ADXS Advaxis Inc

RISK FACTORS

Investing in the shares of our common stock and our Common Stock Warrants involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information contained in this prospectus before deciding to invest in the shares of our common stock and our Common Stock Warrants. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could suffer materially. In such event, the trading price of the shares of our common stock could decline and you might lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this prospectus.

Risks Related to Our Financial Position, Capital Needs and Strategic Considerations

We have incurred significant losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future.

We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company. Investment in biotechnology product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that a product candidate will fail to gain regulatory approval or become commercially viable. We have not generated any revenue from product sales to date, and we continue to incur significant development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. As a result, we are not profitable and have incurred losses in each period since our inception.

We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase as we continue our development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates, and begin to commercialize any approved products. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenues. If any of our product candidates fails in clinical studies or do not gain regulatory approval, or if approved, fails to achieve market acceptance, we may never become profitable. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. Our prior losses and expected future losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ (deficit) equity and working capital.

We will require additional capital to fund our operations and if we fail to obtain necessary financing, we will not be able to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

The research and development of our products has consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. We expect to continue to invest in advancing the clinical development of our product candidates and to commercialize any product candidates for which we receive regulatory approval. As of January 31, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents of $36.5 million. We will require additional capital for the further development of our product candidates. We are pursuing various ways to support our development efforts including debt and/or equity financing as well as targeting potential collaborators of our products.

We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of our products or product candidates or one or more of our other research and development initiatives. Our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement and involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary as a result of a number of factors, including the factors discussed elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Our future funding requirements, both near and long-term, will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

As we recently announced in connection with the termination of the Merger Agreement for our planned merger with Biosight, we are continuing to explore options to maximize stockholder value, including reviewing strategic transactions for our company. We may not be successful in identifying or completing any strategic transaction and any such strategic transaction completed may not yield additional value for stockholders.

In December 2021, we announced that we had terminated our merger agreement with Biosight. We also announced in December 2021 that we plan to continue to explore additional options to maximize stockholder value. As such, we are reviewing strategic transactions and alternatives. However, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in identifying or completing any strategic transactions, that any such strategic transaction will result in additional value for our stockholders or that the process will not have an adverse impact on our business. These transactions could include, but are not limited to, collaboration agreements, co-development agreements, strategic mergers, reverse mergers, the issuance of securities (in addition to this offering) or buyback of public shares, or the purchase, in-license or out-license or sale of specific assets, in addition to other potential actions aimed at increasing stockholder value. There can be no assurance that the review of strategic transactions will result in the identification or consummation of any transaction. Our Board of Directors may also determine that our most effective strategy is to continue to effectuate our current business plan. The process of reviewing strategic transactions may be time consuming and disruptive to our business operations and, if we are unable to effectively manage the process, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. We could incur substantial expenses associated with identifying and evaluating potential strategic alternatives. No decision has been made with respect to any transaction and we cannot assure you that we will be able to identify and undertake any transaction that allows our shareholders to realize an increase in the value of their shares of common stock or provide any guidance on the timing of such action, if any.

We also cannot assure you that any potential strategic transaction or other alternative transaction, if identified, evaluated and consummated, will provide greater value to our stockholders than that reflected in the current price of the shares of our common stock. Any potential transaction would be dependent upon a number of factors that may be beyond our control, including, but not limited to, market conditions, industry trends, the interest of third parties in our business and the availability of financing to potential buyers on reasonable terms. We do not intend to comment regarding the evaluation of strategic alternatives until such time as our Board of Directors has determined the outcome of the process or otherwise has deemed that disclosure is appropriate or required by applicable law. As a consequence, perceived uncertainties related to our future may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and volatility in the market price of the shares of our common stock and may make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified personnel and business partners.

Risks Related to Our Business, Industry and Strategy

We are a clinical stage company.

We are a clinical stage biotechnology company with a history of losses and can provide no assurance as to future operating results. As a result of losses that will continue throughout our clinical stage, we may exhaust our financial resources and be unable to complete the development of our products. We anticipate that we will continue to incur significant operational costs as we execute on our clinical development strategy. Our deficit will continue to grow during our drug development period.

We have sustained losses from operations in each fiscal year since our inception, and we expect losses to continue for the foreseeable future due to our substantial investment in research and development. As of January 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $429.0 million and stockholders’ equity of $38.5 million. We expect to spend substantial additional sums on the continued administration and research and development of proprietary products and technologies with no certainty that our immunotherapies will become commercially viable or profitable as a result of these expenditures. If we fail to raise a significant amount of capital, we may need to significantly curtail operations or cease operations in the near future. If any of our product candidates fail in clinical trials or does not gain regulatory approval, we may never become profitable. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods.

We are significantly dependent on the success of our Lm Technology platform and our product candidates based on this platform.

We have invested, and we expect to continue to invest, significant efforts and financial resources in the development of product candidates based on our Lm Technology. Our ability to generate meaningful revenue, which may not occur for the foreseeable future, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development, regulatory approval and commercialization of one or more of these product candidates, and such regulatory approval and commercialization may never occur.

The successful development of immunotherapies is highly uncertain.

Successful development of immunotherapies is highly uncertain and is dependent on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. Immunotherapies that appear promising in the early phases of development may fail to reach, or be delayed in reaching, the market for several reasons including:

Success in preclinical and early clinical studies does not ensure that large-scale clinical studies will be successful. Clinical results are frequently susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals. The length of time necessary to complete clinical studies and to submit an application for marketing approval for a final decision by a regulatory authority varies significantly from one immunotherapy to the next and may be difficult to predict.

Even if our product candidates are approved, they may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses and populations for which they may be marketed. They may also be subject to other conditions of approval, may contain significant safety warnings, including boxed warnings, contraindications, and precautions, may not be approved with label statements necessary or desirable for successful commercialization, or may contain requirements for costly post-market testing and surveillance, or other requirements, including the submission of a REMS, to monitor the safety or efficacy of the products. If we do not receive FDA approval for, and successfully commercialize our product candidates, we will not be able to generate revenue from these product candidates in the United States in the foreseeable future, or at all. Any significant delays in obtaining approval for and commercializing our product candidates will have a material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

We must rely upon third parties for manufacturing.

We currently have agreements with third party manufacturing facilities for production of many of our immunotherapies for research and development and testing purposes. We depend on third-party manufacturers to supply all of our clinical materials, but we do not have direct control over their personnel or operations. Third-party manufacturers must be able to meet our deadlines as well as adhere to quality standards and specifications. Our reliance on third parties for the manufacturing of our drug substance, investigational new drugs and, in the future, any approved products, creates a dependency that could severely disrupt our research and development, our clinical testing, and ultimately our sales and marketing efforts if the source of such supply proves to be unreliable or unavailable. For instance, manufacturers may experience unforeseen problems, such as material or personnel shortages, temporary or permanent facility closures, or scale up challenges. If any contracted manufacturing operation is unreliable or unavailable, we may not be able to manufacture clinical drug supplies of our immunotherapies, and our preclinical and clinical testing programs may not be able to move forward and our entire business plan could fail. If we are able to commercialize our products in the future, there is no assurance that any third-party manufacturers will be able to meet commercialized scale production requirements in a timely manner.

There is also no guarantee that our third-party manufacturers will be able to manufacture our product candidates in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMPs”). Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of adventitious agents or other contaminants, or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of a product candidate that may not be detectable in final product testing. If these third-party manufacturers are not able to comply with cGMPs, we may not be able to conduct clinical trials, may need to conduct additional studies, and may not, eventually, receive and maintain FDA approval for those products. Deviations from manufacturing requirements may also require remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for a third party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical trial or commercial sales or the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon or by third parties with whom we contract could materially harm our business. A failure to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements may also result in regulatory enforcement actions against our manufacturers.

While we are ultimately responsible for the manufacturing of our product candidates, other than through our contractual arrangements, we have little control over our manufacturers’ compliance with these regulations and standards. If our manufacturers encounter manufacturing difficulties, including cGMP compliance, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which we may not be able to on favorable terms or at all, and which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain and maintain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved. Any new manufacturers would need to either obtain or develop the necessary manufacturing know-how, and obtain the necessary equipment and materials, which may take substantial time and investment. We must also receive FDA approval for the use of any new manufacturers for commercial supply.

If we are unable to establish, manage or maintain strategic collaborations in the future, our revenue and drug development may be limited.

Our strategy includes eventual substantial reliance upon strategic collaborations for marketing and commercialization of our clinical product candidates, and we may rely even more on strategic collaborations for research, development, marketing and commercialization for some of our immunotherapies. To date, we have been heavily reliant upon third party outsourcing for our clinical trials execution and production of drug supplies for use in clinical trials. Establishing strategic collaborations is difficult and time-consuming. Our discussions with potential collaborators may not lead to the establishment of collaborations on favorable terms, if at all. For example, potential collaborators may reject collaborations based upon their assessment of our financial, clinical, regulatory or intellectual property position. Our current collaborations, as well as any future new collaborations, may never result in the successful development or commercialization of our immunotherapies or the generation of sales revenue. To the extent that we have entered or will enter into co-promotion or other collaborative arrangements, our product revenues are likely to be lower than if we directly marketed and sold any products that we may develop.

Management of our relationships with our collaborators will require:

If we continue to enter into research and development collaborations at the early phases of drug development, our success will in part depend on the performance of our corporate collaborators. We will not directly control the amount or timing of resources devoted by our corporate collaborators to activities related to our immunotherapies and our collaborations may terminate at any time. Our corporate collaborators may not commit sufficient resources to our research and development programs or the commercialization, marketing or distribution of our immunotherapies. If any corporate collaborator fails to commit sufficient resources or terminate their collaborations with us, our preclinical or clinical development programs related to this collaboration could be delayed or terminated.

Further, our collaborators may pursue existing or other development-stage products or alternative technologies in preference to those being developed in collaboration with us. Collaborators may also fail to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements, which may subject them or us to regulatory enforcement actions. Finally, if we fail to make required milestone or royalty payments to our collaborators or to observe other obligations in our agreements with them, our collaborators may have the right to terminate those agreements.

Changes in product candidate manufacturing or formulation may result in additional costs or delay.

In an effort to optimize processes and results, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods, manufacturing sites, and formulation, are altered as product candidates are developed from preclinical studies to late-stage clinical trials toward approval and commercialization. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials conducted with the altered materials. Such changes may also require additional testing, regulatory disclosure, or prior approval from the FDA. For instance, the FDA may require that we conduct a comparability study that evaluates the potential differences in the product candidate resulting from the change. Delays in designing and completing such a study to the satisfaction of the FDA could delay or preclude our development and commercialization plans, and the regulatory approval of our product candidates. It may also require the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue. Any of the foregoing could limit our future revenues and growth. Any changes would also require that we devote time and resources to manufacturing development, including with third-party manufacturers, and would also likely require additional testing and regulatory actions on our part, which may delay the development of our product candidates.

We may incur significant costs complying with environmental laws and regulations.

We and our contracted third parties use hazardous materials, including chemicals and biological agents and compounds that could be dangerous to human health and safety or the environment. As appropriate, we store these materials and wastes resulting from their use at our or our outsourced laboratory facility pending their ultimate use or disposal. We contract with a third party to properly dispose of these materials and wastes. We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and wastes. Compliance with such laws and regulations may be costly.

Additional laws and regulations governing international operations could negatively impact or restrict our operations.

If we further expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.

Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.

Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing or selling certain products and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.

The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.

We are subject to certain U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations. We can face serious consequences for violations.

Among other matters, U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations, which are collectively referred to as Trade Laws, prohibit companies and their employees, agents, clinical research organizations, legal counsel, accountants, consultants, contractors and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting or receiving, directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector. Violations of Trade Laws can result in substantial criminal fines and civil penalties, imprisonment, the loss of trade privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, exclusion from public tenders, reputational harm and other consequences. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We plan to engage third parties for clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other regulatory approvals and we can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our personnel, agents or partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have prior knowledge of such activities.

If we use biological materials in a manner that causes injury, we may be liable for damages.

Our research and development activities involve the use of biological and hazardous materials. Although we believe our safety procedures for handling and disposing of these materials complies with federal, state and local laws and regulations, we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from the use, storage, handling or disposal of these materials. We do not carry specific biological waste or pollution liability or remediation insurance coverage, nor do our workers’ compensation, general liability, and property and casualty insurance policies provide coverage for damages and fines/penalties arising from biological exposure or contamination. Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for damages or penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory approvals could be suspended or terminated.

We need to attract and retain highly skilled personnel; we may be unable to effectively manage growth with our limited resources.

As of April 30, 2022, we had 15 employees, 14 of which were full time employees. Our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel is critical to our operations and expansion. We face competition for these types of personnel from other technology companies and more established organizations, many of which have significantly larger operations and greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we have. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining qualified personnel on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all. If we are not successful in attracting and retaining these personnel, or integrating them into our operations, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected. In such circumstances we may be unable to conduct certain research and development programs, unable to adequately manage our clinical trials and other products, unable to commercialize any products, and unable to adequately address our management needs.

We depend upon our senior management and key consultants and their loss or unavailability could put us at a competitive disadvantage.

We depend upon the efforts and abilities of our senior executives, as well as the services of several key consultants. The loss or unavailability of the services of any of these individuals for any significant period of time could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. We have not obtained, do not own, nor are we the beneficiary of, key-person life insurance.

The biotechnology and immunotherapy industries are characterized by rapid technological developments and a high degree of competition. We may be unable to compete with more substantial enterprises.

The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapid technological developments and a high degree of competition. As a result, our actual or proposed immunotherapies could become obsolete before we recoup any portion of our related research and development and commercialization expenses. Competition in the biopharmaceutical industry is based significantly on scientific and technological factors. These factors include the availability of patent and other protection for technology and products, the ability to commercialize technological developments and the ability to obtain governmental approval for testing, manufacturing and marketing. We compete with specialized biopharmaceutical firms in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, as well as a growing number of large pharmaceutical companies that are applying biotechnology to their operations. Many biopharmaceutical companies have focused their development efforts in the human therapeutics area, including cancer. Many major pharmaceutical companies have developed or acquired internal biotechnology capabilities or made commercial arrangements with other biopharmaceutical companies. These companies, as well as academic institutions and governmental agencies and private research organizations, also compete with us in recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientific personnel and consultants. Our ability to compete successfully with other companies in the pharmaceutical field will also depend to a considerable degree on the continuing availability of capital to us.

We are aware of certain investigational new products under development or approved products by competitors that are used for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of certain diseases we have targeted for product development. Various companies are developing biopharmaceutical products that have the potential to directly compete with our immunotherapies even though their approach may be different. The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are highly competitive, and this competition comes from both biotechnology firms and major pharmaceutical companies, including companies like: Gritstone, Moderna, BMS, Merck and Neon Therapeutics, among others, each of which is pursuing cancer vaccines and/or immunotherapies. Many of these companies have substantially greater financial, marketing, and human resources than we do (including, in some cases, substantially greater experience in clinical testing, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceutical products). We also experience competition in the development of our immunotherapies from universities and other research institutions and compete with others in acquiring technology from such universities and institutions.

In addition, certain of our immunotherapies may be subject to competition from investigational new drugs and/or products developed using other technologies, some of which have completed numerous clinical trials.

A global health crisis such as a pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease, such as the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), may materially and adversely affect our business and operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the United States and global economies and has affected, and may continue to affect, our operations and those of third parties on which we rely, including by causing disruptions in our raw material supply and the manufacturing of our product candidates. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the operations of the FDA and other health authorities, which can result in delays of reviews and approvals, including with respect to our product candidates. The evolving COVID-19 pandemic has, and may continue to, directly or indirectly affect the pace of enrollment in our clinical trials as patients may avoid or may not be able to travel to healthcare facilities and physicians’ offices unless due to a health emergency and clinical trial staff can no longer get to the clinic. Additionally, such facilities and offices have been and may continue to be required to focus limited resources on non-clinical trial matters, including treatment of COVID-19 patients, thereby decreasing availability, in whole or in part, for clinical trial services. In addition, employee disruptions and remote working environments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal, state and local responses to such virus, could materially affect the efficiency and pace with which we work and develop our product candidates and the manufacturing of our product candidates. In addition, COVID-19 infection of our workforce could result in a temporary disruption in our business activities, including manufacturing and other functions. Further, while the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to assess or predict, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global financial markets may reduce our ability to access capital, which could negatively affect our short-term and long-term liquidity. Additionally, the stock market has been unusually volatile during the COVID-19 outbreak and such volatility may continue. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of potential delays or impacts on our business, financing or clinical trial activities, or on healthcare systems or the global economy as a whole. However, these effects could have a material impact on our liquidity, capital resources, operations and business and those of the third parties on which we rely.

Risks Related to Russia – Ukraine

We are currently operating in a period of economic uncertainty and capital markets disruption, which has been significantly impacted by geopolitical instability due to the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any negative impact on the global economy and capital markets resulting from the conflict in Ukraine or any other geopolitical tensions.

U.S. and global markets are experiencing volatility and disruption following the escalation of geopolitical tensions and the start of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops was reported. Although the length and impact of the ongoing military conflict is highly unpredictable, the conflict in Ukraine could lead to market disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain interruptions. We are continuing to monitor the situation in Ukraine and globally and assessing its potential impact on our business.

Additionally, the recent military conflict in Ukraine has led to sanctions and other penalties being levied by the United States, European Union and other countries against Russia and Russian nationals. Additional potential sanctions and penalties have also been proposed or threatened. Russian military actions and the resulting sanctions could adversely affect the global economy and financial markets and lead to instability and lack of liquidity in capital markets, potentially making it more difficult for us to raise additional financing.

Although our business has not been materially impacted by the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine to date, it is impossible to predict the extent to which our operations, or those of our suppliers and manufacturers, will be impacted in the short and long term, or the ways in which the conflict may impact our business. The extent and duration of the military action, sanctions and resulting market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial. Any such disruptions may also magnify the impact of other risks described in this prospectus.

Risks Related to the Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates

We can provide no assurance that our clinical product candidates will obtain regulatory approval or that the results of clinical studies will be favorable.

We are currently evaluating the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in clinical trials. However, even though the initiation and conduct of the clinical trials is in accordance with the governing regulatory authorities in each country, as with any investigational new drug (under an IND in the United States, or the equivalent in countries outside of the United States), we are at risk of a clinical hold at any time based on the evaluation of the data and information submitted to the governing regulatory authorities.

There can be delays in obtaining FDA and/or other necessary regulatory approvals in the United States and in countries outside the United States for any investigational new drug and failure to receive such approvals would have an adverse effect on the investigational new drug’s potential commercial success and on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. For example, the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials or study endpoints; or we may be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks. In addition, the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials or the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of a BLA or New Drug Application, or NDA or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere. The FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.

In addition to the foregoing, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. We have not submitted for nor obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate in-humans (US & EU) and it is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.

Drug discovery and development is a complex, time-consuming and expensive process that is fraught with risk and a high rate of failure.

Product candidates are subject to extensive pre-clinical testing and clinical trials to demonstrate their safety and efficacy in humans. Conducting pre-clinical testing and clinical trials is a lengthy, time-consuming and expensive process that takes many years. We cannot be sure that pre-clinical testing or clinical trials of any of our product candidates will demonstrate the safety, efficacy and benefit-to-risk profile necessary to obtain marketing approvals. In addition, product candidates that experience success in pre-clinical testing and early-stage clinical trials will not necessarily experience the same success in larger or late-stage clinical trials, which are required for marketing approval.

Even if we are successful in advancing a product candidate into the clinical development stage, before obtaining regulatory and marketing approvals, we must demonstrate through extensive human clinical trials that the product candidate is safe and effective for its intended use. Human clinical trials must be carried out under protocols that are acceptable to regulatory authorities and to the independent committees responsible for the ethical review of clinical studies. There may be delays in preparing protocols or receiving approval for them that may delay the start or completion of the clinical trials. In addition, clinical practices vary globally, and there is a lack of harmonization among the guidance provided by various regulatory bodies of different regions and countries with respect to the data that is required to receive marketing approval, which makes designing global trials increasingly complex. There are a number of additional factors that may cause our clinical trials to be delayed, prematurely terminated or deemed inadequate to support regulatory approval, such as:

Any deficiency in the design, implementation or oversight of our development programs could cause us to incur significant additional costs, conduct additional trials, experience significant delays, prevent us from obtaining marketing approval for any product candidate or abandon development of certain product candidates, any of which could harm our business and cause our stock price to decline.

We may face legal claims; legal disputes are expensive and we may not be able to afford the costs.

We may face legal claims involving stockholders, consumers, clinical trial subjects, competitors, regulators and other parties. As described in the section entitled “Business – Legal Proceedings” of this prospectus, we are engaged in legal proceedings. Litigation and other legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse rulings could occur, including monetary damages, or an injunction stopping us from engaging in business practices, or requiring other remedies, including, but not limited to, compulsory licensing of patents.

The costs of litigation or any proceeding, including, but not limited to, those relating to our intellectual property or contractual rights, could be substantial, even if resolved in our favor. Some of our competitors or financial funding sources have far greater resources than we do and may be better able to afford the costs of complex litigation. Also, a lawsuit, even if frivolous, will require considerable time commitments on the part of management, our attorneys and consultants. Defending these types of proceedings or legal actions involve considerable expense and could negatively affect our financial results. Legal claims may also adversely impact us in other ways, such as the withdrawal or slower enrollment in or from our clinical trials, regulatory enforcement actions, and negative media attention, any of which could materially and negatively harm us and our operations.

We can provide no assurance of the successful and timely development of new products.

Our immunotherapies are at various stages of development. Further development and extensive testing will be required to determine their technical feasibility and commercial viability. We will need to complete significant additional clinical trials demonstrating that our product candidates are safe and effective to the satisfaction of the FDA and other non-U.S. regulatory authorities. The drug approval process is time-consuming, involves substantial expenditures of resources, and depends upon a number of factors, including the severity of the illness in question, the availability of alternative treatments, and the risks and benefits demonstrated in the clinical trials. Our success will depend on our ability to achieve scientific and technological advances and to translate such advances into licensable, FDA-approvable, commercially competitive products on a timely basis. Failure can occur at any stage of the process. If such programs are not successful, we may invest substantial amounts of time and money without developing revenue-producing products. As we enter a more extensive clinical program for our product candidates, the data generated in these studies may not be as compelling as the earlier results.

The proposed development schedules for our immunotherapies may be affected by a variety of factors, including technological difficulties, clinical trial failures, regulatory hurdles, clinical holds, competitive products, intellectual property challenges and/or changes in governmental regulation, many of which will not be within our control. Any delay in the development, introduction or marketing of our products could result either in such products being marketed at a time when their cost and performance characteristics would not be competitive in the marketplace or in the shortening of their commercial lives. In light of the long-term nature of our projects, the unproven technology involved and the other factors described elsewhere in this section, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully complete the development or marketing of any new products which could materially harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

Our research and development expenses are subject to uncertainty.

Factors affecting our research and development expenses include, but are not limited to:

There can be no guarantee that our research and development expenses will be consistent from period to period. We may be required to accelerate or delay incurring certain expenses depending on the results of our studies and the availability of adequate funding.

We may be required to suspend or discontinue clinical trials for a number of reasons, which could preclude approval of any of our product candidates.

Our clinical trials may be suspended at any time for a number of reasons. A clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, an IRB, the FDA or other regulatory authorities due to a failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, presentation or identification of unforeseen safety signals or issues, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using the investigational drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions, lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial, or for other business-related reasons. For example, in June 2019, we announced that we were closing our AIM2CERV Phase 3 clinical trial with AXAL in cervical cancer due to the delays we incurred as a result of the recent FDA partial clinical hold on the trial, as well as the estimated cost and time to completion of the trial. Furthermore, the Company has completed the clinical study report from Part A of the ADXS-NEO study and plans to close its ADXS-NEO program IND as next step. In addition, clinical trials for our product candidates could be suspended due to adverse side effects. Drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. We may also voluntarily suspend or terminate our clinical trials if at any time we believe that they present an unacceptable risk to patients or do not demonstrate clinical benefit. If we elect or are forced to suspend or terminate any clinical trial of any product candidates that we develop, the commercial prospects of such product candidates will be harmed and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed or eliminated. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Preliminary or interim results of a clinical trial are not necessarily predictive of future or final results.

Interim or preliminary data from clinical trials that we may conduct may not be indicative of the final results of the trial and are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Interim or preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the interim or preliminary data. As a result, interim or preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Even if our clinical trials are completed as planned, we cannot be certain that their results will support our proposed indications.

We are subject to numerous risks inherent in conducting clinical trials.

We outsource the management of our clinical trials to third parties. Agreements with CROs, clinical investigators and medical institutions for clinical testing and data management services, place substantial responsibilities on these parties that, if unmet, could result in delays in, or termination of, our clinical trials. For example, if any of our clinical trial sites or CROs fail to comply with FDA-approved good clinical practices, we may be unable to use the data gathered at those sites. If these clinical investigators, medical institutions or other third parties do not carry out their contractual duties or regulatory obligations or fail to meet expected deadlines, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, our agents. We are not certain that we will successfully recruit enough patients to complete our clinical trials nor that we will reach our primary endpoints. Delays in recruitment, lack of clinical benefit or unacceptable side effects would delay or prevent the initiation of future development of our agents.

While we have agreements governing the activities of such third parties and are responsible for our third party service provider’s activities and regulatory compliance, we have limited influence and control over their actual performance and activities and cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our ongoing clinical, non-clinical, and preclinical programs and cannot control whether they maintain regulatory compliance. Our third-party service providers may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting trials or other therapeutic development activities that could harm our competitive position.

Agreements with third parties conducting or otherwise assisting with our clinical or preclinical studies might terminate for a variety of reasons, including a failure to perform by the third parties. If any of our relationships with these third parties terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative providers or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional third parties involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new third party commences work. As a result, if we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it could delay our product development activities and adversely affect our business. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our third parties, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects, and results of operations.

We or our regulators may suspend or terminate our clinical trials for a number of reasons. We may voluntarily suspend or terminate our clinical trials if at any time we believe they present an unacceptable risk to the patients enrolled in our clinical trials or do not demonstrate clinical benefit. In addition, regulatory agencies may order the temporary or permanent discontinuation of our clinical trials, or place our products on temporary or permanent hold, at any time if they believe that the clinical trials are not being conducted in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements or that they present an unacceptable safety risk to the patients enrolled in our clinical trials.

Our clinical trial operations are subject to regulatory inspections at any time. If regulatory inspectors conclude that we or our clinical trial sites are not in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements for conducting clinical trials, we may receive reports of observations or warning letters detailing deficiencies, and we will be required to implement corrective actions. If regulatory agencies deem our responses to be inadequate or are dissatisfied with the corrective actions we or our clinical trial sites have implemented, our clinical trials may be temporarily or permanently discontinued, we may be fined, we or our investigators may be precluded from conducting any ongoing or any future clinical trials, the government may refuse to approve our marketing applications or allow us to manufacture or market our products, and we may be criminally prosecuted.

The lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, which would materially harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

Our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, principal investigators, or CROs may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are exposed to the risk of employee and third-party fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners, manufacturers, investigators, or CROs could include intentional, reckless, negligent, or unintentional failures to comply with FDA regulations, comply with applicable fraud and abuse laws, provide accurate information to the FDA, properly calculate pricing information required by federal programs, comply with federal procurement rules or contract terms, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. This misconduct could also involve the improper use or misrepresentation of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter this type of misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. Moreover, it is possible for a whistleblower to pursue a False Claims Act case against us even if the government considers the claim unmeritorious and declines to intervene, which could require us to incur costs defending against such a claim. Further, due to the risk that a judgment in an FCA case could result in exclusion from federal health programs or debarment from government contracts, whistleblower cases often result in large settlements. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

We must comply with significant government regulations.

The research and development, manufacturing and marketing of human therapeutic and diagnostic products are subject to regulation, primarily by the FDA in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. These national agencies and other federal, state, local and foreign entities regulate, among other things, research and development activities (including testing in animals and in humans) and the testing, manufacturing, handling, labeling, storage, record keeping, approval, distribution, advertising and promotion of the products that we are developing. If we obtain approval for any of our product candidates, our operations will be directly or indirectly through our customers, subject to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statue and the federal False Claims Act, and privacy laws. We, our product candidates, and our products, if we receive marketing approval are and will continue to be subject to extensive governmental regulation and regulatory authorities do and will continue to closely monitor our and our contractor’s compliance through, among other methods, inspections. Noncompliance with applicable laws and requirements can result in various adverse consequences and regulatory enforcement actions, including delay in approving or refusal to approve product licenses or other applications, suspension or termination of clinical investigations, revocation of approvals previously granted, fines, criminal prosecution, civil and criminal penalties, restitution or disgorgement of profits, recall or seizure of products, exclusion from having our products reimbursed by federal health care programs, the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, corporate integrity agreements or consent decrees, refusal to permit product import or export, modifications to labeling or promotional materials, issuance of corrective information, regulatory authority public statements, warning, untitled, or cyber letters, requirements for post-market studies or REMS, injunctions against shipping products and total or partial suspension of production and/or refusal to allow a company to enter into governmental supply contracts. Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining product approval and market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, or could substantially increase the costs and expenses of developing and commercializing such product, which in turn could delay or prevent us from generating significant revenues from its sale. Any of these events could further have other material and adverse effects on our operations and business and could adversely impact our stock price and could significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

The process of obtaining requisite FDA approval has historically been costly and time-consuming. Current FDA requirements for a new human biological product to be marketed in the United States include: (1) the successful conclusion of preclinical laboratory and animal tests, if appropriate, to gain preliminary information on the product’s safety; (2) filing with the FDA of an IND to conduct human clinical trials for drugs or biologics; (3) the successful completion of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of the investigational new drug for its recommended use; and (4) filing by a company and acceptance and approval by the FDA of a BLA for marketing approval of a biologic, to allow commercial distribution of a biologic product. The FDA also requires that any drug or formulation to be tested in humans be manufactured in accordance with its cGMP regulations. This has been extended to include any drug that will be tested for safety in animals in support of human testing. The cGMPs set certain minimum requirements for procedures, record-keeping and the physical characteristics of the laboratories used in the production of these drugs. A delay in one or more of the procedural steps outlined above could be harmful to us in terms of getting our immunotherapies through clinical testing and to market.

We may not obtain or maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including market exclusivity.

Although we have been granted FDA orphan drug designation for AXAL for use in the treatment of anal cancer, HPV-associated head and neck cancer, Stage II-IV invasive cervical cancer and for ADXS-HER2 for the treatment of osteosarcoma in the United States, as well as EMA orphan drug designation for AXAL for the treatment of anal cancer and for ADXS-HER2 for the treatment of osteosarcoma in the EU, we may not receive the benefits associated with orphan drug designation. This may result from a failure to maintain orphan drug status or result from a competing product reaching the market that has an orphan designation for the same disease indication. Moreover, while orphan drug designation does provide us with certain advantages, it neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a product candidate nor gives the product candidate any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process.

Under U.S. rules for orphan drugs, if such a competing product reaches the market before ours does, if such product is considered by FDA to be the same as ours, and if such product is intended for the same orphan indication, the competing product could potentially obtain a scope of market exclusivity that limits or precludes our product from being sold in the United States for seven years unless we can demonstrate that our product is clinically superior. Even if we obtain exclusivity, the FDA could subsequently approve the same drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior to ours in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. A competitor also may receive approval of different products for the same indication for which our orphan product has exclusivity or obtain approval for the same product but for a different indication for which the orphan product has exclusivity. Moreover, we may not be able to maintain our orphan drug designation or exclusivity and our product candidates would not be eligible for exclusivity if the approved indication is broader than the orphan drug designation.

In addition, if and when we request orphan drug designation in Europe, the European exclusivity period is ten years but can be reduced to six years if the drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation or if the drug is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified. Orphan drug exclusivity may be lost if the FDA or EMEA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.

We may incur substantial liabilities from any product liability claims if our insurance coverage for those claims is inadequate.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our immunotherapies in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if the approved products are sold commercially. An individual may bring a liability claim against us if one of the immunotherapies causes, or merely appears to have caused, an injury. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against the product liability claim, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

We have Product Liability and Clinical Trial Liability insurance coverage for each clinical trial. We do not have product liability insurance for sold commercial products because we do not have products on the market. We plan to expand such coverage to include the sale of commercial products if marketing approval is obtained for any of our immunotherapies. However, insurance coverage is increasingly expensive and we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost. Further, we may not be able to obtain insurance coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.

We may not receive Fast Track Designation, Breakthrough Therapy Designation or any other designation that we may apply for from the FDA and, if granted, such designations may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.

The FDA has granted Fast Track Designation for AXAL for adjuvant therapy for high-risk locally advanced cervical cancer patients, and has granted Fast Track Designation for ADXS-HER2 for patients with newly-diagnosed, non-metastatic, surgically-resectable osteosarcoma. We may seek Breakthrough Therapy Designation for our product candidates or Fast Track Designation for certain of our other product candidates. There is no guarantee, however, that we will be able to obtain or maintain such designations.

The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant any special designation, so even if we believe one of our product candidates is eligible for this designation, we cannot assure you that the FDA would decide to grant it. Additionally, even if we do receive a special designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may also withdraw the designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.

The results of clinical trials conducted at clinical trial sites outside the United States might not be accepted by the FDA, and data developed outside of a foreign jurisdiction similarly might not be accepted by such foreign regulatory authority.

Some of the clinical trials for our product candidates that are being or will be conducted through our partnerships and collaborations may be conducted outside the United States, and we intend in the future to conduct additional clinical trials outside the United States. Although the FDA, European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the relevant jurisdiction, acceptance of these data is subject to certain conditions. For example, the FDA requires that the clinical trial must be well designed and conducted and performed by qualified investigators in accordance with ethical principles such as IRB or ethics committee approval and informed consent, the trial population must adequately represent the U.S. population, and the data must be applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice in ways that the FDA deems clinically meaningful. In addition, while these clinical trials are subject to the applicable local laws, acceptance of the data by the FDA will be dependent upon its determination that the trials were conducted consistent with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations. There can be no assurance that the FDA will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States as adequate support of a marketing application. Similarly, we must also ensure that any data submitted to foreign regulatory authorities adheres to their standards and requirements for clinical trials and there can be no assurance a comparable foreign regulatory authority would accept data from trials conducted outside of its jurisdiction.

Our relationships with healthcare providers and physicians and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of pharmaceutical products. Arrangements with third-party payors and customers can expose pharmaceutical manufacturers to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act, or FCA, which may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which such companies sell, market and distribute pharmaceutical products. In particular, the research of our product candidates, as well as the promotion, sales and marketing of healthcare items and services, as well as certain business arrangements in the healthcare industry, are subject to extensive laws designed to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, structuring and commission(s), certain customer incentive programs and other business arrangements generally. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of patient recruitment for clinical trials. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not limited to:

The distribution of pharmaceutical products is subject to additional requirements and regulations, including extensive record-keeping, licensing, storage and security requirements intended to prevent the unauthorized sale of pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical companies may also be subject to federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers.

The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. Federal and state enforcement bodies continue to closely scrutinize interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Ensuring business arrangements comply with applicable healthcare laws, as well as responding to possible investigations by government authorities, can be time and resource-consuming and can divert a company’s attention from the business.

It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in federal and state funded healthcare programs, contractual damages and the curtailment or restricting of our operations, as well as additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws. Further, if any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to significant criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs. Any action for violation of these laws, even if successfully defended, could cause a biopharmaceutical manufacturer to incur significant legal expenses and divert management’s attention from the operation of the business. Prohibitions or restrictions on sales or withdrawal of future marketed products could materially affect business in an adverse way.

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, the EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.

We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.

Even if we receive regulatory approval of any product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates.

If any of our product candidates are approved, they will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, distribution, sampling, record-keeping, conduct of post-marketing studies and submission of safety, efficacy and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In addition, we will be subject to continued compliance with cGMP and GCP requirements for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval.

Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authority requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any BLA, other marketing application and previous responses to inspection observations. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control.

Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. Certain endpoint data we hope to include in any approved product labeling also may not make it into such labeling, including exploratory or secondary endpoint data such as patient-reported outcome measures. The FDA may also require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategies, or REMS, program as a condition of approval of our product candidates, which could entail requirements for long-term patient follow-up, a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. In addition, if the FDA, EMA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves our product candidates, we will have to comply with requirements including submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports and registration.

The FDA may impose consent decrees or withdraw approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our product candidates, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information, imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to assess new safety risks or imposition of distribution restrictions or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:

The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Products may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. The policies of the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

Coverage and reimbursement may be limited or unavailable in certain market segments for our product candidates, if approved, which could make it difficult for us to sell any product candidates profitably.

The success of our product candidates, if approved, depends on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for, or accurately estimate the potential revenue from, our product candidates or assure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any product that we may develop.

Patients who are provided medical treatment for their conditions generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their treatment. Coverage and adequate reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and commercial payors is critical to new product acceptance.

Government authorities and other third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs and treatments they will cover and the amount of reimbursement. Coverage and reimbursement by a third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors, including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a product is:

In the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors. As a result, obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval of a product from a government or other third-party payor is a time-consuming and costly process that could require us to provide to each payor supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data for the use of our products on a payor-by-payor basis, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be obtained. Even if we obtain coverage for a given product, the resulting reimbursement payment rates might not be adequate for us to achieve or sustain profitability or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. Additionally, third-party payors may not cover, or provide adequate reimbursement for, long-term follow-up evaluations required following the use of product candidates, once approved. Patients are unlikely to use our product candidates, once approved, unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate

Ongoing healthcare legislative and regulatory reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Changes in regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (i) changes to our manufacturing arrangements; (ii) additions or modifications to product labeling; (iii) the recall or discontinuation of our products; or (iv) additional record-keeping requirements. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business.

In the United States, there have been and continue to be a number of legislative initiatives to contain healthcare costs. For example, in March 2010, the ACA was passed, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacted the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, addressed a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and extended the rebate program to individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, established annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs and created a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer 70% point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D.

Some of the provisions of the ACA have yet to be fully implemented, while certain provisions have been subject to judicial and Congressional challenges, as well as efforts by the Trump administration to repeal or replace certain aspects of the ACA. However, following several years of litigation in the federal courts, in June 2021, the United States Supreme Court upheld the ACA when it dismissed a legal challenge to the ACA’s constitutionality. Further legislative and regulatory changes under the ACA remain possible, although the Biden presidential administration has been taking steps to strengthen the ACA and the 117th Congress is not expected to have the same interest in repealing the law, in part due to the healthcare economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on many subsets of the U.S. population. In addition to the ACA, there have been and will likely continue to be other federal and state changes that affect the provision of healthcare goods and services in the United States. While we are unable to predict what changes may ultimately be enacted, to the extent that future changes affect how our products and services are paid for and reimbursed by government and private payers, our business could be adversely impacted. Moreover, complying with any new legislation or reversing changes implemented under the ACA could be time-intensive and expensive, resulting in a material adverse effect on our business. Litigation and legislation over the ACA are likely to continue, with unpredictable and uncertain results. We will continue to evaluate the effect that the ACA and possible changes and challenges to it has on our business.

Inadequate funding for the FDA and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result.

Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, upon completion of this offering and in our operations as a public company, future government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.

Approval of our product candidates does not ensure successful commercialization and reimbursement.

We are not currently marketing our product candidates, nor can we until they are approved; however, we are seeking partnering and commercial opportunities for our products. We cannot assure you that we will be able to commercialize any of our product candidates ourselves or find a commercialization partner or that we will be able to agree to acceptable terms with any partner to launch and commercialize our products.

The commercial success of our product candidates is subject to risks in both the United States and European countries. In addition, in European countries, pricing and payment of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to more extensive governmental control than in the United States. Pricing negotiations with European governmental authorities can take six to 12 months or longer after the receipt of regulatory approval and product launch. If reimbursement is unavailable in any country in which reimbursement is sought, limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at or reduced to unsatisfactory levels, our ability or any potential partner’s ability to successfully commercialize in such a country would be impacted negatively. Furthermore, if these measures prevent us or any potential partner from selling on a profitable basis in a particular country, they could prevent the commercial launch or continued sale in that country and could adversely impact the commercialization market opportunity in other countries.

Moreover, as a condition of approval, the regulatory authorities may require that we conduct post-approval studies. Those studies may reveal new safety or efficacy findings regarding our drug that could adversely impact the continued commercialization or future market opportunity in other countries.

In addition, we predominantly rely on a network of suppliers and vendors to manufacture our products. Should a regulatory authority make any significant findings on an inspection of our own operations or the operations of those companies, the ability for us to continue producing our products could be adversely impacted and further production could cease. Regulatory GMP requirements are extensive and can present a risk of injury or recall, among other risks, if not manufactured or labeled properly under GMPs.

Our potential revenues from the commercialization of our product candidates are subject to these and other factors, and therefore we may never reach or maintain profitability.

Even if we are successful in obtaining market approval, commercial success of any of our product candidates will also depend in large part on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payers, including government payers such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs and managed care organizations, which may be affected by existing and future health care reform measures designed to reduce the cost of health care. Third-party payers could require us to conduct additional studies, including post-marketing studies related to the cost effectiveness of a product, to qualify for reimbursement, which could be costly and divert our resources. If government and other health care payers were not to provide adequate coverage and reimbursement levels for one any of our products once approved, market acceptance and commercial success would be reduced.

In addition, if one of our products is approved for marketing, we will be subject to significant regulatory obligations regarding product promotion, the submission of safety and other post-marketing information and reports and registration, and will need to continue to comply (or ensure that our third party providers comply) with cGMPs, and Good Clinical Practices, or GCPs, for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. In addition, there is always the risk that we or a regulatory authority might identify previously unknown problems with a product post-approval, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency. Compliance with these requirements is costly, and any failure to comply or other issues with our product candidates’ post-market approval could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to our Intellectual Property

We rely upon patents to protect our technology. We may be unable to protect our intellectual property rights and we may be liable for infringing the intellectual property rights of others.

Our ability to compete effectively will depend on our ability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, including the Lm-LLO based immunotherapy platform technology, and the proprietary technology of others with whom we have entered into collaboration and licensing agreements.

Currently, we own or have rights to several hundred patents and applications, which are owned, licensed from, or co-owned with Penn and Merck. We have obtained the rights to all future patent applications in this field originating in the laboratories of Dr. Yvonne Paterson and Dr. Fred Frankel, at the University of Pennsylvania.

We own or hold licenses to a number of issued patents and U.S. pending patent applications, as well as foreign patents and foreign counterparts. Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain patent protection both in the United States and in other countries for our product candidates, as well as the methods for treating patients in the product indications using these product candidates. Such patent protection is costly to obtain and maintain, and we cannot guarantee that sufficient funds will be available. Our ability to protect our product candidates from unauthorized or infringing use by third parties depends in substantial part on our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents. Due to evolving legal standards relating to the patentability, validity and enforceability of patents covering pharmaceutical inventions and the scope of claims made under these patents, our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patents is uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. Even if our product candidates, as well as methods for treating patients for prescribed indications using these product candidates are covered by valid and enforceable patents and have claims with sufficient scope, disclosure and support in the specification, the patents will provide protection only for a limited amount of time. Accordingly, rights under any issued patents may not provide us with sufficient protection for our product candidates or provide sufficient protection to afford us a commercial advantage against competitive products or processes.

In addition, we cannot guarantee that any patents will issue from any pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us. Even if patents have issued or will issue, we cannot guarantee that the claims of these patents are or will be valid or enforceable or will provide us with any significant protection against competitive products or otherwise be commercially valuable to us. The laws of some foreign jurisdictions do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as in the United States and many companies have encountered significant difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Furthermore, different countries have different procedures for obtaining patents, and patents issued in different countries offer different degrees of protection against use of the patented invention by others. If we encounter such difficulties in protecting or are otherwise precluded from effectively protecting our intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions, our business prospects could be substantially harmed.

The patent positions of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including our patent position, involve complex legal and factual questions, and, therefore, validity and enforceability cannot be predicted with certainty. Patents may be challenged, deemed unenforceable, invalidated, or circumvented as a result of laws, rules and guidelines that are changed due to legislative, judicial or administrative actions, or review, which render our patents unenforceable or invalid. Our patents can be challenged by our competitors who can argue that our patents are invalid, unenforceable, lack utility, sufficient written description or enablement, or that the claims of the issued patents should be limited or narrowly construed. Patents also will not protect our product candidates if competitors devise ways of making or using these product candidates without infringing our patents.

We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our technologies, methods of treatment, product candidates, and any future products are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets and we have the funds to enforce our rights, if necessary.

The expiration of our owned or licensed patents before completing the research and development of our product candidates and receiving all required approvals in order to sell and distribute the products on a commercial scale can adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Litigation regarding patents, patent applications and other proprietary rights may be expensive and time consuming. If we are involved in such litigation, it could cause delays in bringing product candidates to market and harm our ability to operate.

Our success will depend in part on our ability to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Other parties may obtain patents in the future and allege that the products or use of our technologies infringe these patent claims or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization.

In addition, third parties may challenge or infringe upon our existing or future patents. Proceedings involving our patents or patent applications or those of others could result in adverse decisions regarding:

Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and divert management time and attention in pursuing these proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on us. If we are unable to avoid infringing the patent rights of others, we may be required to seek a license, defend an infringement action or challenge the validity of the patents in court. Patent litigation is costly and time consuming. We may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion. In addition, if we do not obtain a license, develop or obtain non-infringing technology, fail to defend an infringement action successfully or have infringed patents declared valid, we may:

We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.

We also rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary technologies, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers, and other advisors to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

Some of our products are dependent upon our license agreement with Penn; if we breach the license agreement and/or fail to make payments due and owing to Penn under our license agreement, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Pursuant to the terms of our license agreement with Penn, which has been amended from time to time, we have acquired exclusive worldwide licenses for patents and patent applications related to our proprietary Listeria vaccine technology. The license provides us with the exclusive commercial rights to the patent portfolio developed at Penn as of the effective date of the license, in connection with Dr. Paterson and requires us to pay various milestone, legal, filing and licensing payments to commercialize the technology. As of January 31, 2022, we owed $100,000 to Penn. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to make all future payments due and owing thereunder, that such licenses will not be terminated or expire during critical periods, that we will be able to obtain licenses from Penn for other rights that may be important to us, or, if obtained, that such licenses will be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. The loss of any current or future licenses from Penn or the exclusivity rights provided therein could materially harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

If we are unable to obtain licenses needed for the development of our product candidates, or if we breach any of the agreements under which we license rights to patents or other intellectual property from third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

If we are unable to maintain and/or obtain licenses needed for the development of our product candidates in the future, we may have to develop alternatives to avoid infringing on the patents of others, potentially causing increased costs and delays in drug development and introduction or precluding the development, manufacture, or sale of planned products. Some of our licenses provide for limited periods of exclusivity that require minimum license fees and payments and/or may be extended only with the consent of the licensor. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to meet these minimum license fees in the future or that these third parties will grant extensions on any or all such licenses. This same restriction may be contained in licenses obtained in the future.

Additionally, we can provide no assurance that the patents underlying any licenses will be valid and enforceable. To the extent any products developed by us are based on licensed technology, royalty payments on the licenses will reduce our gross profit from such product sales and may render the sales of such products uneconomical. In addition, the loss of any current or future licenses or the exclusivity rights provided therein could materially harm our business, financial condition and our operations.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Securities and this Offering

Because we do not have sufficient authorized shares of common stock on a fully diluted basis, the excess outstanding capital exposes us to liability, and we will need to increase our authorized shares of common stock or execute a reverse stock split.

As of the date of this prospectus, our authorized capital consists of 170,000,000 shares of common stock and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock. As of April 30, 2022, 145,638,459 shares of the authorized common stock are issued and outstanding, 888,058 shares are reserved for outstanding stock options and 30,225,397 shares are authorized for outstanding warrants. Concurrently with the closing of this offering, the shares of our common stock then outstanding will be subject to a reverse split on a one-for-      basis.

Our fully diluted capital structure is presently well above the amount of shares of common stock we are authorized to issue. Therefore, until we either increase our authorized shares of common stock or execute a reverse stock split (as contemplated with the closing of this offering), we are exposed to the risk of liability arising from the excess fully diluted capitalization. Therefore, in addition to the dilutive effect any exercises of the securities would have, in the event we are unable to obtain the requisite shareholder approval or waivers, or we are delayed in those efforts, the Company and your investment in us would be at risk.

Because we are quoted on the OTCQX instead of an exchange or national quotation system, our investors find it more difficult to trade in our stock, or might experience volatility in the market price of the shares of our common stock.

Shares of our common stock is quoted on the OTCQX. The OTCQX is often highly illiquid, in part because it does not have a national quotation system by which potential investors can follow the market price of shares except through information received and generated by a limited number of broker-dealers that make markets in particular stocks. There is a greater chance of volatility for securities that are quoted on the OTCQX as compared to a national exchange or quotation system. This volatility may be caused by a variety of factors, including the lack of readily available price quotations, the absence of consistent administrative supervision of bid and ask quotations, lower trading volume, and market conditions. Investors in the shares of our common stock may experience high fluctuations in the market price and volume of the trading market for our securities. These fluctuations, when they occur, have a negative effect on the market price for our securities. Accordingly, our stockholders may not be able to realize a fair price from their shares when they determine to sell them or may have to hold them for a substantial period of time until the market for the shares of our common stock improves.

We have applied to list our common stock on Nasdaq under the symbol “ADXS”. Subject to approval of listing on Nasdaq, our common stock will be listed on Nasdaq or, if Nasdaq approval is not obtained, then we expect our common stock to remain listed on the OTCQX. No assurance can be given that our listing application will be approved by Nasdaq or that a liquid trading market for our common stock will develop.

Our stock is listed on the OTCQX, if we fail to remain current on our reporting requirements or are unable to regain compliance with the OTCQX bid price requirements in a timely fashion, we could be removed from the OTCQX which would limit the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities in the secondary market.

Companies trading on the OTCQX, must be reporting issuers under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and must be current in their reports under Section 13, in order to maintain price quotation privileges on the OTCQX. As a result, the market liquidity for our securities could be severely adversely affected by limiting the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities and the ability of stockholders to sell their securities in the secondary market. In addition, on May 10, 2022, we were notified by the OTCQX that our common stock closed below $0.10 for more than 30 consecutive calendar days and no longer meets the Standards for Continued Qualification for the OTCQX U.S. tier as per the OTCQX Rules for U.S. Companies. If the bid price for the common stock has not stayed at or above the $0.10 minimum for ten consecutive trading days by November 7, 2022, then our common stock will be moved from OTCQX to the OTC Pink market. If we fail to remain current on our reporting requirements, we may be unable to get relisted on the OTCQX and if we are unable to regain compliance with the OTCQX bid price requirements our common stock will no longer be listed on OTCQX, either of which may have a material adverse effect on the Company.

We could issue additional “blank check” preferred stock without stockholder approval with the effect of diluting then current stockholder interests and impairing their voting rights, and provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable.

Our certificate of incorporation, as amended, provides that we may authorize and issue up to 5,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock with designations, rights, and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our Board. Our Board is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue one or more series of preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting, or other rights, which could dilute the interest of or impair the voting power of our holders of shares of common stock. The issuance of a series of preferred stock could be used as a method of discouraging, delaying, or preventing a change in control. For example, it would be possible for our Board to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change control of our Company.

Sales of additional equity securities may adversely affect the market price of the shares of our common stock and your rights may be reduced.

We expect to continue to incur drug development and selling, general and administrative costs, and to satisfy our funding requirements, we will need to sell additional equity securities, which may be subject to registration rights and warrants with anti-dilutive protective provisions. The sale or the proposed sale of substantial amounts of the shares of our common stock or other equity securities in the public markets may adversely affect the market price of the shares of our common stock and our stock price may decline substantially. Our shareholders may experience substantial dilution and a reduction in the price that they are able to obtain upon sale of their shares. Also, new equity securities issued may have greater rights, preferences or privileges than our existing shares of common stock.

If you purchase common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of your investment.

You will suffer immediate and substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the common stock if you purchase shares in this offering. Based on an assumed public offering price of $        per share, after giving effect to this offering, purchasers of common stock in this offering will experience immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $         per share. See “Dilution” for a more detailed description of the dilution to new investors in the offering.

The price of the shares of our common stock may be volatile.

The trading price of the shares of our common stock may fluctuate substantially. The price of the shares of our common stock that will prevail in the market may be higher or lower than the price you have paid, depending on many factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose part or all of your investment in the shares of our common stock and warrants. Those factors that could cause fluctuations include, but are not limited to, the following:

In addition, the stock market has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of small companies. Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. Further, a systemic decline in the financial markets and related factors beyond our control may cause our share price to decline rapidly and unexpectedly.

So long as the shares of our common stock continue to be listed on the OTCQX, they could be subject to the so-called “penny stock” rules that impose restrictive sales practice requirements.

As the shares of our common stock have been de-listed from the Nasdaq Capital Market and are now listed on the OTCQX, which is not a “national securities exchange” as defined by the Exchange Act, and thus the shares of our common stock will be become subject to the so-called “penny stock” rules if the shares have a market value of less than $5.00 per share. The SEC has adopted regulations that define a penny stock to include any stock that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions, including an exception for stock traded on a national securities exchange. The SEC regulations impose restrictive sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell penny stocks to persons other than established customers and accredited investors. An accredited investor generally is a person whose individual annual income exceeded $200,000, or whose joint annual income with a spouse exceeded $300,000 during the past two years and who expects their annual income to exceed the applicable level during the current year, or a person with net worth in excess of $1.0 million, not including the value of the investor’s principal residence and excluding mortgage debt secured by the investor’s principal residence up to the estimated fair market value of the home, except that any mortgage debt incurred by the investor within 60 days prior to the date of the transaction shall not be excluded from the determination of the investor’s net worth unless the mortgage debt was incurred to acquire the residence. For transactions covered by this rule, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and must have received the purchaser’s written consent to the transaction prior to sale. This means that so long as the shares of our common stock are not listed on a national securities exchange, the ability of stockholders to sell their shares of common stock in the secondary market could be adversely affected.

If a transaction involving a penny stock is not exempt from the SEC’s rule, a broker-dealer must deliver a disclosure schedule relating to the penny stock market to each investor prior to a transaction. The broker-dealer also must disclose the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and its registered representative, current quotations for the penny stock, and, if the broker-dealer is the sole market-maker, the broker-dealer must disclose this fact and the broker-dealer’s presumed control over the market. Finally, monthly statements must be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the customer’s account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

There is no public market for the Common Stock Purchase Warrants being offered by us in this offering.

There is no established public trading market for the Common Stock Purchase Warrants and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply to list the Common Stock Purchase Warrants on any national securities exchange or other nationally recognized trading system, including the QTCQX or Nasdaq. Without an active market, the liquidity of the Common Stock Purchase Warrants will be limited, which may adversely affect their value.

Holders of Common Stock Purchase Warrants purchased in this offering will have no rights as common stockholders until such holders exercise their Common Stock Purchase Warrants and acquire the shares of our common stock.

Until holders of Common Stock Purchase Warrants acquire the shares of our common stock upon exercise thereof, such holders will have no rights with respect to the shares of common stock underlying the Common Stock Purchase Warrants. Upon exercise of the Common Stock Purchase Warrants, the holders will be entitled to exercise the rights of a common stockholder only as to matters for which the record date occurs after the exercise date.

The Common Stock Purchase Warrants are speculative in nature.

The Common Stock Purchase Warrants do not confer any rights of common stock ownership on its holders, such as voting rights or the right to receive dividends, but rather merely represent the right to acquire shares of common stock at a fixed price for a limited period of time. Following this offering, the market value of the Common Stock Purchase Warrants, if any, is uncertain and there can be no assurance that the market value of the Common Stock Purchase Warrants will equal or exceed their imputed offering price. The Common Stock Purchase Warrants will not be listed or quoted for trading on any market or exchange. There can be no assurance that the market price of the shares of common stock will ever equal or exceed the exercise price of the Common Stock Purchase Warrants, and consequently, it may not ever be profitable for holders of the Common Stock Purchase Warrants to exercise the Common Stock Purchase Warrants.

We may be at an increased risk of securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.

The market price of the shares of our common stock may be volatile, and in the past companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

We do not intend to pay cash dividends.

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on the shares of our common stock, and we do not anticipate declaring or paying cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any future determination as to the payment of cash dividends on the shares of our common stock will be at our Board of Directors’ discretion and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements and other factors that our Board of Directors considers to be relevant.

Our certificate of incorporation, bylaws and Delaware law have anti-takeover provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control, which may cause our stock price to decline.

Our certificate of incorporation, Bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions which could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if closing such a transaction would be beneficial to our shareholders. We are authorized to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock. This preferred stock may be issued in one or more series, the terms of which may be determined at the time of issuance by our Board of Directors without further action by shareholders. The terms of any series of preferred stock may include voting rights (including the right to vote as a series on particular matters), preferences as to dividend, liquidation, conversion and redemption rights and sinking fund provisions. The issuance of any preferred stock could materially adversely affect the rights of the holders of the shares of our common stock, and therefore, reduce the value of the shares of our common stock. In the past, our Series D convertible redeemable preferred stock included voting rights superior to those of our common stock which had a dispositive effect on certain matters put to a vote of all shareholders. While this series of preferred stock has since been redeemed, the terms of one or more series of preferred stock may allow the holders of such preferred stock to exert significant control over our management and approvals requiring stockholder approval. In particular, specific rights granted to future holders of preferred stock could be used to restrict our ability to merge with, or sell our assets to, a third party and thereby preserve control by the present management.

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation, Bylaws and Delaware law also could have the effect of discouraging potential acquisition proposals or making a tender offer or delaying or preventing a change in control, including changes a shareholder might consider favorable. Such provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our management. In particular, the certificate of incorporation, Bylaws and Delaware law, as applicable, among other things; provide the Board of Directors with the ability to alter the Bylaws without shareholder approval and provide those vacancies on the Board of Directors may be filled by a majority of directors in office, and less than a quorum.

These provisions are expected to discourage certain types of coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids and to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of our company to first negotiate with its board. These provisions may delay or prevent someone from acquiring or merging with us, which may cause the market price of the shares of our common stock to decline.