Stablecoin Development Corp: Form 10-Q for the period ended Mar 31, 2014

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part I, Item 1 of this report, and with our consolidated financial statements and related notes, and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6, 2014. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Words such as “expects,” “anticipated,” “will,” “may,” “goals,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” variations of these words, and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A and elsewhere in this report, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions based upon assumptions made that we believed to be reasonable at the time, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements.

Overview

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing the unmet therapeutic needs of the global, topical anti-infective market with its two distinct categories of products: Aganocides® and NeutroPhase®.

Aganocide® Compounds

NovaBay’s first-in-class Aganocide® compounds, led by auriclosene (NVC-422), are patented, synthetic molecules with a broad spectrum of activity against bacteria, viruses and fungi. Mimicking the mechanism of action that human white blood cells use against infections, Aganocides possess a reduced likelihood that bacteria or viruses will be able to develop resistance, which is critical for advanced anti-infectives. In recognition of NVC-422 first-in-class chemical structure and therapeutic characteristics, The World Health Organization (WHO) approved a new generic nomenclature by which NVC-422 would be universally identified. In February, 2013, NovaBay announced that WHO had approved auriclosene as the new International Non-Proprietary Name (INN) for NVC-422.

Having demonstrated therapeutic proof-of-concept, these compounds are well suited to treat and prevent a wide range of local, non-systemic infections. NovaBay is currently focusing auriclosene into three large therapeutic markets:

• Urology - Statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful results from a Phase 2 clinical study of Auriclosene Irrigation Solution to reduce urinary catheter blockage and encrustation were announced in September 2013. Study CL1001 achieved the study’s primary endpoints and showed clear benefits for patients with long-term indwelling catheters. Based on these study results, the Company is in discussions with the FDA to design the protocol to be used in the next UCBE trial that is expected to begin in during mid 2014.
• Ophthalmology - NovaBay is developing an eye drop formulation of auriclosene for treating adenoviral conjunctivitis, for which there is currently no approved treatment. The ongoing global clinical trial for auriclosene in conjunctivitis is expected to be completed in the middle of 2014. The company also initiated a proof-of-concept study for bacterial conjunctivitis in the second quarter of 2013 with the same auriclosene formulation.
• Dermatology - Partnered with Galderma, a leading dermatology company, we are developing a gel formulation of auriclosene for treating impetigo, a highly contagious skin infection. In November 2013, NovaBay announced that the auriclosene Phase 2b clinical study of impetigo had been completed. While the study showed that auriclosene is safe and well tolerated, it did not meet its primary clinical endpoint. Knowledge gained from two previous impetigo studies is expected to lead to the use of an optimized formulation of auriclosene for an upcoming pilot study. We will be responsible the planning, execution and the cost of the upcoming study, which is expect to be approximately $1 to $2 million. Based on the results of this study pilot study NovaBay and Galderma will determine the next steps in the development of auriclosene for this indication.

Hypochlorous Acid Family of Products

The Hypochlorous Acid Family of products includes NeutroPhase for wound care, as well as two new recently introduced products: i-Lid Cleanser for the eye care market and CelleRx for the dermatology market.

NovaBay developed NeutroPhase, a distinct formulation containing hypochlorous acid. NeutroPhase is an FDA 510(k)-cleared Advanced Skin and Wound Cleanser. NeutroPhase is a patented pure hypochlorous acid solution which has the potential to be the best suited product on the market to treat the six-million patients in the U.S. who suffer from chronic non-healing wounds, such as pressure, venous stasis and diabetic ulcers.

NovaBay has begun securing commercial partnerships for NeutroPhase. In January 2012, NovaBay announced it had entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Pioneer Pharma Holdings Limited. (HK: 1345) (“Pioneer”), a Shanghai-based company that markets high-end pharmaceutical products in the Asia Pacific region. In December 2013, Pioneer invested $5.7 million in NovaBay. Previously we had expanded the distribution agreement with Pioneer to include territories outside of China. The expanded agreement with Pioneer also includes licensing rights to the two new products variations, CelleRx™ and i-Lid™ Cleanser. The expanded partnership agreement covers the commercialization and distribution of these products in China and 11 countries in Southeast Asia.

In 2013 NovaBay entered into a distribution agreement with Shin Poong Pharmaceuticals, Co., Ltd. (Shin Poong), a South Korean based company to market NeutroPhase in South Korea. In 2013 NovaBay entered into a distribution agreement with Principal Business Enterprises Inc. (PBE) of Bowling Green, Ohio to market its NeutroPhase product in the US market. NovaBay expects to announce additional distribution agreements in select geographic markets around the world during 2014.

In November 2013 we announced the publication of a scientific paper by Dr. John R. Crew of Seton Medical Center, Daly City California, describing the first use of adjunctive NeutroPhase® irrigation therapy in conjunction with Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) to successfully manage the severely-infected wound in the arm of a patient with a life-threatening “flesh-eating’ infection.

NovaBay has developed additional formulations such as i-Lid™ Cleanser (for use in ophthalmological applications) and CelleRx™ (for use in aesthetic dermatology). We expect both to be introduced into selected markets in 2014.

To date, we have generated very little revenue from product sales, and we have financed our operations and internal growth primarily through the sale of our capital stock, and the fees received from partners. As we are a development stage company, we have incurred significant losses since commencement of our operations in July 2002, since we have devoted substantially all of our resources to research and development. As of March 31, 2014, we had an accumulated deficit of $59.9 million. This deficit resulted from research and development expenses as well as general and administrative expenses. We expect to incur net losses over the next several years as we continue our clinical and research and development activities and as we apply for patents and regulatory approvals.

Recent Events

In January 2014 we announced that we had appointed Mark M. Sieczkarek and Dr. Massimo Radaelli to our Board of Directors.

In March 2014 we announced an underwritten public offering of an aggregate of 5,600,000 shares of NovaBay’s common stock, and 18-month warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,400,000 shares of common stock at a combined price to the public of $1.20 for aggregate gross proceeds of $6,720,000. The warrants were exercisable immediately upon issuance, have an 18-month term and an exercise price of $1.56 per share.

In April we announced that we are introducing a new eye care product, i-LidTM Cleanser. The product was introduced at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (booth number 583) in Boston in late April 2014. Already cleared by the FDA through its 510(k) process, our Advanced i-Lid Cleanser can help patients with irritation of their eyelids by cleaning their lids and lashes and removing debris and microorganisms that often lead to vision problems.

In April, we announced that Dr. John R. Crew, Medical Director of the Advanced Wound Care Center at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California, presented a poster at the Spring Symposium on Advanced Wound Care. Dr. Crew described how he successfully used our NeutroPhase as an adjunct therapy to irrigate the wounds of four patients with life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis (also known as flesh-eating infections), in conjunction with an irrigation technique involving Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT). All of the patients healed completely and none lost any limbs.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States for interim reporting. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements as well as the reported revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. In preparing these consolidated financial statements, management has made its best estimates and judgments of certain amounts included in the financial statements giving due consideration to materiality. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments related to revenue recognition, research and development costs, patent costs, stock-based compensation, income taxes and other contingencies. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Our significant accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited), included in Part I, Item 1 of this report, and are also described in Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. We have not materially changed these policies from those reported in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

There have been no recent accounting pronouncements or changes in accounting pronouncements during the three months ended March 31, 2014, as compared to the recent accounting pronouncements described in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, that are of significance or potential significance to the Company.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2014 and 2013

License, Collaboration, Distribution and Product Revenue

Total license, collaboration, distribution and product revenue was $288,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2014, compared to $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013.

License, collaboration, distribution and product revenue is due to several different agreements entered into by NovaBay. Those agreements are:

• a license and collaboration agreement entered into with Galderma in 2009;
• a distribution agreement covering China entered into with Pioneer Pharma in Jan 2012;
• a second distribution agreement with Pioneer Pharma covering South East Asia along with a stock purchase agreement;
• a feasibility and option agreement with Virbac, a global animal health company, expanded to a collaboration in 2013; and
• various distribution agreement entered into for the distribution of NeutroPhase.

The decrease in license, collaboration, distribution and sales revenue was related in the full amortization of the up-front fees from Galderma paid in 2013 and the end of the FTE funding period of that same contract, which was offset to some degree by increases in sales of NeutroPhase products.

Research and Development

Total research and development expenses decreased by 14% to $2.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014, compared to $2.9 million the three months ended March 31, 2013. The changes over the period relate to the decrease in clinical activities as we near completion on our BAYnovation trial for viral conjunctivitis and BACTOvation trial for bacterial conjunctivitis. In addition, we completed our urology (UCBE) trial in the second half of 2013.

We expect to incur increasing research and development expenses throughout 2014 and in subsequent years as we continue to develop product candidates, both independently and in collaboration with our commercial partners. In particular, we expect to incur substantially increased clinical expenses and ongoing manufacturing expenses in connection with our dermatology, ophthalmology and urology programs.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses increased by 10% to $1.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014, from $1.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. This increase is primarily due to expanded business development activities related to NeutroPhase® launch activities as well as planned commercialization in the dermatology and ophthalmology business units. This increase is consistent with our expectations as we support our distributors’ launch of NeutroPhase and prepare for the announcement of additional clinical data.

Non-Cash Gain (Loss) on Changes in Fair Value of Warrants

The non-cash gain (loss) on changes in fair value of warrants relates to the fair value adjustment to the warrants issued with our July 2011 registered direct offering of common stock and warrants. This balance will fluctuate with the price of our stock.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net changes were primarily attributable to fluctuation in the gains and losses on our investments and losses on disposal of property.

We expect that other income (expense), net will fluctuate based on our cash balances and the fluctuation in the returns on our investments.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of March 31, 2014, we had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $15.2 million, compared to $13.1 million at December 31, 2013. We have incurred cumulative net losses of $59.9 million since inception through March 31, 2014. We do not expect to generate significant revenue from product candidates for several years. Since inception, we have funded our operations primarily through the sales of our stock and warrants and funds received under our collaboration agreements. Cash received from our collaboration partners have totaled $65.3 million through March 31, 2014. Since December 31, 2013 we have raised net proceeds of $473,000 related to sales of our stock through the ATM Agreement set up in 2013. In March 2014, we closed an additional financing in which we raised a total of $6.7 million, or approximately $6.0 million in net cash proceeds after deducting underwriting commissions of $470,000 and other offering costs of $211,000. We continue to believe the capital generated through these sources is sufficient to fund our planned operations over the next twelve months. Our capital requirements going forward will depend on numerous factors including:

• the number and characteristics of product development programs we pursue and the pace of each program;
• the scope, rate of progress, results and costs of clinical trials;
• the time, cost and outcome involved in seeking regulatory approvals;
• our ability to establish and maintain strategic collaborations or partnerships for clinical trials, manufacturing and marketing of our product candidates; and
• the cost of establishing clinical and commercial supplies of our product candidates and any products that we may develop.

Cash Used in Operating Activities

For the three months ended March 31, 2014, cash used in operating activities of $4.4 million was primarily attributable to our research and development and general administrative expenses of operating the company.

Cash Used in Investing Activities

For the three months ended March 31, 2014, cash provided by investing activities of $2,000 was attributable to the net effect of purchases of short-term investments and sales and maturities.

Cash Provided by Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities of $6.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014, was attributable to proceeds from sales our common stock under our ATM agreement and the sale of common stock and warrants in our March financing.

Net Operating Losses and Tax Credit Carryforwards

As of December 31, 2013, we had net operating loss carryforwards for federal and state income tax purposes of $48.7 million and 50.5 million, respectively. If not utilized, the federal and state net operating loss carryforwards will begin expiring at various dates between 2015 and 2033. As of December 31, 2013, we also had tax credit carryforwards for federal income tax purposes of $343,000.

Current federal and California tax laws include substantial restrictions on the utilization of net operating loss carryforwards in the event of an ownership change of a corporation. Accordingly, our ability to utilize net operating loss carryforwards may be limited as a result of such ownership changes. Such a limitation could result in the expiration of carryforwards before they are utilized.

Inflation

We do not believe that inflation has had a material impact on our business and operating results during the periods presented, and we do not expect it to have a material impact in the near future. There can be no assurances, however, that our business will not be affected by inflation.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no off-balance sheet arrangements.

Contractual Obligations

Our commitments at March 31, 2014, consist of an operating lease. The operating lease consists of payments relating to the lease for various laboratory and office space in one office building in Emeryville, California. This lease expires on October 31, 2020, and the total commitment as of March 31, 2014, is $4.4 million due over the lease term, compared to $4.5 million as of December 31, 2013.

Our market risk consists principally of interest rate risk on our cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. Our exposure to market risk is limited primarily to interest income sensitivity, which is affected by changes in interest rates, particularly because the majority of our investments are in short-term debt securities.

Our investment policy restricts our investments to high-quality investments and limits the amounts invested with any one issuer, industry, or geographic area. The goals of our investment policy are as follows: preservation of capital; assurance of liquidity needs; best available return on invested capital; and minimization of capital taxation. Some of the securities in which we invest may be subject to market risk. This means that a change in prevailing interest rates may cause the principal amount of the investment to fluctuate. For example, if we hold a security that was issued with an interest rate fixed at the then-prevailing rate and the prevailing interest rate later rises, the principal amount of our investment will probably decline. To minimize this risk, in accordance with our investment policy, we maintain our cash and cash equivalents in short-term marketable securities, including money market mutual funds, Treasury bills, Treasury notes, commercial paper, and corporate and municipal bonds. The risk associated with fluctuating interest rates is limited to our investment portfolio. Due to the short term nature of our investment portfolio, we believe we have minimal interest rate risk arising from our investments. As of March 31, 2014, and December 31, 2013, a 10% change in interest rates would have had an immaterial effect on the value of our short-term marketable securities. We do not use derivative financial instruments in our investment portfolio. We do not hold any instruments for trading purposes.

To date, we have operated exclusively in the United States and have not had any material exposure to foreign currency rate fluctuations.

As of the end of the period covered by this report, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15 and 15d-15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and were effective in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act was accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Assessing the costs and benefits of such controls and procedures necessarily involves the exercise of judgment by management. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended March 31, 2014, that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Our business is subject to a number of risks, the most important of which are discussed below. You should consider carefully the following risks in addition to the other information contained in this report and our other filings with the SEC, before deciding to buy, sell or hold our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing our company. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe are not important may also impair our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected, the value of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment. We These risks have not changed substantively from the risks described under Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6, 2014.

Risks Relating to Our Business

We may be unable to raise additional capital on acceptable terms in the future which may in turn limit our ability to develop and commercialize products and technologies.

As of March 31, 2014, we had cash, cash equivalents and short term investments of $15.2 million, which we believe is sufficient to fund our operations through at least the next twelve months at our current level of spending. While we have reduced our staff levels and reduced both our research and general expenditures, we expect our capital outlays and operating expenditures to increase over at least the next several years as we expand our clinical and regulatory activities. Conducting clinical trials is very expensive, and we expect that we will need to raise additional capital, through future private or public equity offerings, strategic alliances or debt financing, before we achieve commercialization of auriclosene, our primary Aganocide compound, or any of any of our other Aganocide compounds. In addition, we may require even more significant capital outlays and operating expenditures if we do not continue to partner with third parties to develop and commercialize our products.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

• the extent to which we receive milestone payments or other funding from corporate partners, if any;
• the scope, rate of progress and cost of our pre-clinical studies and clinical trials and other research and development activities;
• future clinical trial results;
• the terms and timing of any collaborative, licensing and other arrangements that we may establish;
• the cost and timing of regulatory approvals;
• the cost of establishing clinical and commercial supplies of our product candidates and any products that we may develop;
• the effect of competing technological and market developments;
• the cost of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights; and
• the extent to which we acquire or invest in businesses, products and technologies, although we currently have no commitments or agreements relating to any of these types of transactions.

We do not currently have any commitments for future external funding. Additional financing may not be available on favorable terms, or at all. Our ability to obtain additional financing may be negatively affected by the recent volatility in the financial markets, as well as the general downturn in the economy and decreased consumer confidence. Even if we succeed in selling additional securities to raise funds, our existing stockholders’ ownership percentage would be diluted and new investors may demand rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders. If we raise additional capital through strategic alliance and licensing arrangements, we may have to trade our rights to our technology, intellectual property or products to others on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, the financing may involve covenants that restrict our business activities.

In addition, it is often the case that the cost of pharmaceutical development can be significantly greater than initially anticipated. This may be due to any of a large number of possible reasons, some of which could have been anticipated, while others may be caused by unpredictable circumstances. A significant increase in our costs would cause the amount of financing that would be required to enable us to achieve our goals to be likewise increased.

If we determine that we need to raise additional funds and we are not successful in doing so, we may be unable to complete the clinical development of some or all of our product candidates or to seek or obtain FDA approval of our product candidates. Such events could force us to discontinue product development, enter into a relationship with a strategic partner earlier than currently intended, reduce sales and marketing efforts or forego attractive business opportunities.

We are an early stage company with a history of losses and expect that we will incur net losses in the future, and that we may never achieve or maintain sustained profitability.

We have incurred net losses each year since our inception through March 31, 2014, with the exception of 2009. For the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, we had net losses of approximately $ 16.0 million, $7.0 million and $5.1 million, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2014 we have net losses of approximately $3.6 million. We were able to record a profit in 2009 due to our receipt of a $3.75 million milestone payment under our agreement with Galderma; however, there is no assurance that we will receive any additional large milestone payments under this agreement and, as a result, may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future. Through March 31, 2014, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $59.9 million. We have been, and expect to remain for the foreseeable future, mostly in a research and development stage as we proceed through clinical trials. We have incurred substantial research and development expenses, which were approximately $12.5 million, $9.3 million and $9.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively and $2.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014. We expect to continue to make, for at least the next several years, significant expenditures for the development of products that incorporate our Aganocide compounds, as well as continued research into the biological activities of our Aganocide compounds, which expenditures are accounted for as research and development expenses. We expect to incur substantial losses for the foreseeable future, and we may never achieve or maintain sustained profitability. We anticipate that our expenses related to our clinical trials and regulatory activities will increase substantially in the foreseeable future as we:

• conduct pre-clinical studies and clinical trials for our product candidates in different indications;
• develop, formulate, manufacture and commercialize our product candidates either independently or with partners;
• pursue, acquire or in-license additional compounds, products or technologies, or expand the use of our technology;
• maintain, defend and expand the scope of our intellectual property; and
• hire additional qualified personnel.

We will need to generate significant revenues to achieve and maintain profitability. If we cannot successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize our drug product candidates, either independently or with partners, we will not be able to generate such revenues or achieve or maintain profitability in the future. Our failure to achieve and subsequently maintain profitability could have a material adverse impact on the market price of our common stock.

We have limited data on the use of some of our products in humans and will need to perform costly and time consuming clinical trials to bring our products to market.

Much of the data that we have on our auriclosene compund is from in-vitro (laboratory) studies, in-vivo animal studies, Phase 1 human safety studies, or some small-scale Phase 2a or other exploratory clinical studies. We will need to conduct additional Phase 2 and Phase 3 human clinical trials to confirm such results in larger patient populations to obtain approval from the FDA of our Aganocide drug product candidates. Often, positive in-vitro, in-vivo animal studies, or early human clinical trials are not followed by positive results in later clinical trials, and we may not be able to demonstrate that our Aganocide product candidates are safe and effective for indicated uses in humans or that they are active against antibiotic resistant microbes, do not allow pathogens to develop resistance or are active against bacteria in biofilm. In addition, for each indication, we estimate that it will take between three and five years to conduct the necessary clinical trials.

If we are unable to develop and obtain regulatory approval for our Aganocide compounds, we may never generate product revenues.

To date, our revenues have been derived mainly from research and development collaboration and license agreements. We have generated only limited revenues from sales of NeutroPhase and we cannot guarantee that we will ever be able to generate substantial revenue from NeutroPhase. Our Aganocide compounds are still in development and we will not be able to generate commercial revenue from the sale of these product candidates until we have received regulatory approval for them. Satisfaction of all regulatory requirements applicable to our product candidates typically takes many years, is dependent upon the type, complexity, novelty and classification of the product candidates, and requires the expenditure of substantial resources for research and development and testing. We must demonstrate that our product candidates satisfy rigorous standards of safety and efficacy before we can submit for and gain approval from the FDA and regulatory authorities in other countries. In addition, to compete effectively, our products will need to be easy to use, cost-effective and economical to manufacture on a commercial scale. We may not achieve any of these objectives. We cannot be certain that the clinical development of any of our current product candidates or any other product that we may develop in the future will be successful, that they will receive the regulatory approvals required to commercialize them, or that any of our other in-licensing efforts or pre-clinical testing will yield a product suitable for entry into clinical trials. Our commercial revenues from sales of Aganocide products will be derived from sales of products that may not be commercially available for at least the next several years.

We have one commercialized product, NeutroPhase and if NeutroPhase does not gain market acceptance, our business will suffer.

A number of factors may affect the market acceptance of NeutroPhase or any other products we develop or acquire, including, among others:

• the price of our products relative to other products for the same or similar treatments;
• the perception by patients, physicians and other members of the health care community of the effectiveness and safety of our products for their indicated applications and treatments;
• our ability to find the right distributor; and
• the effectiveness of the sales and marketing efforts of our distributor.

If our products do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to support funding of our future operations, including developing, testing and obtaining regulatory approval for new product candidates, which would cause our business to suffer.

We have limited experience in developing drugs and medical devices, and we may be unable to commercialize some of the products we develop.

Development and commercialization of drugs and medical devices involves a lengthy and complex process. We have limited experience in developing products and have only one commercialized product in the market. In addition, no one has ever developed or commercialized a product based on our Aganocide compounds, and we cannot assure you that it is possible to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize any products based on these compounds or that we will be successful in doing so.

Before we can develop and commercialize any new products, we will need to expend significant resources to:

• undertake and complete clinical trials to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of our product candidates;
• maintain and expand our intellectual property rights;
• obtain marketing and other approvals from the FDA and other regulatory agencies; and
• select collaborative partners with suitable manufacturing and commercial capabilities.

The process of developing new products takes several years. Our product development efforts may fail for many reasons, including:

• the failure of our product candidates to demonstrate safety and efficacy;
• the high cost of clinical trials and our lack of financial and other resources; and
• our inability to partner with firms with sufficient resources to assist us in conducting clinical trials.

Success in early clinical trials often is not replicated in later studies, and few research and development projects result in commercial products. At any point, we may abandon development of a product candidate or we may be required to expend considerable resources repeating clinical trials, which would eliminate or adversely impact the timing for revenues from those product candidates. If a clinical study fails to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of our product candidates, we may abandon the development of the product or product feature that was the subject of the clinical trial, which could harm our business.

Even if we develop products for commercial use, these products may not be accepted by the medical and pharmaceutical marketplaces or be capable of being offered at prices that will enable us to become profitable. We cannot assure you that our products will be approved by regulatory authorities or ultimately prove to be useful for commercial markets, meet applicable regulatory standards, or be successfully marketed.

Our current collaboration with Galderma may fail, resulting in a decrease in funding and inhibition of our ability to continue developing products.

We have entered into an agreement with Galderma S.A. to develop and commercialize our Aganocide compounds, which covers acne and impetigo and potentially other major dermatological conditions, excluding onychomycosis (nail fungus) and orphan drug indications. Our collaboration with Galderma is our only major collaboration in the human field, and so unless and until we enter into additional collaborations or are able to market products on our own, we will be dependent on Galderma for the majority of our collaboration revenues.

In November 2013, we and Galderma announced that the auriclosene Phase 2b clinical study of impetigo had been completed, and that while the study showed that auriclosene is safe and well tolerated, it did not meet its primary clinical endpoint. While the collaboration is still intact, we cannot assure you that future clinical trials will be successful, or that we will receive the full amount of any remaining research funding, milestone payments or royalties, or that any commercially valuable intellectual property will be created, from this arrangement. If Galderma were to breach or terminate its agreement with us or otherwise fail to conduct its collaborative activities successfully and in a timely manner, the research contemplated by our collaboration with them could be delayed or terminated and our costs of performing studies may increase.

We are funding the development of our Aganocide compounds for application in connection with the eye and urinary tract, which we may not be able to do unless we are able to enter into a new collaboration with another collaboration partner.

As we continue the development of auriclosene (NVC-422) for application in connection with ophthalmology, urology and dermatology, we have to fund such development unless we are able to enter into a collaboration with a collaboration partner, which we may not be able to do, especially because we previously had a collaboration and license agreement with Alcon, which we and Alcon terminated in June 2011. If we are not able to enter into a new collaboration with another collaboration partner and we continue the development of auriclosene (NVC-422) for application in connection with the eye, ear and sinus and for use in contact lens solutions, we will need to rely on our own funds, and any additional funds we may raise. If we are not able to enter into a new collaboration with another collaboration partner or are not able to raise additional funds, we may not be able to develop auriclosene (NVC-422) for these applications.

A key part of our business strategy is to establish collaborative relationships to commercialize and fund development of our product candidates. We may not succeed in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships, which may significantly limit our ability to develop and commercialize our products successfully, if at all.

A key part of our business strategy is to establish collaborative relationships to commercialize and fund development of our product candidates. We may not be able to negotiate additional collaborations on acceptable terms, if at all, and if we do enter into collaborations, these collaborations may not be successful. Our current and future success depends in part on our ability to enter into successful collaboration arrangements and maintain the collaboration arrangement we currently have with Galderma. The process of establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships is difficult, time-consuming and involves significant uncertainty, including:

• our partners may seek to renegotiate or terminate their relationships with us due to unsatisfactory clinical results, a change in business strategy, a change of control or other reasons;
• our shortage of capital resources may impact a willingness on the part of potential companies to collaborate with us;
• our contracts for collaborative arrangements may be terminable for convenience on written notice and may otherwise expire or terminate, and we may not have alternative funding available;
• our partners may choose to pursue alternative technologies, including those of our competitors;
• we may have disputes with a partner that could lead to litigation or arbitration;
• we do not have day-to-day control over the activities of our partners and have limited control over their decisions;
• our ability to receive milestones and royalties from our partners depends upon the abilities of our partners to establish the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates, obtain regulatory approvals and achieve market acceptance of products developed from our drug candidates;
• we or our partners may fail to properly initiate, maintain or defend our intellectual property rights, where applicable, or a party may utilize our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or potentially invalidate our proprietary information or expose us to potential liability;
• our partners may not devote sufficient capital or resources towards our product candidates; and
• our partners may not comply with applicable government regulatory requirements.

If we are unable to establish and maintain collaborative relationships on acceptable terms or to successfully transition terminated collaborative agreements, we may have to delay or discontinue further development of one or more of our product candidates, undertake development and commercialization activities at our own expense or find alternative sources of capital. Consequently, if we are unable to enter into, maintain or extend successful collaborations, our business may be harmed.

Our long-term success depends upon the successful development and commercialization of other products from our research and development activities.

Our long-term viability and growth will depend upon the successful development and commercialization of other products from our research and development activities. Product development and commercialization is very expensive and involves a high degree of risk. Only a small number of research and development programs result in the commercialization of a product. Success in early stage clinical trials or preclinical work does not ensure that later stage or larger scale clinical trials will be successful. Even if later stage clinical trials are successful, the risk remains that unexpected concerns may arise from additional data or analysis or that obstacles may arise or issues may be identified in connection with review of clinical data with regulatory authorities or that regulatory authorities may disagree with our view of the data or require additional data or information or additional studies.

Conducting clinical trials is a complex, time-consuming and expensive process. Our ability to complete our clinical trials in a timely fashion depends in large part on a number of key factors including protocol design, regulatory and institutional review board approval, the rate of patient enrollment in clinical trials, and compliance with extensive current good clinical practice requirements. We are in many cases using the services of third-party contract clinical trial providers. If we fail to adequately manage the design, execution and regulatory aspects of our clinical trials, our studies and ultimately our regulatory approvals may be delayed or we may fail to gain approval for our product candidates altogether.

If we do not successfully execute our growth initiatives through the acquisition, partnering and in-licensing of products, technologies or companies, our future performance could be adversely affected.

In addition to our internal development projects, we anticipate growing through external growth opportunities, which include the acquisition, partnering and in-licensing of products, technologies and companies or the entry into strategic alliances and collaborations. If we are unable to complete or manage these external growth opportunities successfully, we may not be able to grow our business in the way that we currently expect. The availability of high quality opportunities is limited and we are not certain that we will be able to identify suitable candidates or complete transactions on terms that are acceptable to us. To pursue such opportunities, we may require significant additional financing, which may not be available to us on favorable terms, if at all. The availability of such financing is limited by the recent tightening of the global credit markets.

We may acquire other businesses or form joint ventures or in-license compounds that could disrupt our business, harm our operating results, dilute your ownership interest in us, or cause us to incur debt or significant expense.

As part of our business strategy, we may pursue acquisitions of complementary businesses and assets, and enter into technology or pharmaceutical compound licensing arrangements. We also may pursue strategic alliances that leverage our core technology and industry experience to enhance our ability to commercialize our product candidates and expand our product offerings or distribution. We have no experience with respect to acquiring other companies and limited experience with respect to the formation of commercial partnering agreements, strategic alliances, joint ventures or in-licensing of compounds. If we make any acquisitions, we may not be able to integrate these acquisitions successfully into our existing business, and we could assume unknown or contingent liabilities. If we in-license any additional compounds, we may fail to develop the product candidates, and spend significant resources before determining whether a compound we have in-licensed will produce revenues. Any future acquisitions or in-licensing by us also could result in significant write-offs or the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities, any of which could harm our operating results. Integration of an acquired company also may require management resources that otherwise would be available for ongoing development of our existing business. We may not identify or complete these transactions in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis, or at all, and we may not realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, technology license, strategic alliance or joint venture.

To finance any acquisitions, we may choose to issue shares of our common stock as consideration, which would dilute your interest in us. If the price of our common stock is low or volatile, we may not be able to acquire other companies for stock. Alternatively, it may be necessary for us to raise additional funds for acquisitions by incurring indebtedness. Additional funds may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all.

We do not have our own manufacturing capacity, and we plan to rely on partnering arrangements or third-party manufacturers for the manufacture of our products and potential products.

We do not currently operate manufacturing facilities for clinical or commercial production of our product candidates. We have no experience in drug formulation or manufacturing, and we lack the resources and the capabilities to manufacture any of our product candidates on a clinical or commercial scale. As a result, we have partnered and expect to partner with third parties to manufacture our products or rely on contract manufacturers to supply, store and distribute product supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our commercial partners or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or regulatory approval of our product candidates or commercialization of our products, producing additional losses and reducing or delaying product revenues.

Our products, if developed and commercialized, will require precise, high quality manufacturing. The failure to achieve and maintain high manufacturing standards, including the incidence of manufacturing errors, could result in patient injury or death, product recalls or withdrawals, delays or failures in product testing or delivery, cost overruns or other problems that could seriously harm our business. Contract manufacturers and partners often encounter difficulties involving production yields, quality control and quality assurance, as well as shortages of qualified personnel. These manufacturers and partners are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state agencies to ensure strict compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards; however, we do not have control over third-party compliance with these regulations and standards. If any of our manufacturers or partners fails to maintain compliance, the production of our products could be interrupted, resulting in delays, additional costs and potentially lost revenues.

In addition, if the FDA or other regulatory agencies approve any of our product candidates for commercial sale, we will need to manufacture them in larger quantities. Significant scale-up of manufacturing will require validation studies, which the FDA must review and approve. If we are unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for a product, the regulatory approval or commercial launch of any drugs may be delayed or there may be a shortage in supply and our business may be harmed as a result.

We depend on skilled and experienced personnel to operate our business effectively. If we are unable to recruit, hire and retain these employees, our ability to manage and expand our business will be harmed, which would impair our future revenue and profitability.

Our success largely depends on the skills, experience and efforts of our officers, especially our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President, Ophthalmology, Senior Vice President, Advanced Wound Care, Senior Vice President of Product Development, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Senior Vice President, Business Development and other key employees. The efforts of each of these persons is critical to us as we continue to develop our technologies and as we attempt to transition into a company with commercial products. Any of our officers and other key employees may terminate their employment at any time. The loss of any of our senior management team members could weaken our management expertise and harm our ability to compete effectively, develop our technologies and implement our business strategies.

Our ability to retain our skilled labor force and our success in attracting and hiring new skilled employees will be a critical factor in determining whether we will be successful in the future. Our research and development programs and collaborations depend on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled scientists and technicians. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified scientists and technicians in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among life science businesses, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. We also face competition from universities and public and private research institutions in recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientific personnel. We have also encountered difficulties in recruiting qualified personnel from outside the San Francisco Bay Area, due to the high housing costs in the area.

If we grow and fail to manage our growth effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan.

Our future growth, if any, may cause a significant strain on our management, and our operational, financial and other resources. Our ability to grow and manage our growth effectively will require us to implement and improve our operational, financial and management information systems and to expand, train, manage and motivate our employees. These demands may require the hiring of additional management personnel and the development of additional expertise by management. Any increase in resources devoted to research and product development without a corresponding increase in our operational, financial and management information systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

If our facilities become inoperable, we will be unable to perform our research and development activities, fulfill the requirements under our collaboration agreement and continue developing products and, as a result, our business will be harmed.

We do not have redundant laboratory facilities. We perform substantially all of our research, development and testing in our laboratory located in Emeryville, California. Emeryville is situated on or near active earthquake fault lines. Our facility and the equipment we use to perform our research, development and testing would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to repair or replace. The facility may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including earthquakes, flooding and power outages, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to perform our research, development and testing for some period of time. The inability to perform our research and development activities may result in the loss of partners or harm our reputation, and we may be unable to regain those partnerships in the future. Our insurance coverage for damage to our property and the disruption of our business may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses, including the loss of time as well as the costs of lost opportunities, and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

Obtaining regulatory approval in the United States does not ensure we will obtain regulatory approval in other countries.

We will aim to obtain regulatory approval in the U.S. as well as in other countries. To obtain regulatory approval to market our proposed products outside of the U.S., we and any collaborator must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements in other countries regarding safety and efficacy. Approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and additional administrative review periods. The time required to obtain approval in other countries might differ significantly from that required to obtain FDA approval. The regulatory approval process in other countries includes all of the risk associated with FDA approval as well as additional, presently unanticipated risks. Regulatory approval in one country does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country may negatively impact the regulatory process in others. Failure to obtain regulatory approval in other countries or any delay or setback in obtaining such approval could have the same adverse effects associated with regulatory approval in the U.S., including the risk that our product candidates may not be approved for all indications requested and that such approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed. In addition, failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements in other countries can result in, among other things, warning letters, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, recall or seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, refusal of the government to renew marketing applications and criminal prosecution.

If we are unable to design, conduct and complete clinical trials successfully, we will not be able to obtain regulatory approval for our products.

To obtain FDA approval for our drug product candidates, we must submit to the FDA a New Drug Application, or NDA, demonstrating that the product candidate is safe and effective for its intended use. This demonstration requires significant research and animal tests, which are referred to as preclinical studies, as well as human tests, which are referred to as clinical trials.

Any clinical trials we conduct or that are conducted by our partners may not demonstrate the safety or efficacy of our product candidates. Success in pre-clinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful. Results of later clinical trials may not replicate the results of prior clinical trials and pre-clinical testing. Even if the results of one or more of our clinical trials are positive, we may have to commit substantial time and additional resources to conducting further preclinical studies or clinical trials before we can submit NDAs or obtain FDA approvals for our product candidates, and positive results of a clinical trial may not be replicated in subsequent trials.

Clinical trials are very expensive and difficult to design and implement. The clinical trial process is also time-consuming. Furthermore, if participating patients in clinical studies suffer drug-related adverse reactions during the course of such trials, or if we or the FDA believe that participating patients are being exposed to unacceptable health risks, we will have to suspend or terminate our clinical trials. Failure can occur at any stage of the trials, and we could encounter problems that cause us to abandon clinical trials or to repeat clinical studies. Further, because our product candidates are all in the same class of compounds, failure in one clinical trial may cause us or our partners to have to suspend or terminate other clinical trials. For example, if toxicity issues were to arise in one clinical trial, it could indicate that all of our product candidates have toxicity issues.

In addition, the completion of clinical trials can be delayed by numerous factors, including:

• delays in identifying and agreeing on acceptable terms with prospective clinical trial sites;
• slower than expected rates of patient recruitment and enrollment;
• increases in time required to complete monitoring of patients during or after participation in a trial; and
• unexpected need for additional patient-related data.

Any of these delays, if significant, could impact the timing, approval and commercialization of our product candidates and could significantly increase our overall costs of drug development.

Even if our clinical trials are completed as planned, their results may not support our expectations or intended marketing claims. The clinical trials process may fail to demonstrate that our products are safe and effective for indicated uses. Such failure would cause us to abandon a product candidate for some indications and could delay development of other product candidates.

Government agencies may establish usage guidelines that directly apply to our proposed products or change legislation or regulations to which we are subject.

Government usage guidelines typically address matters such as usage and dose, among other factors. Application of these guidelines could limit the use of products that we may develop. In addition there can be no assurance that government regulations applicable to our proposed products or the interpretation thereof will not change and thereby prevent the marketing of some or all of our products for a period of time or permanently. The FDA’s policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the U.S. or in other countries.

Our product candidates may be classified as a drug or a medical device, depending on the mechanism of action or indication for use and prior precedent, and a change in the classification may have an adverse impact on our revenues or our ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals.

Several potential indications for our product candidates may be regulated under the medical device regulations of the FDA administered by the Center for Devices and Radiological Health and the same physical product may be regulated by the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for another indication. Alternatively the products could be classified as combination products, in which case both the device and drug centers jointly review the submission. The products may be designated by the FDA as a drug or a medical device depending upon the regulatory definition of a drug and a device, their primary mode of action and the indications for use or product claims.

The use of NeutroPhase as a solution for cleansing and debriding wounds was cleared as a Class I medical device. The determination as to whether a particular indication is considered a drug or a device is also based in part upon precedent. A reclassification by the FDA of an indication from a device to a drug indication during our development for that indication could have a significant adverse impact due to the more rigorous and lengthy approval process required for drugs, as compared to medical devices. Such a change in classification can significantly increase development costs and prolong the time for development and approval, thus delaying revenues. A reclassification of an indication after approval from a drug to a device could result in a change in classification for reimbursement. In many cases, reimbursement for devices is significantly lower than for drugs and there could be a significant negative impact on our revenues.

We and our collaborators are and will be subject to ongoing FDA obligations and continued regulatory review, such as continued safety reporting requirements, and we and our collaborators may also be subject to additional FDA post-marketing obligations or new regulations, all of which may result in significant expense and which may limit our ability to commercialize our medical device and drug products and candidates.

Any regulatory approvals that we receive may also be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing follow-up studies. The FDA may require us to commit to perform lengthy Phase IV post-approval studies, for which we would have to expend additional resources, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. In addition, if the FDA approves any of our drug product candidates, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and record keeping for the drug will be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. The subsequent discovery of previously unknown problems with the drugs, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, may result in restrictions on the marketing of the drugs or the withdrawal of the drugs from the market. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecution. Any of these events could prevent us from marketing any products we may develop and our business could suffer.

Conducting clinical trials of our product candidates may expose us to expensive liability claims, and we may not be able to maintain liability insurance on reasonable terms or at all.

The risk of clinical trial liability is inherent in the testing of pharmaceutical and medical device products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against any clinical trial claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit or terminate testing of one or more of our product candidates. Our inability to obtain sufficient clinical trial insurance at an acceptable cost to protect us against potential clinical trial claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of our product candidates. Our current clinical trial insurance covers individual and aggregate claims up to $5.0 million. This insurance may not cover all claims and we may not be able to obtain additional insurance coverage at a reasonable cost, if at all, in the future. In addition, if our agreements with any future corporate collaborators entitle us to indemnification against product liability losses and clinical trial liability, such indemnification may not be available or adequate should any claim arise.

If we use biological and hazardous materials in a manner that causes injury, we could be liable for damages. Compliance with environmental regulations can be expensive, and noncompliance with these regulations may result in adverse publicity and potentially significant monetary damages and fines.

Our activities currently require the controlled use of potentially harmful biological materials and other hazardous materials and chemicals and may in the future require the use of radioactive compounds. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury to employees or third parties from the use, storage, handling or disposal of these materials. In the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources or any applicable insurance coverage we may have. Additionally, we are subject, on an ongoing basis, to U.S. federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and specified waste products. The cost of compliance with these laws and regulations might be significant and could negatively affect our operating results. In addition, if more stringent laws and regulations are adopted in the future, the costs of compliance with these new laws and regulations could be substantial or could impose significant changes in our testing and production process.

The pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries are characterized by patent litigation and any litigation or claim against us may cause us to incur substantial costs, and could place a significant strain on our financial resources, divert the attention of management from our business and harm our reputation.

There has been substantial litigation in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries with respect to the manufacture, use and sale of new products that are the subject of conflicting patent rights. For the most part, these lawsuits relate to the validity, enforceability and infringement of patents. Generic companies are encouraged to challenge the patents of pharmaceutical products in the United States because a successful challenger can obtain six months of exclusivity as a generic product under the Hatch-Waxman Act. We expect that we will rely upon patents, trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovations and licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our competitive position and we may initiate claims to defend our intellectual property rights as a result. Other parties may have issued patents or be issued patents that may prevent the sale of our products or know-how or require us to license such patents and pay significant fees or royalties to produce our products. In addition, future patents may issue to third parties which our technology may infringe. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be applications now pending of which we are unaware that may later result in issued patents that our products may infringe.

Intellectual property litigation, regardless of outcome, is expensive and time-consuming, could divert management’s attention from our business and have a material negative effect on our business, operating results or financial condition. If such a dispute were to be resolved against us, we may be required to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorney’s fees if we were to be found to have willfully infringed a third party’s patent, to the party claiming infringement, develop non-infringing technology, stop selling any products we develop, cease using technology that contains the allegedly infringing intellectual property or enter into royalty or license agreements that may not be available on acceptable or commercially practical terms, if at all. Our failure to develop non-infringing technologies or license the proprietary rights on a timely basis could harm our business. Modification of any products we develop or development of new products thereafter could require us to conduct additional clinical trials and to revise our filings with the FDA and other regulatory bodies, which would be time-consuming and expensive. In addition, parties making infringement claims may be able to obtain an injunction that would prevent us from selling any products we develop, which could harm our business.

We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that we or our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.

Some of our employees may have been previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although no claims against us are currently pending, we may be subject to claims that these employees or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying money damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. A loss of key research personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize product candidates, which could severely harm our business.

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, they could result in costly litigation and significant liabilities.

The product candidates we are developing or attempting to develop will, in most cases, undergo extensive clinical testing and will require approval from the applicable regulatory authorities prior to sale. However, despite all reasonable efforts to ensure safety, it is possible that we or our collaborators will sell products which are defective, to which patients react in an unexpected manner, or which are alleged to have side effects. The manufacture and sale of such products may expose us to potential liability, and the industries in which our products are likely to be sold have been subject to significant product liability litigation. Any claims, with or without merit, could result in costly litigation, reduced sales, significant liabilities and diversion of our management’s time and attention and could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, business and results of operations.

If a product liability claim is brought against us, we may be required to pay legal and other expenses to defend the claim and, if the claim is successful, damage awards may not be covered, in whole or in part, by our insurance. We may not have sufficient capital resources to pay a judgment, in which case our creditors could levy against our assets. We may also be obligated to indemnify our collaborators and make payments to other parties with respect to product liability damages and claims. Defending any product liability claims, or indemnifying others against those claims, could require us to expend significant financial and managerial resources.

Failure to obtain sufficient quantities of products and substances necessary for research and development, pre-clinical studies, human clinical trials and product commercialization that are of acceptable quality at reasonable prices or at all could constrain our product development and have a material adverse effect on our business.

We have relied and will continue to rely on contract manufacturers for the foreseeable future to produce quantities of products and substances necessary for research and development, pre-clinical trials, human clinical trials and product commercialization. It will be important to us that such products and substances can be manufactured at a cost and in quantities necessary to make them commercially viable. At this point in time, we have not attempted to identify, and do not know whether there will be, any third party manufacturers which will be able to meet our needs with respect to timing, quantity and quality for commercial production. In addition, if we are unable to contract for a sufficient supply or required products and substances on acceptable terms, or if we should encounter delays or difficulties in our relationships with manufacturers, our research and development, pre-clinical and clinical testing would be delayed, thereby delaying the submission of product candidates for regulatory approval or the market introduction and subsequent sales of products. Any such delay may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Because our clinical development activities rely heavily on sensitive and personal information, an area which is highly regulated by privacy laws, we may not be able to generate, maintain or access essential patient samples or data to continue our research and development efforts in the future on reasonable terms and conditions, which may adversely affect our business.

As a result of our clinical development, we will have access to very sensitive data regarding the patients enrolled in our clinical trials. This data will contain information that is personal in nature. The maintenance of this data is subject to certain privacy-related laws, which impose upon us administrative and financial burdens, and litigation risks. For instance, the rules promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, creates national standards to protect patients’ medical records and other personal information in the U.S. These rules require that healthcare providers and other covered entities obtain written authorizations from patients prior to disclosing protected health care information of the patient to companies like NovaBay. If the patient fails to execute an authorization or the authorization fails to contain all required provisions, then we will not be allowed access to the patient’s information and our research efforts can be substantially delayed. Furthermore, use of protected health information that is provided to us pursuant to a valid patient authorization is subject to the limits set forth in the authorization (i.e., for use in research and in submissions to regulatory authorities for product approvals). As such, we are required to implement policies, procedures and reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect individually identifiable health information we receive from covered entities, and to ensure such information is used only as authorized by the patient. Any violations of these rules by us could subject us to civil and criminal penalties and adverse publicity, and could harm our ability to initiate and complete clinical studies required to support regulatory applications for our proposed products. In addition, HIPAA does not replace federal, state, or other laws that may grant individuals even greater privacy protections. We can provide no assurance that future legislation will not prevent us from generating or maintaining personal data or that patients will consent to the use of their personal information, either of which may prevent us from undertaking or publishing essential research. These burdens or risks may prove too great for us to reasonably bear, and may adversely affect our ability to function profitably in the future.

We may be subject to fines, penalties, injunctions and other sanctions if we are deemed to be promoting the use of our products for non-FDA-approved, or off-label, uses.

Our business and future growth depend on the development, use and ultimate sale of products that are subject to FDA regulation, clearance and approval. Under the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other laws, we are prohibited from promoting our products for off-label uses. This means that we may not make claims about the safety or effectiveness of our products and may not proactively discuss or provide information on the use of our products, except as allowed by the FDA.

There is a risk that the FDA or other federal or state law enforcement authorities could determine that the nature and scope of our sales and marketing activities may constitute the promotion of our products for a non-FDA-approved use in violation of applicable law. We also face the risk that the FDA or other regulatory authorities might pursue enforcement based on past activities that we have discontinued or changed, including sales activities, arrangements with institutions and doctors, educational and training programs and other activities.

Government investigations concerning the promotion of off-label uses and related issues are typically expensive, disruptive and burdensome and generate negative publicity. If our promotional activities are found to be in violation of applicable law or if we agree to a settlement in connection with an enforcement action, we would likely face significant fines and penalties and would likely be required to substantially change our sales, promotion, grant and educational activities. In addition, were any enforcement actions against us or our senior officers to arise, we could be excluded from participation in U.S. government healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, our competitors could develop and market products similar to ours that may reduce demand for our products.

Our success, competitive position and potential future revenues will depend in significant part on our ability to protect our intellectual property. We rely on the patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws of the U.S. and other countries, as well as confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, to protect our intellectual property rights. We apply for patents covering our technologies as we deem appropriate.

NovaBay aggressively protects and enforces its patent rights worldwide. However, certain risks remain. There is no assurance that patents will issue from any of our applications or, for those patents we have or that do issue, that the claims will be sufficiently broad to protect our proprietary rights, or that it will be economically possible to pursue sufficient numbers of patents to afford significant protection. For example, we do not have any composition of matter patent directed to the NeutroPhase composition. If a potential competitor introduces a similar method of using NeutroPhase with a similar composition that does not fall within the scope of the method of treatment claims, then we or a potential marketing partner would be unable to rely on the allowed claims to protect its market position for the method of using the NeutroPhase composition, and any revenues arising from such protection would be adversely impacted.

In addition, there is no assurance that any patents issued to us or licensed or assigned to us by third parties will not be challenged, invalidated, found unenforceable or circumvented, or that the rights granted there under will provide competitive advantages to us. If we or our collaborators or licensors fail to file, prosecute or maintain certain patents, our competitors could market products that contain features and clinical benefits similar to those of any products we develop, and demand for our products could decline as a result. Further, although we have taken steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology, third parties may be able to design around our patents or, if they do infringe upon our technology, we may not be successful or have sufficient resources in pursuing a claim of infringement against those third parties. Any pursuit of an infringement claim by us may involve substantial expense and diversion of management attention.

We also rely on trade secrets and proprietary know-how that we seek to protect by confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and collaborators. If these agreements are not enforceable, or are breached, we may not have adequate remedies for any breach, and our trade secrets and proprietary know-how may become known or be independently discovered by competitors.

We operate in the State of California. The laws of the State prevent us from imposing a delay before an employee who may have access to trade secrets and proprietary know-how can commence employment with a competing company. Although we may be able to pursue legal action against competitive companies improperly using our proprietary information, we may not be aware of any use of our trade secrets and proprietary know-how until after significant damage has been done to our company.

Furthermore, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. If our intellectual property does not provide significant protection against foreign or domestic competition, our competitors, including generic manufacturers, could compete more directly with us, which could result in a decrease in our market share. All of these factors may harm our competitive position.

If our competitors develop products similar to NeutroPhase, we may need to modify or alter our business strategy, which may delay the achievement of our goals.

Competitors may develop products with similar characteristics to NeutroPhase. Such similar products marketed by larger competitors can hinder our efforts to penetrate the market. As a result, we may be forced to modify or alter our business and regulatory strategy and sales and marketing plans, as a response to changes in the market, competition and technology limitations, among others. Such modifications may pose additional delays in achieving our goals.

If bacteria develop resistance to Aganocide compounds or to NeutroPhase, our revenues could be significantly reduced.

Based on our understanding of the hypothesis of the mechanism of action of our Aganocide compounds and NeutroPhase, we do not expect bacteria to be able to develop resistance to either of these compounds. However, we cannot assure you that one or more strains of bacteria will not develop resistance to our compounds, either because our hypothesis of the mechanism of action is incorrect or because a strain of bacteria undergoes some unforeseen genetic mutation that permits it to survive. Since we expect lack of resistance to be a major factor in the commercialization of our product candidates, the discovery of such resistance would have a major adverse impact on the acceptability and sales of our products.

If physicians and patients do not accept and use our products, we will not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

Even if the FDA approves product candidates that we develop, physicians and patients may not accept and use them. Acceptance and use of our products may depend on a number of factors including:

• perceptions by members of the healthcare community, including physicians, about the safety and effectiveness of our products;
• published studies demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of our products relative to competing products;
• availability of reimbursement for our products from government or healthcare payers; and
• effectiveness of marketing and distribution efforts by us and our licensees and distributors, if any.

The failure of any of our products to find market acceptance would harm our business and could require us to seek additional financing.

If we are unable to develop our own sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, or if we are not successful in contracting with third parties for these services on favorable terms, or at all, revenues from any products we develop could be disappointing.

We currently have limited sales, marketing or distribution capabilities. To commercialize any product candidates approved by the FDA, we will either have to develop such capabilities internally or collaborate with third parties who can perform these services for us, such as Principle Business Enterprises in the U.S. and Pioneer Pharma Co. Ltd. in China. If we decide to commercialize any products we develop such as NeutroPhase, we may not be able to hire the necessary experienced personnel and build sales, marketing and distribution operations which are capable of successfully launching new products and generating sufficient product revenues. In addition, establishing such operations will take time and involve significant expense.

If we decide to enter into co-promotion or other licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be unable to identify acceptable partners because the number of potential partners is limited and because of competition from others for similar alliances with potential partners. Even if we are able to identify one or more acceptable partners, we may not be able to enter into any partnering arrangements on favorable terms, or at all. If we enter into any partnering arrangements, our revenues are likely to be lower than if we marketed and sold our products ourselves.

In addition, any revenues we receive would depend upon our partners’ efforts which may not be adequate due to lack of attention or resource commitments, management turnover, and change of strategic focus, further business combinations or other factors outside of our control. Depending upon the terms of our agreements, the remedies we have against an under-performing partner may be limited. If we were to terminate the relationship, it may be difficult or impossible to find a replacement partner on acceptable terms, or at all.

If we cannot compete successfully for market share against other companies, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

The market for our products and product candidates is characterized by intense competition and rapid technological advances. If our product candidates receive FDA approval and are launched they will compete with a number of existing and future drugs, devices and therapies developed, manufactured and marketed by others. Existing or future competing products may provide greater therapeutic convenience or clinical or other benefits for a specific indication than our products, or may offer comparable performance at a lower cost. If our products are unable to capture and maintain market share, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

We will compete for market share against fully integrated pharmaceutical and medical device companies or other companies that develop products independently or collaborate with larger pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. In addition, many of these competitors, either alone or together with their collaborative partners, have substantially greater capital resources, larger research and development staffs and facilities, and greater financial resources than we do, as well as significantly greater experience in:

• developing drugs and devices;
• conducting preclinical testing and human clinical trials;
• obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of product candidates;
• formulating and manufacturing products; and
• launching, marketing, distributing and selling products.

Our competitors may:

• develop and patent processes or products earlier than we will;
• develop and commercialize products that are less expensive or more efficient than any products that we may develop;
• obtain regulatory approvals for competing products more rapidly than we will; and
• improve upon existing technological approaches or develop new or different approaches that render any technology or products we develop obsolete or uncompetitive.

We cannot assure you that our competitors will not succeed in developing technologies and products that are more effective than any developed by us or that would render our technologies and any products we develop obsolete. If we are unable to compete successfully against current or future competitors, we may be unable to obtain market acceptance for any product candidates that we create, which could prevent us from generating revenues or achieving profitability and could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Our ability to generate revenues from any products we develop will be diminished if we fail to obtain acceptable prices or an adequate level of reimbursement for our products from healthcare payers.

Our ability to commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on the extent to which health insurers, government authorities and other third-party payers will reimburse the costs of products which may be developed by us or our partners. We expect that a portion of our economic return from partnering arrangements with pharmaceutical companies and other collaborators will be derived from royalties, fees or other revenues linked to final sales of products that we or our partners develop. Newly-approved pharmaceuticals and other products which are developed by us or our partners will not necessarily be reimbursed by third-party payers or may not be reimbursed at levels sufficient to generate significant sales. Government and other third-party payers are increasingly attempting to contain health care costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement for new drugs or medical devices. Cost control initiatives such as these could adversely affect our or our collaborators’ ability to commercialize products. In addition, real or anticipated cost control initiatives for final products may reduce the willingness of pharmaceutical companies or other potential partners to collaborate with us on the development of new products.

Significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly-approved healthcare products. Healthcare payers, including Medicare, health maintenance organizations and managed care organizations, are challenging the prices charged for medical products or are seeking pharmacoeconomic data to justify formulary acceptance and reimbursement practices. We currently have not generated pharmacoeconomic data on any of our product candidates. Government and other healthcare payers increasingly are attempting to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement for drugs and medical devices, and by refusing, in some cases, to provide coverage for uses of approved products for disease indications for which the FDA has or has not granted labeling approval. Adequate third-party insurance coverage may not be available to patients for any products we discover and develop, alone or with collaborators. If government and other healthcare payers do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement levels for our products, market acceptance of our product candidates could be limited.

Risks Relating to Owning Our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially, which may result in losses to our stockholders.

The stock prices of many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry have generally experienced wide fluctuations, which are often unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate in response to, among other things:

• the results of preclinical or clinical trials relating to our product candidates;
• the announcement of new products by us or our competitors;
• announcement of partnering arrangements by us or our competitors;
• quarterly variations in our or our competitors’ results of operations;
• announcements by us related to litigation;
• changes in our earnings estimates, investors’ perceptions, recommendations by securities analysts or our failure to achieve analysts’ earnings estimates;
• developments in our industry; and
• general, economic and market conditions, including the recent volatility in the financial markets and decrease in consumer confidence and other factors unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors.

The volume of trading of our common stock may be low, leaving our common stock open to risk of high volatility.

The number of shares of our common stock being traded may be very low. Any stockholder wishing to sell his/her stock may cause a significant fluctuation in the price of our stock. In addition, low trading volume of a stock increases the possibility that, despite rules against such activity, the price of the stock may be manipulated by persons acting in their own self-interest. We may not have adequate market makers and market making activity to prevent manipulation.

Our directors, executive officers and principal stockholders have significant voting power and may take actions that may not be in the best interests of our other stockholders.

As of March 31, 2014, our officers and directors collectively controlled approximately 4,350,738 shares of our outstanding common stock (and approximately 7,339,300 shares of our common stock when including options held by them which were exercisable as of or within 60 days from March 31, 2014). Furthermore, as of March 31, 2014, our second largest stockholder is Dr. Ramin Najafi, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Najafi individually, and through his family trust which he jointly controls with his wife Mrs. Farideh Najafi, owns 4,008,658 shares, or 7.91% of our outstanding common stock (including 623,290 options held by Dr. Najafi which are exercisable as of or within 60 days from March 31, 2014). As a result, Dr. Najafi, can significantly influence the management and affairs of our company and most matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and might adversely affect the market price of our common stock. This concentration of ownership may not be in the best interests of our other stockholders.

Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate our business and to assess our future viability.

Our operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, developing our technology, researching and developing our compounds, and conducting preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials of our compounds. We have not demonstrated the ability to succeed in achieving clinical endpoints, obtain regulatory approvals, formulate and manufacture products on a commercial scale or conduct sales and marketing activities. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability are unlikely to be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law, contain provisions that could discourage a third party from making a takeover offer that is beneficial to our stockholders.

Anti-takeover provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law may have the effect of deterring or delaying attempts by our stockholders to remove or replace management, engage in proxy contests and effect changes in control. The provisions of our charter documents include:

• a classified board so that only one of the three classes of directors on our Board of Directors is elected each year;
• elimination of cumulative voting in the election of directors;
• procedures for advance notification of stockholder nominations and proposals;
• the ability of our Board of Directors to amend our bylaws without stockholder approval; and
• the ability of our Board of Directors to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock without stockholder approval upon the terms and conditions and with the rights, privileges and preferences as our Board of Directors may determine.

In addition, as a Delaware corporation, we are subject to the Delaware General Corporation Law, which includes provisions that may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers or delaying or preventing changes in control or management of our company. Provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire a majority of our outstanding voting stock by discouraging a hostile bid, or delaying, preventing or deterring a merger, acquisition or tender offer in which our stockholders could receive a premium for their shares, or effect a proxy contest for control of NovaBay or other changes in our management.

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

We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends on our common stock will depend on our earnings, financial condition and other business and economic factors affecting us at such time as our Board of Directors may consider relevant. If we do not pay dividends, you will experience a return on your investment in our shares only if our stock price appreciates. We cannot assure you that you will receive a return on your investment when you do sell your shares or that you will not lose the entire amount of your investment.