Organon (OGN) Risk Analysis

Even after a pharmaceutical product or medical device reaches the market, we continue to be subject to significant post-marketing regulatory requirements and oversight. The regulatory approvals or marketing authorizations that we may receive for our pharmaceutical products and medical devices will require the submission of reports to regulatory authorities and on-going surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of our products, may contain significant limitations related to use restrictions for specified groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, and may include burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. In addition, even after a pharmaceutical product or device has obtained marketing authorization or clearance, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event and device malfunction reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, import, export, recalls and recordkeeping for our products will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements, and we will be subject to periodic inspections. Failure to comply with any of these requirements could subject us to a variety of formal or informal enforcement actions by the FDA or other regulators, result in a recall or market withdrawal of our products, require us to cease manufacturing and distribution of the products, trigger product liability or other litigation, or otherwise impact our ability to realize revenues for our products. For example, in January 2023, we voluntarily initiated market actions, including recalls, in certain markets with respect to our suspension injections Diprospan, Celestone ChronodoseTM 1 (betamethasone) and Celestone Soluspan (betamethasone) related to a non-conforming component of a manufacturing line at our Heist, Belgium plant. It is possible that future recalls or similar developments could materially and adversely impact our business, result of operations, and financial condition. Although to date, any market actions to which we have been subject have not had a material impact on our business, such actions could in the future have a materially adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Likewise, if previously unknown side effects, adverse events, malfunctions or other quality or safety concerns are discovered or if there is an increase in negative publicity regarding known side effects of any of our products, it could significantly reduce demand for the product or require us to take actions that could negatively affect sales, including initiating corrections of a marketed product or removing the product from the market, restricting our distribution of the product or applying for marketing authorization for labeling changes. The FDA could also require us to conduct post-marketing studies of our products. Further, we are at risk for product liability and consumer protection claims and civil and criminal governmental actions related to our products, research and marketing activities. In addition, dissemination of promotional materials through evolving digital channels serves to increase visibility and scrutiny in the marketplace. Certain developments may decrease demand for our products, including the following: - scrutiny of advertising and promotion;- negative results in post-approval Phase 4 trials or other studies;- review by regulatory authorities or other expert bodies of our products that are already marketed based on new data or other developments in the field;- the recall, loss or modification of regulatory approval or marketing authorization of products that are already marketed; and - changing government regulations regarding safety, efficacy, quality or labeling.

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 FDA have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the SEC and other government agencies on which our operations may rely is subject to the impacts of political events, which are inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may increase the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which could adversely affect our business. For example, over the last few years, the U.S. government has faced threats of a prolonged shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, faced the possibility of furloughing critical FDA, SEC and other government employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA and the SEC to timely review and process our submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, future government shutdowns and agency operational disruptions in comparable foreign governments could impact our ability to continue our operations in other markets.

The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy, data protection and artificial intelligence ("AI") continues to evolve. The GDPR and related implementing laws in individual EU or the Member States of the European Economic Area (the "EEA"), as well as similar legislation in the United Kingdom, govern the collection and use of personal health data and other personal data in the EU. The GDPR increased responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process. It also imposes several obligations and restrictions on the ability to process (which includes collection, storage and access, analysis, and transfer of) personal data, including health data from clinical trials and adverse event reporting. The GDPR also includes requirements relating to the consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, the information provided to the individuals prior to processing their personal data or personal health data, potential notification of personal data breaches to the national data protection authorities, potential consultation obligations to national data protection authorities for certain high-risk data processing, and the security and confidentiality of the personal data. There are also accountability requirements, such as maintaining a record of data processing, conducting data protection impact assessments and appointing data protection officers. Further, the GDPR prohibits the transfer of personal data to countries outside of the EEA that are not considered by the European Commission to provide an adequate level of data protection, including to the United States, except if the data controller meets very specific requirements. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and the related national data protection laws of the EU Member States may result in significant monetary fines and other administrative penalties as well as civil liability claims from individuals whose personal data was processed. Data protection authorities from the different EU Member States may still enforce the GDPR differently, reflecting variations that arise under national-level regulations and guidelines (e.g., labor laws, processing of national identification numbers), which adds to the complexity of processing personal data in the EU. Guidance at both EU level and at the national level in individual EU Member States concerning implementation and compliance practices is often updated or otherwise revised, resulting in a challenging regulatory environment. There is, moreover, a growing trend towards required public disclosure of clinical trial data in the EU, which adds to the complexity of obligations relating to processing health data from clinical trials. Failing to comply with these obligations could lead to government enforcement actions and significant penalties against us, harm to our reputation, and adversely impact our business and operating results. The uncertainty regarding the interplay between different regulatory frameworks further adds to the complexity that we face with regard to data protection regulation. Additional laws and regulations enacted in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America have increased enforcement and litigation activity in the United States and other developed markets, as well as increased regulatory cooperation among privacy authorities globally. The data protection regulatory environment in China has been evolving quickly, including regulations regarding cross-border transfers of personal data ("CBDT"). These laws, including the PIPL, regulate the processing of personal information and increase obligations on companies to protect and safeguard personal information. These regulations also require organizations to evaluate CBDTs and may require localization of certain data. If we fail to effectively adjust to the changing regulatory landscape and comply with applicable laws and regulations in our operating regions, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results would be materially and adversely affected. In addition to the foregoing, AI-based solutions, including generative AI, are increasingly being used in the pharmaceutical industry, including by us, and we expect to use other systems and tools that incorporate AI-based technologies in the future. The use of AI solutions by our employees or third parties on which we rely could lead to the public disclosure of confidential information (including personal data or proprietary information) in contravention of our internal policies, data protection or other applicable laws, or contractual requirements. The misuse of AI solutions could also result in unauthorized access and use of personal data of our employees, clinical trial participants, collaborators, or other third parties. In addition, the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding AI technologies is rapidly evolving and uncertain, including in the areas of intellectual property, cybersecurity, and privacy and data protection. Compliance with these new or changing laws, regulations or industry standards relating to AI may impose significant operational costs or otherwise negatively impact our business. We have adopted a comprehensive global privacy program to help manage these evolving risks, adjust to the changing regulatory landscape and facilitate CBDTs. Any failure by us, or our third-party vendors, to comply with applicable data privacy and security laws may lead to government enforcement actions and private litigation, which could result in financial, legal, business, and reputational harm to us and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our success also depends on our ability to maintain and, when possible, improve product quality and our quality management program. Quality management plays an essential role in meeting customer requirements, preventing defects, improving our products and services and assuring the safety and efficacy of our products. While we have a quality system that covers the lifecycle of our products, quality and safety issues have and may in the future occur with respect to our products. A quality or safety issue may result in adverse inspection reports, voluntary or official action indicated, warning letters, import bans, product recalls (either voluntary or required by FDA or similar governmental authorities in other countries) or seizures, monetary sanctions, injunctions to halt manufacture and distribution of products, civil or criminal sanctions (which may include corporate integrity agreements), costly litigation, refusal of a government to grant approvals and licenses, restrictions on operations or withdrawal of existing approvals and licenses. An inability to address a quality or safety issue in an effective and timely manner may also cause negative publicity or a loss of customer confidence in us or our current or future products, which may result in the loss of sales and difficulty in successfully launching new products.

We rely on third parties to manufacture, distribute and conduct certain preclinical and clinical testing activities for our products. Oversight of these third parties can require substantial resources and creates potential risks to us, including: we may be unable to establish agreements with third parties, including third party manufacturers, on acceptable terms or even at all; we may not have sufficient quantities of product; third parties may fail to perform delegated responsibilities to an acceptable level of quality, or may fail to comply with regulatory requirements; or third parties may misappropriate or disclose our proprietary information, including trade secrets and know-how. Our reliance on third parties for research and development activities will also reduce our control over these activities but does not relieve us of our responsibilities, including that we must ensure that clinical trials are conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial; ensure compliance with regulatory standards like good clinical practices; and register ongoing clinical trials and results to government-sponsored databases. Our failures, or the failure of third parties, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocations, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions. Further, issues related to manufacture of product, preclinical testing, and/or clinical testing may affect our ability to obtain or maintain marketing approval for our products in a timely manner, or at all. This may hinder or delay efforts to successfully commercialize our product candidates.

Before obtaining regulatory approval from the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities outside the United States for the sale of our pharmaceutical product candidates, we must demonstrate through pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication and population. Obtaining marketing authorization for our devices may also require pre-clinical and clinical trials. Pre-clinical and clinical trials are difficult to design and implement, and can take many years to complete, and their ultimate outcome is uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the pre-clinical study and clinical trial processes. Accordingly, there is a high risk of failure, and we may never succeed in obtaining regulatory approval or marketing authorization of our product candidates. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent receipt of regulatory approval or marketing authorization, or our ability to commercialize our product candidates, including for example, issues with study execution including timely access to study drugs; inability to recruit and enroll study subjects; failure of our product candidates in pre-clinical studies or clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy; receipt of feedback from the FDA or other regulatory authorities that require us to modify the design of our clinical trials; and negative or inconclusive clinical trial results that may require us to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon certain research and/or development programs. We may be required to conduct additional pre-clinical studies, clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, or we may be unable to successfully complete pre-clinical studies or clinical trials of our product candidates or other testing in a timely manner. If the results of these studies, trials or tests are not positive (or are only modestly positive), or if there are safety concerns, we may incur unplanned costs, as well as delays in our efforts to obtain regulatory approval or marketing authorization. Even if we receive such approval, it may be more limited or restrictive than anticipated or be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements.

We intend to grow our business through new indications or formulations of our existing products or expansion of existing products into new markets or new geographies. However, our ability to do so could be limited by the scope of our limited intellectual property licenses for certain women's health products. We may not be able to offset any sales losses for products that lose or do not have exclusivity by growing sales in other markets. If we cannot produce sufficient revenues from expansion into new products, new indications or formulations of our existing products or expansion of existing products into new markets or new geographies, then we may not be able to maintain our current levels of profitability, and this could adversely affect our business, cash flow, results of operations, financial condition or prospects.

Our focus on women's health is a key component of our strategy. Our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy in this area is subject to numerous risks, including: - uncertainty of the development of a market for such products;- trends relating to, or the introduction or existence of, competing products, technologies or alternative treatments or therapies that may be more effective, safer or easier to use than our products, technologies, treatments or therapies;- the perception of our products as compared to other products;- recommendation and support for the use of our products or treatments by influential customers, such as obstetricians, gynecologists, reproductive endocrinologists and treatment centers;- changes in judicial decisions, government policy or regulations could impair or repeal contraception coverage mandates under the ACA or patient access to contraception under state laws, which may affect our product sales, payments to us or impose additional coverage limitations or cost-sharing obligations on our consumers;- the availability and extent of data demonstrating the clinical efficacy of our products or treatments;- competition, including the presence of competing products sold by companies with longer operating histories, more recognizable names and more established distribution networks; and - other technological developments. If we are unable to successfully commercialize a significant market for our women's health products, our business or prospects could be harmed.

We face continued pricing pressure in the United States and globally and, particularly in the EU, the United Kingdom, China and Japan, from managed care organizations, government agencies and programs that could adversely affect our sales and profit margins. We expect pricing pressure to continue in the future. Changes to the health care system due to health care reform in the United States, as well as increased purchasing power of entities that negotiate on behalf of Medicare, Medicaid, and private sector beneficiaries, could result in further pricing pressures. In addition, in the United States, larger customers have received higher rebates on drugs in certain highly competitive categories. We must also compete to be placed on formularies of managed care organizations and other payors. Exclusion of a product from a formulary can lead to reduced usage in the population covered by the managed care organization or other payor. Outside the United States, numerous major markets, such as the EU, the United Kingdom, China and Japan, have active government involvement including extensive pricing and reimbursement mechanisms and processes for pharmaceutical products affecting our products. Cost containment efforts by governments and private organizations are described in greater detail in the Business-Regulatory section above.

The extent of our operations outside the United States is significant. For example, in 2024, we generated $4.8 billion in revenues outside the United States, representing approximately 75% of our total revenues. Risks inherent in conducting a global business include: - changes in medical reimbursement policies and programs and pricing restrictions in key markets;- multiple regulatory requirements that could restrict our ability to manufacture and sell our products in key markets;- multiple, conflicting and changing laws, executive orders and directives, and regulations such as privacy regulations, tax laws, tariffs, employment laws, regulatory requirements, government funding allocation processes, and other governmental approvals, permits and licenses;- trade protection measures and import or export licensing requirements, including the imposition of tariffs, trade sanctions or similar restrictions by the United States or other governments;- financial risks, such as foreign currency exchange fluctuations, longer payment cycles, difficulty collecting accounts receivable, the impact of local and regional financial crises on demand and payment for our products;- volatility of commodity prices, fuel, shipping rates that impact the costs and/or ability to supply our products;- diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries; and - possible nationalization and expropriation. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, and reputation could be materially and adversely impacted if we (or third parties upon which we rely) do not comply with applicable requirements and restrictions globally. In addition, our operations depend, in part, on our relationships and business arrangements with third parties that receive government funding. As the U.S. and foreign federal or local governments shift their pharmaceutical approval and regulatory priorities, including funding allocations, we may encounter challenges receiving key regulatory approvals or maintaining business relationships with third parties that depend on government funding, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and reputation. In addition, there may be changes to our business and strategic position if there is instability, disruption or destruction in a significant geographic region, regardless of cause, including health epidemics or pandemics, riot, civil insurrection or social unrest, and natural or man-made disasters, including famine, flood, fire, earthquake, storm or disease. In addition, our operations and performance may be affected by political or civil unrest or military action. As a result of global economic conditions, some parties may delay or be unable to satisfy their payment or reimbursement obligations. In addition, patients' ability to afford health care may also be affected by job losses or other economic hardships, increased co-pay or deductible obligations, greater cost sensitivity to existing co-pay or deductible obligations, and lost health care insurance coverage. Further, with rising international trade tensions or sanctions, our business may be adversely affected following new or increased tariffs, as well as increased costs of materials, products, and commodities upon which we rely. As a result, changes in international trade policy, changes in trade agreements and the imposition of tariffs or sanctions by the United States or other countries could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. In February 2022, in response to the armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia, trade sanctions, travel bans and asset/financial freezes were announced by the United States, the EU and other countries against Russian entities and designated individuals. Such restrictions have impacted, and may continue to impact, many global businesses in direct and indirect ways (including, but not limited to, product shipping delays, supply shortages, delays in regulatory approvals and audits and currency exchange rates). Such actions may negatively impact the financial institutions, vendors, manufacturers, suppliers, partners and other third parties with whom we conduct business and therefore may negatively impact us. In addition, although we do not expect the recent Israel-Hamas war and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East region to have a direct material impact on our business, the war and escalating tensions in the region may impact global markets or affect our supply chain.

Our operating results could be materially impacted by changes in the overall macroeconomic environment and other economic factors that impact our cost structure and revenue results. Changes in economic conditions, supply chain constraints, logistics challenges, labor shortages, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, steps taken by governments and central banks, as well as other stimulus and spending programs, have led to higher inflation, which is likely to lead to an increase in costs and may cause changes in fiscal and monetary policy, including increased interest rates. In a higher inflationary environment, we may be unable to raise the prices of our products sufficiently to keep up with the rate of inflation.