standard review timelines, FDA may have held its internal Mid-Cycle Meeting for the pending sNDA, and the Company awaits receipt of the Mid-Cycle Communication, which would be expected to provide an update on the review status of the application. Additionally, as previously disclosed, the Company concluded discussions with the FDA on a revised label to limit Rubraca’s use in the second-line ovarian cancer maintenance indication to the tBRCA mutation patient population only, and the revised label was approved on December 21, 2022. With respect to the Type II variation submitted to EMA, the Company received the assessment report including requests for supplementary information on December 15, 2022. Although the report stated that the benefits of rucaparib in the claimed indication could be considered meaningful with a manageable safety profile, it also stated that there are still some uncertainties that need to be resolved before a positive recommendation could be made. The report described the lack of mature OS data as the main limitation and contains a number of requests for supplementary information. As is often the case at this stage of an assessment procedure, the report stated that the overall benefit/risk of Rubraca in the front line maintenance setting is currently negative. The Company expects to provide the requested supplementary information to EMA in March 2023.
The Company is seeking to sell its assets through a court supervised sales process in the Cases. On December 11, 2022, the Company entered into a “stalking horse” purchase and assignment agreement with Novartis Innovative Therapies AG (“Novartis”) to sell substantially all of its rights to its pipeline targeted radionuclide therapy clinical development program, FAP-2286, including the Company’s in-licensing agreement with 3B Pharmaceuticals GmbH. The transaction is part of a sale process under Section 363 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) that is subject to approval by the Court and compliance with agreed upon and Court-approved bidding procedures allowing for the submission of higher or otherwise better offers, and other agreed-upon conditions. In accordance with the sale process under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, notice of the proposed sale to Novartis has been given to third parties and competing bids are being solicited. The deadline to submit competing bids for the FAP-2286 assets has been set for March 7, 2023 by the Court in the bidding procedures order. The transaction is subject to a number of closing conditions, including among others, (i) the accuracy of representations and warranties of the parties; (ii) the entry into a transition services agreement mutually acceptable to the parties; (iii) material compliance with the obligations of the parties set forth in the purchase agreement, including achievement of certain milestones by the Company related to the Cases and the sales process on a timely basis; (iv) no Material Adverse Effect (as defined in the purchase agreement) having occurred to the transferred assets; and (v) payment of cure costs in respect of any assigned contract related to the FAP-2286 assets.
Separately, the Company is also actively engaged in discussions with a number of interested parties with respect to a potential sale of its Rubraca assets and business. That sale would also be subject to review and approval by the Court and compliance with Court-approved bidding procedures. The deadline to submit bids for the purchase of the Company’s Rubraca assets and business has been set for March 21, 2023 by the Court in the bidding procedures order. The Company will manage the bidding process and evaluate the bids, in consultation with its advisors and other primary constituents and as overseen by the Court. There can be no assurances that any qualified or acceptable bids will be received or, even if received, the Company will be able to agree upon definitive terms with any such bidders and, even if a definitive agreement is entered into, there can be no assurances that it would be approved by the Court or that it would ultimately be consummated.
In connection with the sale process, the Debtors have filed notices with the Court (and have delivered notices to counterparties to the Debtors’ contracts) detailing the Debtors’ estimated amounts necessary to cure any defaults under the Company’s executory contracts and unexpired leases that could potentially be assumed and assigned to the purchasers of the FAP-2286 and/or Rubraca assets.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Trading in the Company’s Securities
The Company’s securityholders are cautioned that trading in the Company’s securities during the pendency of the Cases is highly speculative and poses substantial risks. Trading prices for the Company’s securities may bear little or no relationship to the actual recovery, if any, by holders thereof in the Cases. The Company cannot be certain that holders of the Company’s common stock will receive any payment or other distribution on account of those shares in the Cases given the expected sales proceeds (including the highly contingent nature of certain later milestone payments) and the amount of the Debtors’ liabilities to more senior creditors. Accordingly, the Company urges extreme caution with respect to existing and future investments in its securities.
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