Bioxytran (BIXT) Risk Analysis

We may seek fast track, breakthrough therapy or similar designation for our drug candidates. If a drug is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and the drug demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the drug sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, and even if we believe a particular drug candidate is eligible for this designation, we cannot assure you that the FDA would decide to grant it. Even if we do receive fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. Additionally, we may in the future seek a breakthrough therapy designation for some of our product candidates that reach the regulatory review process. A breakthrough therapy is a drug candidate that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and that, as indicated by preliminary clinical evidence, may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA are eligible for accelerated approval and increased interaction and communication with the FDA designed to expedite the development and review process. As with fast track designation, designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and may determine not to grant such a designation. Even if we receive a breakthrough therapy designation for any of our product candidates, the designation may not result in a materially faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Further, obtaining a breakthrough therapy designation does not assure or increase the likelihood of the FDA's approval of the applicable product candidate. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualifies as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA could later determine that those products no longer meet the conditions for the designation or determine not to shorten the time period for FDA review or approval.

If our drug candidate is associated with undesirable side effects in clinical trials, have limited efficacy or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to more narrow 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. We have not commenced pre-clinical trials of BXT-25, which even if it proves successful, may later be found to cause side effects that will prevent further development of the compounds.

We cannot assure that products based on our patents or intellectual property that we license from others will not be challenged by a third-party claiming infringement of its proprietary rights. If we were not able to successfully defend patents that may be issued to us, that we may acquire, or that we may license in the future, we may have to pay substantial damages, possibly including treble damages, for past infringement.

In addition to seeking patents for some of our technology and drug candidates, we also intend to rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. We will seek to protect these trade secrets, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties. We also seek to enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants. Despite these efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Our trade secrets may also be obtained by third parties by other means, such as breaches of our physical or computer security systems. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed.

Our plan for the development of BXT-25 is based in part on a technology developed by the Biopure Corporation which separates hemoglobin from red blood cells. Biopure filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and the technology we use from Biopure is in the public domain. We plan to apply our proprietary chemistry to break down and augment a bovine hemoglobin molecule producing a co-polymer-based molecule we call BXT-25. We face competitors and other entities who are engaged in the further development of some or all of that public-domain technology for the purpose of creating products that may compete directly with our products. Among such competitors and other entities is Boston Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: BTHE). Our chairman, David Platt, was founder, and until April 1, 2015, Chief Executive Officer of Boston Therapeutics; and that entity is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing novel compounds based on complex carbohydrate chemistry to address unmet medical needs in diabetes. According to its website, products Boston Therapeutics seeks to develop include an anti-necrosis glyco-protein based therapeutic agent that consists of a stabilized glycoprotein composition containing oxygen-rechargeable iron, targeting both human and animal tissues and organ systems deprived of oxygen and in need of metabolic support. The Boston Therapeutic development efforts are, like the efforts of the Company, based in part on Biopure technology that is now in the public domain. While Boston Therapeutics is focused on medical conditions that are different from the conditions that will be addressed by the Company, and while the Company's proprietary technology is very different from the technology under development at Boston Therapeutics at the time of Dr. Platt's departure from that entity, a refocus of Boston Therapeutics to treat conditions that are central to the Company's focus may make it a direct competitor. Currently there are four drugs candidates to treat a stroke. Abciximab from Eli Lilly is a platelet aggregation inhibitor. Clinical trials show little advantage over placebos and could lead to dangerous side effects, including more bleeding in patients. Cerovive from AstraZeneca is a Nitrone-based neuro protectant currently in phase III clinical trials which shows no significant benefit over placebos with respect to changes in neurological impairment as measured by the national institute of health stroke scale. Candesartan, from AstraZeneca, is an angiotensin receptor blocker which was used to control blood pressure. Its efficacy in stroke patients still must be proven. Ancod from Knoll Pharmaceuticals is an anti-coagulant that acts by breaking down the fibrinogen. It increases the risk of hemorrhage similar to those associated with tPA. Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our proprietary products. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our drug candidates. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost, in a timely manner, or in all jurisdictions. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and we may fail to seek or obtain patent protection in all major markets. For example, European patent law restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than United States law does. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions, nor can we know whether those from whom we license patents were the first to make the inventions claimed or were the first to file. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. Recent patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to United States patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or U.S. PTO, recently developed new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first to file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013. Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. Moreover, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. PTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future drug candidates. Even if our patent applications issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Our competitors may be able to circumvent our owned or licensed patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new drug candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

Competitors may infringe our issued patents or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their intellectual property. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent's claims narrowly or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly, which could adversely affect us.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our drug candidates without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. While no such litigation has been brought against us and we have not been held by any court to have infringed a third party's intellectual property rights, we cannot guarantee that our products or use of our products do not infringe third-party patents. It is also possible that we have failed to identify relevant third-party patents or applications. For example, applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain applications filed after that date that will not be filed outside the United States remain confidential until patents issue. Patent applications in the United States and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing, which is referred to as the priority date. Therefore, patent applications covering our products or technology could have been filed by others without our knowledge. Additionally, pending patent applications which have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our technologies, our products or the use of our products. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products and technology, including inter parties review, interference, or derivation proceedings before the U.S. PTO and similar bodies in other countries. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing intellectual property rights and intellectual property rights that may be granted in the future. If we are found to infringe a third party's intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our products. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing technology or product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys' fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our drug candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business.

Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the U.S. PTO and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The U.S. PTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

The continuing efforts of government and insurance companies, health maintenance organizations and other payers of healthcare costs to contain or reduce costs of health care may affect our future revenues and profitability, and the future revenues and profitability of our potential customers, suppliers and collaborative partners and the availability of capital. For example, in certain international markets, pricing or profitability of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to government control. In the U.S., given recent federal and state government initiatives directed at lowering the total cost of health care, the U.S. Congress and state legislatures will likely continue to focus on health care reform, the cost of prescription pharmaceuticals and on the reform of the Medicare and Medicaid systems. While we cannot predict whether any such legislative or regulatory proposals will be adopted, the announcement or adoption of such proposals could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our ability to commercialize our proposed products will depend in part on the extent to which appropriate reimbursement levels for the cost of our proposed formulations and products and related treatments are obtained by governmental authorities, private health insurers and other organizations, such as HMOs. Third-party payers are increasingly challenging the prices charged for medical drugs and services. Also, the trend toward managed health care in the U.S. and the concurrent growth of organizations such as HMOs, which could control or significantly influence the purchase of health care services and drugs, as well as legislative proposals to reform health care or reduce government insurance programs, may all result in lower prices for or rejection of our products.

Even if our drug candidate receives marketing approval, it may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community. If our drug candidate does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of our drug candidate, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including: - their efficacy, safety and other potential advantages compared to alternative treatments;         - our ability to offer them for sale at competitive prices;         - their convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments;         - the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies;         - the strength of marketing and distribution support;         - the availability of third-party coverage and adequate reimbursement for our drug candidate;         - the prevalence and severity of their side effects;         - any restrictions on the use of our products together with other medications;         - interactions of our products with other medicines patients are taking; and         - inability of certain types of patients to take our products. If we are unable to address and overcome these and similar concerns, our business and results of operations could be substantially harmed.

We do not have a sales or marketing infrastructure and have limited experience in the sale, marketing or distribution of our products. To achieve commercial success for any product for which we obtain marketing approval, we will need to successfully establish and maintain relationships with third parties to perform sales and marketing functions. Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize our products on our own include: - our inability to recruit, train and retain adequate numbers of effective sales and marketing personnel;         - the inability of sales personnel to obtain access to or educate physicians on the benefits of our products;         - the lack of complementary products to be offered by sales personnel, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to companies with more extensive product lines;         - unforeseen costs and expenses associated with creating an independent sales and marketing organization;         - inability to obtain sufficient coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and governmental agencies; and         -   inability to obtain sufficient coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and governmental agencies. We will rely on third parties to sell, market and distribute our drug candidate. We may not be successful in entering into, or maintaining, arrangements with such third parties or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, our product revenues and our profitability, if any, may be lower if we rely on third parties for these functions than if we were to market, sell and distribute any products that we develop ourselves. We likely will have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively. If we do not establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our drug candidate.

We do not have, and do not now intend to develop, facilities for the manufacture of any of our products for clinical or commercial production. In addition, we are not a party to any long-term agreement with any of our suppliers, and accordingly, we have our products manufactured on a purchase-order basis from one of two primary suppliers. We will need to develop relationships with manufacturers and enter into collaborative arrangements with licensees or have others manufacture our products on a contract basis. We expect to depend on such collaborators to supply us with products manufactured in compliance with standards imposed by the FDA and foreign regulators. Moreover, as we develop products eligible for clinical trials, we contract with independent parties to design the trial protocols, arrange for and monitor the clinical trials, collect data and analyze data. In addition, certain clinical trials for our products may be conducted by government-sponsored agencies and will be dependent on governmental participation and funding. Our dependence on independent parties and clinical sites involves risks including reduced control over the timing and other aspects of our clinical trials.