Immunovant, Inc. (IMVT) Business
This page reproduces the company's own Item 1 Business text from the linked SEC filing. It is filer text, not grepcent analysis, scoring, or investment advice.
Informational only - not investment advice. See Disclaimer.
Item 1. Business
Overview
Immunovant, Inc. (“Immunovant,” “we” or the “Company”) is a clinical-stage immunology company dedicated to enabling normal lives for people with autoimmune diseases. Our focus is on developing IMVT-1402 (imeroprubart), a potentially best-in-class inhibitor of the neonatal fragment crystallizable receptor (“FcRn”), to address autoimmune diseases driven by high levels of pathogenic immunoglobulin G (“IgG”) antibodies. FcRn is involved in preventing the degradation of IgG antibodies, and inhibition of FcRn has been shown to reduce levels of total IgG and pathogenic IgG antibodies.
We believe that FcRn inhibition has broad therapeutic and commercial potential to address pathogenic IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases in several therapeutic areas, including but not limited to, endocrinology, neurology, rheumatology and dermatology. Third-party estimates suggest over four million patients in the United States and Europe could benefit from anti-FcRn treatments across more than 20 indications that have been publicly announced for research and development by multiple companies, with two indications that are already approved and launched quickly reaching multi-billions of dollars in global annual sales.
Consistent evidence observed across the class in eight indications in Phase 2 and 3 trials with FcRn inhibitors has indicated that deeper IgG reductions correlate with meaningful improvements in clinical outcomes. This has also been validated with Immunovant’s own Phase 2 and 3 studies evaluating its first-generation anti-FcRn antibody, batoclimab, in Graves’ disease (“GD”), myasthenia gravis (“MG”) and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (“CIDP”) which showed that IgG reductions of greater than or equal to 70% led to meaningfully better outcomes compared to reductions below 70% across a range of clinical measures.
In a Phase 1 clinical trial, healthy adults dosed with IMVT-1402 showed deep, dose-dependent IgG reductions. We expect to be able to reach approximately 80% IgG reductions with continued weekly dosing of 600 mg of IMVT-1402, offering deeper IgG reductions than observed with other competitor anti-FcRn programs, therefore representing a potential best-in-class opportunity. In the Phase 1 clinical trial, across all evaluated doses, IMVT-1402 demonstrated no or minimal reductions in albumin and no or minimal increases in LDL cholesterol levels, which are off-target effects observed in some anti-FcRn antibodies, including batoclimab. We believe IMVT-1402’s profile has the potential to offer best-in-class efficacy, in addition to its potentially favorable safety profile and convenient administration with a simple self-administered auto-injector expected at launch.
We are currently progressing a broad set of programs for IMVT-1402 and have ongoing studies in six indications, including potentially registrational trials in GD, difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (“D2T RA”), MG, CIDP and Sjögren’s disease (“SjD”), and a proof-of-concept trial in cutaneous lupus erythematosus (“CLE”). Our primary focus is to execute these six indications first, with plans to assess new indications for IMVT-1402 in the future. All studies evaluating IMVT-1402 are being conducted using the intended commercial drug formulation and delivery device, the YpsoMate® autoinjector developed by Ypsomed AG, which is utilized for multiple approved products.
IMVT-1402 and batoclimab are fully human monoclonal antibodies that target FcRn. These antibodies are the result of a multi-step, multi-year research program conducted in collaboration with HanAll to design highly potent anti-FcRn antibodies that may be optimized as a simple, subcutaneous injection with dosing that has been shown to deliver better efficacy at the high dose and similar efficacy at the low dose compared to standard FcRn inhibition by competitors.
In April 2026, we announced top-line results from two Phase 3 clinical studies evaluating batoclimab as an investigational treatment for adults with active, moderate-to-severe thyroid eye disease (“TED”), neither of which met the primary endpoint. The safety profile observed in these studies was consistent with prior batoclimab studies, with no new safety signals identified. Following these results, we made a decision to discontinue further development of batoclimab across all indications to focus fully on IMVT-1402. Learnings from the batoclimab program, including clinical data, operational trial experience, and relationships with investigators, have been and continue to be leveraged to inform the development of IMVT-1402.
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Business Strategy
We are pursuing a broad anti-FcRn strategy based on the potential best-in-class profile of IMVT-1402 for the treatment of IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases. To execute our strategy, we plan to:
•Prioritize areas of significant unmet medical need where IMVT-1402 could potentially be first- and best-in-class. We plan to expand the use of FcRn inhibitors in indications that benefit a greater number of patients with several potential first- and best-in-class indications such as GD, D2T RA and CLE with significant unmet medical need. We believe the probability of technical success for IMVT-1402 is strong, given its potential to achieve best-in-class IgG reductions, along with the batoclimab proof-of-concept data we have generated in GD, the IMVT-1402 case study data presented in CLE, and a competitor’s data in RA.
•Maximize the commercial potential of IMVT-1402 with a clear, differentiated and potentially best-in-class profile in established markets. We plan to leverage the potential best-in-class profile of IMVT-1402 in indications where the anti-FcRn mechanism already has established a commercial presence, such as MG and CIDP. Data generated by batoclimab in these indications support our hypothesis that IMVT-1402 could potentially offer best-in-class efficacy at the high dose with the convenience of a well-established self-administered autoinjector and a potentially favorable safety profile.
•Focus on rapid clinical execution as a key priority. We plan to focus on clinical execution to maintain our head start in the indications identified above and to be nearly-first and potentially best-in-class for indications such as SjD where we can launch in close proximity to in-class competition and expect a differentiated clinical profile. Data generated by a competitor in SjD supports our belief that IMVT-1402 could potentially offer best-in-class efficacy at the high dose due to best-in-class IgG reductions with the convenience of a well-established self-administered autoinjector and potentially favorable safety profile.
•Evaluate potential additional indications. We intend to thoroughly evaluate potential additional indications based on the degree of unmet medical need, the potential benefit offered by anti-FcRn treatment, the target patient population size and the commercial potential.
Our Pipeline and Anticipated Milestones
Our research and development programs are organized and managed by therapeutic area and our clinical trials address specific target indications within these areas. The following is our current development pipeline and anticipated milestones for IMVT-1402:
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The Role of FcRn in Autoimmune Disease
Autoimmune diseases are conditions where an immune response is inappropriately directed against the body’s own healthy cells and tissues. According to the Autoimmune Association, more than 50 million people in the United States (“U.S.”) suffer from one of more than 100 diagnosed autoimmune diseases. Predisposing factors may include genetic susceptibility, environmental triggers and other factors not yet known. Many of these diseases are associated with high levels of pathogenic IgG antibodies. In healthy people, IgG antibodies are the most abundant type of antibody produced by the human immune system, accounting for approximately 75% of antibodies in the plasma, and are important in the defense against pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. In IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases (an important subset of autoimmune diseases), IgG antibodies inappropriately develop against normal proteins found in the body, directing the immune system to attack specific organs or organ systems.
IgG antibodies are continuously being removed from circulation and internalized in cellular organelles called endosomes. FcRn is the primary protein responsible for preventing the degradation of IgG antibodies. The role of FcRn is to bind to the IgG antibodies under the more acidic conditions of the endosome and transport them to the cell surface, where the neutral pH causes them to be released back into circulation.
Inhibition of FcRn, such as through the use of an anti-FcRn antibody, has been shown to reduce levels of pathogenic IgG antibodies. Anti-FcRn antibodies, including our product candidates, bind to FcRn thereby blocking IgG antibodies from forming complexes with FcRn under the more acidic conditions of the endosome. As a result, unbound IgG antibodies are degraded in the lysosome rather than being transported by FcRn for release back into circulation. This anti-FcRn mechanism of action is depicted in the graphic below.
Limitations of Current Treatment Options in Autoimmune Disease
Treatment for IgG-driven autoimmune diseases varies widely, however many patients are commonly treated using intravenous or subcutaneous immunoglobulins (“IVIg,” “SCIg”), corticosteroids, plasma exchange (“PLEX”) and immunomodulatory therapies. Despite the availability of the therapies, there remains significant unmet medical need. For example, although immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg, SCIg) is effective, it may be associated with significant side effects and complications such as severe headache, thromboembolism and hemolysis. Additionally, IVIg therapy imposes a burden on patients’ time and at-home administration options remain limited. IVIg supply constraints have occurred, and IVIg is also not available in all markets. SCIg therapy often requires frequent administration at multiple infusion sites using an external pump to deliver the requisite volume of therapy, which presents challenges to patients requiring therapy on a continuous basis.
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Corticosteroid therapy, though effective, has well-known serious adverse effects (e.g., weight gain, hypertension, diabetes and osteoporosis), especially with chronic use. PLEX requires central venous access and is not universally available. Immunomodulatory therapies are all associated with significant potential risks, including the possibility of malignancy and infection. For example, these include azathioprine – cytopenia; cyclosporine – hypertension, nephrotoxicity; mycophenolate – blood dyscrasias including neutropenia and red blood cell (“RBC”) aplasia; rituximab – renal toxicity; and cyclophosphamide – cardiac, pulmonary and renal toxicity as well as bone marrow suppression and infertility. The currently available treatments are associated with significant potential risk of adverse effects, generally impose a high burden on patient’s time and effort and may be subject to restricted availability. There remains a high unmet need for safe and effective targeted therapies for patients suffering from autoantibody-driven disease.
Product Candidate - IMVT-1402
IMVT-1402 is a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits FcRn with a potentially best-in-class profile, offering potentially best-in-class efficacy, a favorable route of administration and a potentially favorable safety profile.
IMVT-1402 has been assigned the nonproprietary name imeroprubart on the World Health Organization’s Recommended International Nonproprietary Names List 93, which has also been approved by the U.S. Adopted Names Council.
In September and November of 2023, we announced results from a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy adults in New Zealand. In the study’s 300 mg multiple-ascending dose (“MAD”) cohort, a statistically significant reduction of 63% from baseline in mean total IgG levels was observed after four weekly 300 mg subcutaneous doses of IMVT-1402. In the 600 mg MAD cohort, we observed a statistically significant reduction of 74% from baseline in mean total IgG levels after four weekly 600 mg subcutaneous doses of IMVT-1402. No or minimal reductions in albumin and no or minimal increases in LDL cholesterol levels were observed in healthy adults administered IMVT-1402 in either dose cohort; the changes in albumin and LDL cholesterol were similar to those observed with placebo administration. Across all doses evaluated, treatment with IMVT-1402 was generally well tolerated, with only mild or moderate treatment-emergent adverse events observed.
Based on trial results announced to date across the anti-FcRn class and the strength of its potential best-in-class profile, we are pursuing development of IMVT-1402 in endocrinology, neurology, rheumatology, dermatology and possibly other therapeutic areas, with a focus on indications representing first-in-class opportunities, or opportunities where we can leverage our own batoclimab or existing in-class clinical data to build confidence in a best-in-class profile. We are currently progressing a broad set of programs for IMVT-1402 and have ongoing studies in six indications, including potentially registrational trials in GD, D2T RA, MG, CIDP and SjD, and a proof-of-concept trial in CLE.
Our Therapeutic Areas
Endocrine Diseases
Graves’ Disease
GD Overview
GD is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland. Patients with GD develop IgG autoantibodies that bind to the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (“TSHR”) present on the thyroid gland, which induces increased and uncontrolled secretion of thyroid hormones, resulting in hyperthyroidism. GD is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism and occurs at all ages but especially in adults aged between 20 and 50 years and can impact women of reproductive age. Because thyroid hormones play an important role in controlling functions of many organs such as heart, central and peripheral nervous system, muscle, bone, and skin, the presence of excessive thyroid hormones is associated with a variety of signs and symptoms including enlarged thyroid gland (goiter), palpitations, arrhythmia, anxiety, weight loss, insomnia, osteoporosis, and pretibial myxedema.
The treatment of GD has seen minimal innovation in therapeutic options over the past 70-plus years. Antithyroid drugs (“ATDs”), as the only existing pharmacological therapy, do not address the underlying disease pathology characterized by high levels of stimulating TSHR antibodies (“TRAb”). A conservative analysis of Inovalon claims data estimates that the prevalence of Graves’ patients is approximately 880,000 in the U.S., and further analysis suggests that there are approximately 330,000 patients who have relapsed on ATDs and who have opted not to pursue ablation. Other market-sizing analyses by various methods suggest that 25-30% of Graves’ patients are relapsed, uncontrolled on or intolerant to ATDs, representing a potentially significant unmet medical need.
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Current Treatment Paradigm
The main treatment goal of GD is to reduce thyroid hormone levels. There are 3 options currently available: surgery, radioiodine (“RAI”), and ATDs. The most commonly prescribed ATDs in the U.S. are the thionamides, methimazole and propylthiouracil. An internal chart review of over 1,000 patient records from over 140 endocrinologists and a patient survey of 100 patients indicate that approximately 25-30% of GD patients remain uncontrolled on ATDs. A recent study showed that Graves’ patients with persistent stimulating TRAb levels had a 6-fold increased risk for relapse after ATD withdrawal. Collectively, these data suggest that a treatment for GD targeting the reduction or elimination of circulating stimulating TRAb would address the underlying autoimmune pathogenesis of the disease and would restore normal thyroid function.
Surgery, which involves partial or entire removal of the thyroid gland (thyroidectomy) is an option, especially for patients with large goiters, women planning pregnancy and, in some cases, patients who have failed to respond to ATDs. Although any such surgical procedure may lead to an immediate resolution of the hyperthyroidism, it is associated with potential complications including parathyroid gland injury, which may lead to hypocalcemia, and damage of the laryngeal nerve. Treatment with RAI destroys the thyroid using ionizing radiation. It is considered an alternative to medical management in several countries, especially if ATDs are contraindicated or among patients who do not respond to this drug class. Since RAI can worsen TED, it is not recommended in patients with TED or in smokers who are at higher risk of developing TED, and in women who are pregnant or lactating. Finally, recent data suggest an association between RAI and increased risk for several types of cancer. In addition, RAI is associated with sustained increases in TRAb titers, risk for de novo TED and worsening of pre-existing TED. Both thyroidectomy and RAI may result in hypothyroidism, requiring lifelong treatment with thyroid hormone replacement. Given these risks, the treatment paradigm for GD continues to shift away from RAI and thyroidectomy, resulting in an increasing number of patients who are not controlled on ATDs but who are choosing not to undergo ablation. Rates of surgery and RAI have declined significantly in the U.S. in recent years, to about 11% of patients in 2021, according to an analysis of claims data, from more than half of patients in 2005.
Proof-of-Concept Trial with Batoclimab
We initially tested the potential of FcRn inhibition for the treatment of GD in a Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial (NCT05907668) evaluating our first-generation FcRn inhibitor, batoclimab.
The study included a 24-week batoclimab treatment period with a dose step-down midway through the treatment period (Weeks 0-12 at 680 mg weekly (“QW”) subcutaneously (“SC”) and Weeks 13-24 at 340 mg QW SC), followed by a 24-week off-treatment follow-up period. The study enrolled participants with active GD as documented by presence of elevated TRAb and who were hyperthyroid despite current treatment with standard of care ATD therapy. The primary endpoint of the study measured response as the proportion of participants who at Week 24 achieved normalization of free triiodothyronine (“T3”) and free thyroxine (“T4”), or have T3/T4 below the lower limit of normal (“LLN”), without an increase in ATD dose from baseline. A total of 25 subjects were enrolled in the treatment period, and 21 subjects entered the 24-week off-treatment follow-up period and could be assessed for maintenance of response. In data previously disclosed in September 2024 that was reanalyzed to include an additional patient who discontinued prior to Week 12 but remained in off-drug follow-up, at the end of the first 12 weeks, a mean IgG reduction of 77% and an 80% response rate (defined as T3 and T4 falling below the upper limit of normal (“ULN”) without increasing the ATD dose) were observed. 60% of subjects treated with higher dose batoclimab were observed to have an ATD-Free Response (defined as T3 and T4 falling below the ULN and the patient simultaneously tapering completely off their ATD) at the end of the first 12 weeks. During weeks 13 to 24, patients receiving lower dose batoclimab were observed to have mean IgG reduction of 65% with a correspondingly lower responder rate of 72% and a lower ATD-Free Response rate of 40% at the end of the second 12 weeks. Patients who were observed to have at least a 70% IgG reduction at the end of the evaluation period had nearly a threefold higher ATD-Free Response rate than those who did not (64% vs. 23%).
Six-month off-treatment data was presented at the American Thyroid Association Annual Meeting in September 2025. At completion of the follow-up period at Week 48 (i.e., subjects off-treatment for 24 weeks), approximately 80% (17/21) of those subjects maintained T3/T4 values ≤ ULN, suggestive of strong durability of the response observed at Week 24 as evaluated at approximately six months off treatment at Week 48. Of these 17 subjects, approximately 50% (8/17) were ATD-free and an additional approximately 30% (5/17) were on ATD doses of 2.5 mg/day at six months off batoclimab treatment. Total IgG and TRAb levels declined through Week 24, consistent with previous observations, and while total IgG rebounded after treatment ended, pathogenic TRAb levels remained suppressed at Week 48. Safety and tolerability were observed to be consistent with prior batoclimab studies.
This study is now completed, with its data suggesting the potential of FcRn inhibition for the treatment of GD by modifying the underlying disease pathology, which is driven by TRAb. As such, GD is a key strategic priority for our development of IMVT-1402.
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IMVT-1402 Development Program in GD
In December 2024, we initiated a potentially registrational trial evaluating IMVT-1402 in adults with GD. This study (NCT06727604) is a randomized, placebo-controlled, 52-week trial in Graves’ patients who are hyperthyroid despite treatment with an ATD for 12 or more weeks prior to beginning the study. The study is expected to enroll approximately 240 participants randomized (1:1:1) to one of two blinded treatment groups each receiving IMVT-1402, 600 mg weekly SC, or a matched placebo group. Participants will be evaluated over two consecutive 26-week blinded treatment periods. Over the course of the treatment periods, background ATD treatment will be titrated to the lowest effective dose, including elimination of ATD treatment, to maintain normal thyroid lab values. Following the initial 26-week period, participants in the IMVT-1402 treatment group 2 will be assigned to either continued treatment with IMVT-1402 at the same dose or matching placebo for the second 26-week study period based on the participant’s TRAb value and euthyroid status determined at week 26. The study’s primary endpoint is the proportion of participants who are euthyroid and off ATD at study week 26. A key secondary endpoint will measure the proportion of participants who become euthyroid and stop ATD treatment at week 52. We expect to report top-line results from this trial in calendar year 2027.
More details on the trial design are described in the figure below:
In June 2025, we initiated a second potentially registrational trial evaluating IMVT-1402 in adults with GD. This study (NCT07018323) is a randomized, placebo-controlled, 26-week trial in Graves’ patients who are hyperthyroid despite treatment with an ATD for 12 or more weeks prior to beginning the study. The study is expected to enroll approximately 210 participants randomized (1:1:1) to one of three blinded treatment groups receiving IMVT-1402 600 mg weekly SC, IMVT-1402 300 mg weekly SC, or matched placebo group. Over the course of the treatment periods, background ATD treatment will be titrated to the lowest effective dose, including elimination of ATD treatment, to maintain normal thyroid lab values. The study’s primary endpoint is the proportion of participants in the 600 mg weekly SC dose group who are euthyroid and are off ATD versus placebo at study week 26. A key secondary endpoint will measure the proportion of participants in the 600 mg weekly SC dose group who have T3 (Total T3 or FT3) and FT4 ≤ULN and are off ATD versus placebo. We expect to report top-line results from this trial in calendar year 2027.
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More details on the trial design are described in the figure below:
Rheumatology Diseases
Rheumatoid Arthritis
RA Overview
RA is a chronic progressive autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the joints and surrounding tissues. Inadequate control of the joint inflammation associated with RA may result in irreversible joint erosions. The estimated prevalence of patients treated with biologic or targeted synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (“DMARDs”) in the U.S. is approximately 820,000, approximately 15% of which had an inadequate response to two or more such prior advanced DMARD mechanisms. The RA described in this subset of patients is sometimes referred to as difficult-to-treat (“D2T”), refractory, or multi-advanced mechanism failure RA. Of those, approximately 70% are autoantibody positive, representing approximately 85,000 patients with significant unmet medical need in the U.S. Several autoantibodies have been identified in RA, including rheumatoid factor (“RF”) and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (“ACPA”). These RA-specific autoantibodies are found in 70-80% of RA patients and exacerbate inflammation via immune complex formation. Positivity for RF and ACPA seems to have an amplifying effect on disease, resulting in an aggressive phenotype with more severe disease manifestations. Seropositive RA is also associated with poor outcomes on currently available therapies.
Current Treatment Paradigm
Therapeutic approaches for RA are intended to help control joint inflammation, damage and other associated disease manifestations. Currently available treatments include a variety of conventional oral, targeted synthetic and biologic DMARD treatments. These therapies primarily function by modulating the immune response and limiting the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (“TNF-α”), interleukin-6 (“IL-6”), and others impacting the pathogenesis of RA. While many patients experience symptom relief and disease control with these agents, D2T RA patients continue to experience active disease despite undergoing multiple lines of therapy with different mechanisms of action. For these patients, therapeutic options remain very limited while the risk of irreversible joint damage persists, highlighting a critical unmet medical need. The European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) has defined this RA subset in the clinical setting as D2T RA and provided points to consider in its management. Nevertheless, innovative strategies and novel therapeutic targets are needed to improve outcomes and quality of life for this patient population.
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Anti-FcRn as a Potential Treatment for D2T RA
Because of the role of FcRn in preventing the degradation of IgG autoantibodies, such as ACPAs, FcRn inhibition is an attractive mechanism as a potential treatment for ACPA-positive RA. Recent industry experience with anti‑FcRn therapies has informed our approach to evaluating RA. Johnson & Johnson’s IRIS-RA Phase 2a placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial evaluating nipocalimab in patients with RA and inadequate response or intolerance to anti-TNF therapy demonstrated that deeper ACPA IgG reduction correlated with improved rates of clinical response. We are focused on the subset of RA patients with ACPA-positive D2T RA, who have failed two or more prior advanced mechanism therapies, inclusive of biologics (TNFα inhibitors, IL-6R inhibitors, CD80/86 inhibitors, CD20 inhibitors) and targeted synthetic DMARDs (e.g., Janus kinase (“JAK”) inhibitors). For patients failing two or more prior advanced mechanisms in addition to conventional DMARDs, IMVT-1402 would be the fourth line or later line of therapy.
IMVT-1402 as a Potential Treatment for D2T RA
In December 2024, we initiated a potentially registrational trial evaluating IMVT-1402 in ACPA-positive D2T RA. This trial (NCT06754462) is fully enrolled, and all participants have completed an initial 16-week open-label, active treatment period (Period 1). To ensure the enrollment of patients with active D2T RA, the trial inclusion criteria require elevated ACPA levels, on stable conventional DMARD treatment, and prior inadequate response to at least two (but not more than four) classes of advanced mechanisms (biologics or targeted synthetic DMARDs). The study will evaluate IMVT-1402 600 mg weekly SC during the open-label induction phase of the trial with the intent of maximizing reduction in ACPA levels. Participants achieving a response at weeks 14 and 16 in Period 1 per the American College of Rheumatology response criteria 20 (“ACR20”) will be randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive blinded treatment in Period 2 with either IMVT-1402 600 mg, IMVT-1402 300 mg or placebo, weekly SC for 12 weeks. The primary endpoint will assess the proportion of such participants who maintain the ACR20 response at week 28. Eligible participants who complete week 28 will have the option to receive IMVT-1402 for an additional period of 48 weeks as part of a long-term extension period.
More details on the study design are described in the figure below:
The trial is currently ongoing and has enrolled a total of 170 participants in Period 1. At the completion of Period 1, 165 of the 170 enrolled patients were evaluable for ACR20 response to determine eligibility to continue to Period 2 and the primary efficacy analysis for the study. The enrollment inclusion criteria described above resulted in a heavily pretreated population: 86.7% (143/165) had failed two prior mechanisms of advanced therapies (i.e., biologic or targeted synthetic DMARDs), and the mean time from disease diagnosis was 12.8 years. Baseline disease activity was high, with a mean of 24.2 tender joints, 16.7 swollen joints, and DAS28-CRP score of 6.1.
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At Week 16, the ACR20, ACR50, and ACR70 response rates observed were 72.7%, 54.5%, and 35.8%, respectively; participants who discontinued prior to Week 16 were imputed as non-responders. Among the subset of participants who had failed at least a JAK inhibitor and an anti-TNF inhibitor (N=107), the ACR20, ACR50, and ACR70 response rates observed at Week 16 were 72.0%, 53.3%, and 37.4%, respectively. ACR20 response is defined as a ≥ 20% improvement from baseline in tender joint count and swollen joint count and a ≥ 20% improvement from baseline in at least 3 of 5 additional clinical parameters. Similarly, ACR50 and ACR70 responses are a calculation of 50% or 70% improvement, respectively, in the number of swollen and tender joints and 3 of 5 assessment parameters.
Period 1 was conducted in an open-label setting, with joint assessments performed by independent assessors blinded to treatment status to control for the potential for assessor bias in the response measures. IMVT-1402 was observed to be safe and well-tolerated in Period 1, and no new drug-related safety signals were identified. Study participants meeting the criteria for an ACR20 response at Week 16 are eligible to advance to Period 2 of the trial, where the primary endpoint will be assessed at Week 28. Further updates on this program are expected in the second half of calendar year 2026.
Sjögren’s Disease
SjD Overview
Sjögren’s disease, formerly referred to as Sjögren’s syndrome, is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the salivary and lacrimal glands. It is classically associated with severe dryness of the eyes and mouth; the latter frequently associated with difficulty swallowing or speaking, tooth decay, gum disease and impaired quality of life. Up to 50% of affected individuals also develop extra-glandular manifestations that can impact a variety of organ systems such as the joints, skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, nervous system, or kidneys.
SjD may occur in isolation (primary SjD) or in association with another systemic autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis (secondary SjD). It can be challenging to diagnose SjD based on symptoms alone due to the heterogeneity at presentation. However, serological testing including autoantibodies can help inform diagnosis. Autoantibodies including anti-Ro/SSA and anti-La/SSB have been detected in approximately 50-70% of patients with primary SjD and play crucial roles in both the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.
The estimated prevalence of primary SjD is approximately 290,000 in the U.S. It is estimated that up to 30% of primary SjD patients have moderate-to-severe disease with anti-Ro/SSA antibodies, representing approximately 90,000 SjD patients with significant unmet medical need in the U.S.
Current Treatment Paradigm
No therapies have been approved specifically for the treatment of SjD. Therapeutic approaches for SjD disease include local agents such as pilocarpine hydrochloride and cevimeline hydrochloride for oral and ocular dryness as well as systemic treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, methotrexate, mycophenolate sodium, azathioprine, and cyclosporine to address organ manifestations. This results in frequent visits with healthcare professionals and a high burden of treatment for Sjögren’s patients, suggesting a need for the development of novel treatments that target the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of this disease.
Anti-FcRn as a Potential Treatment for SjD
Recent in-class data from a Phase 2 placebo-controlled, multicenter trial evaluating nipocalimab in patients with SjD provides support for anti-FcRn proof of mechanism. The study met its primary endpoint, with statistically significant improvement in Clinical European League Against Rheumatism Sjögren’s Syndrome Disease Activity Index (“ClinESSDAI”) score, a key SjD activity index, in the high dose nipocalimab group compared to placebo. A clear dose response in ClinESSDAI observed in the trial supports the potential correlation between degree of IgG suppression and improved clinical outcomes.
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IMVT-1402 as a Potential Treatment for SjD
In June 2025, we initiated a potentially registrational trial evaluating IMVT-1402 in SjD. This trial (NCT06979531) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel-group study to assess the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of IMVT-1402 in adult participants with moderate to severe systemic primary SjD. The trial is anticipated to enroll approximately 180 participants randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive IMVT-1402 600 mg, IMVT-1402 300 mg or placebo weekly SC for two 24-week blinded treatment periods. The primary endpoint will assess the efficacy of IMVT-1402 compared to placebo as assessed by ClinESSDAI score at week 24. Participants assessed as responders at week 24, defined as participants that show an improvement of ≥ 4 points from baseline ClinESSDAI score, will continue on treatment for a second 24-week period. A key secondary endpoint will assess change from baseline in ClinESSDAI score at week 48. We expect to report top-line results from this trial in calendar year 2028.
More details on the trial design are described in the figure below:
Dermatology Diseases
Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus
CLE Overview
CLE is a rare, chronic skin disease characterized by skin-specific disease activity, inflammation and eventually damage. Triggered by sun exposure, CLE manifests as a recognizable rash and painful skin lesions, often with related symptoms such as itching, burning and alopecia. Subacute Cutaneous LE (“SCLE”) and Chronic Cutaneous LE (“CCLE”) are subtypes of CLE with distinct skin presentation and clinical course and high unmet medical need. The estimated prevalence of SCLE and CCLE is approximately 153,000 in the U.S. Approximately 50% of these SCLE and CCLE patients do not adequately respond to first-line therapies representing approximately 75,000 patients with potential significant unmet medical need in the U.S. IgG autoantibodies and immune complexes are observed to play a critical role in CLE disease pathophysiology.
Current Treatment Paradigm
First-line therapies are photoprotection, topical steroids and broad-spectrum therapies (i.e. DMARDs, antimalarials and corticosteroids) followed by IVIg or off-label biologics. It is estimated that approximately 50% of patients are not optimally managed with or without topical steroids due to insufficient response, relapse, or risk of retinopathy following first-line antimalarials.
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IMVT-1402 as a Potential Treatment for CLE
There is growing biologic and translational evidence supporting the role of IgG autoantibodies and immune complexes in the pathogenesis of CLE. Furthermore, published case studies using IVIg offer strong mechanistic evidence for the role of IgG autoantibodies in driving disease. Blocking FcRn may disrupt CLE pathology by providing upstream inhibition of the inflammatory cascade triggered in cells by pathogenic antibodies and immune complexes.
In addition, in April 2025, we presented observations from a proof-of-principle case study evaluating IMVT-1402 in a SCLE patient over a period of 12 weeks. The participant in the case study, a 57-year-old female, had alopecia and skin manifestations in multiple locations with a baseline Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Disease area and Severity Index activity (“CLASI-A”) score at screening of 36, which falls into the severe range on the clinical scale. The participant received open-label weekly treatment with 600 mg of IMVT-1402 for 12 weeks and saw significant clinical improvement in both skin lesions and alopecia. By week 12, the participant had a greater than 60% reduction in CLASI-A score to 13. A 5-point reduction in CLASI-A is considered clinically meaningful and this participant improved by 23 points by week 12. The participant also achieved approximately 78% total IgG reduction from baseline by week 12. A second patient dosed in this study also showed significant clinical improvement, with a CLASI-A score of 18 at screening reduced to 8 by week 12 of QW dosing, a 50% improvement. We believe the initial data from this case study may provide important support for the mechanism and for the potential of IMVT-1402 as a first- and best-in-class anti-FcRn therapy in CLE.
IMVT-1402 Proof-of-Concept Trial in CLE
In February 2025, we initiated a proof-of-concept trial of IMVT-1402 in CLE. This Phase 2b trial (NCT06980805) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of IMVT-1402 in participants with active SCLE and/or CCLE with or without systemic manifestations. This trial is fully enrolled, with participants randomized 1:1 to IMVT-1402 600 mg QW SC or placebo QW SC for 12 weeks during Period 1. Participants who complete Period 1 will enter Period 2, during which all participants will receive IMVT-1402 600 mg QW SC for 14 weeks. After completion of Period 2, participants will be rerandomized 1:1 to blinded IMVT-1402 300 mg or 600 mg SC QW for 26 weeks in Period 3. The primary endpoint will evaluate the efficacy of IMVT-1402 compared to placebo based on percent change from Period 1 baseline in CLASI-A score at week 12. We expect to report top-line results from this trial in the second half of calendar year 2026.
More details on the trial design are described in the figure below:
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Neurological Diseases
Myasthenia Gravis
MG Overview
MG is an autoimmune disorder associated with muscle weakness and fatigue. MG patients develop antibodies that lead to an immunological attack on critical signaling receptor proteins at the junction between nerve and muscle cells, thereby inhibiting the ability of nerves to communicate properly with muscles. This leads to muscle weakness intensified by activity, which can be localized to ocular muscles, or which can be more generalized throughout the body including muscles of respiration.
The symptoms of the disease can be transient and in the early stages of the disease, can remit spontaneously. However, as the disease progresses, symptom-free periods become less frequent and disease exacerbations can last for months or remain chronic. After 15 to 20 years, some weakness often becomes fixed, with the most severely affected muscles frequently becoming atrophic. Many patients find it difficult to perform daily activities due to both insufficient improvement in symptoms even after treatment and in some, the complicating long-term side effects of oral corticosteroids. Approximately 15% to 20% of MG patients will experience at least one myasthenic crisis during which the impairment of muscles required to breathe can become life-threatening.
The prevalence of MG is estimated to be approximately 59,000 to 116,000 cases in the U.S. with 35% of patients not well-controlled on the current standard of care, representing approximately 20,000 to 35,000 patients with significant unmet medical need in the U.S. The majority of these patients demonstrate elevated serum levels of acetylcholine receptor (“AChR”) antibodies.
Current Treatment Paradigm
Very early-stage MG is symptomatically treated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. As the disease progresses, patients are typically treated with immunosuppressive agents such as glucocorticoids, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil and cyclosporine. Thymectomy may be indicated for treatment in certain patients. As MG becomes more advanced, patients can be treated during exacerbations with IVIg, which provides therapeutic benefit through multiple potential mechanisms including the saturation of FcRn. Physicians direct patients with more advanced chronic disease and patients in times of crisis to therapies that reduce levels of circulating IgG antibodies via PLEX or a variant of PLEX, immunoadsorption. More recent novel mechanism of action therapies include FcRn inhibitors, which generally reduced IgG by 60-70% in their Phase 3 trials at approved doses, and complement inhibitors.
IMVT-1402 as a Potential Treatment for MG
In March 2025, we initiated a potentially registrational trial evaluating IMVT-1402 in adults with MG. This Phase 3 trial (NCT07039916) is a randomized, placebo-controlled, 26-week trial. This study is expected to enroll approximately 230 participants randomized (1:1:1) to one of three blinded treatment groups receiving IMVT-1402 600 mg weekly SC, IMVT-1402 300 mg weekly SC, or matched placebo group for the 12-week induction period. Participants on treatment will continue to be on the same treatment for the 14-week maintenance period, while patients on placebo will receive IMVT-1402 600 mg weekly SC. The study also includes a 52-week long-term extension. The study’s primary endpoint is the change in MG-ADL from baseline at week 12. We expect to report top-line results from this trial in calendar year 2027.
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More details on the trial design are described in the figure below:
Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
CIDP Overview
CIDP is believed to be an immune-mediated neuropathy characterized by demyelination of peripheral nerves and nerve roots that is driven by pathologic, autoreactive IgG antibodies. The estimated prevalence of CIDP is approximately 58,000 patients in the U.S., with approximately 30% inadequately controlled on treatment, representing approximately 16,000 patients with significant unmet medical need in the U.S.
CIDP typically presents with progressive or relapsing, symmetric involvement of both proximal and distal extremity muscle weakness over the course of several weeks. While the pathophysiology of CIDP is not completely understood, passive serum transfer animal models and the response of CIDP patients to intravenous immunoglobulin, plasma exchange and FcRn blockade suggests that autoantibodies are involved in its pathogenesis. Autoantibody-induced degeneration and demyelination would be expected to cause characteristic electrophysiologic alterations of the peripheral nerves and is clinically manifested by the sensorimotor deficits of CIDP.
Current Treatment Paradigm
IVIg, corticosteroids and PLEX are first-line therapies in the treatment of CIDP. For patients who fail to achieve objective improvement (i.e., of impairment and disability) after three months of treatment with a first-line agent, another agent may be tried. Alternative options include rituximab, cyclophosphamide or cyclosporine, despite limited evidence supporting their use. Once objective improvement is achieved, the patient may be switched to maintenance treatment, the goal of which is to reduce the dose or frequency of treatment while still controlling disease. For maintenance therapy, patients may be switched from IVIg to SCIg, and immunomodulatory agents such as azathioprine, cyclosporine or mycophenolate may be used for IVIg dose-reducing, corticosteroid-sparing or PLEX frequency-reducing effect. For long term management of clinically stable patients, therapy should be periodically reduced or stopped to assess if treatment is still required. An anti-FcRn inhibitor has also been approved for the treatment of CIDP; however, we believe there is still meaningful room to improve on efficacy.
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IMVT-1402 as a Potential Treatment for CIDP
In March 2025, we initiated a potentially registrational trial evaluating IMVT-1402 in adults with CIDP. This trial (NCT07032662) is a randomized, placebo-controlled, 24-week trial in CIDP patients, followed by a 52-week open label extension. The study is expected to enroll approximately 162 participants randomized (2:1) to one either receiving IMVT-1402 600 mg weekly SC, or matched placebo for the 24-week treatment period. The study’s primary endpoint will evaluate the proportion of participants remaining relapse free at week 24, where relapse is defined as worsening on the adjusted inflammatory neuropathy cause and treatment (aINCAT) score at any time point relative to baseline. We expect to report top-line results from this trial in calendar year 2028.
More details on the trial design are described in the figure below:
Key Agreements
License Agreement with HanAll Biopharma Co., Ltd.
In December 2017, Roivant Sciences GmbH (“RSG”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Roivant Sciences Ltd (“RSL”), entered into the HanAll Agreement. Under the HanAll Agreement, RSG received (1) the non-exclusive right to manufacture and (2) the exclusive, royalty-bearing right to (a) develop, import and use (i) the antibody referred to as batoclimab, (ii) certain back-up and next-generation antibodies (including IMVT-1402) and (iii) products containing such antibodies, and (b) to commercialize such products, in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the EU, the UK, Switzerland, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America (the “Licensed Territory”) for all human and animal uses during the term of the agreement. With respect to these licenses, RSG also received the right to grant a sublicense, with prior written notice to HanAll of such sublicense, to: (1) a third party in any country in the Licensed Territory outside of the U.S. and EU; (2) an affiliate of RSG in any country in the Licensed Territory; and (3) a third party in the U.S. and EU only after submission of a biologics license application (“BLA”) in the U.S. or a Marketing Authorization Application in the EU. Pursuant to the HanAll Agreement, RSG granted to HanAll an exclusive, royalty-free license under certain RSG patents, know-how and other intellectual property controlled by RSG relating to such antibodies and products to develop, manufacture and commercialize such antibodies and products for use outside of the Licensed Territory. HanAll also reserves the right to conduct discovery or research activities with the batoclimab antibody and certain back-up and next-generation antibodies (including IMVT-1402), with or through a contract research organization or service provider in the Licensed Territory.
In December 2018, we obtained and assumed all of the rights, title, interest and future obligations under the HanAll Agreement from RSG, including all rights to IMVT-1402 and batoclimab in the Licensed Territory, pursuant to an assignment and assumption agreement between RSG and our wholly owned subsidiary, Immunovant Sciences GmbH, (“ISG”), for an aggregate purchase price of $37.8 million. In January 2026, we completed an internal reorganization and transfer of intellectual property rights related to our product candidates between two wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company. Ownership and rights to such intellectual property remain with us and our subsidiaries.
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Pursuant to the HanAll Agreement, we will be responsible for future contingent payments and royalties, including up to an aggregate of $420.0 million upon the achievement of certain regulatory and sales milestone events. We are also obligated to pay HanAll tiered royalties ranging from the mid-single digits to mid-teens percentage of net sales of licensed products, subject to standard offsets and reductions as set forth in the HanAll Agreement. These royalty obligations apply on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis and end upon the latest of: (A) the date on which the last valid claim of the licensed patents expires; (B) the date on which the data or market exclusivity expires; and (C) 11 years after the first commercial sale of the licensed product, in each case, with respect to a given product in a given country.
Except for cost-sharing in connection with the research program, we are solely responsible, at our expense, for all other activities related to the research, development and commercialization of licensed products for the Licensed Territory. We may use a third party for manufacturing activities necessary for the research, development and commercialization of licensed products for the Licensed Territory. In addition, under the HanAll Agreement, we have agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize licensed products in the Licensed Territory. Each party to the HanAll Agreement has agreed that neither it nor certain of its affiliates will clinically develop or commercialize certain competitive products in the Licensed Territory.
Under the HanAll Agreement, we have the sole right, but not the obligation, to control the prosecution, defense and enforcement of the licensed patents in the Licensed Territory, and HanAll has backup rights to prosecution, defense and enforcement with respect to any licensed patents for which we elect not to exercise such rights.
The HanAll Agreement will expire on a product-by-product basis on the expiration of the last royalty term with respect to a given licensed product, unless earlier terminated. We may terminate the HanAll Agreement in its entirety without cause upon 180 days’ written notice following 30 days of discussion. Either party may terminate the HanAll Agreement upon 60 days’ written notice for uncured material breach (or 30 days in the case of non-payment), or immediately upon written notice if the other party files a voluntary petition, is subject to a substantiated involuntary petition or for certain other insolvency events. HanAll may terminate the HanAll Agreement if we or our affiliates challenge the validity or enforceability of any of the licensed patents. We have commenced discussions with HanAll regarding the future disposition of batoclimab, including the potential return to HanAll of certain rights for batoclimab. In April 2026, we notified HanAll of our decision to indefinitely delay further development of batoclimab and focus our resources fully on IMVT-1402. Under the HanAll Agreement, we retain final decision-making authority over development and regulatory matters for licensed products in our Licensed Territory, and we believe we have satisfied our obligations under the HanAll Agreement, including with respect to batoclimab. HanAll may disagree with our interpretation of the agreement or our actions thereunder, and we may be unable to reach an agreement with HanAll regarding the future of batoclimab. This could result in a dispute with HanAll involving arbitration or litigation.
We are a Member of the Roivant Family of Companies
We are a majority-owned subsidiary of RSL and have benefited from our ability to leverage the Roivant model and the greater Roivant platform. The period of time between our formation and operational maturation was shortened based on the support from centralized Roivant functions available since creation. Consistent with its model, Roivant has provided us with operational assistance, as well as access to an embedded team of scientific experts, physicians and technologists to help optimize clinical development and commercial strategies. In the future, we may have the ability to benefit from Roivant’s economies of scale and scope, including but not limited to the opportunity to:
•leverage Roivant’s business development engine and vast network of industry relationships for the identification of, and access to, new assets and synergistic partnerships;
•enter channel partnerships with other members of the Roivant family of companies (including but not limited to technology-focused companies built by Roivant), with the goal of delivering efficiencies in the development and commercialization process;
•access Roivant’s human capital engine to recruit new employees from within and beyond the biopharmaceutical industry;
•enable our employees to participate in Roivant’s career development program which facilitates employee mobility across members of the Roivant family of companies;
•benefit from shared learnings best practices, and external industry relationships across the Roivant family of companies; and
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•derive certain benefits of scale upon becoming a commercial-stage company.
For a description of our transactions under agreements with related parties, refer to Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 5 – Related Party Transactions.
For a discussion on RSL’s significant ownership of our shares of common stock and related possible risks, please refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors, “RSL owns a significant percentage of shares of our common stock and may exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.”
Sales and Marketing
We do not currently have our own sales or distribution capabilities and our marketing capabilities are limited. In order to commercialize IMVT-1402, or any other product candidate, if approved for commercial sale, we would have to develop additional infrastructure to support global product sales and marketing activities. We intend to build a small, targeted specialty sales organization in the U.S., targeting specialist physicians that treat high numbers of patients with autoimmune conditions. We believe these physicians treat a majority of patients with the autoimmune indications for which we intend to seek regulatory approval and most often serve as the diagnosing and treating physicians for such indications. We may opportunistically seek strategic collaborations to maximize the commercial opportunities for IMVT-1402, or any other product candidates inside and outside the U.S.
Manufacturing
We do not currently own or operate manufacturing facilities for the manufacturing, testing, storage and distribution of clinical or commercial quantities of our product candidates, which include drug-device combination products that we are developing. We currently rely and intend to continue to rely on contract manufacturing organizations (“CMOs”) for drug substance, drug product and delivery devices, as well as labeling, packaging and distribution, and we do not have plans to develop our own manufacturing operations in the foreseeable future.
Currently, we contract with well-established third-party manufacturers for the manufacture of our drug substance and our drug product. With respect to IMVT-1402, we have established arrangements with CMOs to supply drug substance and drug product to support our current and planned clinical trial programs, as well as anticipated commercial supply to support the potential launch of IMVT-1402, if approved.
As our clinical needs and commercial plans continue to evolve, we may engage additional third-party manufacturers to support clinical trials for our product candidates as well as commercialization of our product candidates, if approved. In addition, we have personnel with substantial technical and product development experience who actively manage the CMOs producing our product candidates and plan to use such personnel to manage CMOs for any other product candidates or products that we may develop in the future.
Our outsourced approach to manufacturing relies on CMOs to first develop cell lines and manufacturing processes that are compliant with current good manufacturing practice (“cGMP”) then produce material for nonclinical studies and clinical trials. Our agreements with CMOs may obligate them to develop a production cell line, establish master and working cell banks, develop and qualify upstream and downstream processes, develop drug product process, validate (and in some cases develop) suitable analytical methods for test and release as well as stability testing, produce drug substance for nonclinical testing, produce cGMP-compliant drug substance or produce cGMP-compliant drug product. We conduct audits of CMOs prior to initiation of activities under these agreements and monitor operations to ensure compliance with the mutually agreed process descriptions and cGMP regulations.
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Competition
We expect to face intense competition from other biopharmaceutical companies who are developing agents for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. We are aware of several FcRn inhibitors that are in clinical development. These include efgartigimod (Argenx SE), nipocalimab (Johnson & Johnson) and rozanolixizumab (UCB). In 2023, the FDA approved VYVGART® Hytrulo (efgartigimod alfa and hyaluronidase-qvfc) for the treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis (“gMG”) in adults who test positive for the AChR antibody. Previously, the FDA approved VYVGART (efgartigimod alfa-fcab) in the same patient population in 2021. In 2023, the FDA also approved RYSTIGGO® (rozanolixizumab-noli) for the treatment of gMG in adult patients who are AChR or anti-muscle-specific tyrosine kinase antibody positive. In 2024, the FDA expanded the label for VYVGART Hytrulo to include the treatment of CIDP. In 2025, the FDA approved the VYVGART Hytrulo prefilled syringe for the treatment of adult patients with AChR antibody positive gMG and adult patients with CIDP. In 2025, IMAAVY® (nipocalimab-aahu), an anti-FcRn monoclonal antibody, was approved by the FDA for the treatment of MG in adult and pediatric patients aged 12 and older who are anti-AChR and anti-MuSK antibody positive. Viridian Therapeutics is developing a portfolio of engineered FcRn inhibitors, including VRDN-006 and VRDN-008, both of which are currently in Phase 1 development, and have the potential to treat a broad array of autoimmune diseases.
Our product candidates, if approved, may also face competition from agents with different mechanisms of action. The most commonly prescribed first-line agents for the treatment of MG are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, such as pyridostigmine, which are marketed by several manufacturers of generic medicines. IVIg is also routinely used for patients with MG. SOLIRIS® (eculizumab), marketed by AstraZeneca, is an antibody inhibitor of the C5 protein approved in 2017 for the treatment of MG in patients who are positive for anti-AChR antibodies. Other C5 complement inhibitors approved in gMG include ULTOMIRIS® (ravulizumab-cwvz), which was approved in April 2022, and ZILBRYSQ® (zilucoplan), approved in October 2023. In December 2025, Amgen announced FDA approval of UPLIZNA® (inebilizumab), a CD19-targeted humanized monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of AChR-positive gMG.
For CIDP, our product candidates may also face competition from agents in Phase 3 with different mechanisms of action including C1 inhibitors riliprubart (Sanofi), DNTH103 (Dianthus) and C2 inhibitor empasiprubart (Argenx SE).
For Graves’ disease, we are aware of multiple agents with different mechanisms of action that are in early-stage development including TSH antagonists being developed by Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and Lycia Therapeutics (LCA-0321) and currently in IND-enabling studies, Biohaven’s IgG degrader (BHV-1300) in a Phase 1 study, Merida Biosciences’ FC biotherapeutic targeting TSHR (MER511) in a Phase 1 study, Yarrow Bioscience’s anti-TSHR antibody (YB-101) entering a Phase 1b/2b trial, and Sanofi’s BTK inhibitor (rilzabrutinib) in a Phase 2 study. In January 2026, Viridian announced pre-clinical development of an anti-TRAb, half‑life extended monoclonal antibody candidate with potential use in the treatment of Graves’ disease and TED, which is intended to be delivered by subcutaneous administration via autoinjector. In March 2026, Argenx SE announced a registrational clinical trial in Graves’ disease is expected to initiate in 2026.
For RA, which is the most common systemic autoimmune disease, treatment options include a variety of conventional oral, targeted synthetic and biologic DMARDs. However, for the subset of patients characterized by inadequate response to two or more biologic or targeted DMARDs, no proven treatment options are available.
For CLE, a dermatology focused therapeutic category with no treatment innovation for more than 50 years, treatment options include prevention of exposure to sunlight with the utilization of both topical and systemic therapies such as antimalarials, immunomodulators and immunosuppressives (methotrexate, mycophenolate). With the significant unmet need and increasing demand for biologic therapies in dermatology and rheumatology, the competitive landscape for SCLE and CCLE is a growing market for novel therapies and diagnostic tools in early and late-stage development. Biogen announced positive data in March 2026 from the Phase 2 portion of its Phase 2/3 study evaluating litifilimab (a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting blood dendritic cell antigen 2 (BDCA2)). AstraZeneca is conducting a Phase 3 study of its type I interferon receptor inhibitor, anifrolumab. Merck also has entered Phase 3 evaluations of enpatoran, its oral, selective small-molecule inhibitor of Toll-like receptors 7 and 8.
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For SjD, therapeutic approaches include a variety of local agents to address the associated dry eye and mouth and/or immunosuppressive treatments to address the systemic manifestations of disease. Although a variety of drug classes have been trialed to-date, there are no disease-modifying therapies approved for the treatment of SjD. Anti-FcRns nipocalimab and efgartigimod are currently in Phase 3 trials in SjD. IMVT-1402 may also face competition from other drug classes, including inhibitors of TYK2 (deucravacitinib), CD40 (dazodalibep), BAFF (ianalumab) or BLyS/APRIL (telitacicept).
Drug development is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological advancements. For example, Argenx SE is developing its next generation FcRn inhibitors, ARGX‑213, which is in a registrational study for an undisclosed indication, as well as ARGX-124, which is in early clinical development. Our ability to compete will significantly depend upon our ability to complete necessary clinical trials and regulatory approval processes and effectively market any drug that we may successfully develop. Our current and potential future competitors include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as academic institutions and government agencies. The primary competitive factors that will affect the commercial success of any product candidate for which we may receive marketing approval include efficacy, safety and tolerability profile, dosing convenience, price, coverage, reimbursement and public opinion. Many of our existing or potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do and significantly greater experience in the discovery and development of product candidates, as well as in obtaining regulatory approvals of those product candidates in the U.S. and in foreign countries. Many of our current and potential future competitors also have significantly more experience commercializing drugs that have been approved for marketing. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries could result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. In December 2025, VYNE Therapeutics Inc. and Yarrow Bioscience, Inc. entered into a definitive merger agreement, following completion of which, the combined company plans to focus on advancing YB-101, a clinical stage TSHR antibody for the treatment of GD and TED. In March 2026, Biogen agreed to acquire Apellis Pharmaceuticals for $5.6 billion, expanding its immunology and rare disease portfolio. Competition may reduce the number and types of patients available to us to participate in clinical trials because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors.
Accordingly, competitors may be more successful than us in obtaining regulatory approval for therapies and in achieving widespread market acceptance of their drugs. It is also possible that the development of a cure or more effective treatment method for any of our targeted indications by a competitor could render our product candidates non-competitive or obsolete, or reduce the demand for its product candidate before it can recover its development and commercialization expenses.
Intellectual Property
Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for IMVT-1402, batoclimab, and any of our future product candidates, their use in the planned indications, discoveries, product development technologies and know-how; to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others; and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. Our policy is to seek, and continue to seek, to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing or in-licensing U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are important to the development and implementation of our business. We also rely on trademarks, trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovation and potential in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.
While we seek broad coverage under our existing patent applications, there is a risk that competitors may make an alteration to any products we develop or processes we use which may provide sufficient basis for the competitor to avoid infringing our patent claims. In addition, patents, if granted, will expire and we cannot provide any assurance that any patents will be issued from our pending or any future applications or that any potentially issued patents will adequately protect our products or product candidates.
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Following our assumption of all rights, title, interest and obligations under the HanAll Agreement from RSG in December 2018, by virtue of the license of patent rights under the HanAll Agreement, ISG became the exclusive licensee of certain patents, patent applications and know-how directed to batoclimab, IMVT-1402, and certain back-up and next-generation antibodies, and products containing such antibodies, in the Licensed Territory. In January 2026, the Company completed an internal reorganization and transfer of intellectual property rights related to the Company’s product candidates between two wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company. As of January 14, 2026, IMVT Corporation (“IMVT Corp”) assumed control of all IP rights directed to batoclimab, IMVT-1402, and certain back-up and next-generation antibodies, and products containing such antibodies, in the Licensed Territory. As of March 31, 2026, the in-licensed patent portfolio includes a patent family covering batoclimab with pending patent applications and/or issued patent(s) in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, European Patent Office, Israel, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. This in-licensed patent family was filed in 2015 and discloses anti-FcRn antibodies, including batoclimab, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, methods of treating autoimmune disease using the same, polynucleotides encoding such antibodies, expression vectors including such polynucleotides, host cells transfected with such recombinant expression vectors, methods of manufacturing such antibodies and methods of detecting FcRn in vivo or in vitro using such antibodies. Notably, in this in-licensed patent family, a U.S. patent was issued on July 2, 2019, with claims directed to batoclimab as defined by its CDRs and epitope or antigen-binding fragment thereof, and a pharmaceutical composition comprising such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof. Furthermore, another U.S. patent was issued in this in-licensed patent family on January 28, 2020, with claims directed to batoclimab as defined by its CDRs or antigen-binding fragment thereof, a pharmaceutical composition comprising such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, as well as methods of treating various autoimmune diseases using such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, polynucleotides and expression vectors encoding the same, host cells transfected with such expression vectors and methods of producing such antibody or antigen-binding fragment. A further patent was issued in the U.S. on March 28, 2023 with claims to two isolated anti-FcRn antibodies other than batoclimab or an antigen-binding fragment thereof, a pharmaceutical composition comprising such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, as well as methods of treating various autoimmune diseases using such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, polynucleotides and expression vectors encoding the same, host cells transfected with such expression vectors and methods of preparing such antibody or antigen-binding fragment. A European patent in this family was issued on May 10, 2023 with claims directed to batoclimab as defined by its heavy and light chain variable sequences. There are also issued patents in this family in Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. In this family, applications are pending in Argentina, Mexico, the U.S. and in Europe. The patents of this patent family may expire in 2035, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
In addition, the in-licensed patent portfolio includes another patent family that discloses a pharmaceutical formulation for an anti-FcRn antibody. This patent family includes pending applications in the U.S., and in Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico and Argentina, and any patent issued in this patent family may expire in 2041, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity, or other governmental fees.
Additionally, as of March 31, 2026, independent of the licensed patent portfolio, IMVT Corp owns a patent family directed to methods of treating thyroid eye disease (a.k.a., Graves’ ophthalmopathy) using anti-FcRn antibodies that include pending patent applications in the U.S. as well as foreign counterparts in certain jurisdictions including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Europe, Israel, and Mexico. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2039, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees. Further, IMVT Corp owns a patent family directed to and methods of treating warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia using anti-FcRn antibodies that include pending patent applications in the U.S. and in European Patent Office. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2040, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
IMVT Corp jointly owns rights with HanAll to a patent family covering IMVT-1402 and its uses to treat autoimmune disease, which includes patent applications in the U.S. as well as foreign counterparts in certain jurisdictions including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, European Patent Office, Israel, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Saudi Arabia. Notably, in this patent family, a U.S. patent was issued on March 12, 2024, with claims directed to IMVT-1402 as defined by its CDRs, a pharmaceutical composition comprising such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, methods of treating an autoimmune disease using such antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, polynucleotides and expression vectors encoding the same, host cells transfected with such expression vectors and methods of preparing such antibody or antigen-binding fragment. The patents of this patent family may expire in 2043, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
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IMVT Corp also owns patent families directed to methods of treating Graves’ disease (GD) and methods of treating CIDP using anti-FcRn antibodies including IMVT-1402 and batoclimab, which include pending patent applications in the U.S. as well as foreign counterparts in certain jurisdictions including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Egypt, Europe, Israel, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. Any patent issued from these patent families may expire in 2043, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
IMVT Corp also owns a patent family directed to high concentration protein formulations with polysorbate excipients and methods of making the same which include pending patent applications in the U.S. as well as foreign counterparts in certain jurisdictions including Brazil, Canada, Europe, and Mexico. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2044, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
IMVT Corp also owns a Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) application directed to methods of improving anti-FcRn therapies, which describes specific dosing regimens for IMVT-1402. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2044, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
IMVT Corp also owns PCT application and a corresponding Argentine application directed to formulations for anti-FcRn antibodies. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2045, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity or other governmental fees.
IMVT Corp also owns a PCT application and a corresponding Argentine provisional application directed to methods of treating skin diseases using anti-FcRn antibodies including IMVT-1402 and batoclimab. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2046, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity, or other governmental fees.
IMVT Corp also owns a U.S. provisional application directed to methods of inducing remission in GD patients using anti-FcRn antibodies including IMVT-1402 and batoclimab. Any patent issued from this patent family may expire in 2046, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment or extension and assuming payment of all appropriate maintenance, renewal, annuity, or other governmental fees.
In the U.S., if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date (or the PCT filing date if such U.S. application is a national phase application), as the term of a patent granted on a utility patent application filed after June 8, 1995 expires 20 years after the non-provisional U.S. filing date (or any earlier filing date relied upon under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c)), with the timely payment of maintenance fees. In certain instances, the patent term may be adjusted to add additional days to compensate for certain delays incurred by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) in the examination process. Additionally, the patent and/or the patent term may be extended for a period of time to compensate for at least a portion of the time a product candidate was undergoing FDA regulatory review. However, the patent extension granted for FDA regulatory review is only applied to a single patent that covers either the product candidate or a method of using or manufacturing the same which has not expired at the time of FDA approval. Additionally, the period of time the patent is extended may not exceed five years, and the total patent term, including the period of time the patent is extended, must not exceed 14 years following FDA approval. The duration of foreign patents varies in accordance with provisions of applicable local law, but typically is also 20 years from the earliest effective non-provisional filing date. The protection afforded by a patent with respect to a particular product varies on a product-by-product basis, from country to country, and depends upon many factors, including the type of patent, its coverage, the availability of regulatory-related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in the particular country and the validity and enforceability of the patent under the local laws.
IMVT Corp owns a registered trademark for IMMUNOVANT and the combination of its logo Y-shaped antibody and IMMUNOVANT in the United States and many other jurisdictions throughout the world for goods and services. As of March 31, 2026, this trademark portfolio includes pending trademark applications and/or registered trademarks in the U.S. and/or foreign jurisdictions. Under the HanAll Agreement, we have the right to market IMVT-1402 and batoclimab in the Licensed Territory under the trademarks of our choice, subject to regulatory approval. However, upon termination of the HanAll Agreement, we must assign to HanAll all rights, title and interest in and to any and all trademarks we use in the development, manufacture or commercialization of the licensed products.
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Furthermore, we rely, and will continue to rely, upon trade secrets and know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our proprietary information, in part, by using confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our commercial partners, collaborators, employees and consultants. These agreements are designed to protect our proprietary information and, in the case of the invention assignment agreements, to grant us ownership of technologies that are developed through a relationship with a third party. These agreements may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our commercial partners, collaborators, employees and consultants use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the ownership of rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.
Our commercial success will also depend in part on not infringing upon the proprietary rights of third parties. It is uncertain whether the issuance of any third-party patent would require us to alter our development or commercial strategies for our product candidates or processes, or to obtain licenses or cease certain activities. Our breach of any license agreements or failure to obtain a license to proprietary rights that we may require to develop or commercialize our future products may have an adverse impact on us. If third parties prepare and file patent applications in the U.S. that also claim technology to which we have rights, we may have to participate in derivation proceedings in the USPTO to determine priority of invention.
Government Regulation
The FDA and other regulatory authorities at federal, state, supranational, national and local levels, including in foreign countries, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, import, export, safety, effectiveness, labeling, packaging, storage, distribution, record keeping, approval, advertising, promotion, marketing, post-approval monitoring and post-approval reporting of biologics such as those we are developing. We, along with third-party contractors, will be required to navigate the various nonclinical, clinical and commercial approval requirements of the governing regulatory authorities of the countries in which we wish to conduct studies or seek approval or licensure of IMVT-1402 or any future product candidate.
FDA Drug Approval Process
In the U.S., the FDA regulates biologics under both the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act and their implementing regulations. The process required by the FDA before biologic product candidates may be marketed in the U.S. generally involves the following:
•completion of preclinical laboratory tests and animal studies performed in accordance with applicable regulations and guidance, including the FDA’s current Good Laboratory Practices (“GLP”) regulations, International Council for Harmonisation (“ICH”) guidance and applicable requirements for the humane use of laboratory animals or other applicable regulations;
•submission to the FDA of an IND, which must become effective before clinical trials may begin and must be updated at least annually or when significant changes are made;
•approval by an institutional review board (“IRB”) or positive ethics committee opinion for each clinical site before the trial is commenced;
•conduct of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials in accordance with applicable IND regulations, GCP and other clinical-trial related regulations and guidance to evaluate the safety, purity and potency of the proposed biologic product candidate for each proposed indication;
•preparation of and submission to the FDA of a BLA after completion of all pivotal clinical trials that includes manufacturing information and substantial evidence of safety, purity and potency from results of nonclinical testing and clinical trials;
•a determination by the FDA within 60 days of its receipt of a BLA to file the application for review;
•satisfactory completion of an FDA pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facility or facilities at which the proposed product is produced to assess compliance with cGMP and to assure that the facilities, methods and controls are adequate to preserve the biological product’s continued safety, purity and potency;
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•potential FDA audit of selected clinical investigation sites, preclinical studies and/or Immunovant as clinical trial sponsor to assess compliance with FDA’s GCP standards;
•payment of user fees for FDA review of the BLA (unless a fee waiver applies);
•agreement with FDA on the final labeling for the product and the design and implementation of any required Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”); and
•FDA review and approval, or licensure, of the BLA, including satisfactory completion of an FDA Advisory Committee review, if applicable, to permit commercial marketing or sale of the product for particular indications for use in the U.S.
Our product candidates are being developed to be registered as pre-filled syringes and autoinjectors, which means that they are subject to regulation as combination products because they are composed of both a biologic product and device product. If approved and marketed individually, each component would be subject to different regulatory pathways and reviewed by different centers within the FDA. A combination product, however, is assigned to a center that will have primary jurisdiction over its regulation based on a determination of the combination product’s primary mode of action, which is the single mode of action that provides the most important therapeutic action. In the case of our product candidates, the primary mode of action is attributable to the biologic component of the product, which means that the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research has primary jurisdiction over the premarket development, review and approval of our product candidates. Accordingly, our product candidates are subject to the IND framework for premarket development and approval through the BLA pathway. Based on our understanding of FDA’s combination device expectations, we do not anticipate that the FDA will require a separate medical device authorization for the syringe or autoinjector, but this could change during the course of its review of any marketing application that we may submit.
European Union Drug Approval Process
Changes to EU’s General Pharmaceutical Law
The EU’s pharmaceutical legislation is currently changing. In December 2025, the EU legislators reached an agreement on the proposed new rules. Key changes will include:
•one year reduction in base-line regulatory data exclusivity;
•re-coup option of lost data exclusivity product with strict conditions;
•launch and supply obligations based on “best efforts” with non-compliance resulting in loss of protections at Member State level;
•expansion of the Bolar exemption to health technology assessments, pricing, and reimbursement submissions;
•reduction in the “standard” orphan market exclusivity period;
•transferable data exclusivity voucher for priority antimicrobials;
•shortened EMA review timelines and other procedural reforms.
The new legislation will enter into application 24 months after final publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, which is currently expected in Q4 2026. Other proposed EU acts, such as the Critical Medicines Act and the Biotech Act, may bring additional changes.
Approvals
In the EU, medicinal products can only be commercialized after a related marketing authorization (“MA”), has been granted. A company may submit a marketing authorization application (“MAA”) either on the basis of the centralized, or decentralized procedure or mutual recognition procedure.
To obtain an MA for a product in the EU, an applicant must submit an MAA either under a centralized procedure administered by the EMA or one of the procedures administered by the competent authorities of EU Member States (decentralized procedure, national procedure or mutual recognition procedure). An MA may be granted only to an applicant established in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) (which is comprised of the 27 Member States of the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). We have focused on the centralized procedure as we expect it to be the relevant procedure for our product candidates.
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The centralized procedure provides for the grant of a single MA by the European Commission that is valid throughout the EEA. Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 726/2004, the centralized procedure is compulsory for specific products, including for (i) medicinal products derived from biotechnological processes, (ii) products designated as orphan medicinal products, (iii) advanced therapy medicinal products (“ATMPs”) and (iv) products with a new active substance indicated for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, auto-immune and other immune dysfunctions and viral diseases. For products with a new active substance indicated for the treatment of other diseases and products that are highly innovative or for which a centralized process is in the interest of patients, authorization through the centralized procedure is optional on related approval.
Under the centralized procedure, the European Medicines Agency’s (“EMA”) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP”) conducts the initial assessment of a product. The CHMP is also responsible for several post-authorization and maintenance activities, such as the assessment of modifications or extensions to an existing MA.
Under the centralized procedure, the maximum timeframe for the evaluation of an MAA is 210 days, excluding clock stops when additional information or written or oral explanation is to be provided by the applicant in response to questions of the CHMP. Accelerated assessment may be granted by the CHMP in exceptional cases, when a medicinal product targeting an unmet medical need is expected to be of major interest from the point of view of public health and, in particular, from the viewpoint of therapeutic innovation. If the CHMP accepts a request for accelerated assessment, the time limit of 210 days will be reduced to 150 days (excluding clock stops). The CHMP can, however, revert to the standard time limit for the centralized procedure if it considers that it is no longer appropriate to conduct an accelerated assessment.
The above-described timelines will be reduced with the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation, including reduced assessment time (210 to 180 days) and a Commission Implementing Decision must be completed within 46 days, down from the previous 67-day timeframe.
An MA granted through the centralized procedure has, in principle, an initial validity of five years. An MA granted through the centralized procedure may be renewed after five years on the basis of a re-evaluation of the risk-benefit balance by the EMA. To support the application, the MA holder must provide the EMA with a consolidated version of the eCTD (Common Technical Document) providing up-to-date data concerning the quality, safety and efficacy of the product, including all variations introduced since the MA was granted, at least nine months before the MA ceases to be valid. The European Commission may decide on justified grounds relating to pharmacovigilance, to proceed with one further five year renewal period for the MA. Once subsequently definitively renewed, the MA shall be valid for an unlimited period. Any authorization which is not followed by the actual placing of the medicinal product on the EU market for a centralized MA within three years after authorization ceases to be valid (the so-called sunset clause).
The above-described rules will change with the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation. In particular, marketing authorizations will now be valid indefinitely, eliminating the requirement for five-year renewals.
The EU also provides opportunities for market exclusivity. Upon receiving an MA in the EU, innovative medicinal products generally receive eight years of data exclusivity and an additional two years of market exclusivity. If granted, data exclusivity prevents generic or biosimilar applicants from referencing the innovator’s pre-clinical and clinical trial data contained in the dossier of the reference product when applying for a generic or biosimilar marketing authorization during a period of eight years from the date on which the reference product was first authorized in the EU. During the additional two-year period of market exclusivity, a generic or biosimilar marketing authorization can be submitted, and the innovator’s data may be referenced, but no generic or biosimilar product can be marketed until the expiration of the market exclusivity period. The overall ten-year period will be extended to a maximum of eleven years if, during the first eight years of those ten years, the marketing authorization holder obtains an authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications which, during the scientific evaluation prior to authorization, is held to bring a significant clinical benefit in comparison with existing therapies.
The above-described regulatory exclusivity rules will change with the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation, introducing amongst other a one year base-line reduction of market exclusivity which can be “recouped” under certain circumstances. Specifically, companies can secure additional one-year extensions if their product addresses an unmet medical need, or contains a new active substance meeting certain requirements. The cumulative duration of these market exclusivity periods may not exceed two years. Market protection can also be extended once by a further year if, during the data protection period, the product is granted authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications demonstrating significant clinical benefit compared to existing therapies.
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Drug-Device Combinations
Our product candidates designed to be delivered to patients by dedicated medical devices may be subject to EU requirements applicable to combination products. In the EU, products that are a combination of a medicinal product and a medical device are regulated as either a medicinal product or a medical device, depending on which component has the primary mode of action.
Medical devices that incorporate a medicinal product as an integral part that has an action ancillary to the action of the medical device are regulated as medical devices in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on Medical Devices (“MDR”). However, the quality, safety and usefulness of the medicinal product must also be verified as part of the device and a scientific opinion from a national competent authority of an EU Member State or from the EMA, depending on its nature and therapeutic intention, must be sought regarding the quality and safety of the medicinal product, including the benefit or risk of its incorporation into the medical device. Where a medical device incorporates a medicinal product as an integral part as a single use drug delivery system, it is regulated as a medicinal product. In this case, the relevant General Safety and Performance Requirements (“GSPRs”) of the MDR will apply to the safety and performance of the device element.
Brexit and the Regulatory Framework in the United Kingdom
The UK’s withdrawal from the EU on January 31, 2020, commonly referred to as Brexit, has changed the regulatory relationship between the UK and the EU. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) is now the UK’s standalone regulator for medicinal products and medical devices. The United Kingdom is now a third country to the EU.
The UK regulatory framework in relation to clinical trials is governed by the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004, as amended, which is derived from the CTD, as implemented into UK national law through secondary legislation. On January 17, 2022, the MHRA launched an eight-week consultation on reframing the UK legislation for clinical trials, and which aimed to streamline clinical trials approvals, enable innovation, enhance clinical trials transparency, enable greater risk proportionality, and promote patient and public involvement in clinical trials. The UK Government published its response to the consultation on March 21, 2023 confirming that it would bring forward changes to the legislation and such changes were laid in parliament on December 12, 2024. On April 10, 2025, the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 came into law. A 12-month implementation period will apply before the amended regulations come fully into force on April 10, 2026. The main changes are to implement a risk-proportionate approach where low-risk trials can receive faster approval through automatic authorization, the establishment of a combined review process to integrate ethics committee and regulatory approvals into a single approval, and the implementation of enhanced transparency requirements to mandate the registration of clinical trials in a public registry and the publication of trial results within 12 months of trial completion.
Marketing authorizations in the UK are governed by the Human Medicines Regulations (SI 2012/1916), as amended. Since January 1, 2021, an applicant for the EU centralized procedure marketing authorization can no longer be established in the UK. As a result, since this date, companies established in the UK cannot use the EU centralized procedure and instead must follow one of the UK national authorization procedures or one of the remaining post-Brexit international cooperation procedures to obtain a marketing authorization to market products in the UK. All existing EU marketing authorizations for centrally authorized products were automatically converted or grandfathered into UK marketing authorization, effective in Great Britain only, free of charge on January 1, 2021, unless the marketing authorization holder opted-out of this possibility. Northern Ireland remained within the scope authorizations of the EU in relation to centrally authorized medicinal products until January 31, 2025. However, on January 31, 2025, a new arrangement as part of the so-called “Windsor Framework” came into effect and reintegrated Northern Ireland under the regulatory authority of the MHRA with respect to medicinal products, as marketing authorizations valid in Great Britain became valid in the United Kingdom. The Windsor Framework removes EU licensing processes and EU labeling and serialization requirements in relation to Northern Ireland and introduces a UK-wide licensing process for medicines.
The MHRA has also introduced changes to national marketing authorization procedures. This includes the introduction of procedures to prioritize access to new medicines that will benefit patients, including a 150-day assessment route, a rolling review procedure and the International Recognition Procedure. Since January 1, 2024, the MHRA may rely on the International Recognition Procedure (“IRP”) when reviewing certain types of marketing authorization applications. This procedure is available for applicants for marketing authorization who have already received an authorization for the same product from a reference regulator. These include the FDA, the EMA and national competent authorities of individual EEA countries. A positive opinion from the EMA and CHMP, or a positive end of procedure outcome from the mutual recognition or decentralized procedures are considered to be authorizations for the purposes of the IRP.
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There is no pre-marketing authorization orphan designation for medicinal products in the UK. Instead, the MHRA reviews applications for orphan designation in parallel to the corresponding marketing authorization application. The criteria are essentially the same as those in the EU, but have been tailored for the market. This includes the criterion that prevalence of the condition in the UK, rather than the EU, must not be more than five in 10,000. Upon the grant of a marketing authorization with orphan status, the medicinal product will benefit from up to 10 years of market exclusivity from similar products in the approved orphan indication. The start of this market exclusivity period will be set from the date of first approval of the product in the UK.
The MHRA offers new assessment procedures for marketing authorization applications for medicinal products. The new marketing authorization application assessment procedures include:
• International Recognition Procedure. Since January 1, 2024, the MHRA may rely on the IRP when reviewing certain types of marketing authorization applications. This procedure is available for applicants for marketing authorization who have already received an authorization for the same product from a reference regulator. Reference Regulators include the FDA, the EMA, and national competent authorities of individual EEA countries. A positive opinion from the CHMP, or a positive end of procedure outcome from the mutual recognition or decentralized procedures, is considered to be authorizations for the purposes of the IRP;
• National marketing authorization applications. The MHRA offers a timeline of no more than 150 days (excluding clock-stop periods where further information is requested) for the assessment of national applications for the marketing authorization of a medicinal product in the UK; and
• The “rolling review” route, which allows companies to make an application in stages, throughout the product’s development, rather than as a consolidated full dossier submission. This route is available for new active substances in the UK.
Nonclinical and Clinical Development
Before testing any biologic product candidate in humans, the product candidate undergoes preclinical testing. Preclinical tests, also referred to as non-clinical studies, include laboratory evaluations of the product chemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and formulation, as well as animal studies to assess the pharmacokinetics, metabolism, bio-distribution, elimination and toxicity of the product candidate. The conduct of the preclinical tests and formulation of the compounds for testing must comply with federal regulations and requirements and certain preclinical trials must conform to the FDA’s GLP requirements.
Prior to beginning the first clinical trial with a product candidate in the U.S., we must submit an IND to the FDA. An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational new drug product to humans. The IND includes the clinical protocols and general development plan, as well as results of animal and in vitro studies assessing the toxicology, PK, pharmacology and PD characteristics of the product candidate; chemistry, manufacturing and controls information; and any available human data or literature to support the use of the investigational product. An IND must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA, within the 30-day time period, raises concerns or questions. In such a case, the IND may be placed on clinical hold until the IND sponsor and the FDA resolve the outstanding concerns or questions. The FDA also may impose clinical holds at any time before or during clinical studies due to safety concerns or non-compliance. If the FDA imposes a clinical hold, studies may not recommence without FDA authorization and then only under terms authorized by the FDA. Submission of an IND therefore does not guarantee that FDA authorization to begin a clinical trial will be granted or that, once begun, issues will not arise that adversely impact, suspend or terminate such studies.
Clinical trials involve the administration of the investigational product to human subjects under the supervision of qualified investigators in accordance with GCPs, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical study. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the study, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety and the effectiveness criteria to be evaluated. A separate submission to the existing IND must be made for each successive clinical trial conducted during product development and for any subsequent protocol amendments and additional information such as toxicology or Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (“CMC”) data in support of the investigational product(s). For new indications, a separate new IND is usually required. Outside of the U.S., clinical trial applications are generally required to conduct clinical studies in each country. Furthermore, an independent IRB for each site proposing to conduct the clinical trial must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial and its informed consent form before the clinical trial begins at that site, and must monitor the study until completed to ensure that the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits.
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Regulatory authorities, the IRB or the sponsor may suspend a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk or that the trial is unlikely to meet its stated objectives. Some studies also include oversight by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the clinical study sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board or independent data monitoring committee, which provides direction for whether or not a study may move forward at designated check points based on access to certain data from the study and may halt the clinical trial if it determines that there is an unacceptable safety risk for subjects or other grounds, such as no demonstration of efficacy. There are also requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical studies and clinical study results to public registries. Information about most clinical trials must be submitted within specific timeframes for publication on the www.clinicaltrials.gov website maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (the “NIH”). Sponsors are also obligated to disclose the results of their clinical trials after completion. Competitors may use this publicly available information to gain knowledge regarding the progress of development programs. Information for certain clinical trials also must be publicly disclosed within certain time limits on the clinical trial registry and results databank maintained by the NIH.
For purposes of BLA/MAA approval, human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap or be combined.
•Phase 1 — The investigational product is initially introduced into healthy human subjects or patients with the target disease or condition. These studies are designed to test the safety, tolerability, absorption, metabolism, distribution and elimination of the investigational product in humans, the side effects associated with increasing doses, and, if possible, to gain early evidence on pharmacodynamics and effectiveness.
•Phase 2 — The investigational product is administered to a limited patient population with a specified disease or condition to evaluate the preliminary efficacy, optimal dosages and dosing schedule and to identify possible adverse side effects and safety risks. Multiple Phase 2 clinical trials may be conducted to obtain information prior to beginning larger and more expensive Phase 3 clinical trials.
•Phase 3 — The investigational product is administered to an expanded patient population to further evaluate dosage, to provide statistically significant evidence of clinical efficacy and to further test for safety, generally at multiple global clinical trial sites. These clinical trials are intended to establish the overall risk/benefit ratio of the investigational product and to provide an adequate basis for product approval. These trials may include comparisons with placebo and/or other comparator treatments. The duration of treatment is often extended to support chronic use of a product during marketing.
In some cases, the FDA may require, or companies may voluntarily pursue, additional clinical trials after a product is approved to gain more information about the product. These so-called Phase 4 studies may be made a condition to approval of the BLA or, in certain circumstances, mandated after approval. These trials are used to gain additional experience from the treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication and are commonly intended to generate additional safety data regarding use of the product in a clinical setting or in some cases to support full approval for products that are approved via an accelerated pathway as described below. During all phases of clinical development, regulatory agencies require extensive monitoring and auditing of all clinical activities, clinical data and clinical study investigators. Annual progress reports detailing the results of the clinical studies must be submitted to the FDA, and IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA, other regulators, and investigators within a regulated timeframe for serious and unexpected adverse events, any findings from other studies, tests in laboratory animals or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk for human subjects, or any clinically important increase in the rate of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure or adverse events reported by anti-FcRn product candidates developed by others.
A therapeutic product candidate being studied in clinical trials may be made available for treatment of individual patients, intermediate-size patient populations, or for widespread treatment use under an expanded access protocol, under certain circumstances. Pursuant to the 21st Century Cures Act, or Cures Act, which was signed into law in December 2016, the manufacturer of one or more investigational products for the diagnosis, monitoring, or treatment of one or more serious diseases or conditions is required to make available, such as by posting on its website, its policy on evaluating and responding to requests for individual patient access to such investigational product.
Additionally, on May 30, 2018, the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017 was signed into law. The law, among other things, provides a federal framework for certain patients to access certain investigational new drug products that have completed a Phase 1 clinical trial and that are undergoing investigation for FDA approval. Under certain circumstances, eligible patients can seek treatment without enrolling in clinical trials and without obtaining FDA authorization under an FDA expanded access program; however, manufacturers are not obligated to provide investigational new drug products under the current federal right to try law.
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Concurrent with clinical trials, companies may complete additional animal studies and develop additional information about the biological characteristics of the product candidate and must finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product candidate and, among other things, must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final product, or for biologics, the safety, purity and potency. The FDA may require such testing to occur on a lot-by-lot basis in order to release product for clinical use. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested, and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
In the EU, clinical trials are governed by the Clinical Trials Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 (“CTR”). The CTR is intended to harmonize and streamline clinical trial authorizations, simplify adverse-event reporting procedures, improve the supervision of clinical trials and increase transparency. Specifically, the Regulation, which is directly applicable in all EU Member States, introduces a streamlined application procedure through a single-entry point, the “EU portal”, the Clinical Trials Information System; a single set of documents to be prepared and submitted for the application; as well as simplified reporting procedures for clinical trial sponsors. A harmonized procedure for the assessment of applications for clinical trials has been introduced and is divided into two parts. Part I assessment is led by the competent authorities of a reference Member State selected by the trial sponsor and relates to clinical trial aspects that are considered to be scientifically harmonized across EU Member States. This assessment is then submitted to the competent authorities of all concerned Member States in which the trial is to be conducted for their review. Part II is assessed separately by the competent authorities and Ethics Committees in each concerned EU Member State. Individual EU Member States retain the power to authorize the conduct of clinical trials on their territory.
Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with GCP and the applicable regulatory requirements and the ethical principles that have their origin in the Declaration of Helsinki. Medicines used in clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with the guidelines on cGMP and in a GMP licensed facility, which can be subject to GMP inspections.
BLA Submission, Review and Approval
Assuming successful completion of all required testing in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements, the results of product development, nonclinical studies and clinical trials are submitted to the FDA as part of a BLA requesting approval to market the product for one or more indications. The BLA must include all relevant data available from pertinent preclinical and clinical studies, including negative or ambiguous results as well as positive findings, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacturing, controls and proposed labeling, among other information. Data obtained from clinical trials are not always conclusive and the FDA may interpret data differently than we interpret the same data. The submission of a BLA requires payment of a substantial application user fee to FDA, unless a waiver or exemption applies. There can be no assurance that the FDA will accept the BLA for filing and, even if filed, that any approval will be granted on a timely basis, if at all.
Once a BLA has been submitted, the FDA reviews the BLA within 60 days to determine if it is substantially complete before the agency accepts it for filing. The FDA may refuse to file any BLA that it deems incomplete or not properly reviewable at the time of submission and may request additional information. In this event, the BLA must be resubmitted with the additional information. The resubmitted application also is subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Under the goals and policies agreed to by the FDA under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (“PDUFA”), the FDA’s goal is to review standard applications within ten months after it accepts the application for filing, or, if the application qualifies for priority review, six months after the FDA accepts the application for filing. In both standard and priority reviews, the FDA does not always meet PDUFA goal dates, and the review process can be significantly extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification or Company submissions of substantial data during the review. The FDA reviews a BLA to determine, among other things, whether a product is safe, pure and potent and the facility in which it is manufactured, processed, packed, or held meets standards designed to assure the product’s continued safety, purity and potency. The FDA may convene an advisory committee to provide clinical insight on application review questions with emphasis on risk and benefit of the molecule and proposed indications, and provide a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions. Before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to ensure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving a BLA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites, preclinical studies, and/or the sponsor to assure compliance with GCP. If the FDA determines that the application, manufacturing process or manufacturing facilities are not acceptable, it will outline the deficiencies in the submission and often will request additional testing or information. Notwithstanding the submission of any requested additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval.
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After the FDA evaluates a BLA and conducts inspections of manufacturing facilities where the investigational product and/or its drug substance will be produced, the FDA may issue an approval letter or a Complete Response letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the product with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A Complete Response letter will describe all of the deficiencies that the FDA has identified in the BLA, and where the FDA determines that the data supporting the application are inadequate to support approval, the FDA may issue the Complete Response letter prior to inspections, testing submitted product lots and/or reviewing proposed labeling. In issuing the Complete Response letter, the FDA may recommend actions that the applicant might take to place the BLA in condition for approval, including requests for additional information or clarification, completion of other significant and time-consuming requirements related to clinical trials and/or conduct of additional preclinical studies or manufacturing activities. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may determine that the BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval. FDA approval of a BLA must be obtained before a biologic may be marketed in the U.S. The FDA may delay or refuse approval of a BLA if applicable regulatory criteria are not satisfied and may require additional clinical testing or safety information.
If regulatory approval of a product is granted, such approval will be granted for particular indications and may entail limitations on the indicated uses for which such product may be marketed, which could limit the commercial value of the product. For example, the FDA may approve the BLA with a REMS, to ensure the benefits of the product outweigh its risks. A REMS is a safety strategy to manage a known or potential serious risk associated with a product, and could include medication guides, healthcare professional and/or patient communication plans, or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. The FDA will evaluate if any labeling or risk management plans are necessary to ensure safe use of the product in the targeted patient population and indication. Once approved, the FDA has the authority to withdraw the product approval if compliance with pre-and post-marketing requirements is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the marketplace. The FDA may impose post-marketing requirements and commitments such as additional manufacturing data or testing; additional preclinical data or evaluation; additional clinical data from Phase 3 studies (e.g. long-term extension data); and may require one or more Phase 4 post-market studies and surveillance to further assess and monitor the product’s safety and effectiveness after commercialization and may limit further marketing of the product based on the results of these post-marketing studies.
Expedited Development and Review Programs and other Marketing Authorization Procedures
Any marketing application for a biologic submitted to the FDA for approval may be eligible for FDA programs intended to expedite the FDA review and approval process, such as priority review, fast track designation, breakthrough therapy and accelerated approval.
A product is eligible for priority review if it is intended to treat a serious condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness. Priority review designation means the FDA’s goal under PDUFA is to take action on the marketing application within six months of the 60-day filing date (compared with ten months under standard review). To be eligible for a fast track designation, the FDA must determine, based on the request of a sponsor, that a product is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrates the potential to address an unmet medical need by providing a therapy where none exists or a therapy that may be potentially superior to existing therapy based on efficacy or safety factors. Fast track designation is intended to facilitate development and expedite review of a product and also provides opportunities for frequent interactions with the FDA review team. The FDA may also review complete sections of the BLA for a fast track product on a rolling basis before the entire application is submitted, if the sponsor and FDA agree on a schedule for the submission of the application sections, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the BLA. The review clock generally does not begin until the final section of the BLA is submitted.
In addition, a sponsor can request designation of a product candidate as a “breakthrough therapy.” A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug or biologic that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug or biologic may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. The FDA will take certain actions, such as holding timely meetings and providing advice, intended to expedite the development and review of an application for approval of a breakthrough therapy.
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Additionally, products studied for their safety and effectiveness in treating serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions and that provide meaningful therapeutic benefit over existing treatments may receive accelerated approval, which means that they may be approved on the basis of adequate and well-controlled clinical studies establishing that the product has an effect on a validated surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit, or on the basis of an effect on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than survival or irreversible morbidity and is reasonably likely to predict an effect on survival, irreversible morbidity or another clinical benefit. As a condition of accelerated approval, the FDA requires the sponsor to perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing confirmatory clinical studies to verify and describe the anticipated effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. Approval may be withdrawn if the confirmatory study does not verify the anticipated clinical benefit. In addition, the FDA currently requires as a condition for accelerated approval pre-approval of promotional materials, which the sponsor must plan to provide all commercial materials and seek approval prior to the launch of the product.
Even if a product qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review and approval will not be shortened. Furthermore, priority review, fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation and accelerated approval do not change the standards for approval and may not ultimately expedite the development or approval process.
In the EU, innovative products that target an unmet medical need and are expected to be of major public health interest may be eligible for a number of expedited development and review programs, such as the Priority Medicines (“PRIME”), scheme, which provides incentives similar to the breakthrough therapy designation in the U.S. PRIME is a voluntary scheme aimed at enhancing the EMA’s support for the development of medicinal products that target unmet medical needs. Eligible products must target conditions for which there is an unmet medical need (there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment in the EU or, if there is, the new medicinal product will bring a major therapeutic advantage) and they must demonstrate the potential to address the unmet medical need by introducing new methods of therapy or improving existing ones. Benefits accrue to sponsors of product candidates with PRIME designation, including but not limited to, early and proactive regulatory dialogue with the EMA, frequent discussions on clinical trial designs and other development program elements and potentially accelerated MAA assessment once a dossier has been submitted.
In the EU, a “conditional” MA may be granted in cases where all the required safety and efficacy data are not yet available. The European Commission may grant a conditional MA for a medicinal product if it is demonstrated that all of the following criteria are met: (i) the benefit-risk balance of the medicinal product is positive; (ii) it is likely that the applicant will be able to provide comprehensive data post-authorization; (iii) the medicinal product fulfils an unmet medical need; and (iv) the benefit of the immediate availability to patients of the medicinal product is greater than the risk inherent in the fact that additional data are still required. The conditional MA is subject to conditions to be fulfilled for generating the missing data or ensuring increased safety measures. It is valid for one year and must be renewed annually until all related conditions have been fulfilled. Once any pending studies are provided, the conditional MA can be converted into a traditional MA. However, if the conditions are not fulfilled within the timeframe set by the EMA and approved by the European Commission, the MA will cease to be renewed.
An MA may also be granted “under exceptional circumstances” where the applicant can show that it is unable to provide comprehensive data on efficacy and safety under normal conditions of use even after the product has been authorized and subject to specific procedures being introduced. These circumstances may arise in particular when the intended indications are very rare and, in the state of scientific knowledge at that time, it is not possible to provide comprehensive information, or when generating data may be contrary to generally accepted ethical principles. Like a conditional MA, an MA granted in exceptional circumstances is reserved to medicinal products intended to be authorized for treatment of rare diseases or unmet medical needs for which the applicant does not hold a complete data set that is required for the grant of a standard MA. However, unlike the conditional MA, an applicant for authorization in exceptional circumstances is not subsequently required to provide the missing data. Although the MA “under exceptional circumstances” is granted definitively, the risk-benefit balance of the medicinal product is reviewed annually, and the MA will be withdrawn if the risk-benefit ratio is no longer favorable.
The above-described concepts will largely continue under the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation.
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Orphan Drug Designation
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the U.S., or more than 200,000 individuals in the U.S. for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the U.S. a drug or biologic for this type of disease or condition will be recovered from sales in the U.S. for that drug or biologic. Orphan designation must be requested before submitting a BLA. After the FDA grants orphan designation, the generic identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. The orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or automatically shorten the duration of, the regulatory review or approval process.
If a product that has orphan designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full BLA, to market the same product for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity by means of greater effectiveness, greater safety or providing a major contribution to patient care or in instances of drug supply issues. Orphan exclusivity does not prevent FDA from approving a different drug or biologic for the same disease or condition, or the same drug or biologic for a different disease or condition. Among the other benefits of orphan drug designation are tax credits for certain research and a waiver of the BLA application fee. A designated orphan product may not receive orphan exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the U.S. may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.
In the EU, Regulation (EC) No. 141/2000, as implemented by Regulation (EC) No. 847/2000 provides that a medicinal product can be designated as an orphan medicinal product by the European Commission if its sponsor can establish that: (i) the product is intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions; (ii) either (a) such conditions affect not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the EU when the application is made or (b) the product without the benefits derived from orphan status, would not generate sufficient return in the EU to justify the necessary investment in developing the medicinal product; and (iii) there exists no satisfactory authorized method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment of the condition that has been authorized in the EU, or even if such method exists, the product will be of significant benefit to those affected by that condition.
In the EU, to maintain an ODD, a sponsor must demonstrate that it still satisfies the orphan designation criteria at the time of the marketing authorization. This includes a requirement for the sponsor to demonstrate “significant benefit” compared with any treatments that are authorized at the time of the re-evaluation of the orphan criteria. Comparators may include products that are authorized after the sponsor has submitted its marketing authorization, but before the sponsor’s orphan designation criteria have been re-assessed.
Regulation (EC) No 847/2000 sets out further provisions for implementation of the criteria for designation of a medicinal product as an orphan medicinal product. An application for the designation of a medicinal product as an orphan medicinal product must be submitted at any stage of development of the medicinal product but before filing of an MAA. An MA for an orphan medicinal product may only include indications designated as orphan. For non-orphan indications treated with the same active pharmaceutical ingredient, a separate marketing authorization has to be sought.
Orphan medicinal product designation entitles an applicant to incentives such fee reductions or fee waivers, protocol assistance and access to the centralized marketing authorization procedure. Upon grant of a marketing authorization, orphan medicinal products are entitled to a ten-year period of market exclusivity for the approved therapeutic indication, which means that the EMA cannot accept another marketing authorization application or accept an application to extend for a similar product and the European Commission cannot grant a marketing authorization for the same indication for a period of ten years. The period of market exclusivity is extended by two years for orphan medicinal products that have also complied with an agreed pediatric investigation plan (“PIP”). No extension to any Supplementary Protection Certificate (“SPC”) can be granted on the basis of pediatric studies for orphan indications. Orphan medicinal product designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.
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The period of market exclusivity may, however, be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is established that the product no longer meets the criteria on the basis of which it received orphan medicinal product destination, including where it can be demonstrated on the basis of available evidence that the original orphan medicinal product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity or where the prevalence of the condition has increased above the threshold. Additionally, an MA may be granted to a similar medicinal product with the same orphan indication during the 10 year period if: (i) if the applicant consents to a second original orphan medicinal product application, (ii) if the manufacturer of the original orphan medicinal product is unable to supply sufficient quantities; or (iii) if the second applicant can establish that its product, although similar, is safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior to the original orphan medicinal product. A company may voluntarily remove a product from the register of orphan products.
The above-described ODD rules will change with the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation, introducing amongst other a one year base-line reduction of market exclusivity to nine years (but 11 years for a new breakthrough orphan category). Other changes also include only an additional one year of market exclusivity for new orphan indication, which can be granted maximum twice.
Following the UK’s departure from the EU there is no pre-marketing authorization orphan designation in Great Britain. Instead, orphan designation is applied for at the same time as applying for a marketing authorization. While the criteria to be granted an orphan medicinal product designation remain effectively the same in Great Britain as in the European Union, the designation will be based on the prevalence of the relevant condition in Great Britain. It is therefore possible that conditions that were or would have been designated as orphan conditions in Great Britain prior to the end of the Transition Period are or would no longer be and that conditions that were not or would not have been designated as orphan conditions in the EU will be designated as such in Great Britain. The UK legislation offers similar market exclusivity conditions for medicinal products with an orphan designation. However, UK-wide marketing authorization applications including orphan designation can only be submitted if there is no active orphan designation granted in the EU.
Pediatric Information
Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act (“PREA”), a BLA or supplement to a BLA must contain data that are adequate to assess the safety and efficacy of the product candidate for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of pediatric data or full or partial waivers. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (“FDASIA”) amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) to require that a sponsor who is planning to submit a marketing application for a product that includes a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration submit an initial Pediatric Study Plan (“PSP”), within sixty days of an end-of-Phase 2 meeting or, if there is no such meeting, as early as practicable before the initiation of the Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 study. The initial PSP must include an outline of the pediatric study or studies that the sponsor plans to conduct, including study objectives and design, age groups, relevant endpoints and statistical approach, or a justification for not including such detailed information, and any request for a deferral of pediatric assessments or a full or partial waiver of the requirement to provide data from pediatric studies along with supporting information. The FDA and the sponsor must reach an agreement on the PSP. A sponsor can submit amendments to an agreed upon initial PSP at any time if changes to the pediatric plan need to be considered based on data collected from preclinical studies, early phase clinical trials or other clinical development programs.
Under the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (“BPCA”), a drug or biologic product can also obtain pediatric market exclusivity in the U.S. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing exclusivity periods and patent terms. This six-month exclusivity, which runs from the end of other exclusivity protection or patent term, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric study or studies in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a study or studies within a defined timeframe.
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In the EU, Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006 provides that all MAAs for new medicinal products must include the results of trials conducted in the pediatric population, in compliance with a PIP agreed with the EMA’s Pediatric Committee (“PDCO”). The PIP sets out the timing and measures proposed to generate data to support a pediatric indication of the medicinal product for which marketing authorization is being sought. The PDCO may grant a deferral of the obligation to implement some or all of the measures provided in the PIP until there are sufficient data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of the product in adults. Furthermore, the obligation to provide pediatric clinical trial data can be waived by the PDCO when these data are not needed or appropriate because the product is likely to be ineffective or unsafe in children, the disease or condition for which the product is intended occurs only in adult populations, or when the product does not represent a significant therapeutic benefit over existing treatments for pediatric patients. Where the applicant has complied with an agreed PIP and the results of the pediatric studies (whether positive or negative) are included in the product information, and the medicinal product is authorized in all EU Member States, the holder is entitled to a six-month extension of the SPC (if an SPC exists). For orphan medicinal products, completion of the PIP results in a two-year extension of orphan market exclusivity. For other countries outside of the EU, such as certain countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia, the requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product approval, pricing and reimbursement vary from country to country. In all cases, the clinical trials are to be conducted in accordance with GCP and the applicable regulatory requirements and the ethical principles that have their origin in the Declaration of Helsinki.
Under the new pharmaceutical legislation, PIPs may in some cases be developed in an “evolutionary” manner, allowing studies to adapt over time as scientific knowledge develops. By contrast, the text also imposes a potentially heavy new burden by restricting the current possibility to waive the obligation to conduct pediatric studies where the disease or condition occurs only in adult populations, or where the product is not expected to represent a significant therapeutic benefit for pediatric patients. Such waivers may not be granted where the product displays a mechanism of action, including where its action is directed at a specific molecular target or biological pathway, that on the basis of existing scientific data is “relevant for a different disease or condition in the same therapeutic area in children” compared to the adult population. In addition, where a pediatric indication is authorized following completion of a PIP, MAHs will be required to place the product on the market within two years of approval of that indication, reinforcing obligations on timely launch and availability.
Post-Approval Requirements
Any products manufactured or distributed by us pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance, record-keeping, reporting of adverse experiences, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution and advertising and promotion of the product. After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims, are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing user fee requirements, under which FDA assesses an annual program fee for each product identified in an approved BLA. Biologic manufacturers and their subcontractors are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP, which impose certain procedural and documentation requirements upon us and our third-party manufacturers. Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated, and, depending on the significance of the change, may require prior FDA approval before being implemented. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting requirements upon us and any third-party manufacturers that we may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain compliance with cGMP and other aspects of regulatory compliance.
The FDA may withdraw approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency involving our product candidates or anti-FcRn product candidates developed by others, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical studies to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution restrictions or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:
•restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of a product, mandated modification of promotional materials or issuance of corrective information, issuance by FDA or other regulatory authorities of safety alerts, Dear Healthcare Provider letters, press releases or other communications containing warnings or other safety information about the product, or complete withdrawal of the product from the market or product recalls;
•fines, warnings or untitled letters or holds on post-approval clinical studies;
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•refusal of the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications, or suspension or revocation of existing product approvals;
•product seizure or detention, or refusal of the FDA to permit the import or export of products; or
•injunctions, consent decrees or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
The FDA closely regulates the marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of biologics. A company can make only those claims relating to safety and efficacy, purity and potency that are approved by the FDA and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. The FDA and other foreign regulatory authorities actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses and misbranding. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in, among other things, adverse publicity, warning letters, corrective advertising and potential civil and criminal penalties, including monetary penalties. Physicians may prescribe, in their independent medical judgment, legally available products for uses that are not described in the product’s labeling and that differ from those tested by us and approved by the FDA. The FDA does not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatments. The FDA does, however, restrict manufacturer’s communications on the subject of off-label use of their products, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability, including investigation by federal and state authorities. Prescription drug promotional materials must be submitted to the FDA in conjunction with their first use or first publication (or thirty days in advance of their first use if approved via the accelerated approval pathway). Further, if there are any modifications to the drug or biologic, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, the applicant may be required to submit and obtain FDA approval of a new BLA or BLA supplement, which may require the development of additional data or preclinical studies and clinical trials.
Where an MA is granted in relation to a medicinal product in the EU, the holder of the MA is required to comply with a range of regulatory requirements applicable to the manufacturing, marketing, promotion and sale of medicinal products. Similar to the U.S., both MAHs and manufacturers of medicinal products are subject to comprehensive regulatory oversight by the EMA, the European Commission and/or the competent regulatory authorities of the individual EU Member States. The holder of an MA must establish and maintain a pharmacovigilance system and appoint an individual qualified person for pharmacovigilance who is responsible for oversight of that system. Key obligations include expedited reporting of suspected serious adverse reactions and submission of periodic safety update reports (“PSURs”).
All new MAAs must include a risk management plan (“RMP”), describing the risk management system that the company will put in place and documenting measures to prevent or minimize the risks associated with the product. The regulatory authorities may also impose specific obligations as a condition of the MA. Such risk-minimization measures or post-authorization obligations may include additional safety monitoring, more frequent submission of PSURs, or the conduct of additional clinical trials or post-authorization safety studies.
In the EU, the advertising and promotion of medicinal products are subject to both EU and EU Member States’ laws governing promotion of medicinal products, interactions with physicians and other healthcare professionals, misleading and comparative advertising and unfair commercial practices. Although general requirements for advertising and promotion of medicinal products are established under EU legislation, the details are governed by regulations in individual EU Member States and can differ from one country to another. For example, applicable laws require that promotional materials and advertising in relation to medicinal products comply with the product’s Summary of Product Characteristics (“SmPC”), as approved by the competent authorities in connection with an MA. The SmPC is the document that provides information to physicians concerning the safe and effective use of the product. Promotional activity that does not comply with the SmPC is considered off-label and is prohibited in the EU. Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicinal products is also prohibited in the EU.
The above-described concepts will largely continue under the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation. One new change is that under the new rules, it is explicitly prohibited to do any form of advertising that aims to highlight negatively another medicinal product, as well as advertising that suggests that a medicinal product is safer or more effective than another medicinal product, unless demonstrated and supported by the SmPC.
Biosimilars and Reference Product Exclusivity
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”) signed into law in 2010 includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-approved reference biological product.
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Biosimilarity, which requires that the biological product be highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the biological product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity and potency, can be shown through analytical studies, animal studies and a clinical study or studies. Interchangeability requires that a product is biosimilar to the reference product and the product must demonstrate that it can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products that are administered multiple times to an individual, the biologic and the reference biologic may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biologic.
Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing that applicant’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of its product. The BPCIA also created certain exclusivity periods for biosimilars approved as interchangeable products.
In the EU, there is a special regime for biosimilars, or biological medicinal products that are similar to an approved reference medicinal product but that do not meet the definition of a generic medicinal product owing to in particular differences relating to raw materials or differences in manufacturing processes of the biological medicinal product and the reference biological medicinal product. Biosimilars are approved in accordance with the same quality, safety and efficacy standards which apply to biological medicinal products. For such products, the results of appropriate preclinical or clinical trials must be provided in support of an application for marketing authorization, including comparative clinical and non-clinical studies with the reference biological medicinal product to demonstrate that the biosimilar is both highly similar to the reference product (notwithstanding natural variability inherent to all biological medicines) and that there are no clinically meaningful differences between the biosimilar and the reference medicine in terms of safety, quality and efficacy. However, the biosimilar manufacturer is not required to replicate the testing results or trial data contained in the dossier of the reference biological medicinal product. Guidelines from the EMA detail the type and quantity of supplementary data that must be provided to support authorization of different types of biological product.
The above-described concepts will largely continue under the newly adopted revised EU pharmaceutical legislation. However, generic, hybrid and biosimilar entry will in several instances be available earlier than under today’s rules.
Other U.S. Healthcare Laws and Compliance Requirements
In the U.S., our current and future operations are subject to regulation and oversight by various federal, state and local authorities in addition to the FDA, including but not limited to, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) or other divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) (such as the Office of Inspector General, Office for Civil Rights and the Health Resources and Service Administration), the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and individual U.S. Attorney offices within the DOJ and state and local governments and regulatory authorities. For example, our clinical research, sales, marketing and scientific/educational grant programs may have to comply with the anti-fraud and abuse provisions of the Social Security Act, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the false claims laws, the privacy and security provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and similar state laws, each as amended, as applicable. Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors and customers may be subject to healthcare laws, regulations and enforcement by the federal government and by authorities in the states and foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. Such laws include, without limitation, state and federal anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, privacy and security, price reporting and transparency and physician sunshine laws. Some of our pre-commercial activities are subject to certain of these laws.
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The federal Anti-Kickback Statute is a criminal law that 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 purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for the purchase, lease or order of any item or service reimbursable, in whole or in part, under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. The term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. The intent standard under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute was amended by the Affordable Care Act to a stricter standard such that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. The Anti-Kickback Statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between therapeutic product manufacturers on one hand and, for example, prescribers, purchasers, third party payors, pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers on the other. There are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting some common activities from the reach of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The exceptions and safe harbors are interpreted narrowly by enforcement authorities and practices that involve remuneration that may be alleged to be intended to induce prescribing, purchasing or recommending any product payable by the federal health care programs may be subject to scrutiny if they do not qualify for an exception or safe harbor. Failure to meet all of the requirements of a particular statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor does not make the conduct per se illegal under the Anti-Kickback Statute. Instead, where an arrangement does not clearly meet the terms of an applicable exception or safe harbor, the legality of the arrangement will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis based on prudential factors that authorities, including the HHS of Inspector General, utilize to determine whether a particular arrangement poses a risk of fraud and abuse to the federal health care programs (e.g., increasing costs to government payors). Our practices may not in all cases meet all of the criteria for protection under a statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor and we cannot rule out the possibility that enforcement authorities, including the Office of Inspector General, could scrutinize our practices in the future.
Additionally, the intent standard under the Anti-Kickback Statute was amended by the Affordable Care Act to a stricter standard such that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. Violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute can result in significant civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment and exclusion from federal healthcare programs. In addition, the Affordable Care Act codified case law 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 False Claims Act (“FCA”) (discussed below).
The federal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, including the FCA, prohibit any person or entity from, among other things, (i) knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment of government funds that are false or fraudulent, including claims submitted to federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, (ii) knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to the federal government, (iii) knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to an obligation to pay money to the government, or (iv) knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding, decreasing, or concealing an obligation to pay money. A claim includes “any request or demand” for money or property presented to the U.S. government. Private individuals, commonly known as “whistleblowers,” can bring FCA qui tam actions, on behalf of the government and may share in amounts paid by the entity to the government in recovery or settlement. Pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been, and continue to be, prosecuted under these laws, among other things, for various conduct. For example, enforcement has pursued manufacturers allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product, and also for causing false claims to be submitted because of the marketing of the product for unapproved, off-label, and thus generally non-reimbursable, uses.
HIPAA included additional federal criminal statutory provisions that prohibit, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud or to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any money or property owned by, or under the control or custody of, any healthcare benefit program, including private third-party payors, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offense, and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by trick, scheme or device, a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. Like the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Affordable Care Act amended the intent standard for certain healthcare fraud statutes that were added by HIPAA such that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
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In addition, HIPAA, as amended by Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH”), imposes certain requirements on covered entities, which include certain healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses, and their business associates and covered subcontractors that receive or obtain protected health information in connection with providing a service on behalf of a covered entity relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. If we were to enter into a “business associate” relationship with a “covered entity” (“covered entities” being group health plans, certain healthcare providers and “healthcare clearing houses”) or other “business associates”, or otherwise act as a covered entity under HIPAA, we would be subject to the data privacy, security and security breach notification provisions of HIPAA, as amended by HITECH. Those regulations authorize the imposition of civil and criminal penalties, damages, injunctions, attorneys’ fees and costs. In addition, many state laws govern the privacy and security of health information in specified circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways, are often not pre-empted by HIPAA, and may have a more prohibitive effect than HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
Additionally, the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act (the “Sunshine Act”) within the Affordable Care Act, and its implementing regulations, requires that certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biological and medical supplies, among others, report annually to CMS information related to certain payments or other transfers of value made or distributed to U.S.-licensed physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, anesthesiologist assistants, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, and U.S. teaching hospitals, or to entities or individuals at the request of, or designated on behalf of, the physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Failure to timely, accurately, and completely submit the required information for all payments, transfers of value, and ownership or investment interest may result in civil monetary penalties.
Many states have similar statutes or regulations to the above federal laws that may be broader in scope and may apply regardless of payor (i.e., are not exclusive to government payors). We may also be subject to state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, and/or state laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers, drug pricing or marketing expenditures. Multiple states have adopted laws that require the reporting of certain pricing information, including information pertaining to and justifying price increases, prohibit prescription drug price gouging, or impose payment caps on certain pharmaceutical products deemed by the state to be “high cost.” These laws may differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, further complicating compliance efforts.
We are subject to the Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act (“DSCSA”) enacted by the U.S. government, which requires development of an electronic pedigree to track and trace each prescription biologic at the salable unit level through the distribution system, which will be effective incrementally over a 10-year period from its enactment on November 27, 2013. In addition, we must comply with state laws that require the registration of manufacturers and wholesale distributors of drug and biological products in a state, including, in certain states, manufacturers and distributors who ship products into the state even if such manufacturers or distributors have no place of business within the state. Some states also impose requirements on manufacturers and distributors to establish the pedigree of product in the chain of distribution. Compliance with DSCSA and current and future U.S. federal or state electronic pedigree requirements could require significant capital expenditures, increase our operating costs and impose significant administrative burdens. Several states have enacted legislation requiring pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, make periodic public disclosures on sales, marketing, pricing, clinical trials and other activities, and/or register their sales representatives, as well as to prohibit pharmacies and other healthcare entities from providing certain physician prescribing data to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for use in sales and marketing, and to prohibit certain other sales and marketing practices. All of our activities are potentially subject to federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.
Additionally, to the extent that we have business operations in foreign countries, sell any of our products in foreign countries and jurisdictions, or engage with physicians from other countries, including Canada or the EU, we may be subject to additional, comparable, regulation.
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Ensuring business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations is a costly endeavor. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the federal and state healthcare laws described above or any other current or future governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including without limitation, significant civil, criminal and/or administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, injunctions, private “qui tam” actions brought by individual whistleblowers in the name of the government, or refusal to allow us to enter into government contracts, contractual damages, reputational harm, administrative burdens, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and results of operations.
Privacy, Data Protection and Information Security
Because our business involves the collection, use, storage and transmission of personal information, we are subject to numerous federal, state, local and foreign laws, regulations and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security. Such laws include (or may include) Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020), the California Online Privacy Protection Act, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“EU GDPR”), the EU GDPR as it forms part of UK law by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK GDPR”) and the European Union’s ePrivacy Directive. Countries around the world have adopted or are proposing similar laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and information security, and we may become subject to them as we expand our operations into new geographic markets.
Coverage, Pricing and Reimbursement
Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any product candidates for which Immunovant may obtain regulatory approval. In the U.S. and in foreign markets, sales of any products for which Immunovant receives regulatory approval for commercial sale will depend, in part, on the extent to which third-party payors provide coverage and establish adequate reimbursement levels for such products. In the U.S., third-party payors include federal and state healthcare programs, private managed care providers, health insurers and other organizations. Adequate coverage and reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid in the U.S., and commercial payors are critical to new product acceptance.
Coverage and reimbursement by a third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors, including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a therapeutic is:
•a covered benefit under its health plan;
•safe, effective and medically necessary;
•appropriate for the specific patient;
•cost-effective; and
•neither experimental nor investigational.
We cannot be sure that coverage or reimbursement will be available for any product that we commercialize and, if coverage and reimbursement are available, what the level of reimbursement will be. Coverage may also be more limited than the purposes for which the product is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product for which we obtain regulatory approval.
We may develop products that, once approved, may be administered by a physician, and these products also may have difficulty obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement levels based on payor cost sensitivities and the potential application of formulary management controls (e.g., step edits through alternative therapies). Additionally, separate reimbursement for the product itself or the treatment or procedure in which the product is used may not be available, which may impact physician utilization.
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Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the price, examining the medical necessity, and reviewing the cost-effectiveness of medical products, therapies and services, in addition to closely evaluating their safety and efficacy. Obtaining reimbursement for our products may be particularly difficult given the potential cost sensitivities often associated with branded drugs and drugs administered under the supervision of a physician. It is not clear that third party payors will accept the pharmacoeconomic benefits of products that we commercialize, and we also may need to undertake detailed studies of any therapies that we commercialize in order to demonstrate their pharmacoeconomic benefits, in addition to the costs required to obtain FDA approvals. Our product candidates may not be considered medically necessary or cost-effective for certain patients, including depending on the nature of the FDA approvals that we may receive. There is no assurance of coverage or adequate reimbursement for our products under either government programs or from commercial payors. Further, one payor’s determination to provide coverage for a product does not assure that other payors will also provide coverage for the product. Adequate third-party reimbursement may not be available to enable us to maintain price levels sufficient to realize an appropriate return on our investment in product development. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate that we successfully develop.
Different pricing and reimbursement schemes exist in other countries. In the EU, pricing and reimbursement schemes vary widely from country to country. Some countries provide that products may be marketed only after a reimbursement price has been agreed. Other countries may require the completion of additional studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of a particular product candidate to currently available therapies (so called health technology assessments) in order to obtain reimbursement or pricing approval. For example, some EU Member States may approve a specific price for a product, or they may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the product on the market. Other EU Member States allow companies to fix their own prices for products but monitor and control prescription volumes and issue guidance to physicians to limit prescriptions. Recently, many EU Member States have increased the amount of discounts that pharmaceutical companies are required to offer. These efforts could continue as countries attempt to manage healthcare expenditures. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription products, has become intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products onto national markets. Political, economic, and regulatory developments may further complicate pricing negotiations, and pricing negotiations may continue after reimbursement has been obtained. Reference pricing used by various EU Member States, and parallel trade (arbitrage between low-priced and high-priced member states), can further reduce prices.
In addition, some EEA countries may require the completion of additional studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of a particular medicinal product candidate to currently available therapies. This Health Technology Assessment (“HTA”) process is the procedure according to which the assessment of the public health impact, therapeutic impact and the economic and societal impact of use of a given medicinal product in the national healthcare systems of the individual country is conducted. The outcome of HTA regarding specific medicinal products will often influence the pricing and reimbursement status granted to these medicinal products by the competent authorities of individual EU Member States.
Since January 2025, Regulation No 2021/2282 on HTA has been applicable, with phased implementation based on the type of product, i.e., oncology and advanced therapy medicinal products as of 2025, orphan medicinal products as of 2028, and all other medicinal products by 2030. The Regulation intends to boost cooperation among EU member states in assessing health technologies, including new medicinal products, and provide the basis for cooperation at the EU level for joint clinical assessments in these areas. It permits EU Member States to use common HTA tools, methodologies, and procedures across the EU, working together in four main areas, including joint clinical assessment of the innovative health technologies with the highest potential impact for patients, joint scientific consultations whereby developers can seek advice from HTA authorities, identification of emerging health technologies to identify promising technologies early, and continuing voluntary cooperation in other areas. Individual EU Member States will continue to be responsible for assessing non-clinical (e.g., economic, social, ethical) aspects of health technology, and making decisions on pricing and reimbursement.
The marketability of any product candidates for which we receive regulatory approval for commercial sale may suffer if the government and third-party payors fail to provide adequate coverage and reimbursement. In addition, emphasis on managed care, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes in the U.S. has increased, and we expect will continue to increase, the pressure on healthcare pricing. The downward pressure on the rise in healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription medicines, medical devices and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become a close focus of government and state regulators. Coverage policies and third-party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement rates are attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future, which could have a downward pressure on our commercialization efforts.
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Healthcare Reform
In the U.S. and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect the ability to profitably sell product candidates for which marketing approval is obtained. Among policy makers and payors in the U.S. and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access. In the U.S., the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives.
For example, the Affordable Care Act has substantially changed healthcare financing and delivery by both governmental and private insurers. The Affordable Care Act, among other things, increased the minimum level of Medicaid rebates payable by manufacturers of brand name drugs; required collection of rebates for drugs paid by Medicaid managed care organizations; imposed a non-deductible annual fee on pharmaceutical manufacturers or importers who sell certain “branded prescription drugs” to specified federal government programs; implemented a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted, or injected; expanded the types of entities eligible for the 340B drug discount program; expanded eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs; created a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; and established a Center for Medicare Innovation at CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, potentially including prescription drug spending.
Since its enactment, there have been amendments to and legal and political challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. For example, while Congress has not passed comprehensive repeal legislation, it has enacted laws that modify certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as removing penalties, starting January 1, 2019, for not complying with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to carry health insurance, delaying the implementation of certain mandated fees, and increasing the point-of-sale coverage gap discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D. In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of certain aspects of the ACA, without ruling on the merits of the constitutionality arguments. On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law, which eliminated the statutory Medicaid drug rebate cap, previously set at 100% of a drug’s average manufacturer price, for single source and innovator multiple source drugs, effective January 1, 2024. On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) was signed into law, which among other things, extended enhanced subsidies for individuals purchasing health insurance coverage in Affordable Care Act marketplaces through plan year 2025. These enhanced subsidies expired on December 31, 2025 but remain the subject of Congressional debate. The IRA also eliminates the “donut hole” under the Medicare Part D program beginning in 2025 by significantly lowering the beneficiary maximum out-of-pocket cost and implementing a new manufacturer discount program. In addition, there may be other efforts to challenge, repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act. It is unclear how any future challenges and the healthcare reform measures of the current presidential administration will impact the Affordable Care Act. The ultimate content, timing or effect of any healthcare reform legislation on the U.S. healthcare industry is also unclear, particularly given the recent change in administration.
Further legislation or regulation could be passed that could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. For example, in August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011 was signed into law, which, among other things, included aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect beginning on April 1, 2013 and will stay in effect through 2032 unless additional Congressional action is taken.
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Additionally, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the U.S. with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. Specifically, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries, presidential executive orders and proposed and enacted federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. The IRA, among other things (i) directs HHS to negotiate the price of certain high-expenditure, single-source biologics that have been on the market for at least 11 years covered under Medicare (the “Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program”) and (ii) imposes rebates under Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation. These provisions began to take effect progressively starting in fiscal year 2023. CMS has and continues to take steps to implement the IRA, including negotiating and publishing “maximum fair prices” for drugs selected under the IRA’s price negotiation framework and releasing quarterly lists of Medicare Part B products and annual lists of Medicare Part D products that are subject to adjusted coinsurance rates based on the inflationary rebate provisions of the IRA. While it remains to be seen how the drug pricing provisions imposed by the IRA will affect the broader pharmaceutical industry, several pharmaceutical manufacturers and other industry stakeholders have challenged the law, including through lawsuits brought against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CMS, and the CMS Administrator challenging the constitutionality and administrative implementation of the IRA’s drug price negotiation provisions. Additionally, when originally enacted, the IRA explicitly excluded from price negotiation orphan drugs designated for only one rare disease or condition and for which the only active approved indication is for such disease or condition. However, the OBBBA signed into law on July 4, 2025, amended the applicable statute to broaden the orphan drug exclusion such that products with more than one orphan designation and more than one approved indication will remain exempt from price negotiation, so long as each approved indication is for a rare disease or condition. The OBBBA also postpones the start of price negotiation requirements for drugs and biologics with orphan designations until the product receives approval for a non-orphan indication.
On December 8, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology published for comment a Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights which for the first time includes the price of a product as one factor an agency can use when deciding to exercise march-in rights. While march-in rights have not previously been exercised, it is uncertain if that will continue under the new framework.
The current presidential administration has also signaled its intent to pursue additional healthcare reform measures, including those aimed at reducing prescription drug prices, through various means, including presidential executive orders and agency action. These efforts include, among other things, proposals to establish a “most favored nation” drug pricing policy that would tie U.S. drug prices to the prices paid for drugs in other countries. It remains to be seen how these drug pricing initiatives will affect the broader pharmaceutical industry.
Individual states in the U.S. have also become increasingly active in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Another emerging trend at the state level is the establishment of prescription drug affordability boards, some of which will prospectively permit certain states to establish upper payment limits for drugs that the state has determined to be “high-cost.” Prescription drug affordability boards in several states have begun identifying products for affordability reviews and issuing information request to manufacturers to determine whether upper payment limits may be justified.
We expect that these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and lower reimbursement, and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare and other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our products. Such reforms could have an adverse effect on anticipated revenue from product candidates that we may successfully develop and for which we may obtain regulatory approval and may affect our overall financial condition and ability to develop product candidates. The current Trump administration is pursuing policies to reduce regulations and expenditures across government including at HHS, the FDA, CMS and related agencies.
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Additionally, in its June 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, under which courts were required to give deference to regulatory agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous federal statutes. The Loper Bright decision could result in additional legal challenges to current regulations and guidance issued by federal agencies applicable to our operations, including those issued by the FDA. Additionally, in February 2025 HHS ended a longstanding commitment to voluntarily comply with notice and comment requirements, even when not required by statute, which could contribute to rapid changes in policy without opportunity for public input. The new framework could increase both the frequency of such challenges and their odds of success by eliminating one way in which the government previously prevailed in such cases. As a result, significant regulatory policies will likely be subject to increased litigation and judicial scrutiny. Congress may introduce and ultimately pass health care related legislation that could, among others, impact the drug approval process and modify the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, expand the orphan drug exclusion in the IRA, and reduce Medicaid enrollment and funding. We expect additional health reform measures may be implemented in the future, particularly given the recent change in administration.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering or authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the U.S. to comply with accounting provisions requiring us to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.
Additionally, to the extent that we have business operations in foreign countries, sell any of our products in foreign countries and jurisdictions, or engage with officials from other countries, including Canada or the EU, we may be subject to additional, comparable, regulation.
Additional Regulation
In addition to the foregoing, state and federal laws regarding safe working conditions, environmental protection and hazardous substances, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act, affect our business. These and other laws govern our use, handling and disposal of various biological, chemical and radioactive substances used in, and wastes generated by, our operations. If our operations result in contamination of the environment or expose individuals to hazardous substances, we could be liable for damages and governmental fines. We believe that we are in material compliance with applicable environmental laws and that continued compliance therewith will not have a material adverse effect on our business. We cannot predict, however, how changes in these laws may affect our future operations.
Other Regulations
We are also subject to numerous federal, state and local laws relating to such matters as safe working conditions, manufacturing practices, environmental protection, fire hazard control and disposal of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances. We may incur significant costs to comply with such laws and regulations now or in the future.
Human Capital
Our Vision and Culture
We are driven by our vision of enabling normal lives for patients with autoimmune diseases. We champion an environment where all feel a sense of belonging by promoting a creative and collaborative workplace that leads to genuine connection and innovation. As a diverse workforce, we are committed to inclusion and equity across race, gender, age, religion, physical ability, identity, sexual orientation and experience. Together, our vision and strength as a team are driven by our values focused on accountability to patients, constantly adapting to drive toward our vision, working to bring powerful ideas to life. We believe if our employees are well aligned with our values and culture, they will be highly engaged, which will support their performance and impact on the organization.
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Employees
As of March 31, 2026, we had 315 full-time permanent employees, primarily in the U.S. Of these employees, approximately 55% have advanced degrees including but not limited to Ph.D., M.D., and M.B.A., and approximately 85% were engaged in research and development activities. More than half of our workforce, as well as our senior management team, is comprised of women. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by collective bargaining agreements, and we have not had any work stoppages. We believe our relationship with our employees is good.
As the clinical development of our product candidates progresses and, if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may grow the number of employees in the areas of sales, marketing, reimbursement and distribution.
Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and additional employees. The principal purpose of our equity incentive plan, which provides for the granting of stock-based compensation and performance cash awards, if applicable, at the discretion of the Board, is to attract, retain and motivate our employees, non-employee directors and consultants. Our cash bonus awards are based on Company progress toward key annual goals and employee performance.
Available Information
Our website is www.immunovant.com. We are subject to the informational requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and file or furnish reports, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, proxy statements and other information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We make copies of these reports and other information available free of charge through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file or furnish them with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov. The information contained on the websites referenced in this Annual Report is not incorporated by reference into this filing, and the website addresses are provided only as inactive textual references.