As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 16, 2018

Registration No. 333-225924

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Pre-Effective
Amendment No. 1 to
FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

30 Technology Drive
Warren, NJ 07059
(908) 941-1900
(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Registrant’s
Principal Executive Offices)

John T. Maxwell
Chief Financial Officer
Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc.
30 Technology Drive
Warren, NJ 07059
(908) 941-1900
(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

With copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), check the following box.  o

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  o

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

The Registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment that specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

4,000,000 Shares

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc.
Common Stock

$      Per Share

This is the initial public offering of our common stock. We are offering 4,000,000 shares of our common stock. The initial public offering price of our common stock is expected to be between $14.00 and $16.00 per share.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. We have applied for listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “AQST”.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and, as such, we have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements for this prospectus and future filings.

Investing in our common stock involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 12.

To the extent that the underwriters sell more than 4,000,000 shares of common stock, the underwriters have the option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares from us at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discount.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved of anyone’s investment in these securities, or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of common stock to the purchasers on or about              , 2018.

Certain existing investors have indicated an interest in purchasing an aggregate of up to $20.0 million of shares of our common stock in this offering at the initial public offering price. However, because indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, the underwriters may determine to sell more, less or no shares in this offering to any of these stockholders, and any of these stockholders may determine to purchase more, less or no shares in this offering. The underwriters will receive the same underwriting discount on any shares purchased by these stockholders as they will on any other shares sold to the public in this offering.   

Prospectus dated        , 2018.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with information other than that contained in this prospectus or any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We and the underwriters are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front cover page of this prospectus, or other earlier date stated in this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock.

We own various U.S. federal trademark registrations and applications, and unregistered trademarks and service marks, including “Aquestive Therapeutics” and our corporate logo. Solely for convenience, trademarks referred to in this prospectus, including logos, artwork and other visual displays, may appear without the ® or ™ symbols. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

Additionally, throughout this document we use the proposed brand names of Libervant and Sympazan, which have been approved by the FDA on a preliminary basis, when referring to AQST-203 and AQST-120, respectively, despite both product candidates having yet to receive marketing approval from the FDA. All references in this prospectus to Libervant and Sympazan refer only to our product candidates and are not meant to imply FDA approval of the product candidates or their proposed brand names.

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights information contained in other parts of this prospectus. Because it is only a summary, it does not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in shares of our common stock and it is qualified in its entirety by, and should be read in conjunction with, the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. Before investing in our common stock, you should carefully read this entire prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto and the information set forth under the sections titled “Risk Factors,” “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in each case included in this prospectus. Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this prospectus to “Aquestive,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. The consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus are those of MonoSol Rx, LLC, our predecessor entity and its consolidated subsidiary.

Overview

We are a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing and commercializing differentiated products to address unmet medical needs. We have a late-stage proprietary product pipeline focused on the treatment of diseases of the Central Nervous System, or CNS. We believe that the characteristics of these patient populations and shortcomings of available treatment options create opportunities for the development and commercialization of meaningfully differentiated medicines. Our most advanced proprietary product candidates, which we intend to commercialize ourselves, include (i) Libervant (the preliminary brand name for AQST-203), a buccally, or inside of the cheek, administered soluble film formulation of diazepam for the treatment of recurrent epileptic seizures, for which we expect to submit a New Drug Application, or NDA, in 2018; (ii) Sympazan (the preliminary brand name for AQST-120), an oral soluble film formulation of clobazam for the treatment of seizures associated with a rare, intractable form of epilepsy known as Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, or LGS, for which we submitted an NDA in October 2017 and have been assigned an August 31, 2018 Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, date, which is the date the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, expects to complete its review of our NDA, and (iii) AQST-117, an oral soluble film formulation of riluzole for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, for which we expect to submit an NDA in the first half of 2019. We have also developed a proprietary pipeline of complex molecule products addressing large market opportunities beyond CNS indications, which include (i) AQST-108, a sublingual film formulation of epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis, for which we expect to begin additional Phase 1 trials in 2018 and (ii) AQST-305, a buccal film formulation of octreotide for the treatment of acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors, for which we expect to begin human proof of concept trials in 2018.

In addition to these product candidates, we have a portfolio of commercialized and development-stage partnered products. These products include Suboxone, a sublingual film formulation of buprenorphine and naloxone, which is the market leader for the treatment of opioid dependence. We manufacture all of our partnered and proprietary products at our FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, inspected facilities and anticipate that our current manufacturing capacity is sufficient for commercial quantities of our products and product candidates currently in development. We have produced over 1.1 billion doses of Suboxone in the last four years. Our products are developed using our proprietary PharmFilm technology and know-how. Our patent portfolio currently comprises at least 200 issued patents worldwide, of which at least 40 are U.S. patents, and more than 75 pending patent applications worldwide.

Our Product Portfolio and Pipeline

The following table outlines our pipeline of product candidates:

Proprietary CNS Product Portfolio

We have initially focused our proprietary product pipeline on certain difficult to treat CNS diseases. Our PharmFilm technology allows us to develop medicines that offer non-invasive delivery, customized suitability for patients with dysphagia, or trouble swallowing, can be administered without water and ensure consistent therapeutic dosing. We believe that these characteristics will allow us to achieve the desired patient outcomes, while potentially reducing the total cost of patient care.

The most advanced assets within our proprietary CNS portfolio are as follows:

addresses these treatment obstacles because it is mucoadhesive and dissolves easily on the tongue without the need for water and without a substantial increase in salivary flow. In clinical trials, AQST-117 has demonstrated bioequivalence to Rilutek. We expect to submit an NDA for AQST-117 during the first half of 2019.

In July 2018, we received interim data from our adult Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, or EMU, clinical study for Libervant. The study consists of two treatment arms designed to compare the pharmacokinetics, or PK, of Libervant in subjects with epilepsy in the interictal condition, when they are not experiencing seizures, versus the ictal/peri-ictal condition, when they are experiencing seizures. Through June 2018, 27 subjects had completed the study across the two treatment arms. This represents 90% of the 30 subjects needed to complete the study. Preliminary analysis of the data indicates the following:

We have completed enrollment in our adult EMU study and expect final results in the third quarter of 2018.

Following a face-to-face meeting with the FDA held on June 14, 2018, where these data, along with other clinical data, were presented, we believe that, upon the completion of our clinical studies, we will have the necessary supporting data to submit a marketing application under the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway to the FDA for Libervant in 2018.

Proprietary Complex Molecule Portfolio

We are utilizing our technology and know-how to target large market opportunities by developing orally-administered complex molecule therapies as alternatives to invasively-administered standard of care injectable therapeutics. We currently have two active complex molecule programs in clinical development, which are:

Partnered Products

Our portfolio also includes products and product candidates that we have partnered, or will seek to partner, for commercialization. In the year ended December 31, 2017, our partnered product portfolio generated over $1 billion in revenue for our partners, resulting in $66.9 million in revenue to us. Our key partnered products include:

PharmFilm – Our Oral Film Technology

We developed our PharmFilm technology to provide meaningful clinical and therapeutic advantages over other existing dosage forms and, in turn, to improve the lives of patients and caregivers.

PharmFilm is comprised of proprietary polymer compositions that serve as film formers to hold active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs, and excipients in place. Proprietary and patent-protected compositions, formulation and manufacturing techniques and technology are employed to ensure that the API is distributed uniformly throughout the film and that target absorption levels are achieved. Our proprietary technology and manufacturing process ensures that PharmFilm can be engineered to fit a variety of target product profiles in order to best address the unmet patient need present within specific disease states. PharmFilm, which is similar in thickness and size to a postage stamp, can be administered via buccal, sublingual or lingual oral delivery.

We believe the innovative nature of our PharmFilm drug delivery platform has the potential to offer a number of meaningful advantages to patients, caregivers and physicians compared to current standard of care therapies, including:

Our Management Team

Our management team is a critical component to the development of our business model and the execution of our strategy. We are led by executives with an average of over 17 years of relevant senior leadership experience, including developing and commercializing branded and generic pharmaceuticals at large multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Novartis AG. Our team has significant experience in commercialization of pharmaceutical products, translational science, drug evaluation, clinical development, regulatory affairs and business development.

Our Strategy

We are a patient-centric pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products that address unmet needs and improve the lives of patients and their caregivers. We focus on developing medicines for patient populations suffering from the shortcomings of available treatment options, which can create an opportunity for differentiated medicines. Our pipeline is initially focused on developing treatments for CNS diseases, as well as orally administered complex molecules that we believe can be alternatives to invasively-administered standard of care therapies. Our strategy leverages our global intellectual property portfolio, know-how, demonstrated research and development capabilities and proprietary manufacturing platform.

To achieve these goals, our strategy includes the following key elements:

Risks Associated with Our Business

Our business is subject to numerous risks, as more fully described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” immediately following this prospectus summary. You should read these risks before you invest in our common stock. We may be unable, for many reasons, including those that are beyond our control, to implement our business strategy.

These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

Corporate Information

We were originally formed in Delaware in January 2004 and until December 31, 2017, we conducted our business through MonoSol Rx, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, or MonoSol. From the period of organization through October 31, 2017, our predecessor was a limited liability company, or LLC, treated as a partnership for income tax purposes. From November 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017, MonoSol elected to be taxed as a C corporation. On January 1, 2018, MonoSol converted from a Delaware LLC into a Delaware corporation pursuant to a statutory conversion and changed its name to Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. In a corporate reorganization conducted following the conversion of MonoSol into a Delaware corporation, the holders of units of MonoSol contributed their interests in MonoSol to Aquestive Partners, LLC, or APL, in exchange for identical interests in APL and following such exchange APL became the parent and sole stockholder of Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. Upon consummation of this offering, our shares held by APL will be distributed to the holders of interests in APL in exchange for such interests, and APL will be liquidated. Except as disclosed in this prospectus, the consolidated financial statements and selected historical consolidated financial data and other financial information included in this prospectus are those of MonoSol prior to the conversion into Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc.

Our principal executive office is located at 30 Technology Drive, Warren, New Jersey 07059, and our telephone number is (908) 941-1900. Our corporate website address is www.aquestive.com. Information contained on or accessible through our website is not a part of this prospectus, and the inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies,” including, but not limited to:

We have taken advantage of some of the reduced reporting burdens in this prospectus and may take advantage of additional exemptions in the future. Accordingly, the information contained herein may be different than the information provided by other public companies. We do not know if some investors will find our shares less attractive as a result of our utilization of these or other exemptions. The result may be a less active trading market for our shares and our share price may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. As an emerging growth company, we have elected to take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for public emerging growth companies.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the consummation of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeded $700.0 million as of the last day business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. Please note any references herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

THE OFFERING

The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on 20,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2018 (on a pro forma basis), and includes:

Unless otherwise indicated, all information contained in this prospectus assumes:

SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following table summarizes our historical financial data as of, and for the periods ended on, the dates indicated. We have derived the statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) and with Article 10 of Regulation S-X for interim financial reporting. The statements of operations data for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 and the balance sheet data as of March 31, 2018 have been derived from our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States on the same basis as the annual audited consolidated financial statements and, in the opinion of management, the unaudited data reflects all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the financial information in those statements. As a result of the conversion of MonoSol Rx, LLC into Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. on January 1, 2018 (see “Prospectus Summary—Corporate Information”), the interests and per interests information included in the summary financial data below for and as of the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 and for and as of the three-months ended March 31, 2017 does not give effect for the 1 for 12.34 reverse stock split of our common stock effected on July 16, 2018. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future, and results from our interim period may not necessarily be indicative of the results of the entire year or any future period. The summary of our financial data set forth below should be read together with our consolidated financial statements, and the related notes thereto and “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

RISK FACTORS

An investment in shares of our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following information about these risks, together with the other information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the following risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects. In these circumstances, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Need for Additional Capital

We have incurred significant losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

We have a limited operating history. To date, we have focused primarily on developing a broad product portfolio and have obtained regulatory approval for two of our products: Suboxone, the first sublingual film product for the treatment of opioid dependence, and Zuplenz, the first approved prescription oral soluble film for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced, radiotherapy-induced, and postoperative nausea and vomiting. Some of our product candidates will require substantial additional development time and resources before we would be able to receive regulatory approvals, implement commercialization strategies and begin generating revenue from product sales. We may not generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates in the near term, if ever. We have incurred losses of $8.9 million and $9.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. As of March 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $116.0 million from inception.

We have devoted most of our financial resources to product development. To date, we have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity and debt securities and from revenues from certain partnerships we have entered into with respect to our products. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future expenditures and our ability to generate revenue. To date, only two of our products, Suboxone and Zuplenz, have been commercialized, and if our product candidates are not successfully developed or commercialized, or if revenue is insufficient following marketing approval of such product candidates, we will not achieve profitability and our business may fail.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to fully predict the timing or amount of our expenses, but we expect to continue to incur substantial expenses, which we expect to increase as we expand our development activities and product portfolio. Some of the expenses we expect to continue to incur include:

As a result of the foregoing, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing losses and negative cash flows for the foreseeable future, which may increase compared to past periods.

Even if this offering is successful, we will need substantial additional capital to fund our operations, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we may need to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of our product candidates.

Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash. We had $16.5 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2018. Currently, our cash equivalents have a maturity of three months or less. We have no committed sources of capital and our borrowing capability under our loan agreement, or the Loan Agreement, with Perceptive Credit Opportunities Fund, LP, or Perceptive, is fully drawn.

We believe that the net proceeds from this offering, combined with our existing cash and cash equivalents and expected revenue from our partnered product activities, will be sufficient to fund our operations at least through the next 24 months of operations, including our planned investments in the commercialization of our late stage CNS product candidates, research and development investments in our complex molecule product pipeline candidates, capital expenditures and investments in new product candidates in epilepsy and other CNS diseases. We have based this estimate on assumptions that could change, and we could utilize our available financial resources sooner than we currently expect. We expect to continue to spend substantial amounts to commercialize our epilepsy products, Libervant and Sympazan, our ALS product, AQST-117, and our other proprietary product candidates. Based on our current operating budget and business plan, we will need to raise substantial additional financing by various means, including, among others, through public or private equity or debt financings, third-party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or any combination of these approaches. Our existing resources may not be adequate to permit us to complete clinical development of our product candidates or fund our operations over the longer term. We may need to secure significant additional resources to complete such development and to support our continued operations. We are exploring a variety of funding alternatives, including both dilutive and non-dilutive financing options and strategic partnerships.

Our estimate of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could deplete our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. In addition, our operating plan and budget could change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, whether through public or private equity or debt financings, third-party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or any combination of these approaches.

We have historically relied upon sales of Suboxone and Zuplenz, our two commercialized partnered products, milestone payments, fees from co-development and research services, fees from licensed proprietary technologies and patent rights, and royalties based on specified product sales, together with private sales of equity or debt securities, to fund our operations. Delays in obtaining funding could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercially introduce products, if approved, and cause us to be unable to comply with our obligations. Even if we believe we have sufficient capital for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital if market conditions are favorable or if we have specific strategic considerations. Any additional capital raising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our current and future product candidates.

Our ability to obtain additional financing will be subject to a number of factors, including market conditions, our operating performance and investor sentiment. If we are unable to raise additional capital when required or on acceptable terms, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of our product candidates, restrict our operations or obtain funds by entering into agreements on unattractive terms, which would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, stock price and our relationships with third parties with whom we have business relationships, at least until additional funding is obtained. If we do not have sufficient funds to continue operations, we could be required to seek bankruptcy protection or other alternatives that would likely result in our stockholders losing some or all of their investment in us.

We may sell additional equity or incur debt to fund our operations, which may result in dilution to our stockholders, including purchasers of shares of common stock in this offering, and impose restrictions on our business.

We do not have any committed external source of funds other than potential milestone payments and royalties under certain of our collaboration agreements. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate sufficient revenue to fully fund our operations, we may seek additional capital through a public or private equity or debt financings, third-party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or any combination of these approaches. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a stockholder. Debt financings may be coupled with an equity component, such as warrants to purchase shares of our common stock, which could also result in dilution of existing stockholders' ownership. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business and may result in liens being placed on our assets and intellectual property. If we were to default on such indebtedness, we could lose such assets and intellectual property.

If we raise additional funds through collaborations, or strategic alliance, marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, product candidates or future revenue streams or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.

Even if we are able to generate revenues from our operations in the future, our revenues and operating income could fluctuate significantly.

Even if we are able to generate future revenues, our operating income, and results may vary significantly from year-to-year and quarter-to-quarter. Variations may result from, among other factors:

Our level of indebtedness and significant debt service obligations could constrain our ability to invest in our business and make it more difficult for us to fund our operations.

We have, and after the consummation of this offering will continue to have, substantial debt and substantial debt service obligations. At March 31, 2018, we had an aggregate principal amount of $50.0 million of outstanding indebtedness. In the future, we may need to borrow additional funds.

Because of our indebtedness:

We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our existing cash and cash equivalents. However, we may not have sufficient funds, and may be unable to arrange for additional financing, to pay the amounts due under our Loan Agreement or any other debt instruments we may enter into. Failure to make payments or comply with other covenants under our existing credit facility or such other debt instruments could result in an event of default and acceleration of amounts due, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent upon the commercial success of Suboxone and other licensing activities to generate revenue for the near future.

Although we are in the process of testing and developing proprietary product candidates and may seek to acquire rights in other approved drugs, we anticipate that our ability to generate revenue and to become profitable in the near future will depend upon the continued commercial success of our only approved partnered products, Zuplenz and Suboxone, as well as our other licensing and partnered development activities. There is no assurance that we will become commercially successful. If Zuplenz and Suboxone are not commercially successful, we cannot continue to generate licensing revenues and we have not received approval for any other of our product candidates, we may not be able to generate any royalties or product revenue, as the case may be, for those products or proprietary our product candidates at all. Moreover, any delay or setback in the development of any product candidate could materially adversely affect our business and cause the price of our common stock to fall.

We are currently involved in antitrust litigation in connection with the launch of Suboxone Sublingual Film and any adverse decisions in such litigation could significantly harm our business.

We are currently named as a defendant in antitrust litigation brought against us and Indivior. Such litigation involves allegations that defendants engaged in conduct intended to interfere with the introduction of generic drug products based on our product, Suboxone, to the marketplace. We deny any wrongdoing and are vigorously defending such litigation. However, depending on the outcome of the litigation, whether or not any remedies are entered against us or Indivior and, if so, what those remedies are, it could affect our ability to recognize revenues from Suboxone and significantly harm our business. Moreover, regardless of the merits of any claim, the continued maintenance of these legal and administrative proceedings may result in substantial legal expenses and divert our management's time and attention away from our other business operations, which could also significantly harm our business. For more information, please see the section titled “Business – Legal Proceedings – Antitrust Litigation.”

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Products and Product Candidates

We cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully develop our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates.

We currently have nine product candidates in clinical development. Our business depends primarily on the successful clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our product candidates. Before our product candidates can be marketed, the FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory agencies must approve our NDA or comparable regulatory submissions. Even after successful completion of clinical testing, there is a risk that the FDA may request further information from us, disagree with our findings or otherwise undertake a lengthy review of our submission. Even if the FDA approves our NDA, we may be unable to successfully commercialize our product candidates.

It is possible that the FDA will not approve any application that we may submit or our product candidates may not obtain appropriate regulatory approvals necessary for us to commence clinical trials for our product candidates. Any delay or failure in obtaining required approvals could have a material adverse effect on our business. This process can take many years and will likely require the expenditure of substantial resources beyond the proceeds we currently have on hand.

Even if we obtain approval from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for our current and future product candidates, any approval might contain significant limitations related to use restrictions for specified age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, or may be subject to burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval, or any approval contains significant limitations, we may not be able to obtain sufficient funding or generate sufficient revenue to continue the development of that product candidate or any other product candidate that we may in-license, develop or acquire in the future.

We have never directly commercialized a product candidate and we may lack the necessary expertise, personnel and resources to successfully commercialize any of our products that receive regulatory approval on our own or together with collaborators.

We have relied on our third-party collaborators to commercialize our products, Suboxone and Zuplenz. Thus, we do not have direct experience in commercializing a product candidate. To achieve commercial success of our product candidates, if any are approved, we will have to develop our own sales, marketing and supply capabilities or outsource these activities to a third party.

Factors that may affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates on our own include: recruiting and retaining adequate numbers of effective sales and marketing personnel, obtaining access to or persuading adequate numbers of physicians to prescribe our product candidates and other unforeseen costs associated with creating an independent sales and marketing organization. Developing a sales and marketing organization requires significant investment and resources, is time-consuming and could delay the launch of our product candidates. We may not be able to build an effective sales and marketing organization in the United States or other key global markets. We also intend to enter into strategic partnerships with third parties to commercialize our product candidates outside of the United States. We may have difficulty establishing relationships with third parties on terms that are acceptable to

us, or in all of the regions where we wish to commercialize our products, or at all. If we are unable to build our own distribution and marketing capabilities or to find suitable partners for the commercialization of our product candidates, we may have difficulties generating revenue from them.

Our commercial success depends upon attaining significant market acceptance of our products and product candidates, if approved, among patients, physicians, pharmacists and the medical community.

It is possible that we may not complete development of our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval. Even if we do complete development and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our product candidates may not gain market acceptance among patients, physicians, pharmacists, the medical community or third-party payors, which is critical to commercial success. Market acceptance of our products and any product candidate for which we receive approval depends on a number of factors, including:

Even if a potential product displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile in clinical trials, market acceptance of the product will not be known until after it is launched. If our products or product candidates, if approved, fail to achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, nurses, pharmacists, patients and the medical community, we will be unable to generate significant revenues, and we may not become or remain profitable.

Adverse side effects or other safety risks associated with our product candidates could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon product candidates, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.

Undesirable side effects that may be caused by our product candidates could result in the delay, suspension or termination of clinical trials by us, our collaborators, the FDA or other regulatory authorities for a number of reasons. For example, to date, patients treated with Libervant have experienced drug-related side effects including somnolence, or a state of strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods. Results of our clinical trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of these or other side effects. In such an event, our clinical trials could be suspended or terminated and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. If we elect or are required to delay, suspend or terminate any clinical trial for any product candidates that we develop, the commercial prospects of such product candidates will be harmed and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed or eliminated. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations significantly.

We could incur substantial costs and disruption to our business and delays in the launch of our product candidates if our competitors and/or collaborators bring legal actions against us, which could harm our business and operating results.

We cannot predict whether our competitors or potential competitors, some of whom we collaborate with, may bring legal actions against us based on our research, development and commercialization activities, as well as any product candidates or products resulting from these activities, claiming, among other things, infringement of their intellectual property rights, breach of contract or other legal theories. If we are forced to defend any such lawsuits, whether they are with or without merit or are ultimately determined in our favor, we may face costly litigation and diversion of technical and management personnel. These lawsuits could hinder our ability to enter the market early with our product candidates and thereby hinder our ability to influence usage patterns when fewer, if any, of our potential competitors have entered such market, which could adversely impact our potential revenue from such product candidates. Some of our competitors have substantially greater resources than we do and could be able to sustain the cost of litigation to a greater extent and for longer periods of time than we could. Furthermore, an adverse outcome of a dispute may require us: to pay damages, potentially including treble damages and attorneys’ fees, if we are found to have willfully infringed a party’s patent or other intellectual property rights; to cease making, licensing or using products that are alleged to incorporate or make use of the intellectual property of others; to expend additional development resources to reformulate our products or prevent us from marketing a certain drug; and to enter into potentially unfavorable royalty or license agreements in order to obtain the rights to use necessary technologies. Royalty or licensing agreements, if required, may be unavailable on terms acceptable to us, or at all.

Guidelines and recommendations published by government agencies can reduce the use of our products or product candidates.

Government agencies promulgate regulations and guidelines applicable to certain drug classes which may include our products and product candidates that we are developing. Recommendations of government agencies may relate to such matters as usage, dosage, route of administration and use of concomitant therapies. Regulations or guidelines suggesting the reduced use of certain drug classes which may include our products and product candidates that we are developing or the use of competitive or alternative products as the standard of care to be followed by patients and healthcare providers could result in decreased use of our products or product candidates or negatively impact our ability to gain market acceptance and market share. For example, Suboxone, which treats opioid addiction, has as one of its active ingredients an opioid, buprenorphine. Revisions to regulations or guidelines suggesting the reduced use of opioid drugs such as buprenorphine could result in decreased use of Suboxone.

We face significant competition from other specialty pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies, and our operating results will suffer if we fail to compete effectively.

The specialty pharmaceutical industry is intensely competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. We expect to have competitors both in the United States and internationally, including major multinational pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources, such as larger research and development staff and experienced marketing and manufacturing organizations. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. As a result, these companies may obtain regulatory approval more rapidly than we are able and may be more effective in selling and marketing their products as well. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these industries. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis drug products or drug administration technologies that are more effective or less than product candidate that we are currently developing or that we may develop. In addition, our competitors may file citizen petitions with the FDA in an attempt to persuade the FDA that our products, or the clinical studies that support their approval, contain deficiencies. Such actions by our competitors could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving any NDA that we submit under Section 505(b)(2).

We believe that our ability to successfully compete will depend on, among other things:

If our competitors market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than our product candidates, or that reach the market sooner than our product candidates, we may enter the market too late in the cycle and may not achieve commercial success. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological change. Because we have limited research and development capabilities, it may be difficult for us to stay abreast of the rapid changes in each technology. If we fail to stay at the forefront of technological change, we may be unable to compete effectively. Technological advances or products developed by our competitors may render our technologies or product candidates obsolete, less competitive or not economical.

If we are unable to achieve and maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our products or product candidates, if approved, their commercial success may be severely hindered.

Our ability to commercialize our product candidates successfully will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement are available for our product candidates, once approved, from third-party payors, including governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, commercial health insurers and managed care organizations, and how quickly we obtain such coverage and reimbursement, if we are able to obtain it at all. Third-party payors determine which medications they will cover and establish reimbursement levels. Reimbursement decisions by third-party payors depend upon a number of factors, including each third-party payor’s determination that use of a product is:

Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval for our product candidates from third-party payors may be a time consuming and costly process that could require us to provide supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data, including results from expensive pharmacoeconomic studies, beyond the data required to obtain marketing approval, to each third-party payor. There is no guarantee that we will be able to provide data sufficient to gain acceptance with respect to coverage and reimbursement.

Third-party payors are increasingly attempting to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement for medical products and services. Third-party payors may deny reimbursement for covered products if they determine that a medical product was not used in accordance with third-party payor coverage policies, such as required procedures for cost-effective diagnosis methods and other conditions that must be met before the third-party payor will provide coverage for use of a

product. For example, insurers may establish a “step-edit” system that requires a patient to first use a lower price alternative product prior to becoming eligible for reimbursement of a higher price product. Third-party payors also may refuse to reimburse for drugs, procedures and devices deemed to be experimental, or that are prescribed for an unapproved indication. In addition, third-party payors may also limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, or formulary, which might not include all of the FDA-approved products for a particular indication. Further, some third-party payors are the challenging the prices charged for medical products and may impose price controls or require that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices.

The process for determining whether a payor will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the price or reimbursement rate that the payor will pay for the product once coverage is approved. Levels of reimbursement may also decrease in the future, and future legislation, regulation or reimbursement policies of third-party payors may adversely affect the reimbursement available for and the pricing of our product candidates, once approved, which in turn, could negatively impact the demand for our product candidates. If patients are not adequately reimbursed for our product candidates, they may reduce or discontinue purchases of it, which would result in a significant shortfall in achieving revenue expectations and negatively impact our business, prospects and financial condition.

Our relationships with customers, physicians, and third-party payors will be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, health information privacy and security laws, and other healthcare laws and regulations. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors may subject us to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws and other health care laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil and criminal false claims laws and the law commonly referred to as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and regulations promulgated thereunder. These laws will impact, among other things, our clinical research program and our proposed sales, marketing and educational programs. In addition, we may be subject to patient privacy laws by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct or may conduct our business. The laws that will affect our operations include, but are not limited to:

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws.

It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, contractual damages, reputational harm and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations.

The risk of our being found in violation of these laws is increased by the fact that many of them have not been fully interpreted by the regulatory authorities or the courts, and their provisions are open to a variety of interpretations. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. The shifting compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust and expandable systems to comply with multiple jurisdictions with different compliance and/or reporting requirements increases the possibility that a healthcare company may run afoul of one or more of the requirements.

Recently enacted and future healthcare reform legislation or regulation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any future collaborators to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and may adversely affect the prices we, or they, may obtain and may have a negative impact on our business and results of operations.

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could, among other

things, prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability, or the ability of any future collaborators, to profitably sell any products for which we, or they, obtain marketing approval. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. We expect that current laws, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we, or any future collaborators, may receive for any approved products.

In March 2010, President Obama signed into law the PPACA. Among the provisions of the PPACA of importance to our business, including, without limitation, our ability to commercialize and the prices we may obtain for any of our product candidates and that are approved for sale, are the following:

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the PPACA was enacted. For example, beginning April 1, 2013, Medicare payments for all items and services, including drugs and biologics, were reduced by 2% under the sequestration (i.e., automatic spending reductions) required by the Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Subsequent legislation, including the BBA, extended the 2% reduction, on average, to 2027, subject to additional Congressional action. Sequestration may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and, if we obtain regulatory approvals, may otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for our product candidates or the frequency with which our product candidates may be prescribed or used if approved. Additional changes that may affect our business include the expansion of new programs such as Medicare payment for performance initiatives for physicians under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA, which will be fully implemented in 2019. At this time, it is unclear how the introduction of the Medicare quality payment program will impact overall physician reimbursement.

Further, legislative changes to or regulatory changes under the PPACA remain possible and appear likely in the 115th U.S. Congress and under the Trump administration. The nature and extent of any legislative or regulatory changes to the PPACA, including repeal and replacement initiatives, are uncertain at this time. It is possible that the PPACA repeal and replacement initiatives, if enacted into law, could ultimately result in fewer individuals having health insurance coverage or in individuals having insurance coverage with less generous benefits. While Congress has not passed repeal legislation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or the TCJA, which was recently signed into law by President Trump, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the PPACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” In addition, the BBA, among other things, amends the PPACA, starting January 1, 2019, to close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole.” The scope of potential future legislation to modify or repeal and replace the PPACA provisions is highly uncertain in many respects. We continue to evaluate the potential impact of the PPACA and its possible repeal or replacement on our business.

The costs of prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States have also been the subject of considerable discussion in the United States, and members of Congress and the administration have stated that they will address such costs through new legislative and administrative measures. This focus has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. At the federal level, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 contains further drug price control measures that could be enacted during the 2019 budget process or in other future legislation, including, for example, measures to permit Medicare Part D plans to negotiate the price of certain drugs under Medicare Part B, to allow some states to negotiate drug prices under Medicaid, and to eliminate cost sharing for generic drugs for low-income patients. Further, the Trump administration released a “Blueprint”, or plan, to lower drug prices and reduce out of pocket costs of drugs that contains additional proposals to increase drug manufacturer competition, increase the negotiating power of certain federal healthcare programs, incentivize manufacturers to lower the list price of their products, and reduce the out of pocket costs of drug products paid by consumers. The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, has already started the process of soliciting feedback on some of these measures and, at the same, is immediately implementing others under its existing authority. While some proposed measures will require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, Congress and the Trump administration have each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. At the state level, legislatures are increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

We expect that these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved drug. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our drugs. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures.

The pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is also subject to governmental control outside the United States. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our product candidates to other available product candidates. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our ability to generate revenues and become profitable could be impaired.

Comprehensive tax reform legislation could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

On December 22, 2017, the TCJA was enacted. The TCJA is major tax legislation that, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reducing the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%; limiting the tax deduction for interest expense; limiting the deduction for net operating losses and eliminating net operating loss carrybacks, in each case, for losses arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 (though any such tax losses may be carried forward indefinitely); eliminating certain requirements of the PPACA, including the individual mandate; and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits, including reducing the business tax credit for certain clinical testing expenses incurred in the testing of certain drugs for rare diseases or conditions generally referred to as “orphan drugs”. We continue to examine the impact this tax reform legislation may have on our business. However, the effect of the TCJA on us and our affiliates, whether adverse or favorable, is uncertain and may not become evident for some period of time. You are urged to consult your tax adviser regarding the implications of the TCJA on an investment in our common stock.

Even though we have obtained orphan drug designation for Libervant and AQST-117 in the United States, we may not obtain or maintain orphan drug exclusivity for these or other product candidates, and we may not obtain orphan drug designation or exclusivity for any of our other product candidates or indications.

Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States.

Generally, if a product with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same drug for the same disease for seven years. Orphan drug exclusivity may be lost if the FDA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an application for marketing approval.

We obtained orphan drug designation in the United States for Libervant for the treatment of selected, refractory patients with epilepsy who are on stable regimens of antiepileptic drugs, or AED, and who require intermittent use of diazepam to control bouts of increased seizure activity, or acute repetitive seizures, and for AQST-117 for the treatment of amytrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. A company that first obtains FDA approval for a designated orphan drug for the designated rare disease or condition receives orphan drug marketing exclusivity for that drug for the designated disease for a period of seven years in the United States. This orphan drug exclusivity prevents the FDA from approving another application to market a drug containing the same active moiety for the same orphan indication, except in very limited circumstances, including when the FDA concludes that the later drug is safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation.

Even though we have received orphan drug designation for Libervant and for AQST-117, we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval for the orphan-designated indication due to the uncertainties associated with developing product candidates. For example, other pharmaceutical companies developing diazepam have obtained orphan drug designation for their product candidates for an acute repetitive seizures indication using other routes of administration, such as intranasal and subcutaneous. While there can be no assurance, we believe that our Libervant is further along in development than these other companies’ versions of diazepam. However, if any of these other pharmaceutical companies obtains approval of an NDA for its formulation of diazepam for the management of acute repetitive seizures before we are able to receive approval of Libervant for the same indication, we would be barred from marketing Libervant in the United States during the seven-year orphan drug exclusivity period,

unless we could demonstrate that Libervant is clinically superior to the approved diazepam product. In addition, in order to obtain our own period of marketing exclusivity, we would need to demonstrate that Libervant is clinically superior to any other diazepam products approved for the same indication, including Diastat.

Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties can be approved for the same condition or a drug with the same active moiety can be approved for a different indication. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. In addition, even if we intend to seek orphan drug designation for other product candidates or indications, we may never receive such designations or obtain orphan drug exclusivity.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on third parties to conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.

We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third-party contract research organizations, or CROs, to monitor and manage data for our preclinical and clinical programs. We rely on these parties for execution of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards and our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with FDA laws and regulations regarding current good clinical practice, or GCP, which are also required by the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in the form of International Conference on Harmonization, or ICH, guidelines for all of our products in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce GCP through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCP, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under the current good manufacturing practice, or cGMP, regulations. While we have agreements governing activities of our CROs, we have limited influence over their actual performance. In addition, portions of the clinical trials for our product candidates are expected to be conducted outside of the United States, which will make it more difficult for us to monitor CROs and perform visits of our clinical trial sites and will force us to rely heavily on CROs to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and compliance with applicable regulations, including GCP. Failure to comply with applicable regulations in the conduct of the clinical trials for our product candidates may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

Some of our CROs have an ability to terminate their respective agreements with us if, among other reasons, it can be reasonably demonstrated that the safety of the subjects participating in our clinical trials warrants such termination, if we make a general assignment for the benefit of our creditors or if we are liquidated. If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, our CROs are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such CROs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our preclinical and clinical programs. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain

regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. Consequently, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase substantially and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed significantly.

Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

We rely on limited sources of supply for our thin film foil, and any disruption in the chain of supply may impact production and sales and cause delay in developing and commercializing our Proprietary PharmFilm Technology product candidates.

We currently have relationships with only one third party for the manufacture of our thin film foil. Because of the unique equipment and process for manufacturing our thin film foil, transferring manufacturing activities for our foil to an alternate supplier would be a time-consuming and costly endeavor, and there are only a limited number of manufacturers that we believe are capable of performing this function for us. Switching thin film foil suppliers may involve substantial cost and could result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines. If any of our thin film foil manufacturers breaches or terminates their agreements with us, we would need to identify an alternative source for the thin film foil manufacture and supply of foil to us for the purposes of our development and commercialization of the applicable products. Identifying an appropriately qualified source of alternative thin film foil supply for any one or more of these product candidates could be time consuming, and we may not be able to do so without incurring material delays in the development and commercialization of our product candidates, which could harm our financial position and commercial potential for our products. Any alternative thin film foil vendor would also need to be qualified through an NDA supplement which could result in further delay. The FDA or other regulatory agencies outside of the United States may also require additional studies if we appoint a new manufacturer for supply of our product candidates that differs from the manufacturer used for clinical development of such product candidates. For our other product candidates, we expect that only one supplier will initially be qualified as a vendor with the FDA. If supply from the approved vendor is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply.

These factors could cause the delay of clinical trials, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of our product candidates, cause us to incur higher costs and prevent us from commercializing them successfully. Furthermore, if our suppliers fail to deliver the required commercial quantities of components and active pharmaceutical ingredient on a timely basis and at commercially reasonable prices, and we are unable to secure one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, our clinical trials may be delayed or we could lose potential revenue.

We rely on third parties to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, for our product candidates, and we intend to rely on third parties to manufacture the API for any other approved products. The commercialization of any of our products could be stopped, delayed or made less profitable if those third parties fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of API or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices or fail to maintain or achieve satisfactory regulatory compliance.

We currently rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to manufacture API for our product candidates, and control only certain aspects of their activities.

Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it could delay our proprietary product candidate programs and commercialization activities. Our reliance on these third parties reduces our control over these activities but does not relieve us of our responsibility to ensure compliance with all required legal, regulatory and scientific standards and any applicable trial protocols. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our studies in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated study plans and protocols, we will not be able to complete, or may be delayed in completing, clinical trials required to support future regulatory submissions and approval of our product candidates.

Our products and product candidates are highly reliant on very complex sterile techniques and personnel aseptic techniques. The facilities used by our third-party API manufacturers to manufacture our products and product candidates must maintain a compliance status acceptable to the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit our NDA to the FDA. If any of our third-party API manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the applicable regulatory authorities’ strict regulatory requirements, or pass regulatory inspection, they will not be able to secure or maintain regulatory approval for the manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of third-party API manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. Further, as we scale up manufacturing of our product candidates and conduct required stability testing, product, packaging, equipment and process-related issues may require refinement or resolution in order for us to proceed with our planned clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval for commercialization of our product candidates. In the future, for example, we may identify impurities in the product manufactured for us for commercial supply, which could result in increased scrutiny by the regulatory agencies, delays in our clinical program and regulatory approval, increases in our operating expenses, or failure to obtain or maintain approval for our product candidates. If the FDA or any other applicable regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our products or if they withdraw any such approval in the future, or if our suppliers or third-party manufacturers decide they no longer want to manufacture our products, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our products or product candidates.

More generally, API manufacturers of pharmaceutical products often encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling up and validating initial production. These problems include difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including stability of the product, quality assurance testing, shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign regulations. Additionally, our API manufacturers may experience manufacturing difficulties due to resource constraints or as a result of labor disputes or unstable political environments. If our manufacturers were to encounter any of these difficulties, or otherwise fail to comply with their contractual obligations, our ability to make product candidates available for clinical trials and development purposes or to further commercialize any of our product candidates in the United States would be jeopardized. Any delay or interruption in our ability to meet commercial demand may result in the loss of potential revenues and could adversely affect our ability to gain market acceptance for approved products. In addition, any delay or interruption in the supply of clinical trial supplies could delay the completion of clinical trials, increase the costs associated with maintaining clinical trial programs and, depending upon the period of delay, require us to commence new clinical trials at additional expense or terminate clinical trials completely. Additionally, if supply from one approved API manufacturer is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply. Regulatory agencies may also require additional studies if a new manufacturer is relied upon for commercial production. Switching manufacturers may involve substantial costs and is likely to result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines.

The occurrence of any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

The design, development, manufacture, supply, and distribution of our product candidates is highly regulated and technically complex.

All entities involved in the preparation of therapeutics for clinical trials or commercial sale, are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in late-stage clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP and equivalent foreign standards. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures (including record keeping) and the implementation and operation of quality systems to control and assure the quality of investigational products and products approved for sale. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of adventitious agents or other contaminants, or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. The development, manufacture, supply, and distribution of our other product candidates, is highly regulated and technically complex. We, along with our third-party providers, must comply with all applicable regulatory requirements of the FDA and foreign authorities.

We, or our API and component manufacturers, must supply all necessary documentation in support of our regulatory filings for our product candidates on a timely basis and must adhere to the FDA’s good laboratory practices, or GLP, and cGMP regulations enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program, and the equivalent standards of the regulatory authorities in other countries. Any failure by our third-party API or component manufacturers to comply with cGMP or failure to scale-up manufacturing processes, including any failure to deliver sufficient quantities of product candidates in a timely manner, could lead to a delay in, or failure to obtain, regulatory approval of any of our product candidates. Our facilities and quality systems and the facilities and quality systems of some or all of our third-party API and component manufacturers must also pass a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable regulations as a condition of regulatory approval of our product candidates or any of our other potential products. In addition, the regulatory authorities in any country may, at any time, audit or inspect a manufacturing facility involved with the preparation of our product candidates or our other potential products or the associated quality systems for compliance with the regulations applicable to the activities being conducted. If these facilities and quality systems do not pass a pre-approval plant inspection, FDA approval of our product candidates, or the equivalent approvals in other jurisdictions, will not be granted.

Regulatory authorities also may, at any time following approval of a product for sale, inspect our manufacturing facilities or those of our third-party suppliers or contractors. If any such inspection identifies a failure to comply with applicable regulations or if a violation of our product specifications or applicable regulations occurs independent of such an inspection or audit, we or the relevant regulatory authority may require remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for us or a third party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical trial or commercial sales or the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon us or third parties with whom we contract could materially harm our business. If we or any of our third-party API or component manufacturers fail to maintain regulatory compliance, the FDA can impose regulatory sanctions including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending NDA for a new drug product or revocation of a pre-existing approval. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially harmed.

We may not be successful in establishing development and commercialization collaborations, which could adversely affect, and potentially prohibit, our ability to develop our product candidates.

Because developing pharmaceutical products, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approval, establishing manufacturing capabilities and marketing approved products are expensive, we are exploring collaborations with third parties outside of the United States that have more resources and experience. For example, we are exploring selective partnerships with third parties for development and commercialization of our product candidates outside of the United States. We may, however, be unable to advance the development of our product candidates in territories outside of the United States, which may limit the market potential for this product candidate.

In situations where we enter into a development and commercial collaborative arrangement for a product candidate, we may also seek to establish additional collaborations for development and commercialization in territories outside of those addressed by the first collaborative arrangement for such product candidate. There are a limited number of potential partners, and we expect to face competition in seeking appropriate partners. If we are unable to enter into any development and commercial collaborations and/or sales and marketing arrangements on acceptable terms, if at all, we may be unable to successfully develop and seek regulatory approval for our product candidates and/or effectively market and sell future approved products, if any, in all of the territories outside of the United States where it may otherwise be valuable to do so.

We may not be successful in maintaining development and commercialization collaborations, and any partner may not devote sufficient resources to the development or commercialization of our product candidates or may otherwise fail in development or commercialization efforts, which could adversely affect our ability to develop certain of our product candidates and our financial condition and operating results.

Even if we are able to establish collaborative arrangements, any such collaboration may not ultimately be successful, which could have a negative impact on our business, results of operations,

financial condition and prospects. If we partner with a third party for development and commercialization of a product candidate, we can expect to relinquish some or all of the control over the future success of that product candidate to the third party. It is possible that a partner may not devote sufficient resources to the development or commercialization of our product candidate or may otherwise fail in development or commercialization efforts, in which event the development and commercialization of such product candidate could be delayed or terminated and our business could be substantially harmed. In addition, the terms of any collaboration or other arrangement that we establish may not prove to be favorable to us or may not be perceived as favorable, which may negatively impact the trading price of our common stock. In some cases, we may be responsible for continuing development of a product candidate or research program under a collaboration, and the payment we receive from our partner may be insufficient to cover the cost of this development. Moreover, collaborations and sales and marketing arrangements are complex and time consuming to negotiate, document and implement, and they may require substantial resources to maintain.

We are subject to a number of additional risks associated with our dependence on collaborations with third parties, the occurrence of which could cause our collaborative arrangements to fail, including that:

Additionally, conflicts may arise between us and our partners, such as conflicts concerning the interpretation of clinical data, the achievement of milestones, the interpretation of financial provisions or the ownership of intellectual property developed during the collaboration. For example, we are largely dependent on Indivior, which holds the global commercialization rights to our approved product, Suboxone. During the three months ended March 31, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2017, Indivior represented 97% and 88% of our total revenue, respectively. If any such conflicts were to arise with Indivior or any other partner, such partner could act in its own self-interest, which may be adverse to our interests. Any such disagreement between us and a partner could result in one or more of the following, each of which could delay or prevent the development or commercialization of our product candidates and harm our business:

Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry

Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.

We are highly dependent on the principal members of our executive team listed under “Management” located elsewhere in this prospectus, the loss of whose services may adversely impact

the achievement of our objectives. Any of our executive officers could leave our employment at any time, as all of our employees are “at will” employees. Recruiting and retaining other qualified employees for our business, including scientific and technical personnel, will also be critical to our success. There is currently a shortage of skilled executives in our industry, which is likely to continue. As a result, competition for skilled personnel is intense and the turnover rate can be high. We may not be able to attract and retain personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical companies for individuals with similar skill sets. In addition, failure to succeed in clinical studies may make it more challenging to recruit and retain qualified personnel. The inability to recruit key executives or the loss of the services of any executive or key employee might impede the progress of our development and commercialization objectives.

Under applicable employment laws, we may not be able to enforce covenants not to compete.

Certain of our executive officers’ employment agreements include covenants not to compete. These agreements prohibit our employees, if they cease working for us, from competing directly with us or working for our competitors for a limited period. We may be unable to enforce these agreements or may not be able to enforce these agreements to their full extent under applicable law. If we cannot demonstrate that such an interest will be harmed, we may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of our former employees and our competitiveness may be diminished.

We will need to expand our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth, which could disrupt our operations.

Our company has been rapidly growing and we expect to continue to grow over the next several years. As our company matures, we expect to expand our employee base to increase our managerial, scientific and engineering, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other resources and to hire more consultants and contractors. Future growth would impose significant additional responsibilities on our management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain, motivate and integrate additional employees, consultants and contractors. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Future growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of our existing or future product candidates. If our management is unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate and/or grow revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved, and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth.

Our products and, if approved, product candidates, may give rise to potential product liability claims or false marketing claims, and, if successful claims are brought against us, we may incur substantial liability.

As a specialty pharmaceutical company, we operate in a market that is subject to risk of liability. The sales of our approved products and for any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval and the use of our product candidates in clinical trials (if any), exposes us to the risk of product liability claims alleging adverse effects from such products or product candidates and false marketing claims relating to the commercialization of such products or product candidates. Product liability or false marketing claims might be brought against us by consumers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our product candidates, or governmental agencies. Suboxone, which treats opioid addiction, has as one of its active ingredients an opioid, buprenorphine. There can be no assurance that we will not become the target of claims relating to opioid addiction as have companies that market opioids. Any product liability claims or false marketing claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and future growth prospects. If we cannot successfully defend against product liability claims or false marketing

claims, we could incur substantial liability and costs. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims or false marketing claims may result in:

We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage, and our existing or any future insurance policies or our own resources will not sufficiently cover claims for damages that we may receive in the future.

Our business exposes us to potential product liability and other liability risks that are inherent in clinical development, manufacturing, marketing and use of human therapeutic products. It is generally necessary for us to secure certain levels of insurance as a condition for the conduct of clinical trials and any sale or use of our products. We have taken out product liability insurance with respect to all clinical trials and ongoing trials performed to date for which we were responsible (i.e., in respect of our internal product pipeline). Further, we may seek to expand our insurance coverage if we obtain marketing approval for any of our internal product candidates or if other risks related to our business increase.

Our current product liability insurance coverage may not be sufficient to reimburse us for any expenses or losses we may suffer. Insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive and in the future we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at an acceptable cost to us or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated adverse effects. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could adversely affect our results of operations and business.

We rely significantly on information technology and any failure, inadequacy, interruption or security lapse of that technology, including any cybersecurity incidents, could harm our ability to operate our business effectively.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of third parties with which we contract are vulnerable to damage from cyber-attacks, computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. System failures, accidents or security breaches could cause interruptions in our operations, and could result in a material disruption of our product development and clinical activities and business operations, in addition to possibly requiring substantial expenditures of resources to remedy. The loss of product development or clinical trial data could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and our development programs and the development of our product candidates could be delayed.

Business interruptions could delay us in the process of developing our product candidates.

Our headquarters are located in Warren, New Jersey and we have manufacturing facilities in Portage, Indiana. If we encounter any disruptions to our operations at these sites or one were to shut down for any reason, including by fire, natural disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado or severe storm, power outage, systems failure, labor dispute or other unforeseen disruption, then we may be prevented from effectively operating our business. Our coverage for natural disasters may be somewhat limited for floods or earthquakes and we may not carry sufficient business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that may occur. Any losses or damages we incur could have a material adverse effect on our business operations.

Our employees, principal investigators, consultants and commercial partners may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading.

We are exposed to the risk of fraud or other misconduct by our employees, principal investigators, consultants and commercial partners. Misconduct by these parties could include failure to:

In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Such misconduct also could involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials or interactions with the FDA or other regulatory authorities, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from government investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could result in the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, contractual damages, reputational harm and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our research and development activities could be affected or delayed as a result of possible restrictions on animal testing.

Certain laws and regulations require us to test our product candidates on animals before initiating clinical trials involving humans. Animal testing activities have been the subject of controversy and adverse publicity. Animal rights groups and other organizations and individuals have attempted to stop animal testing activities by pressing for legislation and regulation in these areas and by disrupting these activities through protests and other means. To the extent the activities of these groups are successful, our research and development activities may be interrupted, delayed or become more expensive.

Our operations involve hazardous materials and we and third parties with whom we contract must comply with environmental laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict how we do business.

As a specialty pharmaceutical company, we are subject to environmental and safety laws and regulations, including those governing the use of hazardous materials. The cost of compliance with health and safety regulations is substantial. Our business activities involve the controlled use of hazardous materials. Our research and development activities involve the controlled storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials, including the components of our product candidates and other hazardous compounds. We and manufacturers and suppliers with whom we may contract are subject to laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. In some cases, these hazardous materials and various wastes resulting from their use are stored at our and our manufacturers' facilities pending their use and disposal. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials, which could cause an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development efforts and business operations, environmental damage resulting in costly clean-up and liabilities under applicable laws and regulations governing the

use, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and specified waste products. We cannot guarantee that that the safety procedures utilized by third-party manufacturers and suppliers with whom we may contract will comply with the standards prescribed by laws and regulations or will eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. In such an event, we may be held liable for any resulting damages and such liability could exceed our resources and U.S. federal and state or other applicable authorities may curtail our use of certain materials and/or interrupt our business operations. Furthermore, environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance. We do not currently carry biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage. In the event of an accident or environmental discharge, we may be held liable for any consequential damage and any resulting claims for damages, which may exceed our financial resources and may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and prospects, and the value of our shares.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

Changes in law, including as a result of recent presidential administration changes, could have a negative impact on the approval of our product candidates.

We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the Trump administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. Notably, on January 23, 2017, President Trump ordered a hiring freeze for all executive departments and agencies, including the FDA, which prohibited the FDA from filling employee vacancies or creating new positions. While freeze has since been lifted, any additional freezes could result in delays in FDA’s responsiveness or in its ability to review submissions or applications, issue regulations or guidance, or implement or enforce regulatory requirements in a timely fashion or at all. Moreover, on January 30, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order, applicable to all executive agencies, including the FDA, which requires that for each notice of proposed rulemaking or final regulation to be issued in fiscal year 2017, the agency shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed, unless prohibited by law. These requirements are referred to as the “two-for-one” provisions. This Executive Order includes a budget neutrality provision that requires the total incremental cost of all new regulations in the 2017 fiscal year, including repealed regulations, to be no greater than zero, except in limited circumstances. For fiscal years 2018 and beyond, the Executive Order requires agencies to identify regulations to offset any incremental cost of a new regulation. In interim guidance issued by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within OMB on February 2, 2017, the administration indicates that the “two-for-one” provisions may apply not only to agency regulations, but also to significant agency guidance documents. It is difficult to predict how these requirements will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.

Further and more recently, President Trump has suggested that he plans to seek repeal of all or portions of the PPACA, and he has indicated that he wants Congress to replace the PPACA with new legislation. Risks related to the ongoing efforts of the Trump administration with respect to the repeal or repeal and replacement of elements of the PPACA are described above under the heading “Recently enacted and future healthcare reform legislation or regulation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any future collaborators to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and may adversely affect the prices we, or they, may obtain and may have a negative impact on our business and results of operations.” We cannot predict whether other legislative changes will be adopted, if any, or how such changes would affect the pharmaceutical industry generally.

If the FDA does not conclude that our product candidates satisfy the requirements for the 505(b)(2) regulatory approval pathway, or if the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates under Section 505(b)(2) are not as we expect, the approval pathway for our product candidates will likely take significantly longer, cost significantly more and encounter significantly greater complications and risks than anticipated, and in any case may not be successful.

We intend to seek FDA approval through the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for each of our product candidates described in this prospectus. The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, also known as the Hatch-Waxman Act, added Section 505(b)(2) to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA. Section 505(b)(2) permits the filing of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from studies that were not conducted by or for the applicant.

If the FDA does not allow us to pursue the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for our product candidates as anticipated, we may need to conduct additional clinical trials, provide additional data and information and meet additional standards for regulatory approval. If this were to occur, the time and financial resources required to obtain FDA approval for our product candidates would likely substantially increase. Moreover, the inability to pursue the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway could result in new competitive products reaching the market faster than our product candidates, which could materially adversely impact our competitive position and prospects. Even if we are allowed to pursue the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for a product candidate, we cannot assure you that we will receive the requisite or timely approvals for commercialization of such product candidate.

In addition, notwithstanding the approval of a number of products by the FDA under Section 505(b)(2) over the last few years, certain competitors and others have objected to the FDA’s interpretation of Section 505(b)(2). We expect that our competitors will file citizens’ petitions with the FDA in an attempt to persuade the FDA that our product candidates, or the clinical studies that support their approval, contain deficiencies. If the FDA’s interpretation of Section 505(b)(2) is successfully challenged, the FDA may be required to change its Section 505(b)(2) policies and practices, which could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving any NDA that we submit under Section 505(b)(2).

Clinical development is a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results. Failure can occur at any stage of clinical development.

Clinical testing, even when utilizing the 505(b)(2) pathway, is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process, even with active ingredients that have previously been approved by the FDA as safe and effective. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later stage clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials.

Our product candidates are in various stages of development, from early stage to late stage. Clinical trial failures may occur at any stage and may result from a multitude of factors both within and outside our control, including flaws in formulation, adverse safety or efficacy profile and flaws in trial design, among others. If the trials result in negative or inconclusive results, we or our collaborators may decide, or regulators may require us, to discontinue trials of the product candidates or conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies. In addition, data obtained from trials and studies are susceptible to varying interpretations, and regulators may not interpret our data as favorably as we do, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. For these reasons, our future clinical trials may not be successful.

We do not know whether any future clinical trials we may conduct will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. If any product candidate for which we are conducting clinical trials is found to be unsafe or lack efficacy, we will not be able to obtain regulatory approval for it. If we are unable to bring any of our current or future product candidates to market, our business would be materially harmed and our ability to create long-term stockholder value will be limited.

Delays in clinical trials are common and have many causes, and any delay could result in increased costs to us and could jeopardize or delay our ability to obtain regulatory approval and commence product sales. We may also find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials, which could delay or prevent development of our product candidates.

We may experience delays in clinical trials of our product candidates. Our planned clinical trials may not begin on time, have an effective design, enroll a sufficient number of patients or be completed on schedule, if at all. Our clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including:

If initiation or completion of our planned clinical trials is delayed for any of the above reasons or other reasons, our development costs may increase, our regulatory approval process could be delayed and our ability to commercialize and commence sales of our product candidates could be materially harmed, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to our success. The timing of our clinical trials depends on the speed at which we can recruit patients to participate in testing our product candidates as well as completion of required follow-up periods. We may not be able to identify, recruit and enroll a sufficient number of patients, or those with required or desired characteristics or to complete our clinical trials in a timely manner. Patient enrollment is and completion of the trials is affected by factors including:

Our products or product candidates may cause adverse effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval or limit the scope of any approved label or market acceptance, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.

As with many pharmaceutical and biological products, treatment with our products or product candidates may produce undesirable side effects or adverse reactions or events. Although the nature of our products or product candidates as containing active ingredients that have already been approved means that the side effects arising from the use of the active ingredient or class of drug in our products or product candidates is generally known, our products or product candidates may still cause undesirable side effects. These could be attributed to the active ingredient or class of drug or to our unique formulation of such products or product candidates, or other potentially harmful characteristics. Such characteristics could cause us, our IRBs, clinical trial sites, the FDA or other regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay, denial or withdrawal of regulatory approval, which may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

Further, if any of our products cause serious or unexpected side effects after receiving market approval, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product or product candidate and could substantially increase the costs of commercializing our products and product candidates.

The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.

The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. To date we have obtained regulatory approval for two products in the United States, but it is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval in the United States or other jurisdictions.

Our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

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

In addition, even if we were to obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, may not approve the price we intend to charge for our products, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate. Any of the foregoing scenarios could harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates.

We have limited experience using the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway to submit an NDA or any similar drug approval filing to the FDA, and we cannot be certain that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations. Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approvals to market one or more of our product candidates, our revenue will be dependent, to a significant extent, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval. If the markets for patients or indications that we are targeting are not as significant as we estimate, we may not generate significant revenue from sales of such products, if approved.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses.

If we are found to have improperly promoted off-label uses of our products or product candidates, if approved, we may become subject to significant liability. Such enforcement has become more common in the industry. The FDA and other regulatory agencies strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products, such as our product candidates, if approved. In particular, a product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. If we receive marketing approval for our product candidates for our proposed indications, physicians may nevertheless use our products for their patients in a manner that is inconsistent with the approved label, if the physicians personally believe in their professional medical judgment it could be used in such manner. However, if we are found to have promoted our products for any off-label uses, the federal government could levy civil, criminal and/or administrative penalties, and seek fines against us. The FDA or other regulatory authorities could also request that we enter into a consent decree or a corporate integrity agreement, or seek a permanent injunction against us under which specified promotional conduct is monitored, changed or curtailed. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion of our product candidates, if approved, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Our business is subject to extensive regulatory requirements and our approved product and product candidates that obtain regulatory approval will be subject to ongoing and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant expense and limit our ability to commercialize such products.

Even after a product is approved, we will remain subject to ongoing FDA and other regulatory requirements governing the labeling, packaging, storage, distribution, safety surveillance, advertising, promotion, import, export, record-keeping and reporting of safety and other post-market information. The

holder of an approved NDA is obligated to monitor and report adverse events, or AEs, and any failure of a product to meet the specifications in the NDA. The holder of an approved NDA must also submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. Advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules and are subject to FDA review, in addition to other potentially applicable federal and state laws. In addition, the FDA may impose significant restrictions on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or on the conditions of approval. For example, a product’s approval may contain requirements for potentially costly post-approval studies and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product, or the imposition of a REMS program.

The holder of an NDA is subject to payment of user fees and adherence to commitments made in the NDA. A manufacturer is also subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMPs. If we or a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, a regulatory agency may impose restrictions relative to that product or the manufacturing facility, including requiring product recall, notice to physicians, withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing.

If we or our products or product candidates or our manufacturing facilities fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency may:

Similar post-market requirements may apply in foreign jurisdictions in which we may seek approval of our products. Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit our ability to commercialize our products and generate revenues.

In addition, the FDA’s regulations, policies or guidance may change and new or additional statutes or government regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates or further restrict or regulate post-approval activities. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse government regulation that may arise from pending or future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are not able to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance, we may not be permitted to market our products and/or product candidates, which would adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and achieve or maintain profitability.

We are required to obtain regulatory approval for each of our products in each jurisdiction in which we intend to market such products, and the inability to obtain such approvals would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.

In order to market products outside of the United States, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other countries regarding safety and efficacy. Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. However, the failure

to obtain regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may adversely impact our ability to obtain regulatory approval in another jurisdiction. Approval processes vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking foreign regulatory approval could result in difficulties and costs for us and require additional non-clinical studies or clinical trials which could be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in those countries. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, or if regulatory approval in international markets is delayed, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our products will be harmed.

If we fail to develop, acquire or in-license other product candidates or products, our business and prospects will be limited.

Our long-term growth strategy is to develop and commercialize a portfolio of product candidates in addition to our existing product candidates. We may also acquire or in-license early to mid-stage new chemical entities, or NCEs. Although we have internal research and development capacity that we believe will enable us to make improvements to existing compounds or active ingredients, we do not have internal drug discovery capabilities to identify and develop entirely new chemical entities or compounds. As a result, our primary means of expanding our pipeline of product candidates is to develop improved formulations and administration methods for existing FDA-approved products and/or select and acquire or in-license product candidates for the treatment of therapeutic indications that complement or augment our current targets, or that otherwise fit into our development or strategic plans on terms that are acceptable to us. Developing new formulations of existing products or identifying, selecting and acquiring or in-licensing promising product candidates requires substantial technical, financial and human resources expertise. Efforts to do so may not result in the actual development, acquisition or in-license of a particular product candidate, potentially resulting in a diversion of our management’s time and the expenditure of our resources with no resulting benefit. If we are unable to add additional product candidates to our pipeline, our long-term business and prospects will be limited.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain or protect intellectual property rights related to any of our product candidates, we may not be able to compete effectively in our market.

We rely upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our products and our product candidates. The issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, strength and commercial value of patents in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical field involves complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. The patent applications that we own or in-license may fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover the products, if approved, or product candidates in the United States or in foreign countries or territories. If this were to occur, early generic competition could be expected against our products, if approved, and our product candidates in development. There may be relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications which could invalidate a patent or prevent a patent from issuing based on a pending patent application. In particular, because the active pharmaceutical ingredients in many of our product candidates have been on the market as separate products for many years, it is possible that these products have previously been used off-label in such a manner that such prior usage would affect the validity of our patents or our ability to obtain patents based on our patent applications.

The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming. We or our licensors may not be able to prepare, file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications for a commercially reasonable cost or in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions. It is also possible that we or our licensors may fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of development and commercialization activities before it is too late to obtain patent protection on them. Moreover, depending on the terms of any future in-licenses to which we may become a party, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology in-licensed from third parties. Therefore, these patents and patent applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.

In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of our drug development and reformulation processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered by patents. Although we generally require all of our employees to assign their inventions to us, and all of our employees, consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information or technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, we cannot provide any assurances that all such agreements have been duly executed or that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and trade secrets by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. Additionally, if the steps taken to maintain our trade secrets are deemed inadequate, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating the trade secret. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information. For example, the FDA is considering whether to make additional information publicly available on a routine basis, including information that we may consider to be trade secrets or other proprietary information, and it is not clear at the present time how the FDA’s disclosure policies may change in the future, if at all. If we are unable to prevent material disclosure of the non-patented intellectual property related to our technologies to third parties, and there is no guarantee that we will have any such enforceable trade secret protection, we may not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may enjoy only limited geographical protection with respect to certain patents and we may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing and prosecuting patent applications and defending patents covering our products, if approved, or product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. Competitors may use our and our licensors’ technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we and our licensors have patent protection, but enforcement rights are not as strong as that in the United States or Europe. These products may compete with our products or product candidates, and our and our licensors’ patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

In addition, we may decide to abandon national and regional patent applications before grant. The examination of each national or regional patent application is an independent proceeding. As a result, patent applications in the same family may issue as patents in some jurisdictions, such as in the United States, but may issue as patents with claims of different scope or may even be refused in other jurisdictions. It is also quite common that depending on the country, the scope of patent protection may vary for the same product candidate or technology.

The laws of some jurisdictions do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws or rules and regulations in the United States and Europe, and many companies have encountered significant difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in such jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in other jurisdictions, whether or not successful, could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing as patents, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or

license. Furthermore, while we intend to protect our intellectual property rights in our expected significant markets, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in which we may wish to market our product candidates. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates in all of our expected significant foreign markets. If we or our licensors encounter difficulties in protecting, or are otherwise precluded from effectively protecting, the intellectual property rights important for our business in such jurisdictions, the value of these rights may be diminished and we may face additional competition from others in those jurisdictions.

Some countries also have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, some countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In those countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patents. If we or any of our licensors is forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired.

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.

Our ability to obtain patents is highly uncertain because, to date, some legal principles remain unresolved, there has not been a consistent policy regarding the breadth or interpretation of claims allowed in patents in the United States and the specific content of patents and patent applications that are necessary to support and interpret patent claims is highly uncertain due to the complex nature of the relevant legal, scientific and factual issues. Changes in either patent laws or interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection. For example, 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 will be prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, has developed new and untested regulations and procedures to govern the full implementation 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 in March 2013. The Leahy-Smith Act has also introduced procedures making it easier for third parties to challenge issued patents, as well as to intervene in the prosecution of patent applications. Finally, the Leahy-Smith Act contains new statutory provisions that still require the USPTO to issue new regulations for their implementation and it may take the courts years to interpret the provisions of the new statute.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce existing patents or patents that we might obtain in the future. Similarly, changes in patent law and regulations in other countries or jurisdictions or changes in the governmental bodies that enforce them or changes in how the relevant governmental authority enforces patent laws or regulations may weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce existing patents or patents that we may obtain in the future. Accordingly, it is too early to tell what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business and the protection and enforcement of our intellectual property. 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. An inability to obtain, enforce and defend patents covering our proprietary technologies would materially and adversely affect our business prospects and financial condition.

Further, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the United States. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property both in the United States and abroad. For example, if the issuance to us, in a given country, of a patent covering an invention is not followed by the issuance, in

other countries, of patents covering the same invention, or if any judicial interpretation of the validity, enforceability, or scope of the claims in, or the written description or enablement, in a patent issued in one country is not similar to the interpretation given to the corresponding patent issued in another country, our ability to protect our intellectual property in those countries may be limited. Changes in either patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may materially diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of any potential licensors. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. For example, beginning in August 2013, we filed patent infringement lawsuits against six generic companies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware for the approval by the FDA of generic versions of Suboxone Sublingual Film in the United States. Of these, cases against two of the six generic companies have been resolved. We are also seeking to enforce our patent rights in multiple cases as further described in the section titled “Business — Legal Proceedings.”

In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours or our licensors is not valid or is unenforceable, or may 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 or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing.

Interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications or those of our collaborators or licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Our defense of litigation or interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the United States.

As described in the section titled “Business — Legal Proceedings,” several of our issued patents are involved in litigations. In addition to the challenges we face in those litigations, a number of our issued patents are or have been involved in administrative proceedings, such as reexamination and inter partes review at the USPTO and opposition at the EPO. We cannot be certain that all claims of the challenged patents will be upheld or that the challenged patents will be found infringed. We may lose any of the challenged patents entirely, or we may have to amend the scope of claims to the extent which may be considered insufficient to cover our products or product candidates. If any of those scenarios were to occur, we might lose our competitive advantage in our market, and our business could be materially affected.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock. For more information, please see the subsection “Patent-Related Litigation” under the section titled “Business – Legal Proceedings.”

The patents and patent applications that we have covering our products and product candidates are limited to specific formulations and manufacturing processes, and our market opportunity for our products and product candidates may be limited by the lack of patent protection for the active ingredients and by competition from other formulations and manufacturing processes, as well as administration methods that may be developed by competitors.

We have obtained, and continue to seek to obtain patent protection for our manufacturing technology, drug administering technology and our products and product candidates, including specific formulations and manufacturing processes, which may not be as effective as composition of matter coverage in preventing work-arounds by competitors. As a result, generic products that do not infringe the claims of our issued patents covering formulations and processes are, or may be, available while we are marketing our products. Competitors who obtain the requisite regulatory approval will be able to commercialize products with the same active ingredients as our products or product candidates so long as the competitors do not infringe any process, use or formulation patents that we have developed for our products or product candidates, subject to any regulatory exclusivity we may be able to obtain for our products.

The number of patents and patent applications covering products containing the same active ingredient as our products or product candidates indicates that competitors have sought to develop and may seek to commercialize competing formulations that may not be covered by our patents and patent applications. The commercial opportunity for our products or product candidates could be significantly harmed if competitors are able to develop and commercialize alternative formulations of our products or product candidates that are different from ours and do not infringe our issued patents covering our products or use of our products.

Suboxone and Zuplenz have been approved by the FDA, and we anticipate that other product candidates will be approved by the FDA in the future. As additional products of ours are on the market, one or more third parties may also challenge the patents that we control covering our products, which could result in the invalidation or unenforceability of some or all of the relevant patent claims of our issued patents covering our products.

Suboxone and Zuplenz have been approved by the FDA, and we anticipate that other product candidates will be approved by the FDA in the future. Once our products are on the market, one or more third parties may challenge the patents that we control covering our products in court or the USPTO, which could result in the invalidation or unenforceability of some or all of the relevant patent claims of our issued patents covering our products.

If we or one of our licensing partners initiated legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering one of our products or product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent covering our product or product candidate is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are common, and there are numerous grounds upon which a third party can assert invalidity or unenforceability of a patent. Third parties may also raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, post grant review, and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings). Such proceedings could result in revocation of or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our product candidates. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we, our patent counsel and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on our product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business. For more information, please see section titled “Business − Legal Proceedings − Patent Related Litigation.”

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by government patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other government fees on patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various government patent agencies outside of the United States over the lifetime of our owned and licensed patents and/or applications and any patent rights we may own or license in the future. We rely on our outside counsel or our licensing partners to pay these fees due to non-U.S. patent agencies. The USPTO and various non-U.S. government patent agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply and we are also dependent on our licensors to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to our licensed intellectual property. In many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. There are situations, however, in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patents or patent applications, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, potential competitors might be able to enter the market and this circumstance could harm our business.

Our drug development strategy relies heavily upon the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, which requires us to certify that we do not infringe upon third-party patents covering approved drugs. Such certifications typically result in third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, the defense of which will be costly and time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome in any litigation may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts which would harm our business.

Litigation or other proceedings to enforce or defend intellectual property rights are often complex in nature, may be very expensive and time-consuming, may divert our management’s attention from other aspects of our business and may result in unfavorable outcomes that could adversely impact our ability to launch and market our product candidates, or to prevent third parties from competing with our products and product candidates.

There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including patent infringement lawsuits, interferences, oppositions and inter party reexamination proceedings before the USPTO. Numerous United States and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we and our collaborators are developing product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties.

In particular, our commercial success depends in large part on our avoiding infringement of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties for existing approved drug products. Because we utilize the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for the approval of our products and product candidates, we rely in whole or in part on studies conducted by third parties related to those approved drug products. As a result, upon filing with the FDA for approval of our product candidates, we will be required to certify to the FDA that either: (1) there is no patent information listed in the FDA’s Orange Book with respect to our NDA; (2) the patents listed in the Orange Book have expired; (3) the listed patents have not expired, but will expire on a particular date and approval is sought after patent expiration; or (4) the listed patents are invalid or will not be infringed by the manufacture, use or sale of our proposed drug product. When we submit a paragraph IV certification to the FDA, a notice of the paragraph IV certification must also be sent to the patent owner once our 505(b)(2) NDA is accepted for filing by the FDA. The third party may then initiate a lawsuit against us to defend the patents identified in the notice. The filing of a patent infringement lawsuit within 45 days of receipt of the notice automatically prevents the FDA from approving our NDA until the earliest of 30 months or the date on which the patent expires, the lawsuit is settled, or the court reaches a decision in the infringement lawsuit in our favor. If the third party does not file a patent infringement lawsuit within the required 45-day period, our NDA will not be subject to the 30-month stay.

In addition to paragraph IV litigation noted above, third-party owners of patents may generally assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations or methods of manufacture related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending or subsequently filed patent applications which may later result in issued patents that may be infringed by our products or product candidates. If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our product candidates, including the formulation, any method or process involved in the manufacture of any of our product candidates, any molecules or intermediates formed during such manufacturing process or any other attribute of the final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize our product candidates unless we obtain a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Parties making claims against us may request and/or obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates on a temporary or permanent basis. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties or redesign our infringing products or manufacturing processes, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. We cannot predict whether any such license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms. Furthermore, even in the absence of litigation, we may need to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research, manufacture clinical trial supplies or allow commercialization of our product candidates. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly. We cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist which might be enforced against our products or product candidates, resulting in either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation to third parties.

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties.

We employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. We may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information of our employees’ former employers or other third parties. We may also be subject to claims that former employers or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property.

We may also be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents or other intellectual property. We may be subject to ownership disputes in the future arising, for example, from conflicting obligations of consultants or others who are involved in developing our product candidates and companion diagnostic. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. The following examples are illustrative:

Should any of these events occur, they could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

No public market for our common stock currently exists, and a public market may not develop or be liquid enough for you to sell your shares quickly or at market price.

Prior to this offering, there has not been a public market for our common stock. If an active trading market for our common stock does not develop following this offering, you may not be able to sell your shares quickly or at the market price. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares of our common stock and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our common stock as consideration. The initial public offering price of our common stock will be determined by negotiations between us and representatives of the underwriters, and may not be indicative of the market prices of our common stock that will prevail in the trading market.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile and fluctuate substantially, which could result in substantial losses for purchasers of our common stock in this offering.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile. The stock market in general and the market for biopharmaceutical or pharmaceutical companies in particular, has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above the initial public offering price. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including:

Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly, and these fluctuations could cause our stock price to decline.

We expect our operating results to be subject to quarterly, and possibly annual fluctuations. These fluctuations could cause our stock price to decline. Our net loss and other operating results will be affected by numerous factors, including:

If our quarterly or annual operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Furthermore, any quarterly or annual fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our stock to fluctuate substantially.

Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.

As of July 16, 2018, our executive officers, directors, 5% or greater stockholders and their affiliates beneficially owned approximately 79.5% of our voting stock. Based upon the assumed number of shares to be sold in this offering as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, including the assumed

exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option, upon the closing of this offering, that same group will beneficially own approximately 64.6% of our outstanding voting stock. Bratton Capital Management L.P., which controls certain of our major stockholders, has beneficial ownership of approximately 56.7% of our common stock as of July 16, 2018. Therefore, even after this offering these stockholders will have the ability to influence us through this ownership position. These stockholders may be able to determine all matters requiring stockholder approval. For example, these stockholders, acting together, may be able to control elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents or approval of any merger, sale of assets or other major corporate transaction. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our common stock that you may believe are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely, in part, on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have, and may never obtain, research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no, or few, analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our stock would likely decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

We may incur substantial costs relating to “excess parachute payments” under Sections 280G and 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

We entered into employment agreements with Keith J. Kendall, our Chief Executive Officer, and A. Mark Schobel, our Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, pursuant to which they are each entitled to receive an additional tax indemnification payment, or a “gross-up” payment, if the payments and benefits under their respective employment agreements or any other benefits plans and programs trigger excise tax liability under Section 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code for “excess parachute payments.” Under Sections 280G and 4999 of the Code, the excise tax is triggered by change in control-related payments that equal or exceed three times Mr. Kendall’s or Mr. Schobel’s, as applicable, average annual taxable compensation over the five calendar years preceding the change in control. The excise tax equals 20% of the amount of the payment in excess of one times Mr. Kendall’s or Mr. Schobel’s, as applicable, average taxable compensation over the preceding five calendar year period (i.e., the excess parachute payments). In addition to providing Mr. Kendall or Mr. Schobel with a tax gross-up payment, we may not take a federal tax deduction for Mr. Kendall’s and/or Mr. Schobel’s excess parachute payments.

If an “excess parachute payment” is made to Mr. Kendall and/or Mr. Schobel, we may incur substantial costs related to a change in control of the Company due to the gross-up payment and the lost federal tax deduction for Mr. Kendall’s and/or Mr. Schobel’s excess parachute payments.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies,” including exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in this prospectus and our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last day business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company,” which would allow us to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements including exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. As an emerging growth company, we have elected to take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for public emerging growth companies.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our common stock.

Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our consolidated financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.

We will incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

As a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC, and Nasdaq have imposed various requirements on public companies. In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, was enacted. There are significant corporate governance and executive compensation related provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act that required the SEC to adopt additional rules and regulations in these areas such as “say on pay” and proxy access. Stockholder activism, the current political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact (in ways we cannot currently anticipate) the manner in which we operate our business. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we may be required to incur substantial costs to maintain our current levels of such coverage.

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

Investors purchasing common stock in this offering will pay a price per share that substantially exceeds the pro forma as adjusted book value (deficit) per share of our tangible assets after subtracting our liabilities. As a result, investors purchasing common stock in this offering will incur immediate dilution of $13.79 per share, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point

of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) and our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value (deficit) as of March 31, 2018. For more information on the dilution you may suffer as a result of investing in this offering, see “Dilution.”

This dilution is due to the substantially lower price paid by our investors who purchased shares prior to this offering as compared to the price offered to the public in this offering and the exercise of stock options granted to our employees. The exercise of any of these options would result in additional dilution. As a result of the dilution to investors purchasing shares in this offering, investors may receive significantly less than the purchase price paid in this offering, if anything, in the event of our liquidation.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market by our existing stockholders could cause our stock price to fall.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by our existing stockholders, including shares issued to employees and directors in respect of the intended termination of our Performance Unit Plans, or PUP Plans, in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.

Substantially all of our existing stockholders are subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters of this offering that restrict the stockholders’ ability to transfer shares of our common stock for at least 180 days after the date of this prospectus. The lock-up agreements limit the number of shares of common stock that may be sold immediately following the public offering. Subject to certain limitations, including sales volume limitations with respect to shares held by our affiliates, substantially all of our outstanding shares prior to this offering will become eligible for sale upon expiration of the lock-up period, as calculated and described in more detail in the section of this prospectus entitled “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.” In addition, shares issued or issuable upon exercise of options and warrants vested as of the expiration of the lock-up period will be eligible for sale at that time. Sales of stock by these stockholders could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.

Certain holders of our securities are entitled to rights with respect to the registration of their shares under the Securities Act, subject to the 180-day lock-up arrangement described above. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in the shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act. Any sales of securities by these stockholders could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.

Future issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase our common stock, including pursuant to our equity incentive plans, could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to fall.

As of July 12, 2018, we had options to purchase 81,068 shares of our common stock outstanding pursuant to grants made to certain of our employees, consultants and directors. Additionally, we have adopted a new equity incentive plan and, following consummation of this offering, we intend to grant options to purchase shares of our common stock or other forms of equity compensation to our employees and directors. We intend to register all shares of common stock that we may issue under our stock-based compensation plans. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to any applicable lock-up agreements and the restrictions imposed under Rule 144 under the Securities Act, which may cause our stockholders to experience additional dilution.

We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds, including for any of the purposes described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Use of Proceeds,” and you will not have the opportunity as part of your investment decision to assess whether the net proceeds are being used appropriately. Investors will be relying on our judgment regarding the application of the net proceeds from this offering. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing securities. These investments may not yield a favorable return to our stockholders.

Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of the net proceeds from this offering, their ultimate use may vary substantially from their currently intended use. Such determining factors include our ability to obtain additional financing, the progress, cost and results of our proprietary commercialized product candidate programs, including our planned clinical trials, and whether we are able to enter into future collaborative arrangements. In addition, as part of our strategic plan, we might also devote more resources to other potential drug candidates in our pipeline or we might identify and develop other drug candidates not yet in our pipeline. We believe opportunities may exist from time to time to expand our current business through acquisitions or in-licenses of complementary companies, medicines or technologies. While we have no existing agreements, commitments or understandings for any specific future acquisitions or in-licenses at this time, we may use a portion of the net proceeds for these purposes.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

We have incurred substantial losses since inception and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, if ever. Under the newly enacted federal income tax law, to the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses in 2018 and in future years, such unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, but our deductibility of such losses in a future year is generally limited to 80% of taxable income. Furthermore, under Section 382 of the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income may be further limited. We believe that, with our initial public offering, we may have triggered an “ownership change” limitation. In addition, we may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, including an ownership change as a result of the combined effect of our initial public offering and future equity offerings. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards to offset United States federal taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us.

We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our stock.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividend on our common stock. We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the appreciation of their stock.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us or increase the cost of acquiring us, even if doing so would benefit our stockholders or remove our current management.

Some provisions of our charter documents and Delaware law may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage an acquisition of us by others, even if an acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management. These provisions include:

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless such transactions are approved by our board of directors. This provision could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control, whether or not it is desired by or beneficial to our stockholders. Further, other provisions of Delaware law may also discourage, delay or prevent someone from acquiring us or merging with us.

Our bylaws designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our bylaws provide that, subject to limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws or any other action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our certificate of incorporation described above. This choice of forum provision 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 such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our certificate of incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein contain forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.” These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. We caution readers that any forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statement. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating results, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, costs and expenses, interest rates, outcome of contingencies, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, cost savings, objectives of management, business strategies, success of competing drugs, financing, potential growth and market opportunities, product pipeline, clinical trial timing and plans, clinical and regulatory pathways for our development programs, the achievement of clinical and commercial milestones, the advancement of our technologies and our proprietary, co-developed and partnered products and product candidates, and other statements that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify these statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expects,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of those terms, and similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of our management with respect to future events and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from current expectations and projections. We discuss many of these risks in greater detail under the heading “Risk Factors.” Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.

All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus supplement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable United States securities law. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

You should read this prospectus and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of the forward-looking statements in this prospectus by these cautionary statements.

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

Certain market and industry data included in this prospectus were obtained from independent third-party surveys, market research, publicly available information, reports of governmental agencies and industry publications and surveys. All of the market and industry data used in this prospectus involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. Although we are responsible for all of the disclosure contained in this prospectus and we believe the information from the industry publication and other third-party sources included in this prospectus is reliable, such information is inherently imprecise. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds of approximately $51.6 million (or approximately $60.0 million if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares is exercised in full) from the sale of the shares of common stock offered by us in this offering, based on an assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus), and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $3.7 million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, an increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us by approximately $14.0 million, assuming the assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The principal purposes of this offering are to obtain additional capital to support our operations, to create a public market for our common stock and to facilitate our future access to the public equity markets. We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents and cash generated from existing partnerships, as follows:

We believe that the net proceeds from this offering, combined with the revenue from partnered product activities and our existing cash and cash equivalents, will be sufficient to fund our operations at least through the next 24 months, including the investments identified above. Our expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our current intentions based upon our present plans and business condition, which could change in the future as our plans and business conditions evolve. For example, we may change our priorities due to the success or failure of certain of our clinical trials or what we perceive the market for our product candidates to be and as such may reallocate resources to other product candidates in our pipeline ahead of those we currently intend to prioritize with the use of proceeds from this offering. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the net proceeds to be received upon the consummation of this offering, or the amounts that we will actually spend on the uses set forth above. The amounts and timing of our actual use of the net proceeds will vary depending on numerous factors, including our ability to obtain additional financing, the progress, cost and results of our proprietary commercialized product candidate programs, including our planned clinical trials, and whether we are able to enter into future collaborative arrangements. As a result, our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds, and investors will be relying on our judgment regarding the application of the net proceeds from this offering.

Our strategic plan includes the intent to expand our portfolio of product candidates through business development with a focus on CNS and other diseases where patients are significantly underserved by current medicines. Consequently, we might also devote more resources to other potential drug candidates in our pipeline or we might identify and develop other drug candidates not yet in our pipeline. We believe opportunities may exist from time to time to expand our current business through acquisitions or in-licenses of complementary companies, medicines or technologies. While we have no existing agreements, commitments or understandings for any specific future acquisitions or in-licenses at this time, we may use a portion of the net proceeds for these purposes.

Pending their use, we plan to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short- and intermediate-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the United States government.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to support our operations and finance the growth and development of our business. We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other factors, our results of operations, financial condition, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, business prospects and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant.

CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and our capitalization as of March 31, 2018:

The pro forma as adjusted information below is illustrative only and our capitalization following the closing of this offering will be adjusted based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. You should read this table together with our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, the sections entitled “Selected Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and other financial information contained in this prospectus.

The table above includes the following:

DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your interest will be diluted immediately to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock upon consummation of this offering. Dilution results from the fact that the initial public offering price is substantially in excess of the book value per share attributable to the existing stockholders for the presently outstanding stock.

Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) in our common stock as of March 31, 2018 was approximately $(22.6) million, or $(1.50) per share of common stock. Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) is the amount of our total tangible assets less our liabilities and preferred stock which is not included within equity. Net historical tangible book value (deficit) per share is our historical net tangible book value (deficit) divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2018. Our pro forma net tangible book value (deficit) as of March 31, 2018 was approximately $(22.6) million, or $(1.13) per share of common stock. Pro forma net tangible book value (deficit) gives effect to the conversion of the previously outstanding PUP plan performance units into an aggregate of 4,922,353 shares of our common stock.

Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value is our pro forma net tangible book value (deficit), plus the effect of the sale of 4,000,000 shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the range set forth on the cover of this prospectus), and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. This amount represents an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of $2.34 per share to our existing stockholders, and an immediate dilution of $13.79 per share to new investors participating in this offering.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

The dilution information discussed above is illustrative only and will change based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value (deficit) per share after this offering by approximately $0.16 per share and the pro forma dilution per share to investors participating in this offering would be approximately $13.95 per share (or $13.64 for a decrease in share price), assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A 1.0 million share increase in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover of this prospectus, would increase the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value (deficit) per share after this offering by approximately $0.51 and the pro forma dilution per share to investors participating in this offering would be approximately $14.30, assuming the assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) remains the same, and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, a 1.0 million share decrease in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover of this prospectus, would decrease the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value (deficit) per share after this offering by approximately $0.55 and the pro forma dilution per share to investors participating in this offering would be approximately $13.24, assuming the assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) remains the same, and after

deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If the underwriters exercise their option in full to purchase 600,000 additional shares of our common stock in this offering, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value will increase to $1.52 per share, representing an immediate increase to existing stockholders of $2.65 per share and an immediate dilution of $13.48 per share to new investors participating in this offering.

The following table summarizes, as of March 31, 2018, on a pro forma as adjusted basis as described above, the total number of shares of common stock purchased from us on an as converted to common stock basis, the total consideration paid or to be paid, and the average price per share paid or to be paid by existing stockholders and by new investors in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus), before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. As the table below shows, investors participating in this offering will pay an average price per share substantially higher than our existing stockholders paid.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share (the mid-point of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) would increase (decrease) the total consideration paid by investors participating in this offering and total consideration paid by all stockholders by $4.0 million and, in the case of an increase, would increase the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 1.4 percentage points and, in the case of a decrease, would decrease the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 2.0 percentage points, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same.

Similarly, each 1,000,000 share increase (decrease) in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the total consideration paid by investors participating in this offering and total consideration paid by all stockholders by $15.0 million, and, in the case of an increase, would increase the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 5.4 percentage points and, in the case of a decrease, would decrease the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 7.2 percentage points, assuming the assumed initial public offering price remains the same.

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full in this offering, the number of shares of common stock held by existing stockholders will be 81.3% of the total number of shares of common stock to be outstanding after this offering, and the number of shares of common stock held by investors participating in this offering will be further increased to 4,600,000, or 18.7% of the total number of shares of common stock to be outstanding after this offering.

The foregoing discussion is based on 20,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2018, including shares issued in April for terminating the PUP plans, and assumes an initial public offering price of $15.00 (the mid-point of the range set forth on the cover of this prospectus) and includes:

New investors will experience further dilution if any new options are issued and exercised under our equity incentive plans or we issue additional shares of common stock, other equity securities or convertible debt securities in the future.

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following selected financial data should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected financial data in this section is not intended to replace our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes and are qualified in their entirety by the consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The following tables set forth our financial data for and as of the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, all of which has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. The accompanying unaudited interim consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP’’) and with Article 10 of Regulation S-X for interim financial reporting. The statements of operations data for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 and the balance sheet data as of March 31, 2018 have been derived from our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America on the same basis as the annual audited consolidated financial statements and, in the opinion of management, the unaudited data reflects all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the financial information in those statements. As a result of the conversion of MonoSol Rx, LLC into Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. on January 1, 2018 (see “Prospectus Summary—Corporate Information”), the interests and per interests information included in the selected financial data below for and as of the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 and for and as of the three months ended March 31, 2017 does not give effect to the 1 for 12.34 reverse stock split of our common stock on July 16, 2018. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any period in the future and results from our interim period may not necessarily be indicative of the results of the entire year or any future period.