Vir Biotechnology (VIR) Risk Analysis

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if and only if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware lacks subject matter jurisdiction, any state court located within the State of Delaware or, if and only if all such state courts lack subject matter jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) will be the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law: - any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;- any action or proceeding asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders;- any action or proceeding asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors, officers or other employees, arising out of or pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws;- any action or proceeding to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; and - any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the U.S. federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act) creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there can be no assurance that the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage these types of lawsuits. Furthermore, the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies' certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable. If a court were to find the exclusive-forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur further significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, all of which could harm our business.

Since our founding in April 2016, our operations have been largely focused on identifying, researching and conducting preclinical and clinical activities of our product candidates, acquiring and developing our technology platforms and product candidates, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital and establishing our intellectual property portfolio. As an organization, beyond sotrovimab for COVID-19, we have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully manufacture a BLA-approved, commercial-scale product or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization. Consequently, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known or unknown factors in achieving our business objectives, including with respect to our technology platforms and product candidates.

We have in the past and may in the future seek to acquire or invest in additional businesses and/or technologies that we believe complement or expand our product candidates, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities in the United States and internationally. The pursuit of potential acquisitions and investments may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated. In addition, we are exposed to market risks related to our investments, including changes in fair value of equity securities we hold, which is discussed in greater detail in "Part I, Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For example, we acquired numerous biotechnology companies between 2016 and 2018. Realizing the benefits of these acquisitions will depend upon the successful integration of the acquired technology into our existing and future product candidates. We also may not realize the anticipated benefits from any acquired business. We face many risks in connection with acquisitions and investments, whether or not consummated. A significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. If our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may in the future be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may suffer. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in integrating the businesses or technologies we may acquire. The failure to successfully integrate these businesses could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly to generally prohibit companies and their employees and third-party intermediaries from authorizing, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to recipients in the public or private sector. We interact with officials and employees of government agencies and government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. In addition, we may engage third-party intermediaries to promote our clinical research activities abroad or to obtain necessary permits, licenses and other regulatory approvals. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, collaborators and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws in the United States, we cannot assure you that all of our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. Detecting, investigating and resolving actual or alleged violations can require a significant diversion of time, resources and attention from senior management. In addition, noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery or anti-money laundering laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management's attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could further harm our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We and the third parties with whom we work are subject to local, state, federal and international data privacy and protection laws and regulations that apply to the collection, transmission, storage and use of personally identifying information, which among other things, impose certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of personal information, including comprehensive regulatory systems in the United States, EU and the U.K. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve in jurisdictions worldwide, and there has been an increasing focus on privacy and data protection issues with the potential to affect our business. Additionally, our use of AI and machine learning may be subject to laws and evolving regulations regarding the use of AI, controlling for data bias, and anti-discrimination. Implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards, or perception of their requirements may have on our business. Failure by us or any of the third parties with whom we work to comply with any of these laws and regulations could result in investigations or enforcement action against us, including fines, claims for damages by affected individuals, damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. If we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of protected health information, we could be found to have breached our contracts. Further, if we fail to comply with applicable privacy laws, we could face civil and criminal penalties, and claims that we failed to comply with privacy laws, or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time consuming to defend, result in adverse publicity and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Numerous states in the U.S., including California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Virginia, among others, have passed comprehensive privacy laws and other states are considering passing such laws. These laws create obligations related to the processing of personal information, as well as special obligations for the processing of "sensitive" data (which includes health data in some cases). At the federal level, HIPAA imposes specific requirements on certain types of individuals and entities relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. Congress has also considered passing a federal privacy law. These laws may impact our business activities, including our identification of research subjects, relationships with business partners and ultimately the marketing and distribution of our products. Similar to the laws in the United States, there are significant privacy and data security laws that apply in Europe and other countries. The collection, use, disclosure, transfer or other processing of personal data, including personal health data, regarding individuals who are located in the EEA and the processing of personal data that takes place in the EEA, is regulated by the GDPR, which imposes obligations on companies that operate in our industry with respect to the processing of personal data and the cross-border transfer of such data. The GDPR imposes onerous accountability obligations requiring data controllers and processors to maintain a record of their data processing and policies. If our or our collaboration partners' or service providers' privacy or data security measures fail to comply with the GDPR requirements, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, enforcement notices requiring us to change the way we use personal data and/or fines of up to €20 million or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, as well as compensation claims by affected individuals, negative publicity, reputational harm and a potential loss of business and goodwill. In addition, we may be unable to transfer personal data from EEA countries and other jurisdictions to the United States or other countries due to data localization requirements or limitations on cross-border data flows. Although there are various mechanisms that may be used in some cases to lawfully transfer personal data to the United States or other countries, these mechanisms are subject to legal challenges and may not be available to us. An inability or material limitation on our ability to transfer personal data to the United States or other countries could materially impact our business operations. While we continue to address the implications of the recent changes to data privacy regulations, data privacy remains an evolving landscape at both the domestic and international level, with new regulations coming into effect and continued legal challenges, and our efforts to comply with the evolving data protection rules may be unsuccessful. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. We must devote significant resources to understanding and complying with this changing landscape. Any failure to comply with U.S. federal and state and international laws and regulations regarding data privacy would expose us to risk of enforcement actions taken by data protection authorities, and with them the potential for significant penalties if we are found to be non-compliant. Similarly, such failures could result in government-imposed orders requiring that we change our practices, private lawsuits asserting claims for damages or other liabilities, and potentially significant costs for remediation, any of which could adversely affect our business. Even if we are not determined to have violated these laws, government investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

The biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and an emphasis on proprietary products. We face potential competition from many different sources, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, governmental agencies and public and private research institutions. Regulatory incentives to develop products for treatment of infectious diseases may lead to increased competition for clinical investigators and clinical trial subjects, as well as for future prescriptions, if any of our product candidates are successfully developed and approved. Compared to us, our competitors may have significantly greater financial resources, established presence in the market, and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical and clinical testing, obtaining regulatory approvals, and ultimately marketing and obtaining reimbursement approved products. The licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area as well, and more established companies may have greater success in pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These competitors also compete with us in acquiring third-party contract manufacturing capacity and raw materials, recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, sales, marketing and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical studies, as well as acquiring technologies that are complementary to or necessary for our programs. Smaller or earlier-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. Additional mergers and acquisitions may result in even more resources being concentrated amongst our competitors. If our competitors are able to utilize new technologies more effectively (including but not limited to those that may involve AI or be created using AI) to discover, develop and commercialize products that compete with any of our product candidates or potential commercial products, such technologies could adversely impact our ability to compete. As a result of these factors, our competitors may achieve patent protection or obtain regulatory approval or authorization of their products before we are able to, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Our competitors may also develop therapies that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient, more widely accepted or less expensive than ours, and may also be more successful than we are in manufacturing, marketing or obtaining reimbursement their products. These advantages could render our product candidates obsolete or non-competitive before we can recover the costs of such product candidates' development and commercialization. For additional information regarding our competitors, see the section titled "Competition" in "Part I, Item 1. Business" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We currently focus our product development on product candidates for the treatment and prevention of serious infectious diseases, cancer and other serious conditions. Our eligible patient population, pricing estimates and available coverage and reimbursement may differ significantly from the actual market addressable by our product candidates. Our estimates of the number of people who have these diseases, the subset of people with these diseases who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates and the market demand for our product candidates are based on our beliefs and analyses. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including the scientific literature, patient foundations or market research, and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of the diseases we are targeting. The FDA or the comparable foreign regulatory authorities also may approve or authorize for marketing a product candidate for a more limited indication or patient population than we originally request. Additionally, the availability of superior or competitive therapies from our competitors could negatively impact or eliminate market demand for our product candidates. If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than we estimate, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are highly dependent on our management, clinical and scientific personnel. Our key personnel may currently terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of any of these persons could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives. Additionally, we do not currently maintain "key person" life insurance on the lives of our executives or any of our employees. We have recently announced several leadership changes, including a new Chief Medical Officer and Chief Financial Officer in 2024. Management transitions may create uncertainty and involve a diversion of resources and management attention, be disruptive to our daily operations or impact public or market perception, any of which could negatively impact our ability to operate effectively or execute our strategies. Recruiting, integrating and retaining other senior executives, qualified scientific and clinical personnel and, if we progress the development of any of our product candidates, commercialization, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel, will be critical to our success. Competition is intense for these skilled employee candidates, and we may be unable to retain or recruit such personnel with the expertise or experience necessary to achieve our business objectives, and such efforts may be further undermined by restructurings, changing office policies and other initiatives we may undertake improve operational efficiencies and operating costs, as well as shifting dynamics in the biotechnology labor market. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize our product candidates.

We are currently conducting process development and manufacturing material for product candidates of three different therapeutic modalities: mAbs, siRNAs and TCEs. Except for limited early-clinical phase process, analytical and formulation development, cell line development, small-scale non-GMP manufacturing for preclinical studies, and quality control testing capabilities in certain of our facilities that is either established or is currently being built, we do not own or operate facilities for full process development or product manufacturing, storage and distribution, or testing. We are dependent on third parties, including strategic collaborators and CDMOs, to develop the large-scale manufacturing process and manufacture the clinical supplies of our current and any future product candidates. We have established relationships with multiple third parties that have developed the large-scale manufacturing processes and produced material to support our preclinical, Phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical studies. We do not yet have sufficient information to reliably estimate the cost of the commercial manufacturing of our future product candidates. Certain of our product candidates may have to compete with existing and future products that may have a lower price point. The actual cost to manufacture our product candidates could materially and adversely affect the commercial viability of our product candidates. The facilities used by our CDMOs to develop and manufacture our product candidates must be approved by the FDA or other regulatory authorities pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit our NDA or BLA to the FDA or foreign marketing application to the appropriate regulatory authority. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our CDMOs for compliance with cGMP requirements. If our CDMOs cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or other health authorities, we will not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our CDMOs to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance, qualified personnel or oversight of their subcontractors. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve our CDMOs' facilities for our product candidates or if it withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved. Any significant delay in the supply of a product candidate, or the raw material components thereof, for an ongoing clinical trial due to the need to replace a CDMO could considerably delay completion of our clinical studies, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates. We also intend to rely on CDMOs to supply us with sufficient quantities of our product candidates to be used, if approved, for commercialization. There is, however, no assurance that our CDMOs will have sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet demand for our product candidates, meet our working assumptions of manufacturing titer and yield per batch of our product candidates or consistently manufacture product meeting our quality requirements. Any shortfall in manufacturing capacity or reduction in anticipated manufacturing titer, yield per batch or batch success rates may adversely impact our ability to meet market demand for any approved product. Furthermore, if we are not able to produce supply at low enough costs, it would negatively impact our ability to generate revenue, harm our reputation, and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, we currently rely on strategic collaborators and third-party suppliers and CDMOs that operate outside the United States and will likely continue to rely on these organizations in the future. Such third-party suppliers and CDMOs may be subject to trade restrictions and other foreign regulatory requirements which could increase the cost or reduce the supply of material available to us, delay the procurement or supply of such material or have an adverse effect on our ability to secure significant commitments from governments to purchase our potential therapies. For example, the biopharmaceutical industry in China is strictly regulated by the Chinese government. Changes to Chinese regulations or government policies affecting biopharmaceutical companies are unpredictable and may have a material adverse effect on our strategic collaborators, third-party suppliers and CDMOs operating in China which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Evolving changes in China's public health, economic, political, and social conditions and the uncertainty around China's relationship with other governments, such as the United States and the U.K., could also negatively impact our ability to manufacture or supply our product candidates for our planned clinical studies or have an adverse effect on our ability to secure government funding, which could adversely affect our financial condition and cause us to delay our clinical development programs. Further, our reliance on third-party suppliers and CDMOs entails risks to which we would not be exposed or that may be reduced if we conducted process development or manufactured product candidates ourselves, including: - delay or inability to procure or expand sufficient manufacturing capacity;- delays in process development;- issues related to scale-up of manufacturing;- excess manufacturing capacity or excess raw materials due to insufficient market demand for our product candidates and responsibility for the associated costs;- costs and validation of new equipment and facilities required for scale-up;- inability of our CDMOs to execute process development, manufacturing, technology transfers, manufacturing procedures and other logistical support requirements appropriately or on a timely basis;- inability to negotiate development and manufacturing agreements with third parties under commercially reasonable terms, if at all;- greater costs and competition for access to an increasingly smaller pool of potential CDMOs as a result of consolidation in the contract manufacturing industry;- breach, termination or nonrenewal of development and manufacturing agreements with third parties in a manner or at a time that is costly or damaging to us;- reliance on single sources for product raw materials or components;- lack of qualified backup suppliers for those raw materials or components that are currently purchased from a sole or single-source supplier;- lack of ownership to the intellectual property rights to any improvements made by our third parties in the manufacturing process for our product candidates;- price increases or decreased availability of product raw materials or components;- disruptions to operations of our third-party suppliers and CDMO by conditions unrelated to our business or operations, including supply chain issues, capacity constraints, transportation and labor disruptions, global competition for resources, the bankruptcy of the supplier or CDMO and/or general economic conditions interest rate and currency rate fluctuations, and economic slowdown or recession;- disruptions caused by geopolitical events, including civil or political unrest, terrorism, insurrection or war (such as the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe), as well as man-made or natural disasters, or public health pandemics or epidemics; and - carrier disruptions or increased costs that are beyond our control, including increases in material, labor or other manufacturing-related costs or higher supply chain logistics costs. We may be unable to obtain product raw materials or components for an indeterminate period of time if any of our third-party suppliers and CDMOs were to cease or interrupt production or otherwise fail to supply these materials or components to us for any reason, including due to regulatory requirements or actions (including recalls), adverse financial developments at or affecting the supplier or CDMO, failure by the supplier or CDMO to comply with cGMP, facility outages (including due to contamination), business interruptions, or labor shortages or disputes. Suppliers and CDMOs may extend lead times, limit supplies, change manufacturing schedules, increase prices, or require significant upfront fees due to capacity and material supply constraints or other factors beyond our control. For example, recent increased demand for GLP-1 therapeutics could result in increased competition for our CDMOs' services and limited capacity, which could limit our access to, and increase our costs for, manufacturing production and potentially harm our business and results of operations. We cannot be sure that single source suppliers for our product raw materials or components will remain in business or that they will not be purchased by one of our competitors or another company that is not interested in continuing to produce our product raw materials or components for our intended purpose. In addition, the lead time needed to establish a relationship with a new raw material or component supplier or CDMO can be lengthy and we may experience delays in meeting demand in the event we must switch to a new supplier or CDMO. The time and effort to technology transfer to a new CDMO or qualify a new supplier or CDMO could result in manufacturing delays, additional costs, diversion of resources or reduced manufacturing capacity or yields, any of which would negatively impact our operating results. Furthermore, we currently rely on a limited number of third-party suppliers and CDMOs that are able to meet our supply requirements for synthetic siRNAs. There are risks inherent in pharmaceutical manufacturing that could affect the ability of our CDMOs to meet our delivery time requirements or provide adequate amounts of synthetic siRNAs to meet our needs. Included in these risks are potential extended lead times, delays or shortages of raw materials and components, synthesis and purification failures and/or contamination during the manufacturing process, as well as other issues with the CDMO's facility and ability to comply with the applicable manufacturing requirements, including cGMP requirements, which could result in unusable product. This would cause delays in our manufacturing timelines and ultimately delay our clinical studies and potentially put at risk commercial supply, as well as result in additional expense to us. To fulfill our siRNA supply requirements, we may need to secure alternative suppliers of synthetic siRNAs and/or key raw materials and components, and such alternative third-party suppliers are limited and may not be readily available, or we may be unable to enter into agreements with them on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. Further, alternative suppliers would require filing and regulatory approvals.