Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Note 2 - Risks and Uncertainties

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Note 2 - Risks and Uncertainties
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Notes to Financial Statements  
Unusual Risks and Uncertainties [Table Text Block]

2.

Risks and Uncertainties

 

DiaMedica operates in a highly regulated and competitive environment. The development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products require approval from, and are subject to ongoing oversight by, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the European Union and comparable agencies in other countries. We are in the clinical stage of development of our initial product candidate, DM199, for the treatment of AIS and CKD. The Company has not completed the development of any product candidate and does not generate any revenues from the commercial sale of any product candidate. DM199 requires significant additional clinical testing and investment prior to seeking marketing approval and is not expected to be commercially available for at least three years, if at all.

 

On July 6, 2022, we announced that the FDA placed a clinical hold on the Company’s Phase 2/3 ReMEDy2 trial. The clinical hold was issued following the Company voluntarily pausing patient enrollment in the trial to investigate three unexpected instances of clinically significant hypotension (low blood pressure) occurring shortly after initiation of the intravenous (IV) dose of DM199. The acutely low blood pressure levels in the three patients recovered back to their baseline blood pressure within minutes after the IV infusion was stopped, and the patients suffered no injuries. In response to the FDA’s clinical hold letter, on September 16, 2022, we submitted to the FDA supporting in-vitro data that the etiology (cause) of the hypotensive events is likely related to switching the type of IV bag used in the prior ReMEDy 1 trial, where no hypotensive episodes were reported, versus the current ReMEDy 2 trial. We observed significant differences in DM199 binding between the two types of IV bags used in the studies that we believe altered, and unintentionally elevated, the total amount of DM199 being administered to patients in the ReMEDy2 trial triggering the hypotensive events. In addition to our analysis of the events leading to and causing the hypotensive events, we also included in this FDA submission, proposed protocol modifications to address the mitigation of these events, including a reduction in the DM199 dose level for the initial IV dose to effectively match the well tolerated IV dose administered in the ReMEDy1 trial. Following review of this data, the FDA responded to our submission, indicating that the FDA was continuing the clinical hold and requesting, among other items, an additional in-use in vitro stability study of the IV administration of DM199, which includes the IV tubing and mechanical infusion pump, to further rule out any other cause of the hypotension events. There can be no assurance that our belief as to the cause of the hypotension events or our response to prevent future events is correct, or that we will be able to fully respond to the FDA’s latest questions sufficiently for the FDA to lift the clinical hold on a timely basis or at all. It is also possible that the FDA may subsequently make additional requests that we would need to fulfill prior to the lifting of the clinical hold, such as requiring us to complete additional clinical testing or imposing stricter approval conditions than we recently proposed for our DM199 product candidate. We may not enroll any additional patients in the ReMEDy2 trial until we provide the FDA with the requested data and the FDA notifies us that the FDA has lifted the clinical hold and we may resume enrollment in the clinical trial.

 

Prior to voluntarily halting enrollment, we had experienced slower than expected site activations and enrollment in our ReMEDy2 trial and may continue to experience these conditions if and when we are able to resume enrollment. We believe this was due to a number of factors, including the reduction or suspension of research activities at our current and targeted clinical study sites, as well as staffing shortages, due to COVID-19 and concerns managing logistics and protocol compliance for patients discharged from the hospital to an intermediate care facility. While we have taken and intend to continue to take certain actions to assist study sites in overcoming these issues, if and when we resume enrollment in the ReMEDy2 trial, no assurances can be provided as to if and when these issues will resolve.

 

 

Our future success is dependent upon the success of our development efforts, our ability to demonstrate clinical progress for our DM199 product candidate in the United States or other markets, our ability to obtain required governmental approvals of our product candidate, our ability to license or market and sell our DM199 product candidate and our ability to obtain additional financing to fund these efforts.

 

As of September 30, 2022, we have incurred losses of $92.4 million since our inception in 2000. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, we incurred a net loss of $9.9 million and negative cash flows from operating activities of $8.7 million. We expect to continue to incur operating losses until such time as any future product sales, royalty payments, licensing fees and/or milestone payments generate revenue sufficient to fund our continuing operations. For the foreseeable future, we expect to incur significant operating losses as we continue the development and clinical study of, and to seek regulatory approval for, our DM199 product candidate. As of September 30, 2022, DiaMedica had combined cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $36.1 million, working capital of $35.0 million and shareholders’ equity of $35.1 million. Our principal source of cash has been net proceeds from the issuance of equity securities. Although the Company has previously been successful in obtaining financing through equity securities offerings, there is no assurance that we will be able to do so in the future. This is particularly true if we are unable to resolve the clinical hold on our ReMEDy2 trial, if our clinical data is not positive, or if economic and market conditions do not improve or further deteriorate.

 

We expect that we will need substantial additional capital to further our research and development activities, complete the required clinical studies, regulatory activities and manufacturing development for our product candidate, DM199, or any future product candidates, to a point where they may be licensed or commercially sold. We expect our current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities to fund our planned operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of issuance of these condensed consolidated financial statements. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including the timing and results of our ongoing development efforts, including the duration of the current clinical hold, the rate of site activation and enrollment in our clinical study, the potential expansion of our current development programs, potential new development programs, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages and other factors on our clinical trials and our operating expenses. We may require significant additional funds earlier than we currently expect and there is no assurance that we will not need or seek additional funding prior to such time, especially if market conditions for raising capital are favorable.