering price may differ from the market price of our common stock after the offering. As a result, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above the initial public offering price. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

 

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delays or setbacks in the ongoing commercialization of our foot and ankle products and procedures;

 

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the success of existing or new competitive products or technologies;

 

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

 

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

 

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the recruitment or departure of key personnel;

 

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the commencement of litigation;

 

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actual or anticipated changes in estimates as to financial condition and results of operations;

 

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announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;

 

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announcements by us or our competitors of significant business developments, acquisitions, new offerings, licenses, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

 

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the impact of COVID-19 or other pandemics on the performance of elective procedures;

 

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

 

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expiration of market standoff or lock-up agreements;

 

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

 

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changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, that cover our stock;

 

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changes in the structure of health care payment systems;

 

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market conditions in the medical device sectors;

 

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changes in the anticipated future size and growth rate of our market;

 

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the seasonality of our business;

 

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an increase in the rate of returns of our products or an increase in warranty claims;

 

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general economic, industry and market conditions, including economic recessions or slowdowns; and

 

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

In recent years, the stock market in general, and the market for medical device companies in particular, has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations. Further, the stock market in general has been highly volatile due to the COVID-19 pandemic and political uncertainty in the United States. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. These fluctuations may be even more pronounced in the trading market for our stock shortly following this offering. Following periods of such volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Because of the potential volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

If our operating and financial performance in any given period does not meet any guidance that we provide to the public, the market price of our common stock may decline.

We may, but are not obligated to, provide public guidance on our expected operating and financial results for future periods. Any such guidance will be comprised of forward-looking statements subject to the risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus and in our other public filings and public statements. Our actual results may not always be in line with or exceed any guidance we have provided, especially in times of economic uncertainty. If, in the future, our operating or financial results for a particular period do not meet any guidance we provide or the expectations of investment analysts, or if we reduce our guidance for future periods, the market price of our common stock may decline. Even if we do issue public guidance, there can be no assurance that we will continue to do so in the future.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative or inaccurate research about our business, our common stock price and trading volume could decline.

Our stock price and trading volume will be influenced by the way analysts and investors interpret our financial information and other disclosures. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, delay publishing reports about our business, or publish negative reports about our business, regardless of accuracy, our common stock price and trading volume could decline.

 

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The trading market for our common stock will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If the number of analysts that cover us declines, demand for our common stock could decrease and our common stock price and trading volume may decline.

Regardless of accuracy, unfavorable interpretations of our financial information and other public disclosures could have a negative impact on our stock price. If our financial performance fails to meet analyst estimates, for any of the reasons discussed above or otherwise, or one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our common stock or change their opinion of our common stock, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares is restricted from immediate resale but may be sold into the market in the near future, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, upon the expiration of the market standoff and lock-up agreements, the early release of these agreements or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of our common stock intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. After this offering and after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all of our outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into 4,084,240 shares of our common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering, we will have                 shares of our common stock outstanding based on 13,478,101 shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2021 and assuming no exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional shares of our common stock. Of these shares, the                 shares we are selling in this offering may be resold in the public market immediately, unless purchased by our affiliates. The remaining                 million shares, or                 % of our outstanding shares after this offering, are currently prohibited or otherwise restricted under securities laws, market standoff agreements entered into by our directors, officers and stockholders with us, or lock-up agreements entered into by our stockholders with the underwriters. However, subject to applicable securities law restrictions and excluding shares of restricted stock that will remain unvested, prohibitions and restrictions on the sale of these shares in the public market will be lifted beginning 180 days after the date of this prospectus. BofA Securities, Inc. and Piper Sandler & Co. may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements at any time and for any reason.

In addition, shares issued upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our equity incentive plans, or pursuant to future awards granted under those plans, will become available for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of applicable vesting schedules, any applicable market standoff and lock-up agreements, and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act. See the section titled “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” for additional information.

We also plan to register all shares of our common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plans. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and once vested, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates and the lock-up agreements described in the section titled “Underwriting.” If any of these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline.

We have not paid dividends in the past and do not expect to pay dividends in the future, and, as a result, any return on investment may be limited to the appreciation in the price of our stock.

We have never paid cash dividends and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends will depend on our earnings, capital requirements, financial condition, prospects for future earnings and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our term loan agreement limits our ability to, among other things, pay dividends or make other distributions or payments on account of our common stock, in each case subject to certain exceptions. If we do not pay

 

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dividends, our stock may be less valuable because a return on your investment will only occur if our stock price appreciates and you then sell our common stock. There is no guarantee that our common stock will appreciate or even maintain the price at which our holders have purchased it. In addition, our loan agreements limit our ability to pay dividends or make other distributions or payments on account of our common stock, in each case subject to certain exceptions.

Future sales and issuances of our capital stock or rights to purchase capital stock could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

We may issue additional securities following the closing of this offering. Future sales and issuances of our capital stock or rights to purchase our capital stock could result in dilution to our existing stockholders. We may sell common stock, convertible securities, and other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner as we may determine from time to time to fund operations, develop new products, accelerate other strategies, make acquisitions or support other activities. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of any future offerings. If we sell any such securities in subsequent transactions, investors may be materially diluted. New investors to such subsequent transactions could gain rights, preferences, and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock.

Insiders will continue to have substantial influence over us after this offering, which could limit your ability to affect the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.

After this offering, our directors, officers, holders of more than 5% of our outstanding stock and their respective affiliates will beneficially own shares representing approximately     % of our outstanding common stock, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares and without giving effect to any shares that certain of these holders may make through our directed share program or otherwise. As a result, these stockholders, if they act together, will be able to influence our management and affairs and all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company and might affect the market price of our common stock.

We are an “emerging growth company” and, as a result of the reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, our common stock may be less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, as an “emerging growth company” the JOBS Act allows us to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period under the JOBS Act. As a result, our financial statements and interim financial statements may not be comparable to issuers who are required to comply with the effective dates for new or revised accounting standards that are applicable to public companies, which may make comparison of our financials to those of other public companies more difficult.

We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. We will remain an emerging growth

 

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company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the year following the fifth anniversary of the consummation of this offering, (ii) the last day of the year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (iii) the last day of the year in which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeded $700.0 million as of the last business day of the second fiscal quarter of such year, or (iv) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

Anti-takeover provisions in our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, and Delaware law, could discourage a change in control of our company or a change in our management.

Our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as amended and restated in connection with this offering, will contain provisions that might enable our management to resist a takeover. These provisions include:

 

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a classified board of directors;

 

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advance notice requirements applicable to stockholders for matters to be brought before a meeting of stockholders and requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ notice;

 

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a supermajority stockholder vote requirement for amending certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws;

 

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the right to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer;

 

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allowing a supermajority of stockholders to remove directors only for cause;

 

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a requirement that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors;

 

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allowing all vacancies, including newly created directorships, to be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of directors then in office, even if less than a quorum, except as otherwise required by law;

 

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eliminate cumulative voting in elections of directors;

 

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a requirement that our stockholders may only take action at annual or special meetings of our stockholders and not by written consent;

 

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limiting the forum to Delaware for certain litigation against us; and

 

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limiting the persons that can call special meetings of our stockholders to our board of directors, the chairperson of our board of directors, the chief executive officer or the president, in the absence of a chief executive officer.

These provisions might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or a change in our management. The existence of these provisions could adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the DGCL), which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder. See “Description of Capital Stock.”

 

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Claims for indemnification by our directors and officers may reduce our available funds to satisfy successful third-party claims against us and may reduce the amount of money available to us.

Our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws will provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the DGCL, our amended and restated bylaws to be effective immediately before to the completion of this offering and our indemnification agreements that we have entered into with our directors and officers will provide that:

 

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We will indemnify our directors and officers for serving us in those capacities or for serving other business enterprises at our request, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Delaware law provides that a corporation may indemnify such person if such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the registrant and, with respect to any criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe such person’s conduct was unlawful.

 

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We may, in our discretion, indemnify employees and agents in those circumstances where indemnification is permitted by applicable law.

 

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We are required to advance expenses, as incurred, to our directors and officers in connection with defending a proceeding, except that such directors or officers shall undertake to repay such advances if it is ultimately determined that such person is not entitled to indemnification.

 

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We will not be obligated pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws to indemnify a person with respect to proceedings initiated by that person against us or our other indemnitees, except with respect to proceedings authorized by our board of directors or brought to enforce a right to indemnification.

 

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The rights conferred in our amended and restated bylaws are not exclusive, and we are authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors, officers, employees and agents and to obtain insurance to indemnify such persons.

 

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We may not retroactively amend our amended and restated bylaw provisions to reduce our indemnification obligations to directors, officers, employees and agents.

Our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws will provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ abilities to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws will provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, in the event that the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware or other state courts of the State of Delaware) is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that, if and only if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware dismisses any such action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, such action may be brought in another state or federal court sitting in the State of Delaware. Our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws will also provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action against any defendant arising under the Securities Act. Such provisions are intended to

 

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benefit and may be enforced by us, our officers and directors, employees and agents, including the underwriters and any other professional or entity who has prepared or certified any of this prospectus. The choice of forum provisions will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

We believe these provisions may benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal securities laws by chancellors and judges, as applicable, particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims or make such lawsuits more costly for stockholders, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. If a court were to find one or more of the choice of forum provisions that will be contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.

We have broad discretion to determine how to use the funds raised in this offering, and may use them in ways that may not enhance our operating results or the price of our common stock.

Our management will have broad discretion over the use of proceeds from this offering, and we could spend the proceeds from this offering in ways our stockholders may not agree with or that do not yield a favorable return on your investment, if at all. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds from this offering to acquire or invest in products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our business. However, we currently have no agreements or commitments to complete any such transactions. Our use of these proceeds may differ substantially from our current plans. If we do not invest or apply the proceeds of this offering in ways that improve our operating results, we may fail to achieve expected financial results or impair our ability to pursue our growth strategy, which could cause our stock price to decline.

New investors purchasing our common stock will experience immediate and substantial dilution.

Our initial public offering price is substantially higher than the book value per share of our common stock. If you purchase common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate dilution of $                 in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of common stock, based on an initial public offering price of $                 per share. That is because the price that you pay will be substantially greater than the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of the common stock that you acquire in this offering. This dilution is due in large part to the fact that our earlier investors paid substantially less than the initial public offering price when they purchased their shares of our capital stock and also due to the conversion of our outstanding convertible preferred stock at the consummation of the initial public offering into 4,084,240 shares of common stock. Further, following this offering, purchasers in this offering will have contributed approximately     % of the total gross consideration paid by stockholders to us to purchase shares of our common stock but will own only approximately     % of the shares of common stock outstanding immediately after this offering. Investors will incur additional dilution if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares and/or upon the exercise of stock options and warrants. See “Dilution.”

 

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General Risk Factors

Unfavorable global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. Furthermore, a severe or prolonged economic downturn, including a recession or depression resulting from the current COVID-19 pandemic or political disruption could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our procedures or products and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy or political disruption, including any international trade disputes, could also strain our manufacturers or suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption, or cause our customers to delay making payments for our potential products. Any of the foregoing could seriously harm our business, and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the political or economic climate and financial market conditions could seriously harm our business.

Our operations are vulnerable to interruption or loss due to natural or other disasters, power loss, strikes and other events beyond our control.

A major hurricane, fire or other disaster (such as a major flood, earthquake or terrorist attack) affecting our headquarters or our other facilities, or facilities of our suppliers and manufacturers, could significantly disrupt our operations, and delay or prevent product shipment or installation during the time required to repair, rebuild or replace our suppliers’ and manufacturers’ damaged facilities, which delays could be lengthy and costly. We opened a new headquarters facility in Englewood, Colorado, to support our commercial expansion, education and training programs. Our facilities, equipment and inventory would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to repair or replace. If any of our customers’ facilities are negatively impacted by a disaster, shipments of our products could be delayed. Additionally, customers may delay purchases of our products until operations return to normal. Even if we are able to quickly respond to a disaster, effects of the disaster could create some uncertainty in the operations of our business. Concerns about terrorism, the effects of a terrorist attack or political turmoil could have a negative effect on our operations, those of our suppliers and manufacturers and our customers.

Litigation against us could be costly and time-consuming to defend and could result in additional liabilities.

We may from time to time be subject to legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business or otherwise, such as claims brought by our customers in connection with commercial disputes and employment claims made by our current or former employees. Claims may also be asserted by or on behalf of a variety of other parties, including government agencies, patients or vendors of our customers, or stockholders. Further, in the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of its securities, and this risk is especially relevant to industries that experience significant stock price volatility. Any litigation involving us may result in substantial costs, operationally restrict our business, and may divert management’s attention and resources, which may negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The requirements of being a public company may divert our management’s attention from our growth strategies and other business concerns.

As a public company, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and will be required to comply with the applicable requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the listing requirements of the NYSE and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources. Among other things, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current

 

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reports with respect to our business and results of operations and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from executing our growth strategies and managing other business concerns and, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we intend to hire additional employees to comply with these requirements, we may need to hire even more employees in the future, which will increase our costs and expenses. Additionally, as a public company, it will be more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee, and qualified executive officers.

We will incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company and our executive management team expects to devote substantial time to public company compliance programs.

As a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses due to our compliance with regulations and disclosure obligations applicable to us, including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and the NYSE. Stockholder activism, the current political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact, in ways we cannot currently anticipate, the manner in which we operate our business. Our executive management team and other personnel will devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance programs and monitoring of public company reporting obligations and as a result of the new corporate governance and executive compensation related rules, regulations and guidelines prompted by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and further regulations and disclosure obligations expected in the future, we will likely need to devote additional time and costs to comply with such compliance programs and rules. These rules and regulations will cause us to incur significant legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and may experience material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls in the future, as a result of which, we may not be able to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our common stock.

As a result of becoming a public company, we will be required, under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022. This assessment will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual and interim financial statements will not be detected or prevented on a timely basis.

We are further enhancing internal controls, processes and related documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404. We may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion. During the evaluation and testing process, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal controls are effective.

In connection with the preparation of our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, management identified certain material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a

 

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reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses identified during the audit process relate to the fact that we did not design or maintain an effective control environment, with the primary contributing factor being lack of adequate staffing with the appropriate technical accounting competency, training and experience to account for more complex accounting matters. This deficiency also resulted in inconsistently established authorities and responsibilities, including inadequate segregation of duties, and also contributed to the following additional deficiencies (each of which individually represents a material weakness) in our internal control over financial reporting.

 

•

we did not design and maintain effective controls related to manual journal entries. Specifically, certain personnel had the ability to both prepare and post manual journal entries without an independent review by someone without the ability to prepare and post manual journal entries.

 

•

we did not design and maintain formal accounting policies, processes and controls to analyze, account for and disclose complex transactions.

Each of the control deficiencies described above could result in a misstatement of one or more account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected. Accordingly, our management has determined that each of the control deficiencies described above constitute a material weakness.

To remedy the identified material weaknesses, we have implemented and continue to implement, several measures, including, among others:

 

•

hiring additional and qualified technical accounting and reporting personnel with significant knowledge and experience with U.S. GAAP and SEC financial reporting requirements;

 

•

establishing and designing internal financial reporting processes;

 

•

designing a control framework to ensure effective segregation of duties;

 

•

formally assessing complex accounting transactions and other technical accounting and financial reporting matters including controls over the preparation and review of accounting memoranda addressing these matters; and

 

•

implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in 2021. We are in the process of designing and implementing controls over this ERP system to, among other things, automate certain controls, enforce segregation of duties and facilitate the review of journal entries.

If we fail to remediate the material weakness, or if we experience additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls in the future, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our common stock.

We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. The effectiveness of our controls and procedures may be limited by a variety of factors, including:

 

•

faulty human judgment and simple errors, omissions or mistakes;

 

•

fraudulent action of an individual or collusion of two or more people

 

•

inappropriate management override of procedures; and

 

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•

the possibility that any enhancements to controls and procedures may still not be adequate to assure timely and accurate financial control.

Our management and independent registered public accounting firm did not perform an evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting during any period in accordance with the provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Had we performed an evaluation and had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting in accordance with the provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, additional control deficiencies amounting to material weaknesses may have been identified. We are in the very early stages of the costly and challenging process of compiling the system and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404(a) of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing or any required remediation in a timely fashion. If we fail to comply with Section 404(a) or to remedy these material weaknesses or identify new material weaknesses by the time we have to issue that report, we will not be able to certify that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may cause investors to lose confidence in our financial statements, and the trading price of our common stock may decline. If we fail to remedy any material weakness, our financial statements may be inaccurate, our access to the capital markets may be restricted and the trading price of our common stock may suffer.

We are subject to U.S. anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as export control, customs laws sanctions and other trade laws and regulations (collectively, the Trade Laws). We can face serious consequences for violations.

As we grow our international presence and global operations, we will be increasingly exposed to trade and economic sanctions and other restrictions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other governments and organizations. The U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, State and Treasury and other federal agencies and authorities have a broad range of civil and criminal penalties they may seek to impose against corporations and individuals for violations of economic sanctions laws, export control laws, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and other federal statutes and regulations, including those established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In addition, the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 (Bribery Act) prohibits both domestic and international bribery, as well as bribery across both private and public sectors. An organization that fails to prevent bribery by anyone associated with the organization can be charged under the Bribery Act unless the organization can establish the defense of having implemented adequate procedures to prevent bribery. These anti-corruption laws generally prohibit companies and their employees, agents and intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. We can be held liable for the corrupt or illegal activities of our agents and intermediaries, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. We are also subject to other U.S. laws and regulations governing export controls, as well as economic sanctions and embargoes on certain countries and persons.

Violations of Trade Laws can result in substantial criminal fines and civil penalties, imprisonment, the loss of trade privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences. Likewise, any investigation of potential violations of Trade Laws could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We cannot assure you that our policies and procedures are or will be sufficient or that directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants and agents have not engaged and will not engage in conduct for which we may be held responsible, nor can we assure you that our business partners have not engaged and will not engage in conduct that could materially affect their ability to perform their contractual obligations to us or even result in our being held liable for such conduct. Violations of the FCPA, OFAC restrictions, the Bribery Act or other export control, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism laws or regulations may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

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We, along with our suppliers, are dependent on various information technology systems, and failures of, interruptions to, or unauthorized tampering of those systems could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We and our suppliers rely extensively on information technology systems, networks and services, including internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities and tools, physical security system and other hardware, software and technical applications and platforms, some of which are managed, hosted, provided or used by third-parties or their vendors, to conduct business. These systems include, but are not limited to, ordering and managing materials from suppliers, converting materials to finished products (suppliers), shipping products to customers, processing transactions, summarizing and reporting results of operations, complying with regulatory, legal or tax requirements, providing data security and other processes necessary to manage our business.

A significant breakdown, invasion, corruption, destruction or interruption of critical information technology systems or infrastructure, by our workforce, others with authorized access to our systems or unauthorized persons could negatively impact operations. The use of cloud-based computing creates opportunities for the unintentional dissemination or intentional destruction of confidential information stored in our or our third-party providers’ systems, portable media or storage devices. Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our contractors, consultants and collaborators are vulnerable to damage from cyberattacks, “phishing” attacks, intentional or accidental actions or omissions to act that cause vulnerabilities, computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. Attacks upon information technology systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may also face increased cybersecurity risks due to our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees who are working remotely, which may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to, or to sabotage, systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We may also experience security breaches that may remain undetected for an extended period. If our systems are damaged or cease to function properly due to any number of causes, ranging from catastrophic events to power outages to security breaches, and our business continuity plans do not effectively compensate timely, we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage operations, and would also be exposed to a risk of loss, including financial assets or litigation and potential liability, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We cannot assure you that any limitations of liability provisions in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim relating to a security lapse or breach. While we maintain certain insurance coverage, including cyber insurance, our insurance may be insufficient or may not cover all liabilities incurred by such attacks. We also cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be adequate for data handling or data security liabilities actually incurred, that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our financial condition, operating results and reputation.

Our insurance policies are expensive and protect us only from some business risks, which leaves us exposed to significant uninsured liabilities.

We do not carry insurance for all categories of risk that our business may encounter. We presently have general liability, workers’ compensation, directors’ and officers’ and product liability insurance coverage, which is subject to deductibles and coverage limitations. If we are unable to obtain insurance at an acceptable cost or on acceptable terms or otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we could be exposed to significant liabilities. A product liability claim, recall or other claim with respect to uninsured liabilities or for

 

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amounts in excess of insured liabilities could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not carry specific hazardous waste insurance coverage, and our property, casualty and general liability insurance policies specifically exclude coverage for damages and fines arising from hazardous waste exposure or contamination. Accordingly, we could be held liable for damages or be penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory approvals could be suspended. Additionally, we do not carry cyber insurance, which may expose us to certain potential losses for damages or result in penalization with fines in an amount exceeding our resources.

We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified people to serve on our board of directors, on our board committees or as executive officers. We do not know, however, if we will be able to maintain existing insurance with adequate levels of coverage. Any significant uninsured liability may require us to pay substantial amounts, which would negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our results may be impacted by changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

A significant proportion of our sales are outside of the United States, and a majority of those are denominated in foreign currencies, which exposes us to foreign currency risks, including changes in currency exchange rates. We do not currently engage in any hedging transactions. If we are unable to address these risks and challenges effectively, our international operations may not be successful, and our business could be harmed.

Governmental export or import controls could limit our ability to compete in foreign markets and subject us to liability if we violate them.

Our products may be subject to U.S. export controls. Governmental regulation of the import or export of our products, or our failure to obtain any required import or export authorization for our products, when applicable, will harm our international sales and adversely affect our revenue. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our products may create delays in the introduction of our products in international markets or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products to some countries altogether. Furthermore, U.S. export control laws and economic sanctions prohibit the shipment of certain products and services to countries, governments and persons targeted by U.S. sanctions. If we fail to comply with export and import regulations and such economic sanctions, we may be fined or other penalties could be imposed, including a denial of certain export privileges. Moreover, any new export or import restrictions, new legislation or shifting approaches in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or in the countries, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our products by, or in our decreased ability to export our products to existing or potential customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our products or limitation on our ability to export or sell access to our products would likely negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us or our customers may seriously harm our business.

New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, which could affect the tax treatment of any of our future domestic and foreign earnings. Any new taxes could adversely affect our domestic and international business operations, and our business and financial performance. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us, possibly on a retroactive basis.

Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and corresponding provisions of state law, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a cumulative

 

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change of more than 50 percentage points (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards (the NOLs) and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. We may have experienced ownership changes in the past, and we may experience ownership changes in connection with this equity offering or as a result of future shifts in our equity ownership, some of which may be outside our control. As a result, our ability to use our pre-change federal NOLs and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income and taxes could be subject to limitations. For these reasons, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of the NOLs, even if we achieve profitability, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and cash flows.

As international expansion of our business occurs, it will expose us to market, regulatory, political, operational, financial and economic risks associated with doing business outside of the United States.

Our long-term strategy is to increase our international presence. This strategy may include establishing and maintaining physician outreach and education capabilities outside of the United States and expanding our relationships with international payers. Doing business internationally involves a number of risks, including:

 

•

difficulties in staffing and managing our international operations;

 

•

increased competition as a result of more products and procedures receiving regulatory approval or otherwise free to market in international markets;

 

•

export restrictions, trade regulations and foreign tax laws;

 

•

fluctuations in currency exchange rates;

 

•

difficulties in developing effective marketing campaigns in unfamiliar foreign countries;

 

•

multiple, conflicting and changing laws and regulations such as tax laws, privacy laws, export and import restrictions, employment laws, regulatory requirements and other governmental approvals, permits and licenses;

 

•

reduced or varied protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;

 

•

obtaining foreign certification and regulatory clearance where required in various countries;

 

•

requirements to maintain data and the processing of that data on servers located within such countries;

 

•

complexities associated with managing multiple payer reimbursement regimes, government payers or patient self-pay systems;

 

•

customs clearance and shipping delays;

 

•

limits on our ability to penetrate international markets if there is a preference for locally produced products or if we are required to manufacture our products locally;

 

•

financial risks, such as longer payment cycles, difficulty collecting accounts receivable, foreign tax laws and complexities of foreign value-added tax systems, the effect of local and regional financial pressures on demand and payment for our products and exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;

 

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•

restrictions on the site-of-service for use of our products and the economics related thereto for physicians, providers and payers;

 

•

natural disasters, political and economic instability, including wars, terrorism, political unrest, outbreak of disease (including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic), boycotts, curtailment of trade and other market restrictions; and

 

•

regulatory and compliance risks that relate to maintaining accurate information and control over activities subject to regulation under the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, or FCPA, U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 and comparable laws and regulations in other countries.

Any of these factors could significantly harm our future international expansion and operations and, consequently, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this prospectus, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, future revenue, business strategy, prospects, product candidates, planned and ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials, results of preclinical studies and clinical trials, research and development costs, regulatory approvals, timing and likelihood of success, as well as plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “vision,” “will,” or “would,” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those we make regarding the following matters:

 

•

the expected growth of our business and our organization;

 

•

estimates of our total addressable market and our expectations about market trends;

 

•

our business model and strategic plans for our products, technologies, including our Smart 28 initiatives, and business, including our implementation thereof;

 

•

whether we are able to achieve commercial success and market acceptance for our products;

 

•

our expectations regarding competitive companies and technologies and our industry generally;

 

•

the impact on our business, financial condition and results of operation from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or any other pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease in the United States or worldwide;

 

•

our ability to manage and grow our business by expanding our commercial organization and increasing our sales to existing and new customers in current and new geographies;

 

•

our expectations regarding government and third-party payor coverage and reimbursement;

 

•

our ability to manufacture sufficient quantities of our products with sufficient quality;

 

•

our ability to accurately forecast customer demand for our products and manage our inventory;

 

•

our ability to establish and maintain intellectual property protection for our products or avoid future claims of infringement;

 

•

FDA or other U.S. or foreign regulatory actions affecting us or the healthcare industry generally, including healthcare reform measures in the United States;

 

•

the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals;

 

•

our ability to hire and retain key personnel;

 

•

our ability to obtain additional financing in this or future offerings;

 

•

our plans to conduct further clinical trials;

 

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•

the volatility of the trading price of our common stock;

 

•

our expectations regarding the use of proceeds from this offering;

 

•

our compliance with extensive NYSE requirements and government laws, rules and regulations both in the United States and internationally; and

 

•

our expectations regarding the time during which we will be an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.

The preceding list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of our forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed in this prospectus under the headings “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Furthermore, the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business operations and financial results and on the world economy as a whole may heighten the risks and uncertainties that affect our forward-looking statements described above. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not rely on such forward-looking statements as predictors of future events. The forward-looking statements included elsewhere in this prospectus are not guarantees of future performance and our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and events in the industry in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements included elsewhere in this prospectus, they may not be predictive of results or developments in future periods.

Any forward-looking statement that we make in this prospectus speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changed circumstances, future events or otherwise, after the date of this prospectus.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds to us from the sale of shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $             million (or approximately $             million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase                 additional shares in full), assuming an initial public offering price of $            per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $            per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $            million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares sold in this offering by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $            million, assuming an initial public offering price of $            per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The information discussed above is illustrative only and will adjust based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

The principal purposes of this offering are to obtain additional capital to support our operations, to create a public market for shares of our common stock, to facilitate our future access to the public equity markets and to increase awareness of our company among potential customers. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds from this offering to acquire or invest in products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our business. However, we currently have no agreements or commitments to complete any such transaction.

The expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions, which could change in the future as or plans and business conditions evolve. We may find it necessary or advisable to use the net proceeds for other purposes, and we will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds. Pending the uses described above, we plan to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short- and intermediate-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments or other securities.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table summarizes our cash and our consolidated capitalization as of June 30, 2021:

 

•

on an actual basis; and

 

•

on a pro forma basis to give effect to (i) the conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into 4,084,240 shares of common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering, and (ii) the filing and effectiveness of our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation in connection with the closing of this offering; and

 

•

on a pro forma as adjusted basis, to give effect to (i) the pro forma adjustments described above as well as (ii) the sale and issuance by us of                  shares of our common stock in this offering at the initial public offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The pro forma and as adjusted pro forma information below is illustrative only and our capitalization following the closing of this offering will be adjusted based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at the pricing of this offering. You should read this information in conjunction with the sections titled “Use of Proceeds,” “Selected Consolidated Financial and Operating Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

		As of June 30, 2021
		Actual				Pro Forma				Pro Forma As Adjusted
		(dollars in thousands, except per share data)
Cash		$	16,044							$
Long term debt			22,118
Convertible preferred series equity:
Series A convertible preferred stock, $0.01 par value, $0 cumulative preferred dividends, 2,762,500 shares authorized, issued and outstanding			4,250
Series B convertible preferred stock, $0.01 par value, $1,754 cumulative preferred dividends, 1,321,740 shares authorized, issued and outstanding			37,784
Stockholders’ equity:
Preferred stock, $0.01 par value per share; no shares authorized, issued or outstanding, actual;                 shares authorized, no shares issued or outstanding, pro forma and pro forma as adjusted			—
Common stock; $0.01 par value per share; 14,937,569 shares authorized, 9,576,566 shares issued and 9,393,861 shares outstanding actual;                 shares authorized,                 shares issued and outstanding pro forma, and                 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma as adjusted			94
Additional paid-in capital			25,547
Accumulated other comprehensive income			369
Retained earnings			9,065
Treasury stock, at cost; 182,705 shares			(5,983	)
Total stockholders’ equity			29,092
Total capitalization		$	93,244							$

 

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A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted amount of each of cash, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by approximately $             million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, an increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us at the assumed initial public offering price of $            per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted amount of each of cash, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by approximately $            million, assuming the shares of our common stock offered by this prospectus are sold at the assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The table above excludes:

 

•

994,296 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of options outstanding as of June 30, 2021, at a weighted-average exercise price of $23.89 per share;

 

•

83,000 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options granted after June 30, 2021, at a weighted average exercise price of $68.53 per share;

 

•

495,100 shares of our common stock that remain available for issuance under our 2011 Plan as of June 30, 2021;

 

•

shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2021 Plan, which will become effective upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under this plan; and

 

•

shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our ESPP, which will become effective upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under this plan.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors after considering our financial condition, results of operations, current and anticipated capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our board of directors deems relevant, and subject to the restrictions contained in any future financing instruments. In addition, our ability to pay cash dividends is currently restricted by the terms of the agreements governing our term debt and revolving debt credit facilities. Our ability to pay cash dividends on our capital stock in the future may also be limited by the terms of any preferred securities we may issue or agreements governing any additional indebtedness we may incur.

 

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your interest will be immediately and substantially diluted to the extent of the difference between the amount per share paid by purchasers of shares of our common stock in this initial public offering and the as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

As of June 30, 2021, our historical net tangible book value (deficit) was $            million, or $             per share of common stock. Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) represents our total tangible assets less total liabilities or our convertible preferred stock, which is not included within stockholders’ equity.

As of June 30, 2021, our pro forma net tangible book value (deficit) was $             million, or $             per share. As adjusted net tangible book value per share represents the amount of our total tangible assets reduced by the amount of our total liabilities and divided by the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2021 after giving effect to the conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into shares of common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering. Pro forma net tangible book value per share represents our pro forma net tangible book value divided by the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2021, after giving effect to the pro forma adjustments described above.

After giving further effect to our sale of                  shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of June 30, 2021 would have been approximately $             million, or $             per share. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma net tangible book value of $             per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution in pro forma net tangible book value of approximately $             per share to new investors purchasing shares of our common stock in this offering.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis to new investors:

 

Assumed initial public offering price per share of common stock						$
Historical net tangible book value (deficit) per share as of June 30, 2021		$
Increase in net tangible book value (deficit) per share attributable to the pro forma effects described above
Pro forma net tangible book value (deficit) per share as of June 30, 2021
Increase in book value per share attributable to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering
Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share
Dilution per share to new investors in this offering						$

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value by $            , or $             per share, and the dilution per share of common stock to new investors in this offering by $             per share, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share by $            and decrease the dilution per share to new investors by $            , assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A decrease of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would

 

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decrease the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share by $            and increase the dilution per share to new investors by $            , assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The following table summarizes, as of June 30, 2021 and after giving effect to the pro forma as adjusted adjustments described above, the difference among existing stockholders and new investors purchasing shares of our common stock in this offering with respect to the number of shares purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid by our existing stockholders or to be paid by investors purchasing shares in this offering at the initial public offering price of $             per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, before deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

 

		Shares Purchased								Total Consideration								Average Price Per Share
		Number				Percent				Amount				Percent
Existing stockholders								%		$						%		$
New investors
Total							100	%		$					100	%

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) total consideration paid by new investors by $            million and total consideration paid by all stockholders and average price per share paid by all stockholders by $            million and $             per share, respectively, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) total consideration paid by new investors by $            million and total consideration paid by all stockholders and average price per share paid by all stockholders by $            million and $             per share, respectively, assuming the assumed initial public offering price remains the same, and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The table above assumes the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional shares in this offering. If the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase                 additional shares of our common stock in this offering, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share would be $            per share and the dilution to new investors in this offering would be $             per share. If the underwriters fully exercise their option, the number of shares held by new investors will increase to                 shares of our common stock, or approximately    % of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding after this offering.

The information presented in the tables and discussions above excludes:

 

•

994,296 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of options outstanding as of June 30, 2021, at a weighted-average exercise price of $23.89 per share;

 

•

83,000 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options granted after June 30, 2021, at a weighted average exercise price of $68.53 per share;

 

•

495,100 shares of our common stock that remain available for issuance under our 2011 Plan as of June 30, 2021;

 

•

shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2021 Plan, which will become effective upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under this plan; and

 

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•

shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our ESPP, which will become effective upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under this plan.

To the extent any options or similar rights are granted and exercised in the future, there may be additional economic dilution to new investors. Furthermore, we may choose to raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities due to market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. New investors will experience further dilution if any of our outstanding options are exercised, new options are issued and exercised under our equity incentive plans or we issue additional shares of common stock, other equity securities or convertible debt securities for lower consideration per share than in this offering in the future.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with the section titled “Selected Financial Data” and our financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion and other parts of this prospectus contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions that are based on the beliefs of our management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, our management. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors.” Please also see the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Overview

We are a leading medical device company exclusively focused on the foot and ankle orthopedic market and we are dedicated to improving patient lives. Our innovative orthopedic solutions, procedural approaches and instrumentation cover a wide range of foot and ankle ailments including fracture fixation, bunions, hammertoe, ankle, progressive collapsing foot deformity (PCFD) or flatfoot, charcot foot and orthobiologics. To treat these painful, debilitating or even life-threatening conditions, we provide a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that includes surgical implants and disposables, as well as surgical instrumentation. Our broad suite of surgical solutions comprises 72 product systems, including approximately 8,700 SKUs to help fit the specific needs of each patient. We design each of our products with both the patient and surgeon in mind, with the goal of improving outcomes, reducing ailment recurrence and complication rates, and making the procedures simpler, consistent and reproducible. We believe our passion, expertise, and exclusive focus in the foot and ankle market has allowed us to better understand the needs of our patients and physicians, which has enabled us to create innovations and enhanced solutions that disrupt and transform the foot and ankle market. As a result, we have experienced significant growth and momentum in our business.

We established Paragon 28 in 2010 as a company exclusively dedicated to the foot and ankle market. Since then, we have developed a comprehensive portfolio of foot and ankle surgical systems and procedural techniques designed to address the primary conditions requiring treatment in the foot and ankle, including fracture fixation; bunions; hammertoe; ankle; PCFD or flatfoot; charcot foot; and orthobiologics.

Our broad commercial footprint spans across all 50 United States and 23 other countries. In the United States we primarily sell to hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers through a network of primarily independent sales representatives, the majority of whom are exclusive. Outside the United States we primarily sell to hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers through a network of sales representatives and stocking distributors. We plan to efficiently grow our sales organization and network to expand into new territories in the United States. We are also highly focused on expanding our global network by expanding our sales footprint in existing and select new international markets based on our assessment of size and opportunity.

We currently leverage multiple third-party manufacturing relationships to ensure low cost production while maintaining a capital efficient business model. We have multiple sources of supply for many of our surgical solutions’ critical components. Nearly all of our supply agreements do not have minimum manufacturing or purchase obligations. As such, we generally do not have any obligation to buy any given quantity of products, and our suppliers generally have no obligation to sell to us or to manufacture for us any given quantity of our products or components for our products. In most cases, we have redundant manufacturing capabilities for each of our products. Except during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not experienced any significant difficulty obtaining our products or components for our products necessary to meet demand, and we have only experienced limited instances where our suppliers had difficulty supplying products by the requested delivery date. We believe manufacturing capacity is sufficient to meet market demand for our products for the foreseeable future.

 

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Our revenue has increased from 2015 to 2020 at a CAGR of 42%. Prior to the COVID-19 related surgical disruption in 2020, our net revenue increased from $19.4 million in 2015 to $106.3 million in 2019, or a CAGR of 52%. Our net revenue increased from $106.3 million in 2019 to $111.0 million in 2020 and from $45.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $68.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Net income increased from $3.1 million in 2019 to $3.5 million in 2020 and net loss decreased from $4.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $2.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Adjusted EBITDA increased from $8.6 million in 2019 to $13.8 million in 2020 and from $1.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $3.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. We believe our financial discipline has allowed us to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA annually since 2015. Adjusted EBITDA is not a financial measure under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). See “—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for an explanation of how we compute this non-GAAP financial measure and for the reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

As of December 31, 2020 and June 30, 2021, we had cash of $17.5 million and $16.0 million and retained earnings of $12.4 million and $9.1 million, respectively. Our primary sources of capital to date have been from the sale of our products, private placements of our convertible preferred securities and the incurrence of indebtedness. We believe that our existing cash, available debt borrowings and expected operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements and fund our operations for at least the next 12 months. Based upon our current operating plan, we believe that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash, will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next twelve months from the date of this offering.

We have invested heavily in both research and development and expansion of our sales and marketing functions and expect to continue to make substantial investments in these areas. Moreover, we expect to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including expenses related to compliance with the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and those of the NYSE, additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities and other administrative and professional services. As a result of these and other factors, we may require additional financing to fund our operations and planned growth. We may also seek additional financing opportunistically. We may seek to raise any additional capital by entering into partnerships or through public or private equity offerings or debt financings, credit or loan facilities or a combination of one or more of these funding sources. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience dilution.

Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

We believe our performance and continued success depend on several factors that present significant opportunities. These factors include:

Investments in Product Development and Innovation, including Smart 28

We expect to continue to focus on long-term revenue growth through investments in our business. In research and development, our team is continually working on new products and iterations of our existing products. Further, we anticipate we will continue to invest significantly in our Smart 28 initiatives in order to improve patient outcomes by augmenting existing products and creating new products and related services that employ advanced technologies. We are committed to continuously expanding our portfolio of foot and ankle solutions and to bring next-generation products to market. While research and development and clinical testing are time consuming and costly, we believe expanding into new indications, implementing product improvements and continuing to demonstrate the efficacy, safety and cost effectiveness of our products through clinical data are all critical to increasing the adoption of our solutions. We continue to invest in programs to educate physicians who treat foot and ankle about the advantage of products. Accordingly, in the near term, we expect these activities to increase our operating expenses, but in the longer term we anticipate they will positively impact our business and results of operations.

 

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Continued Commercial Expansion in the United States and International Markets

In sales and marketing, we are also dedicating meaningful resources to expand our commercial team in the United States and in international markets. Our top commercial priorities in the United States include sales force expansion, expansion of our surgeon customer base, sales force channel productivity and increasing surgeon utilization. Our top commercial priorities in the international markets include expanding our market share in existing countries and targeting new countries where we can maximize strong average selling price (ASP) and margins. Our current expansion targets include Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Taiwan and Costa Rica, and we are exploring potential future opportunities in India, China and Russia. This process requires significant education and training for our commercial team to achieve the level of technical competency with our products that is expected by physicians and to gain experience building demand for our products. Upon completion of the training, our commercial team typically requires time in the field to grow their network of accounts and increase their productivity to the levels we expect. Successfully recruiting, training and retaining additional sales representatives will be required to achieve growth, which will require significant investments by us.

Continued and Expanded Access to Hospital Facilities

In the United States, in order for physicians to use our products, the hospital facilities where these physicians treat patients often require us to enter into purchasing contracts directly with the hospital facilities or with the GPOs of which the hospital facilities are members. This process can be lengthy and time-consuming and requires extensive negotiations and management time. In markets outside the United States, we may be required to engage in a contract bidding process in order to sell our products, where the bidding processes are only open at certain periods of time, and we may not be successful in the bidding process.

Reimbursement and Coverage Decisions by Third-Party Payors

Healthcare providers in the U.S. generally rely on third-party payors, principally federal Medicare, state Medicaid and private health insurance plans, to cover and reimburse all or part of the cost of our products. The revenue we are able to generate from sales of our products depends in large part on the availability of reimbursement from such payors. These payors may deny reimbursement if they determine that the device or procedure was not medically necessary for the patient and used in accordance with the payor’s coverage policy. A significant component of our commercial efforts includes working with private payors to ensure positive coverage decisions for our products.

Inventory, Surgical Instrumentation and Supply Chain Management

Given the large variety and number of products we sell, in order to market and sell them effectively, we must maintain significant levels of inventory and surgical instrumentation. As a result, a significant amount of cash is expended for inventory and surgical instrumentation. There may also be times in which we determine that our inventory does not meet our product requirements. We may also over- or underestimate the quantities of required components, in which case we may expend extra resources or be constrained in the amount of end product that we can procure. These factors subject us to the risk of obsolescence and expiration, which may lead to impairment charges. The sum of the charges for the items listed above were $1.7 million and $7.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively and $1.6 million and $1.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2021, respectively. Additionally, as we release later generations of products that contain advancements or additional features, the earlier generations may become obsolete.

Seasonality

We have experienced and expect to continue to experience seasonality in our business, with our highest sales volumes in the U.S. occuring in the fourth calendar quarter. Our U.S. sales volumes in the fourth calendar quarter tend to be higher as many patients elect to have surgery after meeting their annual deductible and having time to recover over the winter holidays.

 

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Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

In response to COVID-19, certain states within the United States implemented shelter-in-place rules requiring certain businesses not deemed “essential,” to close and requiring elective procedures to be delayed. As a result, our revenue growth was adversely impacted particularly from March 2020 through May 2020 when such shelter-in-place restrictions were largely eased. There is significant uncertainty around the breadth and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19, as well as its impact on the United States and international economies. Further, the prevalence of new and potentially more contagious variants, such as the Delta variant, continue to create uncertainty for the duration and impact of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a material impact on our business and we cannot reasonably estimate the length or severity of this pandemic and its impact on the number of surgical procedures, in particular elective procedures, that are performed.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Their Limitations

In addition to our results and measures of performance determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we believe that certain non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating and comparing our financial and operational performance over multiple periods, identifying trends affecting our business, formulating business plans and making strategic decisions.

Adjusted EBITDA is a key performance measure that our management uses to assess our financial performance and is also used for internal planning and forecasting purposes.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA, together with a reconciliation to net income, helps identify underlying trends in our business and helps investors make comparisons between our company and other companies that may have different capital structures, tax rates, or different forms of employee compensation. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects, and allowing for greater transparency with respect to a key financial metric used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making. Our use of Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider these measures in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these potential limitations include:

 

•

other companies, including companies in our industry which have similar business arrangements, may report Adjusted EBITDA, or similarly titled measures but calculate them differently, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures;

 

•

although depreciation and amortization expenses are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditures for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements;

 

•

Adjusted EBITDA also does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs or the potentially dilutive impact of stock based compensation; and

 

•

Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on our debt that we may incur.

Because of these and other limitations, you should consider our non-GAAP measures only as supplemental to other GAAP-based financial measures. For a full reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the most comparable GAAP financial measure, please see “—Reconciliation Between GAAP and Non-GAAP Measure.”

 

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Reconciliation Between GAAP and Non-GAAP Measure

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income before interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense and non-recurring expenses. For a full reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 to the most comparable GAAP financial measure, please see the following table.

 

		Six Months Ended June 30,								Year Ended December 31,
		2021				2020				2020				2019
		(in thousands)
Net Income		$	(2,411	)		$	(4,475	)		$	3,498			$	3,117
Interest expense			601				462				602				648
Income tax expense (benefit)			332				1,415				1,527				(1,147	)
Depreciation and amortization expense			3,678				2,928				6,384				4,202
Stock based compensation expense			1,715				868				1,808				1,754
PPP Loan forgiveness (1)			—				—				(3,747	)			—
Excess and obsolete inventory expense related to supply chain disruption (2)			—				—				3,702				—
Adjusted EBITDA		$	3,915			$	1,198			$	13,774			$	8,574

 

(1)	Represents non-recurring other income received in connection with the foregivness of the PPP Loan.

(2)	Represents non-recurring excess and obsolete inventory expense caused by supply chain purchasing process disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Metrics

We regularly review a number of operating and financial metrics, including among other things the number of producing U.S. sales representatives to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate our business plan and make strategic decisions.

The following table lists the number of producing U.S. sales representatives for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020:

 

		Six Months Ended June 30,								Year Ended December 31,
		2021				2020				2020				2019
		(in thousands)
Producing U.S. sales representatives (1)			197				163				176				167

 

(1)

We define producing U.S. sales representatives each quarter as the number of U.S. sales representatives who generated revenue in each month of the quarter. We define the annual number of producing U.S. sales representatives as the sum of the four quarterly producing U.S. sales representative metrics, divided by four. We define the number of producing U.S. sales representatives for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 as the sum of the producing U.S. sales representative for the first and second quarter periods of 2021 and 2020, respectively, divided by two.

We believe that the number of producing U.S. sales representatives is a useful indicator of our ability to drive adoption of our products and procedures and generate revenue and is helpful in tracking the progress of our business. While we believe this metric is representative of our current business, this metric may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows. 

 

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Components of Our Results of Operations

Net Revenue

We currently derive our revenue from the sale of our foot and ankle orthopedic solutions, primarily implants. We also record as revenue any amounts billed to customers for shipping costs and record as cost of goods sold the actual shipping costs. We have elected to exclude from the measurement of the transaction price all taxes, such as sales, use, value-added, assessed by government authorities and collected from a customer. Therefore, revenue is recognized net of such taxes. No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our net revenue during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and in the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020. We expect our net revenue to increase in the foreseeable future as we expand our sales territories, add new customers and increase the utilization of our products by our existing customers, though net revenue may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to a variety of factors, including availability of reimbursement, the size and success of our sales force, the number of hospitals and physicians who are aware of and use our products and seasonality.

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold consists primarily of finished products purchased from third-party suppliers, shipping costs, excess and obsolete inventory adjustments and royalties. Implants are manufactured to our specifications primarily by third-party suppliers in the United States. Cost of goods sold is recognized at the time the implant is used in surgery and the related revenue is recognized. Prior to use in surgery, the cost of our implants is recorded as inventories, net in our consolidated balance sheets. Cost of goods sold is expected to increase due primarily to increased sales volume.

We calculate gross profit as net revenue less cost of goods sold, and gross margin as gross profit divided by net revenue. We expect our gross profit to increase in the foreseeable future as our net revenue grows, though our gross profit and gross margin have been and will continue to be affected by a variety of factors, primarily average selling prices, third-party manufacturing costs, change in mix of customers, excess and obsolete inventory adjustments, royalties and seasonality of our business. Our gross margin is higher for products we sell in the United States versus internationally due to higher average selling prices. We expect our gross margin to fluctuate from period to period, however, based upon the factors described above and seasonality.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development

Research and development expense is comprised of engineering costs and research programs related to new product and sustaining product development activities, clinical studies and trials expenses, quality and regulatory expenses, and salaries, bonuses and benefits related to research and development functions. We maintain a procedurally focused approach to product development and have projects underway to add new systems across multiple foot and ankle indications and to add additional functionality to our existing systems. We expect our research and development expenses to increase as we hire additional personnel to develop new product offerings and product enhancements, including Smart 28 initiatives.

Selling, General, and Administrative

Selling, general, and administrative expenses consist primarily of commissions paid to U.S. sales representatives, salaries, bonuses, and benefits related to selling, marketing, and general and administrative functions, and stock-based compensation. In addition, selling, general, and administrative expenses consist of the costs associated with marketing initiatives, physician and sales force medical education programs, surgical instrument depreciation, travel expenses, professional services fees (including legal, finance, audit and tax fees), insurance costs, facility expenses and other general corporate expenses.

 

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We expect selling, general, and administrative expenses to continue to increase in the foreseeable future as we continue to grow our business, though it may fluctuate from quarter to quarter. We also expect our administrative expenses, including stock-based compensation expense, to increase as we increase our headcount and expand our facilities and business processes to support our operations as a public company. Additionally, we anticipate increased expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory and tax-related services associated with being a public company, compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums and investor relations costs. We also expect to see an increase in our stock-based compensation expense with the establishment of a new equity plan associated with this offering and related grants either in the form of restricted stock units or options. In addition, we expect to continue to incur significant legal expenses related to the Wright Medical Litigation. Our selling, general and administrative expenses may fluctuate from period to period due to the seasonality of our business and as we continue to add direct sales territory managers in new territories.

Other Income (Expense)

Other income (expense) consists primarily of foreign currency transaction gains (losses) and income from the forgiveness of our PPP loan.

Interest Expense

Interest expense consists of interest incurred and amortization of financing costs during the reported periods.

Results of Operations

For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2021 and 2020

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the period presented below:

 

		Six Months Ended June 30,								Change
		2021				2020				Amount				%
		($in thousands)
Net revenue		$	68,838			$	45,656			$	23,182				51	%
Cost of goods sold			13,113				8,337				4,776				57	%
Gross profit			55,725				37,319				18,406				49	%
Operating expenses
Research and development			7,136				5,828				1,308				22	%
Selling, general, administrative			50,041				34,004				16,037				47	%
Total operating expenses			57,177				39,832				17,345				43	%
Operating income (loss)			(1,452	)			(2,513	)			1,061				73	%
Other income (expense)			(26	)			(85	)			59				*
Interest expense			(601	)			(462	)			(139	)			(23	)%
Income (loss) before income taxes			(2,079	)			(3,060	)			981				47	%
Income tax expense (benefit)			332				1,415				(1,083	)			(77	)%
Net income (loss)			(2,411	)			(4,475	)			2,064				86	%

 

*	Not meaningful

 

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