The Real Reason a Million Irish People Starved Was Never the Potato What They Never Taught You
History Unburied
224,760 views Oct 10, 2026
In December 1846, a Cork magistrate pushed open a cabin door in Skibbereen and found six people so starved he took them for corpses. That same winter, ships were leaving Irish harbours loaded with oats, calves, pork and butter. The same potato blight hit Belgium, the Netherlands and the Scottish Highlands, but only Ireland lost about a million people. So why did a million Irish people really die in the Great Famine? This documentary follows the real reasons behind Ireland's Great Famine of 1845 to 1852, An Gorta Mór, the Great Hunger. The land and tenancy system and the absentee landlords. The Lumper potato that more than three million people lived on. Peel's Indian corn and the repeal of the Corn Laws. Lord John Russell's laissez-faire government and Charles Trevelyan's own words. The public works, the soup kitchens that fed three million people a day and were shut down anyway, and the Gregory clause, the quarter-acre clause that passed by 117 votes to 7. The workhouses, the evictions and clearances, the coffin ships to Grosse Île, the honest numbers on Irish food exports and grain imports, and the question people still argue about. Was the Irish Famine genocide, or a catastrophe made by policy? If your school taught you the potato and nothing else, type quarter acre in the comments, and tell us where you're watching from. Did your family leave Ireland in the famine years? Share their story below, and subscribe to History Unburied for the documents, the names and the numbers behind history's most famous events. Phytophthora started it, and a chain of decisions, every one of them on paper with names and dates beside it, turned it into a catastrophe. A quarter of an acre was the line Parliament drew in 1847 between a starving family and its next meal.
History Unburied
Notable 2024 Activities
On January 29, 2024, the Company and Metalmark Capital Partners (“Metalmark” or “MM”) entered into a Unit Purchase Agreement (the “MM UPA”), pursuant to which the Company acquired all of the preferred units of Octomera LLC (“Octomera”) previously owned by MM (the “MM Acquisition”), and effective that date, reconsolidated Octomera into its accounts. The Company currently owns 100% of the equity interests of Octomera. The Company had previously, from June 30, 2023 (“date of deconsolidation”), deconsolidated Octomera from its consolidated financial statements.
On April 5, 2024, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase and Strategic Collaboration Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Griffin Fund 3 BIDCO, Inc., (“Germfree”), for the sale by the Company of five OMPULs to Germfree, which will be incorporated into Germfree’s lease fleet and leased back to the Company or to third-party lessees designated by the Company. On November 5, 2024, Germfree notified the Company of its intention not to lease any OMPULS back to the Company. Germfree confirmed that it has satisfied its obligations to the Company under the Purchase Agreement. On June 13, 2025 the Company and Germfree resolved all remaining differences between themselves.
On May 21, 2024, the Company entered into debt exchange agreements with three convertible debt holders pursuant to which a total of $16,007,372 of outstanding principal and accrued interest was exchanged for an aggregate of 1,577,695 shares of common stock of the Company. On July 10, 2024, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Broaden Bioscience and Technology Corp. (“Broaden”) for the purchase by the Company of the following assets (the “Assets”): The process and algorithms developed by Broaden for processing CAR-T, RACE CAR-T and all oncology products that will enable the Company to develop and sell treatments to third parties, which include Broaden’s rights, title and interests in and to all intellectual property, including, but not limited to, patents, patent applications, know-how, materials, licenses, permits and approvals related thereto.
On July 12, 2024, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Theracell Advanced Biotechnology S.A, Theracell Advanced Biotechnology LTD and IDNA Genomics Public Limited (collectively, “Theracell”) for the purchase by the Company of the following assets (the “Assets”) owned by Theracell: 1) 50% of the outstanding ownership rights and equity interests in Theracell Laboratories IKE (“Theracell IKE”) not currently owned by the Company so that the Company shall own 100% of the outstanding equity interests of Theracell IKE; and 2) Certain products (the “Products”), which include: (i) the manufacturing processes, algorithms, work instructions, test methods, standard operating procedures and specifications for producing Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (“TILs”) that meet current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) requirements that will enable the Company to potentially use this product as a platform for treating a wide variety of solid tumors; (ii) a 3rd generation GMP lentivirus production process, which is part of a therapy manufacturing process that will enable the Company to potentially treat Beta Thalassemia therapies; (iii) an oncolytic virus cell carrier platform which will enable the Company to potentially develop treatments for an array of cancers; (iv) a process for the potential treatment of mesenchymal stem cells for kidney disorders; (v) a process for controlled isolation of regenerative EVs derived from mesenchymal stem cells for the potential treatment of kidney disorders; and (vi) bioxome encapsulated APIs for improved transdermal delivery and bioavailability for the potential treatment of atopic dermatitis/wound healing; including Theracell’s rights, title and interests in and to all intellectual property, including, but not limited to, patents, patent applications, know-how, materials, licenses, permits and approvals.
On October 19, 2024, Mark Goodman resigned as a director of the Company, On October 28, 2024, the Board of Directors of the Company, following the recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board, elected Adam Pelavin, Jagannathan Bhalaji, and Santhosh Nagaraj to serve as members of the Board. On December 24, 2024, Jagannathan Bhalaji resigned as a director of the Company. On August 9, 2025, Yaron Adler and Adam Pelavin resigned as directors of the Company. On August 18, 2025, Santhosh Nagaraja resigned as a director of the Company.
On August 8, 2025, Mr. Victor Miller, the Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of the Company resigned. Vered Caplan assumed the role of the principal financial and accounting officer following his resignation.
On March 10, 2026, the Company appointed Douglas Karriker as its Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary, effective March 10, 2026.
On November 8, 2024, the two Belgian subsidiaries of the Company, viz. Orgenesis Belgium SRL and Orgenesis Services SRL (“the Belgian subsidiaries”), petitioned the Liège Business Court in Belgium (“Court”) for allowing their judicial reorganization pursuant to Article XX.41 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law. The petition follows the current inability of the Belgian subsidiaries to pay employee payroll expenses and accounts payable. The Court ordered the liquidation of the two subsidiaries, which were deconsolidated from the Company’s accounts.
Revenue Model, Business Development and Licenses
Our POCare Platform is comprised of three enabling components: a multitude of licensed cell based POCare Therapies to be produced in closed, automated POCare Technology systems across a collaborative POCare Network. Our therapies include, but are not limited to, autologous, cell-based immunotherapies, therapeutics for metabolic diseases, anti-viral diseases, and tissue regeneration. We are establishing and positioning the business to bring point-of-care therapies to patients in a scalable way working directly with hospitals and through regional partners and organizations active in autologous cell therapy product development, including facilities in various countries in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia. Our goal through the POCare Platform is to enable a rapid, globally harmonized pathway for these therapies to reach large numbers of patients at lowered costs through efficient, and decentralized production. Our POCare Network brings together industry partners, research institutes and hospitals worldwide to achieve harmonized, regulated clinical development and production of the therapies.
We are focused on technology in licensing and therapeutic collaborations, and we out-license therapies marketing rights and manufacturing rights to partners. In many cases, the partners are responsible for the preparation of clinical trials, local regulatory approvals and regional marketing activities. Such licensing includes exclusive or nonexclusive, sublicensable, royalty bearing rights and license to the Orgenesis Background IP as required to manufacture, distribute and market and sell Orgenesis products within the relevant territories. In consideration of the rights and the licenses so granted, we receive a royalty in the range of ten percent of the net sales generated by the partners and/or licensees or sublicensees (as applicable) with respect to the Orgenesis products.
Our business model of partnering with regional partners for initial clinical development of licensed POCare Therapies allows us to de-risk our clinical development plans. We have access to the development and clinical data generated by our partners based on which we can make informed decisions as to which of our assets have the most promising value for development in major markets such as the US and EU. Our goal is once we have proof of concept and clinical data from our regional partners, we can focus on developing such therapeutic products.
Further to revenues generated from out-licensing, we generate revenues from POCare Services and sales which is comprised of:
●R&D development services provided to out-licensing partners
We have signed POCare development services Master Services Agreements (“MSAs”) with our partners. In terms of the MSAs, we provide certain broadly defined development services that relate to our licensed therapies designed to develop or enhance the therapy with the objective of preparing it for clinical use. Such services, per therapy, include regulatory services, pre-clinical studies, intellectual property services, development services, and GMP process translation. We also provide support services to our customers.
●Hospital supply
Hospital services includes the sale or lease of products and the performance of processing services to our POCare hospitals or other medical providers. We either work directly with hospitals or receive payments through our regional partnerships.
●Cell process development revenue
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We provide cell process development services in some regions to third party customers. Those services are unique to the customers who retain the ownership of the intellectual property created through the process.
●POCare cell processing
We provide distributed cell processing services for third party customers at POCare Centers in close proximity to patients.
Our POCare revenue is as follows:
Years Ended December 31, Revenue stream: 2024 2023 (in thousands) POCare development services $ $-Cell process development services and hospital services 1,020 515 License fees 15 15 Total $1,035 $530
Liquidity
We do not currently have sufficient funds to service our operations and our expenses and other liquidity needs and require additional capital immediately, and our independent registered public accountants and management have expressed substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern.
As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $0.1 million and $0.8 million, respectively, and working capital deficits of approximately $26 million and $12 million, respectively. We continue to incur significant expenses in connection with operating as a public company. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had accounts payable and accrued expenses of $12.8 million and $8.7 million, respectively.
We had approximately $65.8 million in outstanding debts as of December 31, 2024, inclusive of the calculated fair market value, and not the actual repayment amount, of our convertible loans, revolving line of credit, loans with related parties, and other debt obligations. In September 2025, we repaid $6.3 million of this outstanding debt.
We intend to continue to seek delays on certain payments and explore other ways of potentially reducing expenses with the goal of preserving cash until additional financing is secured. These efforts may not be successful or sufficient in amount or on a timely basis to meet our ongoing capital requirements. We continue to actively seek additional financing. In the absence of additional sources of liquidity, we do not have sufficient existing cash resources to meet operating and liquidity needs. However, there is no assurance that we will be able to timely secure such additional liquidity or be successful in raising additional funds or that such required funds, if available, will be available on acceptable terms or that they will not have a significant dilutive effect on our existing stockholders. In addition, we are unable to determine at this time whether any of these potential sources of liquidity will be adequate to support our operations or provide sufficient cash flows to us to meet our obligations as they become due and continue as a going concern. In the event we determine that additional sources of liquidity will not be available to us or will not allow us to meet our obligations as they become due, we may need to file a voluntary petition for relief under the United States Bankruptcy Code in order to implement a restructuring plan or liquidation. In addition, substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern may cause investors or other financing sources to be unwilling to provide funding to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If sufficient funds are not available, we will have to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate some or all of our business activities, which would adversely affect our business prospects and our ability to continue our operations..
Competition in the Cell Therapy Field
The biopharmaceutical industry is intensely competitive. There is continuous demand for innovation and speed, and as the cell-based therapies market evolves, there is always the risk that a competitor may be able to develop other compounds or drugs that are able to achieve similar or better results for indications. Potential competition includes major multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, universities, and other research institutions. Many of these competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, and other resources, such as larger research and development staff and experienced marketing and manufacturing organizations with established sales forces. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies.
Currently, we are not aware of any other companies pursuing a business model similar to what we are developing under our POCare Platform. However, our competitors in the CGT field who are significantly larger and better capitalized than us could undertake strategies similar to what we are pursuing and even develop them at a much more rapid rate. These potential competitors include the same multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, universities, and other research institutions that are operating in the CGT field. In that respect, smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies.
Intellectual Property
We will be able to protect our technology and products from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent it is covered by valid and enforceable claims of our patents or is effectively maintained as trade secrets. Patents and other proprietary rights are thus an essential element of our business.
Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our product candidates, technology, and know-how, to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others, and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. Our policy is to seek to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing U.S. and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions, and improvements that are important to the development of our business. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovation, and in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.
In addition, we own or have exclusive rights to nineteen (19) United States patents, twenty one (21) foreign-issued patents, sixteen (16) pending patent applications in the United States, twenty seven (27) pending patent applications in foreign jurisdictions, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Korea, Panama, Russia, Singapore, and South Africa. These patents and patent applications relate, among others, to (1) dendritic cell based (whole cell) vaccines, and their use for treating cancer and viral diseases; (2) compositions comprising Ranpirnase and other ribonucleases and their use for treating viral diseases; (3) tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and their use for treating cancer; (4) compositions comprising immune cells for treating COVID-19; (5) therapeutic compositions comprising exosomes, bioxomes, and redoxomes; (6) Sterile bio-processing system for culturing cells; (7) chimeric antigen receptors (CARs); (8) Mobile Processing Units; (9) Cell-delivery devices; and (10) skin diseases treatment and anti-aging compositions.
We have two granted U.S. patents and a pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to dendritic cell-based (whole cell) vaccines, and their use for treating cancer and viral diseases. The granted U.S. patents will expire in 2037.
We have granted and pending U.S. patent applications directed, among others, to compositions comprising Ranpirnase and other ribonucleases for the treatment of viral diseases. Granted U.S. patents and if issued, any patents based on these applications will expire between 2024 and 2042. Counterpart granted patents and patents applications were filed in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, and South Africa. If issued, any patents based on these applications will expire between 2035 and 2042. These expiration dates do not include any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
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We have pending U.S. patent applications directed, among others, to therapeutic compositions comprising exosomes, bioxomes, and redoxomes. If issued, any patents based on these applications will expire between 2029 and 2041. Counterpart patents applications were filed in, China, Europe, India, Israel, and Japan, . If issued, any patents based on these applications will expire in 2039 and 2041. These expiration dates do not include any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We have a pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to immune cell-based vaccines comprising antigens against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). A counterpart patent application was also filed in Europe. If issued, any patents based on these applications will expire in 2043, without including any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We have granted U.S. patent and a pending U.S. patent application, directed, among others, to bioreactors for cell culture and automated devices for supporting cell therapies. The granted U.S. patents will expire in 2027. If issued, any patents based on pending applications will expire in 2041. Counterpart patent applications were filed in Israel, Japan, and Mexico. Patents were granted in Korea, China and Canada and will expire in 2027.
We have a pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and their use for treating cancer. If issued, patents will expire in 2042, without including any patent term extension that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We have pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to a sterile bio-processing system for culturing cells and methods for culturing cells, such as tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Counterpart patent applications were filed in China and Europe. If issued, any patent based on this application would expire in 2044, without including any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We have a pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to compositions comprising mesenchymal stem cells, and their use for treating solid tumors. If issued, any patent based on this application would expire in 2040. Counterpart patent applications were filed in Europe, and Israel. If issued, any patents based on these applications would expire in 2040. These expiration dates do not include any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We have a pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to methods of treating cancer or CNS-related diseases by intranasal administration of an oncolytic virus. If converted into national phase applications and issued, any patents based on these applications will expire in 2043, without including any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations. A counterpart patent application was filed in Europe.
We have two pending U.S. patent applications and a pending European patent application, directed, among others, to chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and their use for treating malignancies. Counterpart patent applications were filed in China and Hong-Kong. If issued, any patents based on the U.S. applications would expire in 2042 or 2043, without including any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We have a pending U.S. patent application directed, among others, to a composition comprising topiramate and bioxome, redoxome, HA, extracellular vesicles (EV), or PRP extracellular vesicles and its use for the treatment of a dermatological condition. If issued, any patents based on this application would expire in 2042, without including any patent term extensions that might be available following the grant of marketing authorizations.
We also own IP and related Extracellular Vesicle (“EV”) Technology pursuant to an EV purchase agreement (the “EV Agreement”). Pursuant to the EV Agreement, we received all of the rights in EV technology purchased. In addition, we received an exclusive worldwide license to use the EV IP technology for any purpose.
We have one U.S. patent application relating to hydrogel compositions (co-applicants).
We have two U.S. patent applications and two EP patent applications relating to adipose derived treatments (co-applicants).
The therapeutic efficacy of Ranpirnase and our other product candidates is unproven in humans, and we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize Ranpirnase or any of our other product candidates.
Ranpirnase and our other product candidates are novel compounds and their potential benefit as antiviral drugs or immunotherapies is unproven. Ranpirnase and our other product candidates may not prove to be effective against the indications for which they are being designed to act and may not demonstrate in clinical trials any or all of the pharmacological effects that have been observed in preclinical studies. As a result, our clinical trial results may not be indicative of the results of future clinical trials.
Ranpirnase and our other product candidates may interact with human biological systems in unforeseen, ineffective or harmful ways. If Ranpirnase or any of our other product candidates is associated with undesirable side effects or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon the development of such product candidate or limit development to certain uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. Because of these and other risks described herein that are inherent in the development of novel therapeutic agents, we may never successfully develop or commercialize Ranpirnase or any of our other product candidates, in which case our business will be harmed.
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We will need to grow the size and capabilities of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.
As of December 31, 2024, we employed 77 employees. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop, we must add a significant number of additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial, and other personnel. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:
●identifying, recruiting, integrating, maintaining, and motivating additional employees;●managing our internal development efforts effectively, including the clinical and FDA review process for our product candidates, while complying with our contractual obligations to contractors and other third parties; and●improving our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems, and procedures.
Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth, and our management may also have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. This lack of long-term experience working together may adversely impact our senior management team’s ability to effectively manage our business and growth.
We currently rely, and for the foreseeable future will continue to rely, in substantial part on certain independent organizations, advisors and consultants to provide certain services. There can be no assurance that the services of these independent organizations, advisors and consultants will continue to be available to us on a timely basis when needed, or that we can find qualified replacements. In addition, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed, or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates or otherwise advance our business. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage our existing consultants or find other competent outside contractors and consultants on economically reasonable terms, if at all. If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development, and commercialization goals.
We require additional capital to support our business, and this capital may not be available on acceptable terms or at all.
We intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth and require additional funds to respond to business challenges and to grow our POCare cell therapy business and to further the development of ATMPs. Accordingly, we will need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds.
Capital and credit market conditions, adverse events affecting our business or industry, the tightening of lending standards, rising interest rates, negative actions by regulatory authorities or rating agencies, the lack of liquidity in our common stock or other factors also could negatively impact our ability to obtain future financing on terms acceptable to us or at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to support our business growth and respond to business challenges could be significantly limited. In addition, the terms of any additional equity or debt issuances may adversely affect the value and price of our common stock, our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any financing secured by us in the future could include restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions.
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We conduct certain of our operations in Israel. Conditions in Israel, including the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and other terrorist organizations from the Gaza Strip and Israel’s war against them, may affect certain of our operations.
Because we conduct certain operations in the State of Israel, some of our business and operations may be affected by economic, political, geopolitical and military conditions in Israel. In October 2023, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel’s southern border from the Gaza Strip and conducted a series of attacks on civilian and military targets. Hamas also launched extensive rocket attacks on Israeli population and industrial centers located along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip and in other areas within the State of Israel. Following the attack, Israel’s security cabinet declared war against Hamas and a military campaign against these terrorist organizations commenced in parallel to their continued rocket and terror attacks. Moreover, the clash between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, may escalate in the future into a greater regional conflict.
Any hostilities involving Israel, or the interruption or curtailment of trade within Israel or between Israel and its trading partners could adversely affect certain of our operations and results of operations and could make it more difficult for us to raise capital. The conflict in Israel could also result in parties with whom we have agreements involving performance in Israel claiming that they are not obligated to perform their commitments under those agreements pursuant to force majeure provisions in such agreements. There have been travel advisories imposed relating to travel to Israel, and restriction on travel, or delays and disruptions as related to imports and exports may be imposed in the future. Additionally, certain members of our management and employees are located and reside in Israel. Shelter-in-place and work-from-home measures, government-imposed restrictions on movement and travel and other precautions taken to address the ongoing conflict may temporarily disrupt our management and employees’ ability to effectively perform their daily tasks.
The Israel Defense Force (the “IDF”), the national military of Israel, is a conscripted military service, subject to certain exceptions. Several of our employees are subject to military service in the IDF and have been, or may be, called to serve. It is possible that there will be further military reserve duty call-ups in the future, which may affect our business due to a shortage of skilled labor and loss of institutional knowledge, and necessary mitigation measures we may take to respond to a decrease in labor availability, such as overtime and third-party outsourcing, for example, may have unintended negative effects and adversely impact our results of operations, liquidity or cash flows.
It is currently not possible to predict the duration or severity of the ongoing conflict or its effects on our business, operations and financial conditions. The ongoing conflict is rapidly evolving and developing, and could disrupt certain of our business and operations, among others.
Currency exchange fluctuations may impact the results of our operations.
The results of our operations are affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates in both sourcing and selling locations. Our results of operations may still be impacted by foreign currency exchange rates, primarily, the euro-to-U.S. dollar exchange rate. In recent years, the euro-to-U.S. dollar exchange rate has been subject to substantial volatility which may continue, particularly in light of recent political events regarding the European Union, or EU. Because we do not hedge against all of our foreign currency exposure, our business will continue to be susceptible to foreign currency fluctuations.
We have entered into collaborations and joint ventures and may form or seek collaborations or strategic alliances or enter into additional licensing arrangements in the future, and we may not realize the benefits of such alliances or licensing arrangements.
We have entered into collaborations and joint ventures and may form or seek strategic alliances, create joint ventures or collaborations, or enter into additional licensing arrangements with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our development and commercialization efforts with respect to our product candidates and any future product candidates that we may develop. Any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders, or disrupt our management and business. In addition, we face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners for which the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Moreover, we may not be successful in our efforts to establish a strategic partnership or other alternative arrangements for our product candidates because they may be deemed to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort and third parties may not view our product candidates as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy. Further, collaborations involving our product candidates, such as our collaborations with third-party research institutions, are subject to numerous risks, which may include the following:
●collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to a collaboration;
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●collaborators may not perform their obligations as expected;●collaborators may not pursue development and commercialization of our product candidates or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on clinical trial results, changes in their strategic focus due to the acquisition of competitive products, availability of funding, or other external factors, such as a business combination that diverts resources or creates competing priorities;●collaborators may delay clinical trials, provide insufficient funding for a clinical trial, stop a clinical trial, abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical trials, or require a new formulation of a product candidate for clinical testing;●collaborators could fail to make timely regulatory submissions for a product candidate;●collaborators may not comply with all applicable regulatory requirements or may fail to report safety data in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements;●collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our products or product candidates;●product candidates developed in collaboration with us may be viewed by our collaborators as competitive with their own product candidates or products, which may cause collaborators to cease to devote resources to the commercialization of our product candidates;●a collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to one or more products may not commit sufficient resources to their marketing and distribution;●collaborators may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our intellectual property or proprietary information in a way that gives rise to actual or threatened litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to potential liability;●disputes may arise between us and a collaborator that cause the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of our product candidates, or that result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management attention and resources;●collaborations may be terminated and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable product candidates; and●collaborators may own or co-own intellectual property covering our products that results from our collaborating with them and, in such cases, we would not have the exclusive right to commercialize such intellectual property.
As a result, if we enter into collaboration agreements and strategic partnerships or license our products or businesses, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture, which could delay our timelines or otherwise adversely affect our business. The success of our existing and future collaboration arrangements and strategic partnerships, which include research and development services by our collaborators to improve our intellectual property, will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators and may not be successful. We also cannot be certain that, following a strategic transaction or license, we will achieve the revenue or specific net income that justifies such transaction. Any delays in entering into new collaborations or strategic partnership agreements related to our product candidates could delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates in certain geographies for certain indications, which would harm our business prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our success will depend on strategic collaborations with third parties to develop and commercialize therapeutic product candidates, and we may not have control over a number of key elements relating to the development and commercialization of any such product candidate.
A key aspect of our strategy is to seek collaborations with partners, such as a large pharmaceutical organization, that are willing to further develop and commercialize a selected product candidate. To date, we have entered into a number of collaborative arrangements with cell therapy organizations. By entering into any such strategic collaborations, we may rely on our partner for financial resources and for development, regulatory and commercialization expertise. Our partner may fail to develop or effectively commercialize our product candidate because they:
●do not have sufficient resources or decide not to devote the necessary resources due to internal constraints such as limited cash or human resources;●decide to pursue a competitive potential product developed outside of the collaboration;
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●cannot obtain the necessary regulatory approvals;●determine that the market opportunity is not attractive; or●cannot manufacture or obtain the necessary materials in sufficient quantities from multiple sources or at a reasonable cost.
We may not be able to enter into additional collaborations on acceptable terms, if at all. We face competition in our search for partners from other organizations worldwide, many of whom are larger and are able to offer more attractive deals in terms of financial commitments, contribution of human resources, or development, manufacturing, regulatory or commercial expertise and support. If we are not successful in attracting a partner and entering into a collaboration on acceptable terms, we may not be able to complete development of or commercialize any product candidate. In such event, our ability to generate revenues and achieve or sustain profitability would be significantly hindered and we may not be able to continue operations as proposed, requiring us to modify our business plan, curtail various aspects of our operations or cease operations.
Our success depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies.