As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 14, 2020.

This draft registration statement has not been publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and all information herein remains strictly confidential.

Registration No. 333-                

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

HARMONY BIOSCIENCES HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

630 W. Germantown Pike, Suite 215

Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

Telephone: (484) 539-9800

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

John C. Jacobs

Chief Executive Officer

Harmony Biosciences, LLC

630 W. Germantown Pike, Suite 215

Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

Telephone: (484) 539-9800

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

APPROXIMATE DATE OF COMMENCEMENT OF PROPOSED SALE TO THE PUBLIC: AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE AFTER THIS REGISTRATION STATEMENT IS DECLARED EFFECTIVE.

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, check the following box.  ☐

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.  ☐

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.  ☐

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.  ☐

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

If an emerging growth company, that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, 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 pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

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 which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Subject to Completion. Dated             , 2020.

             Shares

Common Stock

This is an initial public offering of shares of common stock of Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc.

We are offering          shares of our common stock.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. It is currently estimated that the initial public offering price per share of our common stock will be between $             and $            . We intend to apply to list our common stock on the              under the symbol “            .”

We are an “emerging growth company,” as that term is used in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and, as such, we have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements.

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 14 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of our common stock against payment in New York, New York on             , 2020.

Prospectus dated             , 2020.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or in any related free writing prospectuses. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the shares offered by this prospectus, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

For investors outside the United States: We have not, and the underwriters have not, done anything that would permit this offering or the possession or distribution of this prospectus or any free writing prospectus we may provide to you in connection with this offering in any jurisdiction where action for purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of our common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States. See “Underwriting.”

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BASIS OF PRESENTATION

As used in this prospectus, unless the context otherwise requires, references to “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” “Harmony,” “Harmony Biosciences” and similar references refer to Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. together with its subsidiary.

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP. Our fiscal year ends on December 31 of each year. References to fiscal 2019 and 2019 are references to the year ended December 31, 2019. Our most recent fiscal year ended on December 31, 2019.

In accordance with the policy pronouncements of the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, we are omitting from this draft registration statement our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the nine months ended September 30, 2019 because they relate to historical periods that we believe will not be required to be included in the prospectus at the time we file this registration statement publicly. We intend to amend this registration statement to include all financial information required by Regulation S-X prior to or at the date of such public filing, including the consolidated audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Certain monetary amounts, percentages and other figures included in this prospectus have been subject to rounding adjustments. Percentage amounts included in this prospectus have not in all cases been calculated on the basis of such rounded figures, but on the basis of such amounts prior to rounding. For this reason, percentage amounts in this prospectus may vary from those obtained by performing the same calculations using the figures in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Certain other amounts that appear in this prospectus may not sum due to rounding.

TRADEMARKS

This prospectus includes certain trademarks and trade names, including the registered trademark product name “WAKIX,” which we have in-licensed from Bioprojet Société Civile de Recherche, or Bioprojet, for use in the United States, and the registered trademark “KNOW NARCOLEPSY,” which are protected under applicable intellectual property laws. We also have trademark applications pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “REM AT THE WRONG TIME” and “NON-REM AT THE WRONG TIME” as well as our brand and logo “HB,” “HB HARMONY BIOSCIENCES” and “HARMONY BIOSCIENCES.” This prospectus also contains trademarks, trade names and service marks of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks, trade names and service marks referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ^®, ^™ or ^SM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, our rights or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, trade names and service marks. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply, a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the section “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations.

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements

We have incurred significant losses since our inception, expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

Investment in pharmaceutical product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that a product candidate will fail to gain regulatory approval or fail to become commercially viable. We have only recently begun to generate revenue from product sales and have incurred losses in each year since our inception. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends on our ability to successfully commercialize WAKIX for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, in adult patients with narcolepsy, and to successfully develop and obtain the regulatory approvals necessary to commercialize pitolisant for other indications. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase as we commercialize WAKIX and as we continue to develop and potentially commercialize pitolisant for other indications.

We have only generated limited revenue from product sales and may never be profitable.

Other than WAKIX, we do not currently have any products that are available for commercial sale, and we may never achieve profitability. Our net loss was $39.9 million and $             million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2019, we generated revenue of $             million and had an accumulated deficit of $             million. Our ability to become and remain profitable depends on our ability to generate revenue. We do not expect to generate significant revenue until we further commercialize WAKIX and obtain regulatory approval for potential additional indications for pitolisant, or any other product candidates we may develop. Successful commercialization will require achievement of many key milestones, including demonstrating safety and efficacy in clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approval, including marketing approval for these product candidates, manufacturing, marketing and selling those products for which we, or any of our future collaborators, may obtain regulatory approval, satisfying any post-marketing requirements and obtaining reimbursement for our products from private insurance or government payors. Because of the uncertainties and risks associated with these activities, we are unable to accurately and precisely predict the timing and amount of revenues, the extent of any further losses or if or when we might achieve profitability. We and any future collaborators may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, or any future collaborators do, we may never generate revenues that are large enough for us to achieve profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

Our failure to become and remain profitable may depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, diversify our product offerings or continue our operations. If we continue to suffer losses as we have in the past, investors may not receive any return on their investment and may lose their entire investment.

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We have a limited operating history and no history of commercializing drugs, which may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We commenced operations in 2017, and our operations to date have been largely focused on staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, acquiring the rights to pitolisant, seeking registration in the United States for our product WAKIX, which is approved for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, commercialization efforts associated with WAKIX and preparing to develop pitolisant for other potential indications. This has included preparing the application for regulatory approval and other activities that were required for us to obtain approval of our New Drug Application, or NDA, and activities related to preparing for the commercialization of WAKIX. WAKIX is our only drug candidate for which we have obtained regulatory approval. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully manufacture a drug on a commercial scale, or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization. Consequently, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing and commercializing drugs.

We expect our financial condition and operating results to continue to fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. We need to continue to transition from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known or unknown factors, and may not be successful in such a transition.

We have only limited capital and, even if we consummate this offering, may need to raise additional capital before we become profitable.

As of December 31, 2019, we had revenue of $             million, an accumulated deficit of $             million and available cash of $             million. We have $200.0 million of debt outstanding under our credit agreement, or the Credit Agreement, with OrbiMed Royalty & Credit Opportunities III, LP, or OrbiMed. We believe that our existing cash as of            , 2020 and the estimated net proceeds from this offering will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements through at least             . This estimate is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Because the length of time and activities associated with the successful development of our product candidates is highly uncertain, we are unable to estimate with certainty the actual funds we will require for development and any approved marketing and commercialization activities.

To fund future operations to the point at which we are able to generate positive cash flow from sales of WAKIX or other potential product candidates, we may need to raise significant additional capital. The amount and timing of future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

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Other than our Credit Agreement with OrbiMed, we have no committed source of additional capital and we anticipate that we may seek to fund our operations through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, licensing arrangements or other sources, or any combination of the foregoing. We cannot assure you that anticipated additional financing will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. Although we have been successful in obtaining financing through the issuance of our equity securities and debt facilities, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so in the future. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us to fund our commercialization of WAKIX and clinical development and commercialization of pitolisant for other indications, if approved, and other business activities, we could be forced to significantly delay, scale back, or discontinue the development or commercialization of our product candidates or curtail or cease our operations.

Raising additional funds by issuing securities may cause dilution to existing shareholders, raising additional funds through debt financings may involve restrictive covenants, and raising funds through lending and licensing arrangements may restrict our operations or require us to relinquish proprietary rights to our technologies or product candidates.

We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. Until such time, if ever, that we can generate substantial product revenue from the sale of WAKIX, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, including our Credit Agreement, strategic alliances and license and development agreements or other collaborations. To the extent that we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our existing shareholders’ ownership may experience substantial dilution, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that could adversely affect the rights of a common shareholder. Additionally, any agreements for future debt or preferred equity financings, if available, may involve covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends, which could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.

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If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts, or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise develop and market ourselves.

Our management has expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared as though we will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. We have incurred operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception. As of December 31, 2018, and 2019, we have an accumulated deficit of $242.7 million and $             million, respectively. Management expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative cash flows from operations in 2020. In addition, we are subject to two further milestone payments pursuant to our license agreement with Bioprojet: (i) a milestone payment of $40.0 million upon the attainment of aggregate net sales of WAKIX in the United States of $500.0 million subsequent to the date of NDA approval by the FDA and (ii) a milestone payment of $102.0 million if we receive NDA approval from the FDA for a cataplexy indication. We have financed our operations to date with proceeds from the sale of preferred securities and drawing down on (i) a loan agreement with CRG Servicing LLC that has since been repaid in full and (ii) our Credit Agreement.

If we are unable to successfully complete this offering, we will need to create alternate financing or operational plans to continue as a going concern. There can be no assurance that such alternate financing, if available, can be obtained on acceptable terms. If we are unable to obtain such alternate financing, future operations would need to be scaled back or discontinued.

Accordingly, these factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date the consolidated financial statements are issued. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.

We may be required to make significant payments to Bioprojet under our licensing and collaboration agreements for pitolisant.

Under our agreements with Bioprojet, we are subject to significant obligations, including payment obligations upon the achievement of specified milestones and payments based on product sales, as well as other material obligations. Certain of the milestone payments payable by us under these agreements were paid prior to our commercialization of WAKIX. We may be required to make additional milestone payments of up to $142.0 million in the future prior to the time at which we are able to generate significant revenue from sales of WAKIX. There can be no assurance that we will have the funds necessary to make such payments, or be able to raise such funds when needed, on terms acceptable to us, or at all. If we fail to comply with our payment obligations, Bioprojet may have the right to terminate the license agreement, in which event we would not be able to develop, manufacture or market WAKIX or any other pitolisant-based product candidate. Furthermore, if we are forced to raise additional funds to make such payments, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts.

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Our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards may be limited.

As of December 31, 2019, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $             million and $             million, respectively. Our ability to utilize our federal net operating loss carryforwards may be limited under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. The limitations apply if we experience an “ownership change,” which is generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in the ownership of our equity by certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit the use of our state net operating loss carryforwards. We have not assessed whether such an ownership change has previously occurred. If we have experienced an ownership change at any time since our incorporation, we may already be subject to limitations on our ability to utilize our existing net operating loss carryforwards to offset taxable income. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, which may be outside of our control, may trigger an ownership change and, consequently, the limitations under Section 382 of the Code. As a result, if or when we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards to offset such taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could adversely affect our future cash flows.

Our credit agreement contains restrictive and financial covenants that may limit our operating flexibility.

Our Credit Agreement with OrbiMed contains certain restrictive covenants that either limit our ability to, or require a mandatory prepayment in the event that, we engage in new lines of business, incur additional indebtedness or liens, make certain investments, make certain payments, pay cash dividends, merge with other companies or consummate certain changes of control, acquire other companies, transfer or dispose of certain assets, liquidate or dissolve, amend certain material agreements, enter into sale and leaseback transactions, enter into various other specified transactions, or change our name, location, executive office or executive management without notice. We, therefore, may not be able to engage in any of the foregoing transactions unless we obtain the consent of OrbiMed or prepay the outstanding amount under the Credit Agreement. The Credit Agreement also contains certain financial covenants, including minimum revenue and cash balance requirements (which include maintaining minimum liquidity of $12.5 million), and financial reporting requirements. Our obligations under the Credit Agreement are secured by all of our property, with certain exceptions. We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow or sales to meet the financial covenants or pay the principal and interest under the Credit Agreement. Furthermore, our future working capital, borrowings or equity financing could be unavailable to repay or refinance the amounts outstanding under the Credit Agreement. In the event of a liquidation, OrbiMed would be repaid all outstanding principal and interest prior to distribution of assets to unsecured creditors, and the holders of our common stock would receive a portion of any liquidation proceeds only if all of our creditors then existing, including OrbiMed, were first repaid in full.

Risks Related to Our Business

We are substantially dependent on our ability to successfully commercialize WAKIX, which is currently our only approved product. If we are unable to successfully commercialize WAKIX, our ability to generate revenue and our financial condition will be adversely affected.

Since our inception, we have invested substantially all of our capital resources on the development, registration and commercialization of WAKIX, which was approved for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy in August 2019. We cannot be certain that WAKIX will be successfully commercialized.

Our ability to generate revenue from product sales depends heavily on our success in many areas, including but not limited to:

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In our efforts to market WAKIX for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, our revenue will be dependent, in part, on the size of the markets in the United States, or in other territories where we may seek and obtain regulatory approval, the number of competitors in such markets, the acceptance of the price of the product in those markets and the ability to obtain reimbursement at any price. If the number of our addressable patients is not as large as we estimate or the reasonably accepted population for treatment is narrowed by competition, physician choice or treatment guidelines, we may not generate significant revenue from sales of such products. If we are not able to generate substantial revenue from the sale of approved products, we may never become profitable.

The commercial adoption of WAKIX and any other product candidates we develop will depend on the degree of their market acceptance.

Even with the requisite approvals from the FDA and other regulatory authorities, the commercial adoption of WAKIX for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, and any other product candidates we may develop, will depend on the degree of their acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. If WAKIX or any other product candidates we develop do not achieve an adequate level of market acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenues or any profits from operations. The degree of market acceptance of WAKIX or any other product candidates we develop, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:

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Our continuing efforts to educate physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community on the benefits and risks of WAKIX may require significant resources and may never be successful. The adoption of WAKIX could be limited if physicians prescribe it only as a second line therapy. Physicians may opt to prescribe the products of our competitors for a variety of reasons. For example, WAKIX did not demonstrate non-inferiority to modafinil and, as such, physicians and patients may choose modafinil rather than WAKIX. Furthermore, because the clinical response to WAKIX may take several weeks before addressing EDS symptoms, patients and physicians may choose other fast acting, stimulant and wake promoting agents over WAKIX. If WAKIX fails to achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community, we will not be able to generate sufficient revenue to become or remain profitable.

We cannot guarantee that WAKIX or any other product candidates we may seek to develop will ever be commercially successful, and to the extent they are not commercially successful, such product candidates would incur significant expense with no corresponding revenue. Because we expect the sales of WAKIX to generate substantially all of our revenue for the foreseeable future, the failure of WAKIX to find market acceptance would substantially harm our business and could require us to seek additional financing.

The market opportunity for WAKIX or any future product candidate we develop may be smaller than we estimate.

The potential market opportunity for WAKIX and any future product candidate is difficult to precisely estimate. Our estimates of the potential market opportunity for our product candidates include

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several key assumptions of the current market size and current pricing for commercially available products and are based on industry and market data obtained from industry publications, studies conducted by us, our industry knowledge, third-party research reports and other surveys. While we believe our estimates are reasonable and reliable, they may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of diseases and disorders. The number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for WAKIX or any future product candidate we develop may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with WAKIX or such future product candidate, and new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, which would adversely affect our results of operations and our business.

We rely on our license agreement with Bioprojet to provide rights to the core intellectual property relating to pitolisant, and any termination or loss of significant rights under the agreement would adversely affect our development and/or commercialization of pitolisant.

We have licensed our core intellectual property relating to pitolisant from Bioprojet. If, for any reason, our license and commercialization agreement with Bioprojet is terminated or we otherwise lose those rights, it would materially adversely affect our business. Pursuant to our license and commercialization agreement, we obtained intellectual property rights in connection with the commercialization of pitolisant in the United States and its territories, commonwealths and protectorates, including Puerto Rico, which includes an exclusive license to use certain intellectual property owned by Bioprojet related to clinically developing and commercializing the pitolisant product candidate for narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, idiopathic hypersomnia and Parkinson’s Disease. Under the license agreement, Bioprojet is responsible for conducting all preclinical studies and clinical trials necessary for achieving and maintaining regulatory approval in the United States for narcolepsy and cataplexy indications, including all costs and expenses. We are responsible for all other costs associated with other development and regulatory activities, unless Bioprojet otherwise agrees to participate in funding such activities. We must obtain consent from Bioprojet before commencing any clinical trials related to pitolisant. Our ability to pursue indications other than the ones specifically enumerated in the license agreement is also contingent on mutual agreement of Bioprojet and us as to those indications and such agreement may be withheld at Bioprojet’s discretion. If Bioprojet denies consent for us to conduct clinical trials or pursue any such other indication for any reason, we will not have the right under our license and commercialization agreement to commercialize our product for such indication. In such event, Bioprojet may pursue commercialization of such indication for itself in our territory, or it may license the right to commercialize such indication in our territory to third parties, including our competitors.

Our license and commercialization agreement also imposes on us obligations relating to exclusivity, territorial rights, development, commercialization, funding, payment, diligence, sublicensing, insurance, intellectual property protection and other matters. If we breach any material obligations, or use the intellectual property licensed to us in an unauthorized manner, we may be required to pay damages to Bioprojet, and Bioprojet may have the right to terminate our license, which would result in us being unable to develop, manufacture and sell pitolisant and would materially adversely affect our business. See “Business—Strategic Agreement—License and Commercialization Agreement with Bioprojet” for further information.

We may not be successful in our efforts to identify, in-license or acquire, discover, develop or commercialize additional product candidates, or identify other indications for pitolisant beyond EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy.

Although a substantial amount of our effort will focus on the commercialization of WAKIX for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, we also may seek to identify, in-license or acquire,

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discover, develop and commercialize additional product candidates in the rare neurological disorders field, and to identify other indications for pitolisant beyond EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy. We cannot assure you that our efforts to do so will be successful. Even if we are successful at in-licensing or acquiring additional product candidates, their requisite development activities may require substantial resources, and we cannot assure you that these development activities will result in regulatory approvals. We also cannot assure you that our efforts to develop and commercialize pitolisant for other indications beyond EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy will be successful.

Our business, products or product pricing could be subject to negative publicity, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations, liquidity and cash flows.

In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has been the subject of public complaints and significant publicity regarding the pricing of pharmaceutical products, including publicity and pressure resulting from prices charged by competitors and peer companies for new products as well as price increases by competitors and peer companies on older products that the public has deemed excessive. We may experience downward pricing pressure on the price of WAKIX and any other future approved products due to social or political pressure to lower the cost of drugs, which could reduce our revenue and future profitability. Orphan drugs in particular have received recent negative publicity for the perceived high prices charged for them by their manufacturers, and as a result orphan drug developers such as us may be negatively impacted by such publicity and any U.S. or other government regulatory response. Due to these factors, we may suffer public criticism and negative publicity in media coverage, by industry trade associations and legislators.

Any of the events or developments described above could result in reputational harm and reduced market acceptance and demand for our products, could harm our ability to market our products in the future, could cause us to incur significant expense, could cause our senior management to be distracted from execution of our business strategy, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, cash flows and/or share price.

Third-party relationships are important to our business. If we are unable to enter into and maintain strategic collaborations or if these relationships are not successful, our business could be adversely affected.

We have limited capabilities for product development and do not yet have any capability for manufacturing or distribution. In addition, we may enter into collaborations for the development and commercialization of certain of our product candidates. If we enter into such collaborations, we will have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators will dedicate to the development or commercialization of our product candidates. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on any future collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. In addition, any future collaborators may have the right to abandon research or development projects and terminate applicable agreements, including funding obligations, prior to or upon the expiration of the agreed upon terms. Relationships we enter into may pose a number of risks, including the following:

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If our relationships do not result in the successful discovery, development and commercialization of products or if a third party terminates its agreement with us, we may not receive any future research funding or milestone or royalty payments under the collaboration. If we do not receive the funding we expect under any third party agreements we enter into, our development of pitolisant or any future product candidates could be delayed and we may need additional resources. Additionally, if any third party terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to attract new collaborators and our perception in the business and financial communities could be adversely affected.

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Relationships are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of future collaborators. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Our ability to reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. If we are unable to reach agreements with suitable third parties on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all, we may have to curtail the development of a product candidate, reduce or delay its development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional expertise and additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we fail to enter into relationships or do not have sufficient funds or expertise to undertake the necessary development and commercialization activities, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates, bring them to market and generate revenue from sales of drugs or continue to develop our technology, and our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We expect to rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials for pitolisant and any future product candidate that we decide to develop. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or comply with regulatory requirements, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of or commercialize any potential product candidates on a timely basis or at all.

We will continue to rely upon third parties, including independent investigators, to conduct preclinical studies or clinical trials under agreements with universities, medical institutions, contract research organizations, or CROs, strategic partners and others. We expect to have to negotiate budgets and contracts with CROs and study or trial sites, which may result in delays to our development timelines and increased costs.

We will have to rely heavily on third parties over the course of our preclinical studies and clinical trials and, as a result, will have limited control over the clinical investigators and limited visibility into their day-to-day activities, including with respect to their compliance with the approved clinical protocol and regulatory requirements. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our preclinical studies and clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, and our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and these third parties are required to comply with Good Clinical Practice, or GCP, requirements for clinical trials, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for product candidates in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of study or trial sponsors, clinical investigators and trial sites. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable GCP requirements, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to suspend or terminate these clinical trials or perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot be certain that, upon inspection, such regulatory authorities will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with the GCP or other applicable requirements. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with drug products produced under current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, requirements and may require a large number of patients. Our failure or any failure by these third parties to comply with these regulations, which would delay the regulatory approval or commercialization process. Moreover, our business may be implicated if any of these third parties

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violates federal or state laws or regulations including fraud and abuse or false claims laws and regulations or healthcare privacy and security laws.

Any parties conducting our future clinical trials, if any, generally will not be our employees and, except for remedies that may be available to us under our agreements with the third parties conducting such clinical trials, if any, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our ongoing preclinical and clinical programs. These third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other product development activities, which could affect their performance on our behalf. If these third parties 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 or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to complete development of, obtain regulatory approval of or successfully commercialize our current and future product candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our current and future product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.

If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs or others terminate, we may not be able to enter into contractual and other arrangements with alternative CROs or other third parties in a timely manner to meet projected clinical development deadlines or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. 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 begins work. As a result, delays may occur, which can materially affect 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 similar 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.

If we experience delays in meeting or fail to meet the regulatory requirements for commercialization of our current or future potential product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.

We rely completely on third parties to manufacture and distribute our supply of WAKIX, including certain sole-source suppliers and manufacturers, and intend to rely on third parties to manufacture and distribute any future product candidates.

We do not currently have, nor do we plan to acquire, the infrastructure or capability to manufacture or distribute commercial quantities of WAKIX. Our ability to commercially supply WAKIX depends, in part, on the ability of third-party manufacturers to supply and manufacture the raw materials, active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, and other important components related to the manufacture of WAKIX. We also rely on third parties to package the finished product. These third-party manufacturers have limited experience manufacturing the raw materials and API for WAKIX to be supplied to patients in the United States. Prior to the approval of WAKIX, we experienced minor issues related to product specifications and other minor delays in supply related to our third-party suppliers and manufacturers. While we continue to work with our third-party suppliers and manufacturers to optimize the manufacturing process for WAKIX and will work to optimize the manufacturing process for any future product candidates, we cannot guarantee that even minor changes in the process will result in products that are safe and, where applicable, effective. If we fail to develop and maintain supply relationships with these third parties, we may be unable to continue to successfully commercialize WAKIX.

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We rely and will continue to rely on certain third parties as the sole source of the materials they supply or the finished products they manufacture. For example, we rely on Interor S.A., Corden Pharma Chenôve SAS and Patheon UK Limited to provide intermediate supply ingredients, API and finished products, respectively. Additionally, we rely on our suppliers and manufacturers to purchase materials from other third parties. Any of our existing suppliers or manufacturers may:

In the event of any of the foregoing, if we do not have an alternative supplier or manufacturer in place, we would be required to expend substantial management time and expense to identify, qualify and transfer technical processes to alternative suppliers or manufacturers. Transferring technology to other sites may require additional processes, technologies and validation studies, which are costly, may take considerable amounts of time, may not be successful and, in most cases, require review and approval by the FDA. Any need to find and qualify new suppliers or manufacturers could significantly delay production of WAKIX, adversely impact our ability to market WAKIX and adversely affect our business. There can be no assurance that replacements would be available to us on a timely basis, on acceptable terms or at all. Additionally, we and our manufacturers do not currently maintain significant inventory of drug substances and other materials beyond our currently forecasted needs. Any interruption in the supply of a drug substance or other material or in the manufacture of WAKIX could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects.

Additionally, although we are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements such as cGMPs, we are dependent on our contract suppliers and manufacturers for day-to-day compliance with cGMP for production of both drug substances and finished products. Facilities used by our contract suppliers and manufacturers to produce the drug substances and materials or finished products for commercial sale must pass inspection and be approved by the FDA and other relevant regulatory authorities. A number of our contract suppliers and manufacturers must comply with cGMP requirements enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program and review of submitted technical information. If the safety of WAKIX is compromised due to a failure to adhere to applicable laws or for other reasons, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product and we may be held liable for injuries sustained as a result. In addition, the manufacturing facilities of certain of our suppliers are located outside of the United States. This may give rise to difficulties in importing our product into the United States or other countries as a result of, among other things, regulatory agency approval requirements, taxes, tariffs, local import requirements such as import duties or inspections, incomplete or inaccurate import documentation or defective packaging. Any of these factors could adversely impact our ability to effectively commercialize WAKIX.

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Because a number of companies compete with us, many of which have greater resources than we do, and because we face rapid changes in science in our industry, we cannot be certain that our products will be accepted in the marketplace or capture market share.

Competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies is intense and is expected to increase. There may be a number of companies pursuing the development of pharmaceuticals in rare neurological disorders, our area of focus. These companies may be very large, and may have financial, technical, sales and distribution and other resources substantially greater than ours. The greater resources of these competitors may enable them to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market competing products more quickly or effectively, making it extremely difficult for us to capture a share of the market for our product. We also face competition, and may in the future face additional competition, from manufacturers of generic drugs. Certain U.S. state laws allow for, and in some instances in the absence of specific instructions from the prescribing physician mandate, the dispensing of generic products rather than branded products when a generic version is available. Generic competition often results in decreases in the prices at which branded products can be sold. The commercial potential of our current products and any future products may be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop or acquire and commercialize generic or branded products that are safer or more effective, have fewer side effects, are easier to administer or are less expensive than our products. We also face competition from off-label uses of approved drugs. Additionally, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are subject to rapid changes in science, and our competitors may develop and market products with improved therapeutic profiles relative to pitolisant or any future product candidates that would render pitolisant or any future product candidates noncompetitive.

We may need to increase the size and capabilities of our organization based on business need, and we may experience difficulties in managing our growth.

We commenced operations in 2017 and, as of December 31, 2019, had approximately 150 employees. As we advance the development of pitolisant in other indications and commercialize WAKIX as a treatment for EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, we must continue to grow the size of the organization. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:

Our future financial performance and our ability to successfully develop and commercialize WAKIX or any future product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth. Our management will have to dedicate a significant amount of its attention to managing these growth activities. In addition, we expect to incur additional costs in hiring, training and retaining such additional personnel.

If we are not able to effectively expand our organization, we may not be able to successfully execute the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize pitolisant or any future product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

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

We are highly dependent on the principal members of our management and scientific teams. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees. The loss of the services of any of these persons could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives.

To encourage valuable employees to remain at our company, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided equity award grants that vest over time. The value to employees of these equity grants that vest over time may be significantly affected by changes in the price of our common stock that are beyond our control, and may at any time be insufficient to retain employees who receive more lucrative offers from other companies. Any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice.

Recruiting and retaining qualified operations, finance and accounting, quality and compliance, scientific, clinical, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel or consultants will also be critical to our success. We may not be able to attract and retain these personnel on acceptable terms, given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. If we are unable to attract, retain and motivate qualified and experienced personnel, it could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Even if we are successful in attracting and retaining such personnel, competition for such employees may significantly increase our compensation costs and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The loss of the services of any of our executive officers, key employees or consultants could seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Replacing executive officers, key employees or consultants may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize products. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel or consultants on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel.

We may hire part-time employees or use consultants. As a result, certain of our employees, officers, directors or consultants may not devote all of their time to our business, and may from time to time serve as employees, officers, directors and consultants of other companies.

We or the third parties upon whom we depend may be adversely affected by natural disasters and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.

Any unplanned event, such as flood, fire, explosion, earthquake, extreme weather condition, medical epidemics, power shortage, telecommunication failure or other natural or manmade accidents or incidents that result in us being unable to fully utilize our facilities, the manufacturing facilities of our third-party contract manufacturers or our or their distribution networks, may have a material and adverse effect on our ability to operate our business, particularly on a daily basis, and have significant negative consequences on our financial and operating conditions. Loss of access to these facilities may result in increased costs, or interruptions in the commercialization of WAKIX or our business operations. Natural disasters could further disrupt our operations, and have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If a natural disaster,

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power outage or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our headquarters, that damaged critical infrastructure, such as our research facilities, the manufacturing facilities of our third-party contract manufacturers or our or their distribution networks, or that otherwise disrupted operations, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible, for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time.

The disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place may prove inadequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. As part of our risk management policy, we maintain insurance coverage at levels that we believe are appropriate for our business. However, in the event of an accident or incident at these facilities, we cannot assure our investors that the amounts of insurance will be sufficient to satisfy any damages and losses. If our facilities or the manufacturing facilities of our third-party contract manufacturers are unable to operate because of an accident or incident or for any other reason, even for a short period of time, any or all of our research and development programs may be harmed. Any business interruption may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We depend on our information technology systems, and any failure of these systems could harm our business. Any real or perceived security breaches, loss of data, and other disruptions or incidents could compromise the privacy, security, integrity or confidentiality of sensitive information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose us to liability and reputational harm, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We collect and maintain data and information that is necessary to conduct our business, and we are increasingly dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business, including systems infrastructure operated and maintained by our third party suppliers or providers. In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, store and transmit large amounts of confidential information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information. It is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the privacy, security, confidentiality and integrity of such confidential information. We have established physical, electronic and organizational measures to safeguard and secure our systems and facilities to prevent an information compromise, and rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for our information technology systems and the processing, transmission and storage of digital information. We have also outsourced elements of our information technology infrastructure, and as a result, a number of third-party vendors may or could have access to our confidential information. Our internal information technology systems and infrastructure, and those of our current and any future collaborators, contractors and consultants and other third parties on which we rely, are vulnerable to damage or unauthorized access or use resulting from computer viruses, malware, natural disasters, terrorism, war, telecommunication and electrical failures, denial-of-service attacks, cyber-attacks or cyber-intrusions over the Internet, hacking, phishing and other social engineering attacks, attachments to emails, persons inside our organization (including employees or contractors), lost or stolen devices, or persons with access to systems inside our organization.

The risk of a security breach or disruption or data loss, particularly through social engineering attacks, cyber-attacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. In addition, the prevalent use of mobile devices that access confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches, which could lead to the loss of confidential information or other intellectual property. The costs to us to mitigate, investigate and respond to potential security incidents, breaches, disruptions, network security

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problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and while we have implemented security measures to protect our data security and information technology systems, our efforts to address these problems may not be successful, and these problems could result in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service and other harm to our business and our competitive position. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our product development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or ongoing or planned clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Moreover, if a real or perceived security breach affects our systems (or those of our third party providers or suppliers) or results in the loss of or accidental, unlawful or unauthorized access to, use of, release of or other processing of personally identifiable information or clinical trial data, our reputation could be materially damaged. In addition, such a breach may require notification to governmental agencies, the media or individuals pursuant to various federal and state privacy and security laws, if applicable, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH, and its implementing rules and regulations, as well as regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission and state breach notification laws. We would also be exposed to a risk of loss, negative publicity, harm to our reputation, governmental investigation and/or enforcement actions, claims or litigation and potential liability, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and we may be affected by or subject to new, amended or existing laws and regulations in the future, including as our operations continue to expand or if we begin to operate in foreign jurisdictions.

Our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, consultants, any future commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or other unauthorized activities that violate the laws and regulations of the FDA and other similar regulatory bodies, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such regulatory bodies; manufacturing standards; U.S. federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, data privacy and security laws and other similar non-U.S. laws; or laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. 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 or misrepresentation of individually identifiable information, including, without limitation, information obtained in the course of clinical trials, the creation of fraudulent data in our preclinical studies or clinical trials, or illegal misappropriation of product, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third-parties, 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 governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and financial results, including, without limitation, the imposition of

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significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgement, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other U.S. federal healthcare programs or healthcare programs in other jurisdictions, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, imprisonment, other sanctions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

Risks Related to Development, Regulatory Approval and Commercialization

The regulatory approval process of the FDA is costly, lengthy and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for pitolisant in other potential indications for which we may seek to develop pitolisant, our business will be substantially harmed.

Although the commercialization of WAKIX is our primary focus, as part of our longer-term growth strategy, we plan to evaluate pitolisant in other indications and develop other product candidates. The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, selling, import, export, pricing and reimbursement marketing and distribution of drug products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States. Although we have obtained regulatory approval for WAKIX in the United States for the treatment of EDS in adults with narcolepsy, it is possible that we may not obtain regulatory approval for pitolisant for other indications, including for the treatment of cataplexy, for which we may seek such approval, or for any other product candidates we may seek to develop in the future. We received a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, for pitolisant for the treatment of cataplexy in adult patients with narcolepsy. Obtaining regulatory approval of an NDA can be a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process.

The FDA can delay, limit or deny approval of a drug candidate for many reasons or require us to conduct additional preclinical or clinical testing, including, but not limited to, the following:

Prior to obtaining approval to commercialize a drug candidate in the United States, we or our collaborators must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA, that such drug candidates are safe and effective for their intended uses. The number of nonclinical and clinical studies and trials that will be required for FDA approval varies depending on the drug candidate, the disease or condition that the drug candidate is designed to address, and the regulations applicable to any particular drug candidate. In addition, data obtained from preclinical trials and clinical trials are susceptible to varying interpretations, and regulatory

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authorities may not interpret our data as favorably as we do, which may further delay, limit or prevent development efforts, clinical trials or marketing approval. Furthermore, as more competing drug candidates within a particular class of drugs proceed through clinical development to regulatory review and approval, the amount and type of clinical data that may be required by regulatory authorities may increase or change. Even if we believe the preclinical or clinical data for our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. If pitolisant fails to demonstrate safety and efficacy in clinical trials or does not gain regulatory approval for other indications, our business and results of operations will be materially and adversely harmed. Additionally, if the FDA requires that we conduct additional clinical trials, places limitations on pitolisant in our label, delays approval to market pitolisant or limits the use of pitolisant, our business and results of operations may be harmed.

Moreover, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the study. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of one or more of our product candidates.

If we fail to obtain and sustain an adequate level of coverage and reimbursement for WAKIX and other product candidates by third-party payors, sales would be adversely affected.

Successful sales of WAKIX and any other product candidates that may receive regulatory approval depend on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors. Patients who are prescribed medications for the treatment of their conditions generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their prescription drugs. There is significant uncertainty related to third-party payor coverage and reimbursement of newly approved drugs. Regulatory approvals, pricing and reimbursement for new drug products vary widely from country to country. In the United States, the principal decisions about reimbursement for new medicines are typically made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. CMS decides whether and to what extent a new medicine will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare. Private payors tend to follow CMS to a substantial degree. Commercial third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, also decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels, though commercial third-party payors often follow CMS’ reimbursement determinations. The availability of coverage and the extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford treatments. Sales of WAKIX or other product candidates that we may identify will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of our product candidates will be paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors.

Coverage and reimbursement by a third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors, including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a product is:

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We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for WAKIX and, if coverage and reimbursement are available, what the level of reimbursement will be. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement rates from both government-funded and private payors for any approved products that we develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize products and our overall financial condition. If coverage and adequate reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment.

Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval for a product from a government or other third-party payor can be an expensive and time-consuming process that could require us to provide supporting scientific, clinical and cost effectiveness data for the use of our products to the payor. The industry competition to be included in third-party payors’ drug formularies, or lists of medications for which third-party payors provide coverage and reimbursement, often leads to downward pricing pressures on pharmaceutical products. In addition, third-party payors may refuse to include a particular branded drug in their formularies or otherwise restrict patient access through formulary controls or otherwise to a branded drug when a less costly generic equivalent or other alternative is available. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors, and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. In addition, many pharmaceutical manufacturers must calculate and report certain price reporting metrics to the government, such as average manufacture price and best price. Penalties may apply in some cases when such metrics are not submitted accurately and timely. We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for any product candidate that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, the level of reimbursement.

In addition, there may be significant delays in obtaining such coverage and reimbursement for newly approved products, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the product is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for coverage and reimbursement does not imply that a product will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, intellectual property, manufacture, sale and distribution expenses.

Interim reimbursement levels for new products, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover our costs and may not be made permanent. Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the product and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost products and may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. Net prices for products may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors, by any future laws limiting drug prices and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of product from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States.

Assuming we obtain coverage for WAKIX by a third-party payor, the resulting reimbursement payment rates might not be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high.

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Patients are unlikely to use WAKIX unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of WAKIX. Therefore, coverage and adequate reimbursement is critical to new product acceptance. Coverage decisions may depend upon clinical and economic standards that disfavor new products when more established or lower cost therapeutic alternatives are already available or subsequently become available. We may suffer loss of corporate reputation due to industry-wide legislative or public scrutiny of our pricing decisions and practices within an increasingly price-sensitive environment.

Even if we do obtain formulary approval, we expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of WAKIX due to the trend toward cost containment, managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. Large public and private payors, managed care organizations, group purchasing organizations and similar organizations are exerting increasing influence on decisions regarding the use of, and reimbursement levels for, particular treatments. Such third-party payors, including Medicare, are questioning the coverage of, and challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, and many third-party payors limit coverage of, or reimbursement for, newly approved health care products. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription medicines, medical devices and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the successful commercialization of new products. Further, the adoption and implementation of any future governmental cost containment or other health reform initiative may result in additional downward pressure on the price that we may receive for WAKIX.

These cost-control initiatives could decrease the price we might establish for WAKIX, which could result in product revenues being lower than anticipated. The pricing, coverage and reimbursement of WAKIX must be adequate to support a commercial infrastructure. If the price for WAKIX decreases or if governmental and other third-party payors do not provide adequate coverage and reimbursement levels, our revenue, gross margins and prospects for profitability will suffer.

Outside the United States, international operations are generally subject to extensive governmental price controls and other market regulations, and we believe the increasing emphasis on cost-containment initiatives in Europe and other countries will likely put pressure on the pricing and usage of medical products. In many countries, the prices of medical products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for medical products, but monitor and control company profits. Additional foreign price controls or other changes in pricing regulation could restrict the amount that we are able to charge for WAKIX. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for WAKIX may be reduced compared with the United States and may be insufficient to generate commercially reasonable revenue and profits.

WAKIX has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy. Regulatory approval is limited by the FDA to the specific indication for which approval has been granted and, unless we seek regulatory approval for additional indications, we will be prohibited from marketing pitolisant for other indications. We may be subject to fines, penalties or injunctions if we are determined to have promoted or be promoting the use of pitolisant for unapproved or “off-label” uses, resulting in damage to our reputation and business.

While we received approval for the indication of the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, WAKIX is not indicated for the treatment of cataplexy in adult patients with narcolepsy. We therefore are prohibited from promoting WAKIX for the treatment of cataplexy in narcolepsy unless we are granted FDA approval for such indication. The FDA strictly regulates the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products, and WAKIX may not be promoted for uses that are not

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approved by the FDA as reflected in its approved labeling. If we are not able to obtain FDA approval for any desired future indications for our products and product candidates, our ability to effectively market and sell our products may be reduced and our business may be adversely affected.

While physicians may choose to prescribe products for uses that are not described in the product’s labeling and for uses that differ from those tested in clinical trials and approved by the regulatory authorities, we are prohibited from marketing and promoting the products for indications that are not specifically approved by the FDA. These “off-label” uses are common across medical specialties and may constitute an appropriate treatment for some patients in varied circumstances. Regulatory authorities in the United States generally do not restrict or regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. Regulatory authorities do, however, restrict communications by biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies on off-label use. If the FDA determines that our promotional activities constitute promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our promotional materials and subject us to FDA regulatory or enforcement actions as well as actions by other agencies, including issuance of warning letters or untitled letters, suspension or withdrawal of an approved product from the market, mandatory or voluntary recalls, civil fines, disgorgement of money, operating restrictions, additional reporting requirements and/or oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement, injunctions or criminal prosecution, any of which could significantly harm our business.

WAKIX or any of our future product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, reduce the commercial attractiveness of a prescribing label or result in significant negative consequences following regulatory approval, if approved.

Clinical trials of WAKIX or other product candidates we may develop could reveal a high and unacceptable incidence and severity of undesirable side effects. Undesirable side effects could adversely affect patient enrollment in clinical studies, cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical studies or result in the delay, denial or withdrawal of regulatory approval by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Undesirable or adverse side effects also could result in regulatory authorities mandating a more restrictive prescribing label for the product, which, in turn, could limit the market acceptance of the product even if approved for marketing and commercialization.

Drug-related side effects could result in potential product liability claims. We believe our product liability insurance coverage is sufficient in light of our clinical programs; however, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts or maintain coverage at all to protect us against losses due to liability. 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, business and financial condition. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in impairment of our business reputation, significant negative media attention, withdrawal of clinical study participants, costs due to related litigation, distraction of management’s attention from our primary business, initiation of investigations by regulators, substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants, the inability to commercialize our current product candidate or any future product candidate, product recalls, restrictions on labeling, marketing or promotion, decreased demand for our product candidates, if approved for marketing, and loss of revenue.

Additionally, if we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by WAKIX, either in the field or in clinical trials in other potential indications for which we develop pitolisant, or in clinical trials for other product candidates, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including but not limited to:

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Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of pitolisant and could significantly harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

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

WAKIX is our first commercialized product. Prior to this, our operations had been limited to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, acquiring the rights to our product candidates and undertaking preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates. We currently have no in-house manufacturing, distribution or supply capabilities. To achieve commercial success of WAKIX or any other product candidate, if approved, we will have to develop our own manufacturing, distribution and supply capabilities or outsource these activities to a third party.

We are early in our commercialization efforts. 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, 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. 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.

If the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities approve generic versions of any of our products that receive marketing approval, or such authorities do not grant our products appropriate periods of exclusivity before approving generic versions of our products, the sales of our products could be adversely affected.

Once an NDA is approved, the product covered thereby becomes a “reference listed drug” in the FDA’s publication, “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” commonly known as the Orange Book. Manufacturers may seek approval of generic versions of reference listed drugs through submission of abbreviated new drug applications, or ANDAs, in the United States. In support of an ANDA, a generic manufacturer need not conduct clinical trials. Rather, the applicant generally must show that its product has the same active ingredient(s), dosage form, strength, route of administration and conditions of use or labelling as the reference listed drug and that the generic version is bioequivalent to the reference listed drug, meaning it is absorbed in the body at the same rate and to the same extent. Generic products may be significantly less costly to bring to market than the reference listed drug and companies that produce generic products are generally able to offer them at lower prices. Thus, following the introduction of a generic drug, a significant percentage of the sales of any branded product or reference listed drug is typically lost to the generic product.

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The FDA may not approve an ANDA for a generic product until any applicable period of non-patent exclusivity for the reference listed drug has expired. The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, provides a period of five years of non-patent exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity, or NCE. Specifically, in cases where such exclusivity has been granted, an ANDA may not be submitted to the FDA until the expiration of five years unless the submission is accompanied by a Paragraph IV certification that a patent covering the reference listed drug is either invalid or will not be infringed by the generic product, in which case the applicant may submit its application four years following approval of the reference listed drug.

While we have received five years of NCE exclusivity for WAKIX, manufacturers may seek to launch generic products following the expiration of the applicable exclusivity period we obtain, even if we still have patent protection for our product.

Competition that our products may face from generic versions of our products could materially and adversely affect our future revenue, profitability and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in those product candidates.

We may incur unexpected costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to commercialize any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are safe and effective in humans. Clinical testing 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 and our future clinical trial results may not be successful.

We may experience delays in completing our clinical trials or preclinical studies and initiating or completing additional clinical trials. We may also experience numerous unforeseen events during our clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize the product candidates we develop, including:

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Regulators, IRBs of the institutions in which clinical trials are being conducted or data monitoring committees may suspend or terminate a clinical trial due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial.

Negative or inconclusive results from our ongoing clinical trials of pitolisant for the treatment of narcolepsy, or any other clinical trial or preclinical studies in animals that we conduct, could mandate repeated or additional clinical trials and could result in changes to or delays in clinical trials in other indications. We do not know whether any clinical trials that we may conduct will demonstrate adequate efficacy and safety to result in regulatory approval to market pitolisant for our initial or potential additional indications, or any other product candidate. If later stage clinical trials do not produce favorable results, our ability to obtain regulatory approval for pitolisant for initial or potential additional indications, or any other product candidate, may be adversely impacted.

Our failure to successfully initiate and complete clinical trials of pitolisant for potential additional indications or any other product candidate and to demonstrate the efficacy and safety necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market pitolisant or any other product candidate would significantly harm our business. Our product candidate development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or regulatory approvals and we may be required to obtain additional funds to complete clinical trials. We cannot assure you that our clinical trials will begin as planned or be completed on schedule, if at all, or that we will not need to restructure our trials after they have begun. Significant clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which may harm our business and results of operations. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, delays of clinical trials may ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of pitolisant or any other product candidate.

In addition, prior to our acquisition of the rights to pitolisant, we had no involvement with or control over the nonclinical or clinical development of pitolisant. Additionally, pursuant to our collaboration agreement with Bioprojet, we will rely on data generated by Bioprojet in connection with seeking regulatory approval of pitolisant in the territories in which we have rights to develop and commercialize pitolisant. We are dependent on Bioprojet having conducted such research and development in accordance with the applicable protocols and legal, regulatory and scientific standards, having accurately reported the results of all clinical trials and other research they conducted prior to our acquisition of the rights to pitolisant, having correctly collected and interpreted the data from these trials and other research, and having supplied us with complete information, data sets and reports required to adequately demonstrate the results reported through the date of our acquisition of these assets. Problems related to predecessors could result in increased costs and delays in the development of pitolisant for additional indications, which could adversely affect our ability to generate any future revenue from sales of pitolisant, if approved for additional indications.

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Interim, “topline” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose interim, “topline” or preliminary data from our clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available topline data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following completion of the study or a full analyses of all data related to the particular trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the interim, “topline” or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same trials, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. “Topline” data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, “topline” data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. We may also disclose interim data from our clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Adverse differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects.

Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and our business in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular drug, product candidate or our business. If the interim, “topline” or preliminary data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for and commercialize our product candidates, our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition may be harmed.

Enrollment and retention of patients in clinical trials is an expensive and time-consuming process and could be made more difficult or rendered impossible by multiple factors outside our control.

We may encounter delays in enrolling, or be unable to enroll, a sufficient number of patients to complete any of our clinical trials on our current timelines, or at all, and even once enrolled we may be unable to retain a sufficient number of patients to complete any of our trials. Enrollment in our clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate, leading to delays in our development timelines. Patient enrollment and retention in clinical trials depends on many factors, including the size of the patient population, the nature of the trial protocol, our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience, the existing body of safety and efficacy data with respect to the study drug, the number and nature of competing treatments and ongoing clinical trials of competing drugs for the same indication, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial and the proportion of patients screened that meets those criteria, our ability to obtain and maintain patient consents, and the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the trials before completion.

Furthermore, any negative results or new safety signals we or third parties may report in clinical trials of our product candidates may make it difficult or impossible to recruit and retain patients in our

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clinical trials. Similarly, negative results reported by our competitors about their drug candidates may negatively affect patient recruitment in our clinical trials. In addition, marketing authorization of competitors in this same class of drugs may impair our ability to enroll patients into our clinical trials, delaying or potentially preventing us from completing recruitment of one or more of our trials. Delays or failures in planned patient enrollment or retention may result in increased costs, program delays or both, which could have a harmful effect on our ability to develop pitolisant or any future product candidates, or could render further development impossible. In addition, we expect to rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure proper and timely conduct of our future clinical trials, and, while we intend to enter into agreements governing their services, we will be limited in our ability to compel their actual performance.

Even though the FDA granted orphan drug designation to pitolisant for the treatment of narcolepsy, we may not be able to obtain or maintain orphan drug marketing exclusivity for this product candidate or any other product candidates.

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 drug as an orphan drug if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States. Pitolisant was granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of narcolepsy in 2010. Generally, if a drug with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the drug is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same drug for the same indication for that time period. Under the FDA’s regulations, the FDA will deny orphan drug exclusivity to a designated drug upon approval if the FDA has already approved another drug with the same active ingredient for the same indication, unless the drug is demonstrated to be clinically superior to the previously approved drug. The applicable exclusivity period is seven years in the United States. Orphan drug exclusivity in the United States may be unavailable where the indication for which the product candidate is approved is broader than the orphan-designated indication, or is otherwise different from the orphan-designated indication. For example, the FDA granted orphan drug designation for pitolisant for the treatment of narcolepsy. This means that pitolisant for the treatment of cataplexy in adult patients with narcolepsy may not be covered by the scope of any orphan drug exclusivity that we may obtain in the future. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a drug candidate, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the candidate from competition. WAKIX may face additional competition because different drugs with a different active moiety can still be approved for the same condition. Even after an approved drug is granted orphan exclusivity, exclusivity may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if we are unable to assure sufficient quantities of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition following approval. In addition, the FDA can subsequently approve products with the same active moiety for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is safer, more effective, or makes a major contribution to patient care. There have been legal challenges to aspects of the FDA’s regulations and policies concerning the exclusivity provisions of the Orphan Drug Act, and future challenges could lead to changes that affect the protections afforded our product candidates in ways that are difficult to predict.

On August 3, 2017, Congress passed the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, or FDARA. FDARA, among other things, codified the FDA’s pre-existing regulatory interpretation, to require that a drug sponsor demonstrate the clinical superiority of an orphan drug that is otherwise the same as a previously approved drug for the same rare disease in order to receive orphan drug exclusivity. The legislation reverses prior precedent holding that the Orphan Drug Act unambiguously requires that the FDA recognize the orphan exclusivity period regardless of a showing of clinical superiority. The FDA may further reevaluate the Orphan Drug Act and its regulations and policies. We do not know if, when,

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or how the FDA may change the orphan drug regulations and policies in the future, and it is uncertain how any changes might affect our business. Depending on what changes the FDA may make to its orphan drug regulations and policies, our business could be adversely impacted.

We are subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review with respect to WAKIX, which will result in significant additional expense. Additionally, WAKIX could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with WAKIX.

WAKIX is subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, distribution, import, export, record keeping and submission of safety and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States. In addition, manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP. As such, we and our contract manufacturers are subject to continual review and periodic inspections to assess compliance with cGMP. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control.

Our regulatory approval for WAKIX for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, and any other regulatory approvals we may receive for pitolisant or any future product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, which must comply with applicable GCP regulations. We could also be asked to conduct post marketing clinical studies to verify the safety and efficacy of future product candidates in general or in specific patient subsets. For example, as a part of the regulatory approval for WAKIX for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, we are required to conduct post-marketing studies in women exposed to pitolisant in pregnancy, including a registry-based observational cohort study to assess maternal, fetal, and infant outcomes of women exposed to pitolisant during pregnancy, and another study of a different design such as a case control study or a retrospective cohort study using electronic medical record data, and a lactation study.

We will also be required to report certain adverse events and production problems, if any, to the FDA, and to comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for WAKIX. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote WAKIX for indications or uses for which it does not have FDA approval. The holder of an approved NDA must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process.

If a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with WAKIX, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, or disagrees with the promotion, marketing, or labeling of a product, the regulatory agency may impose restrictions on the product or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency or enforcement authority may, among other things:

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Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenues from WAKIX or future product candidates. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results will be adversely affected. Additionally, if we are unable to generate revenues from the sale of WAKIX or future product candidates, our potential for achieving profitability will be diminished and the capital necessary to fund our operations will be increased.

The regulatory requirements and policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted for which we may also be required to comply. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or in other countries. If we or any future collaboration partner are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we or such collaboration partner, as applicable, may face government enforcement action and our business will suffer.

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. The policies of the FDA and of other regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. For example, certain policies of the Trump administration may affect 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. It is difficult to predict how these executive actions will be implemented, and the extent to which they will affect the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Non-compliance by us or any future collaborator with regulatory requirements, including safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population can also result in significant financial penalties.

Our business operations and current and future relationships with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations and customers will be subject to applicable healthcare regulatory laws, which could expose us to penalties.

Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations and customers, may expose us to

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broadly applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations pertaining to fraud and abuse and patients’ rights. These laws may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we conduct our operations, including how we research, market, sell and distribute our product candidates, if approved. The laws that affect our current and future operations include, but are not limited to:

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Ensuring that our business operations and current and future arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will likely be costly. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices, including, without limitation, our patient support and financial assistance programs, do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental laws and regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil, administrative and criminal penalties, damages, fines, the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, contractual damages, disgorgement, reputational harm, additional oversight and reporting obligations if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, the exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs and individual imprisonment, any of which could adversely affect our ability to market pitolisant, if approved, and adversely impact our financial results. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired. 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 applicable regulatory agencies or the courts, and their provisions are open to a variety of interpretations.

We face potential liability related to the privacy of health information we obtain from clinical trials sponsored by us.

Most healthcare providers, including research institutions from which we obtain patient health information, are subject to privacy and security regulations promulgated under HIPAA, as amended by the HITECH. We are not currently classified as a covered entity or business associate under HIPAA and thus are not directly subject to its requirements or penalties. However, any person may be prosecuted under HIPAA’s criminal provisions either directly or under aiding-and-abetting or conspiracy principles. Consequently, depending on the facts and circumstances, we could face substantial criminal penalties if we knowingly receive individually identifiable health information from a HIPAA-covered healthcare provider or research institution that has not satisfied HIPAA’s requirements for disclosure of individually identifiable health information. In addition, we may maintain sensitive personally identifiable information, including health information, that we receive throughout the clinical trial process, in the course of our research collaborations, and directly from individuals (or their healthcare providers) who enrol in our patient assistance programs. As such, we may be subject to state laws requiring notification of affected individuals and state regulators in the event of a breach of personal information, which is a broader class of information than the health information protected by HIPAA.

Furthermore, certain health privacy laws, data breach notification laws, consumer protection laws and genetic testing laws may apply directly to our operations and/or those of our collaborators and may impose restrictions on our collection, use and dissemination of individuals’ health information. Patients about whom we or our collaborators obtain health information, as well as the providers who share this information with us, may have statutory or contractual rights that limit our ability to use and disclose the information. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to ensure ongoing compliance with applicable privacy and data security laws. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business.

If we or third-party CMOs, CROs or other contractors or consultants fail to comply with applicable federal, state or local regulatory requirements, we could be subject to a range of regulatory actions that could affect our or our contractors’ ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates and

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could harm or prevent sales of any affected products that we are able to commercialize, or could substantially increase the costs and expenses of developing, commercializing and marketing our products. Any threatened or actual government enforcement action could also generate adverse publicity and require that we devote substantial resources that could otherwise be used in other aspects of our business. Increasing use of social media could give rise to liability, breaches of data security or reputational damage.

Clinical practice guidelines and recommendations published by various organizations could have significant influence on the use of WAKIX.

Professional societies, practice management groups, private health and science foundations and organizations involved in various diseases from time to time may publish guidelines or recommendations to the healthcare and patient communities. The recommendations of these groups or organizations may relate to such matters as usage, dosage, route of administration and use of concomitant therapies. Recommendations or guidelines suggesting the reduced use of WAKIX 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 WAKIX.

Product candidates we develop in the future may be classified as controlled substances, the making, use, sale, importation, exportation and distribution of which are subject to regulation by state, federal and foreign law enforcement and other regulatory agencies.

Product candidates we develop in the future may be classified as controlled substances, which are subject to state, federal and foreign laws and regulations regarding their manufacture, use, sale, importation, exportation and distribution. Controlled substances are regulated under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970, or CSA, and regulations of the DEA.

The DEA regulates controlled substances as Schedule I, II, III, IV or V substances. Schedule I substances by definition have no established medicinal use and may not be marketed or sold in the United States. A pharmaceutical product may be listed as Schedule II, III, IV or V, with Schedule II substances considered to present the highest risk of abuse and Schedule V substances the lowest relative risk of abuse among such substances.

Various states also independently regulate controlled substances. Though state controlled substances laws often mirror federal law, because the states are separate jurisdictions, they may separately schedule drugs as well. While some states automatically schedule a drug when the DEA does so, in other states there must be rulemaking or a legislative action. State scheduling may delay commercial sale of any controlled substance drug product for which we obtain federal regulatory approval and adverse scheduling could impair the commercial attractiveness of such product. We or our collaborators must also obtain separate state registrations in order to be able to obtain, handle and distribute controlled substances for clinical trials or commercial sale, and failure to meet applicable regulatory requirements could lead to enforcement and sanctions from the states in addition to those from the DEA or otherwise arising under federal law.

For any of our products or product candidates classified as controlled substances, we and our suppliers, manufacturers, contractors, customers and distributors are required to obtain and maintain applicable registrations from state, federal and foreign law enforcement and regulatory agencies and comply with state, federal and foreign laws and regulations regarding the manufacture, use, sale, importation, exportation and distribution of controlled substances. There is a risk that DEA regulations may limit the supply of the compounds used in clinical trials for our product candidates, and, in the case of our approved products, the ability to produce and distribute our products in the volume needed to meet commercial demand.

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Regulations associated with controlled substances govern manufacturing, labeling, packaging, testing, dispensing, production and procurement quotas, recordkeeping, reporting, handling, shipment and disposal. These regulations increase the personnel needs and the expense associated with development and commercialization of product candidates including controlled substances. The DEA, and some states, conduct periodic inspections of registered establishments that handle controlled substances. Failure to obtain and maintain required registrations or comply with any applicable regulations could delay or preclude us from developing and commercializing our product candidates containing controlled substances and subject us to enforcement action. The DEA may seek civil penalties, refuse to renew necessary registrations or initiate proceedings to revoke those registrations. In some circumstances, violations could lead to criminal proceedings. Because of their restrictive nature, these regulations could limit commercialization of any of our approved products or product candidates that are classified as controlled substances.

Enacted and future healthcare legislative changes may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval for and commercialize our product candidates and affect the prices we may obtain.

In the United States, the European Union and other some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, 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 to profitably sell any products for which we obtain marketing approval. In particular, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the U.S. federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of healthcare. For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, collectively the ACA, was enacted to broaden access to health insurance, reduce or constrain the growth of healthcare spending, enhance remedies against fraud and abuse, add new transparency requirements for health care and health insurance industries, impose new taxes and fees on the healthcare industry, and impose additional healthcare policy reforms. The law has continued the downward pressure on pharmaceutical pricing, especially under the Medicare program, and increased the industry’s regulatory burdens and operating costs. Among the provisions of the ACA of importance to the pharmaceutical industry and our potential product candidates are the following:

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Since its enactment, there have been numerous judicial, administrative, executive and legislative challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. Various portions of the ACA are currently undergoing challenges in the Fifth Circuit Court and the United States Supreme Court, the Trump Administration has issued various Executive Orders eliminating cost sharing subsidies and various provisions that would impose a fiscal burden on states or a cost, fee, tax, penalty or regulatory burden on individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices, and Congress has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at significantly revising or repealing the ACA. It is unclear whether the ACA will be overturned, repealed, replaced, or further amended. We cannot predict what affect further changes to the ACA would have on our business.

In addition, recently there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation and regulations designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under government payor programs, and review 2020 relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. For example, in April of 2018, CMS published a final rule that would give states greater flexibility, starting in 2020, in setting benchmarks for insurers in the individual and small group marketplaces, which may have the effect of relaxing the essential health benefits required under the ACA for plans sold through such marketplaces. Further, Congress has indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative measures to control drug costs. For example, on September 25, 2019, the Senate Finance Committee introduced the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Action of 2019, a bill intended to reduce Medicare and Medicaid prescription drug prices. The proposed legislation would restructure the Part D benefit, modify payment methodologies for certain drugs, and impose an inflation cap on drug price increases. An even more restrictive bill, the Lower Drugs Costs Now Act of 2019 has passed out of the House and was delivered to the Senate on December 16, 2019. It would require HHS to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. It is unclear whether either of these bills will make it through both chambers and be signed into law, and if either is enacted, what effect it would have on our business.

Additionally, in 2019, the Trump administration released a “Blueprint” 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 Trump administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 contains further drug price control measures that could be enacted during the 2020 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. HHS has also begun implementation of the Trump administration Blueprint, soliciting feedback on some of these measures and, immediately implementing others under its existing authority. For example, in May 2019, CMS issued a final rule to allow Medicare Advantage Plans the option of using step therapy for Part B drugs beginning January 1, 2020.

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Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. For example, in August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, led to aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in April 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will stay in effect through 2029 unless additional Congressional action is taken. Additionally, in January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period in which the government may recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

Moreover, payment methodologies may be subject to changes in healthcare legislation and regulatory initiatives. For example, CMS may develop new payment and delivery models, such as bundled payment models. In addition, recently there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under government payor programs, and review 2020 relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs. While any 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.

Individual states in the United States have also increasingly passed legislation and implemented 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. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. Furthermore, there has been increased interest by third party payors and governmental authorities in reference pricing systems and publication of discounts and list prices. These reforms could reduce the ultimate demand for our product candidates, once approved, or put pressure on our product pricing.

In the European Union, similar political, economic and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize our product candidates, if approved. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the European Union or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs. The delivery of healthcare in the European Union, including the establishment and operation of health services and the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than European Union, law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of health care and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. In general, however, the healthcare budgetary constraints in most European Union member states have resulted in restrictions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines by relevant health service providers. Coupled with ever-increasing European Union and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved. In markets outside of the United States and European Union, reimbursement and healthcare payment systems vary significantly by country, and many countries have instituted price ceilings on specific products and therapies.

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We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States, the European Union or any other jurisdiction. If we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our current or any future product candidates we may develop may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

If we fail to comply with our reporting and payment obligations under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program or other governmental pricing programs that we participate in, we could be subject to additional reimbursement requirements, penalties, sanctions and fines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

We expect to participate in and have certain price reporting obligations to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, we would be required to pay a rebate to each state Medicaid program for our covered outpatient drugs that are dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries and paid for by a state Medicaid program as a condition of having federal funds being made available to the states for our drugs under Medicaid and Medicare Part B. Those rebates are based on pricing data we would have to report on a monthly and quarterly basis to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, the federal agency that administers the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. These data include, among other things, the average manufacturer price, or AMP, and, in the case of innovator products, the best price, or BP, for each drug which, in general, represents the lowest price available from the manufacturer to any entity in the U.S. in any pricing structure, calculated to include all sales and associated rebates, discounts and other price concessions. We are liable for errors associated with our submission of pricing data and for any overcharging of government payors. For example, failure to submit monthly/quarterly AMP and BP data on a timely basis could result in a civil monetary penalty for each day the submission is late beyond the due date. Failure to make necessary disclosures and/or to identify overpayments could result in allegations against us under the Federal False Claims Act and other laws and regulations. Any required refunds to the U.S. government or responding to a government investigation or enforcement action would be expensive and time consuming and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Federal law requires that any company that participates in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program also participate in the 340B program in order for federal funds to be available for the manufacturer’s drugs under Medicaid and Medicare Part B. The 340B program requires participating manufacturers to agree to charge statutorily defined covered entities no more than the 340B “ceiling price” for the manufacturer’s covered outpatient drugs. These 340B covered entities include a variety of community health clinics and other entities that receive health services grants from the Public Health Service, as well as hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients. The ACA expanded the list of covered entities to include certain free-standing cancer hospitals, critical access hospitals, rural referral centers and sole community hospitals, but exempts “orphan drugs” from the ceiling price requirements for these covered entities. The 340B ceiling price is calculated using a statutory formula based on the average manufacturer price and rebate amount for the covered outpatient drug as calculated under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, and in general, products subject to Medicaid price reporting and rebate liability are also subject to the 340B ceiling price calculation and discount requirement. Any additional future changes to the definition of average manufacturer price and the Medicaid rebate amount under the ACA or other legislation or regulation could affect our 340B ceiling price calculations and negatively impact our results of operations commercializing pitolisant. In addition, legislation may be introduced that, if passed, would further expand the 340B program to additional covered entities or would require participating manufacturers to agree to provide 340B discounted pricing on drugs used in an inpatient setting.

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In order to be eligible to have our products that we successfully commercialize paid for with federal funds under the Medicaid program and purchased by certain federal agencies and grantees, we also would have to participate in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, Federal Supply Schedule, or FSS, pricing program. As part of this program, we would be obligated to make our products available for procurement on an FSS contract under which we must comply with standard government terms and conditions and charge a price that is no higher than the statutory Federal Ceiling Price, or FCP, to four federal agencies (VA, U.S. Department of Defense, or DOD, Public Health Service, and U.S. Coast Guard).

We are subject to U.S. and certain foreign export and import controls, sanctions, embargoes, anti-corruption laws, and antimony laundering laws and regulations. Compliance with these legal standards could impair our ability to compete in domestic markets. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which can harm our business.

We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the United States domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the United States Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and other state and national anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, agents, contractors and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. We may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities, and other organizations. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, contractors and other partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences.

Changes in funding for the FDA and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, which could prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner, which could negatively affect our business.

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel, accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.

Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, have had to furlough critical FDA, SEC and other governmental employees and stop critical activities. Our business depends upon the ability of the FDA to accept and review our potential regulatory filings. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly affect the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which harm our business. Similarly, a prolonged government shutdown could

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prevent the timely review of any of our patent applications by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, which could delay the issuance of any U.S. patents to which we might otherwise be entitled. Further, upon completion of this offering and in our operations as a public company, future government shutdowns could affect our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.

We will need to obtain FDA approval of any proposed product names, and any failure or delay associated with such approval may adversely affect our business.

Any proprietary name we intend to use for our product candidates will require approval from the FDA regardless of whether we have secured a formal trademark registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The FDA reviews proposed product names, considering both the potential for the name to lead to medical errors due to confusion with other product names and whether the proposed name is overly fanciful, misleadingly implies unique effectiveness or composition, or contributes to overstatement of product efficacy, minimization of risk, broadening of product indications or unsubstantiated superiority. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed product names, we may be required to adopt an alternative name for our product candidates. If we adopt an alternative name, we would lose the benefit of our existing trademark applications for such product candidate, and may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable product name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA. We may be unable to build a successful brand identity for a new trademark in a timely manner or at all, which would limit our ability to commercialize our product candidates.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our technology and products, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets.

We rely, and will continue to rely, on a combination of patents, trademarks and confidentiality agreements with employees, consultants, collaborators, advisors and other third parties to protect the intellectual property related to our current and future product candidates. Our success depends in large part on our licensor’s ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States with respect to WAKIX and our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and any other relevant foreign jurisdictions with respect to any future product candidates that we develop. We seek to ensure that our current and future licensors obtain appropriate patent protection to all product candidates that we license from them. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we and our licensors may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner.

Our patent portfolio comprises four U.S. patents exclusively licensed to us from Bioprojet. One U.S. patent has claims directed to a crystalline form of pitolisant and, methods for preparing the crystalline form of pitolisant which is expected to expire in February 2029 without taking into consideration any possible patent term extension. A second U.S. patent has claims directed to methods of treating excessive daytime sleepiness by administering pitolisant, which is expected to expire in September 2029 without taking into consideration any possible patent term extension. With all applicable patent term adjustments available and granted to us, the term of the last-to-expire pitolisant-related patent in our portfolio extends to September 2029.

The patents that we in-license now or the patents and patent applications that we own or in-license in the future may not have patentable claims that protect our current and future product candidates in the relevant jurisdictions where we intend to commercialize such products. There is no assurance that we and our licensor are aware of all potentially relevant prior art relating to future patent

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applications. As such, the patent examiner may find prior art that can prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application. During the patent examination process, we or our licensor may be required to narrow the pending claims to overcome prior art, a process that may limit the scope of patent protection. Even if patents do successfully issue based on our future patent applications, and even if the issued patents cover our current and future product candidates, including their compositions formulation, method of manufacture, and method of use, third parties may challenge our issued patents’ validity, enforceability or scope, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable. Any successful opposition to these patents or any other patents owned by or licensed to us in the future could deprive us of rights necessary for the successful commercialization of any of our current or future product candidates, if approved. Further, if we encounter delays in regulatory approvals, the period of time during which we could market a product candidate under patent protection could be reduced.

If the patent applications we may own or in-license in the future with respect to our current and future product candidates fail to issue, if their breadth or strength of protection is threatened, or if they fail to provide meaningful exclusivity for any of our current or future product candidates, it could dissuade other companies from collaborating with us to develop future product candidates, and threaten our ability to commercialize our current and future product candidates. Notably, pending patent applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless and until a patent issues from such applications. Any such outcome could have an adverse effect on our business.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, European patent law restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than U.S. law does. Publications of discoveries in scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection.

Patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act made a number of significant changes to United States patent laws. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and challenged at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, and may also affect patent litigation. The USPTO has developed and continues to develop new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first to file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013. Accordingly, it remains unclear what impact the Leahy-Smith Act, subsequent rulemaking, and judicial interpretation of the Leahy-Smith Act and regulations will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy- Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition. Moreover, future changes

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to the patent laws of the United States and foreign jurisdictions may adversely affect the term, scope, validity and enforceability of our or our licensor’s patent rights. For example, a new bill (“Terminating the Extension of Rights Misappropriated Act, or TERM Act, H.R. 3199) percolating through the United States Congress aims to reduce the term of certain drug patents in order to ease generic entry and increase competition.

The inventorship and ownership rights for patents that we in-license or may own or in-license in the future may be challenged by third parties. Such challenges could result in loss of exclusive rights to such patents, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or require us to obtain a license from such third parties on commercially reasonable terms to secure exclusive rights. If any such challenges to inventorship or ownership were asserted, there is no assurance that a court would find in our favor or that, if we choose to seek a license, such license would be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.

Moreover, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the USPTO or become involved in pre- and post-issuance opposition, derivation, re-examination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications, whether owned or in-licensed now or in the future, is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. Moreover, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years after the filing of the earliest non-provisional application to which the patent claims priority. Various extensions may be available; however, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. We may be required to disclaim a portion of patent term in order to overcome double patenting rejections from the patent office, thus potentially shortening our exclusivity period. Without patent protection for our current or future product candidates, we may be open to competition from generic versions of such products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

If we fail to comply with our obligations under any license, collaboration or other agreements, we may be required to pay damages and could lose intellectual property rights that are necessary for developing and protecting our current and future product candidates.

We have licensed certain intellectual property rights covering pitolisant from Bioprojet, and we may license intellectual property rights from others in the future. If, for any reason, our license agreement with Bioprojet or any future licensor is terminated or we otherwise lose the rights associated with a license, it could adversely affect our business. Our license agreement with Bioprojet imposes, and any future collaboration agreements or license agreements we enter into are likely to impose various development, commercialization, funding, milestone, royalty, diligence, sublicensing,

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insurance, patent prosecution and enforcement or other obligations on us. If we breach any material obligations, or use the intellectual property licensed to us in an unauthorized manner, we may be required to pay damages and the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, which could result in us being unable to develop, manufacture and sell products that are covered by the licensed technology, or having to negotiate new or reinstated licenses on less favorable terms, or enable a competitor to gain access to the licensed technology.

If we do not obtain protection under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments by extending the patent term for our current and future product candidates, our business may be harmed.

Our commercial success will largely depend on our licensor’s ability to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property in the United States for pitolisant, and our target indications, and our ability to maintain obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property in the United States for any product candidates. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting product candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates begin to be commercialized. We expect to seek extensions of patent terms in the United States.

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA marketing approval of our current and future product candidates, one or more of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years beyond the normal expiration of the patent as compensation for patent term lost during drug development and the FDA regulatory review process, which is limited to the approved indication (or any additional indications approved during the period of extension). This extension is limited to only one patent that covers the approved product, the approved use of the product, or a method of manufacturing the product. However, the applicable authorities, including the FDA and the USPTO in the United States, and any equivalent regulatory authority in other countries, may not agree with our assessment of whether such extensions are available, and may refuse to grant extensions to our patents, or may grant more limited extensions than we request. We may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time-period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request.

If we or our licensor are unable to extend the expiration date of our or their existing patents or obtain new patents with longer expiry dates, as applicable, our competitors may be able to take advantage of our investment in development and clinical trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data to obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case.

The validity, scope and enforceability of any patents listed in the Orange Book that cover our current and future product candidates can be challenged by third parties.

One or more third parties may challenge the current patents, or future patents within our portfolio, which could result in the invalidation of, or render unenforceable, some or all of the relevant patent claims or a finding of non-infringement. For example, if a third party files an Abbreviated New Drug Application, or ANDA, for a generic drug containing pitolisant, and relies in whole or in part on studies conducted by or for us, the third party 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 for the applicable approved product candidate; (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

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the third party’s generic drug. A certification that the new drug will not infringe the Orange Book-listed patents for the applicable approved product candidate, or that such patents are invalid, is called a paragraph IV certification. If the third party submits a paragraph IV certification to the FDA, a notice of the paragraph IV certification must also be sent to us once the third party’s ANDA is accepted for filing by the FDA. We may then initiate a lawsuit 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 the third party’s ANDA 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 favor of the third party. If we do not file a patent infringement lawsuit within the required 45-day period, the third party’s ANDA will not be subject to the 30-month stay of FDA approval.

Moreover, a third party may challenge the current patents, or future patents within our portfolio, which could result in the invalidation of some or all of the patents that might otherwise be eligible for listing in the Orange Book for one of our products. If a third party successfully challenges all of the patents that might otherwise be eligible for listing in the Orange Book for one of our products, we will not be entitled to the 30-month stay of FDA approval upon the filing of an ANDA for a generic drug containing, for example, pitolisant, and relies in whole or in part on studies conducted by or for us.

Litigation or other proceedings to enforce or defend intellectual property rights are often very complex in nature, may be very expensive and time-consuming, may divert our management’s attention from our core business, and may result in unfavorable results that could limit our ability to prevent third parties from competing with our current and future product candidates.

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

Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the USPTO and other foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign national or international patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of patent rights include, but are not limited to, failure to timely file national and regional stage patent applications based on our international patent application, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or our licensors fail to maintain patents and patent applications, whether owned or in-licensed now or in the future, covering any of our current or future product candidates, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have an adverse effect on our business.

We may need to acquire or license intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.

A third party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights that are important or necessary to the development of our current and future product candidates. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of one or more third parties to commercialize our current and future product candidates. If we are unable to acquire such intellectual property outright, or obtain licenses to such intellectual property from such third parties when needed or on commercially reasonable terms, our ability to commercialize our current and future product candidates, if approved, would likely be delayed.

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The risks described elsewhere pertaining to our intellectual property rights also apply to the intellectual property rights that we in-license, and any failure by us or our licensors to obtain, maintain, defend and enforce these rights could have an adverse effect on our business. In some cases we may not have control over the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of the patents that we license, and may not have sufficient ability to provide input into the patent prosecution, maintenance and defense process with respect to such patents, and our licensors may fail to take the steps that we believe are necessary or desirable in order to obtain, maintain, defend and enforce the licensed patents.

Third-party claims or litigation alleging infringement of patents or other proprietary rights, or seeking to invalidate patents or other proprietary rights, may delay or prevent the development and commercialization of any of our current or future product candidates.

Our commercial success depends in part on our avoiding infringement and other violations of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, including patent infringement lawsuits, interferences, derivation and administrative law proceedings, inter partes review and post-grant review before the USPTO, as well as oppositions and similar processes in foreign jurisdictions. Numerous United States and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are or may in the future be developing product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, and as we gain greater visibility and market exposure as a public company, the risk increases that our product candidates or other business activities may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent and other proprietary rights of third parties.

Third parties may assert that we are infringing their patents or employing their proprietary technology without authorization.

There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our current and future product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our current and future product candidates may infringe. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the manufacturing process of any of our current and future product candidates, any molecules formed during the manufacturing process or any final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize such product candidate unless we obtained a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire. Similarly, if any third-party patent was to be held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our formulations, processes for manufacture or methods of use, including combination therapy, the holders of any such patent may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the applicable product candidate unless we obtained a license or until such patent expires. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, we may be subject to claims that we are infringing other intellectual property rights, such as trademarks or copyrights, or misappropriating the trade secrets of others, and to the extent that our employees, consultants or contractors use intellectual property or proprietary information owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.

Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize our current and future product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation

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expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful infringement or other intellectual property claim 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 affected products, 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 or allow commercialization of our current and future product candidates, and we have done so from time to time. 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 our current and future product candidates, which could harm our business significantly. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business.

We cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist which might be enforced against our current and future product candidates, resulting in either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties or other forms of compensation to third parties.

We may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope or expiration of a third-party patent, which might adversely affect our ability to develop and market our products.

We cannot guarantee that any of our patent searches or analyses, including the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending application in the United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our current product candidate in any jurisdiction.

It is possible that we and our current and future licensors will fail to identify patentable aspects of research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. The patent applications that we may own or in-license in the future may fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover our current and future product candidates. We and our current and future licensors may also inadvertently make statements to regulatory agencies during the regulatory approval process that may be inconsistent with positions that have been taken during prosecution of the patent applications, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable.

The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent and the patent’s prosecution history. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect, which may negatively affect our ability to market our products. We may incorrectly determine that our products are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, and our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents may negatively affect our ability to develop and market our products.

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

Competitors may infringe or otherwise violate the patents of our licensor or our other intellectual property rights. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file legal claims,

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which can be expensive and time-consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that an asserted patent is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that the asserted patent does not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of asserted patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put a related patent application at risk of not issuing. The initiation of a claim against a third party may also cause the third party to bring counter claims against us such as claims asserting that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, non-enablement or lack of statutory subject matter. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant material information from the USPTO, or made a materially misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar validity claims before the USPTO in post-grant proceedings such as ex parte re-examinations, inter partes review, or post-grant review, or oppositions or similar proceedings outside the United States, in parallel with litigation or even outside the context of litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. We cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. For the patents and patent applications that we may license in the future, we may have limited or no right to participate in the defense of any licensed patents against challenge by a third party. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of any future patent protection on our current or future product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could harm our business.

We may not be able to detect or 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. Our business could be harmed if in litigation the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Any litigation or other proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights may fail, and even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees.

Even if we establish infringement, the court may decide not to grant an injunction against further infringing activity and instead award only monetary damages, which may or may not be an adequate remedy. 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 an adverse effect on the price of our common shares.

Because of the expense and uncertainty of litigation, we may not be in a position to enforce our intellectual property rights against third parties.

Because of the expense and uncertainty of litigation, we may conclude that even if a third party is infringing our in-licensed patents, any patents that may be issued as a result of our future patent applications, or other intellectual property rights, the risk-adjusted cost of bringing and enforcing such a claim or action may be too high or not in the best interest of our company or our shareholders. In such cases, we may decide that the more prudent course of action is to simply monitor the situation or initiate or seek some other non-litigious action or solution.

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Changes in U.S. patent law or the patent law of other countries or jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.

The United States has recently enacted and implemented wide-ranging patent reform legislation. The U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have issued numerous precedential opinions in recent years 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 patents that we have licensed or 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 patents that we have licensed or that we may obtain in the future.

The U.S. federal government retains certain rights in inventions produced with its financial assistance under the Bayh-Dole Act. The federal government retains a “nonexclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable, paid-up license” for its own benefit. The Bayh-Dole Act also provides federal agencies with “march-in rights”. March-in rights allow the government, in specified circumstances, to require the contractor or successors in title to the patent to grant a “nonexclusive, partially exclusive, or exclusive license” to a “responsible applicant or applicants.” If the patent owner refuses to do so, the government may grant the license itself.

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

We employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. Although we seek to protect our ownership of intellectual property rights by ensuring that our agreements with our employees, collaborators and other third parties with whom we do business include provisions requiring such parties to assign rights in inventions to us, 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 future patents. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and 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. Even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees. Moreover, any such litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our reputation, our ability to form strategic alliances or sublicense our rights to collaborators, engage with scientific advisors or hire employees or consultants, each of which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who in fact develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. Our and their assignment agreements may not be self-executing or may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property.

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If we or our licensors fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we and our licensors are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

Any trademarks we have obtained or may obtain may be infringed or be successfully challenged, resulting in harm to our business.

We expect to rely on trademarks as one means to distinguish any of our current and future product candidates that are approved for marketing from the products of our competitors. For example, we are marketing pitolisant for the treatment of adult patients with EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy under the brand name WAKIX, which we have licensed from Bioprojet. We may design or create new trademarks and apply to register them, our trademark applications may not be approved in the United States or any relevant foreign jurisdiction. Third parties may oppose or attempt to cancel our trademark applications or trademarks, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our drugs, which could result in loss of brand recognition and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Our competitors may infringe our trademarks and we may not have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks. If we attempt to enforce our trademarks and assert trademark infringement claims, a court may determine that the marks we have asserted are invalid or unenforceable, or that the party against whom we have asserted trademark infringement has superior rights to the marks in question. In this case, we could ultimately be forced to cease use of such trademarks.

Risks Related to Being a Public Company

We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance with our public company responsibilities and corporate governance practices.

As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of              and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to compliance with these requirements. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. If, notwithstanding our efforts to comply with new or changing laws, regulations and standards, we fail to comply, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us, and our business may be harmed. Further, failure to comply with these laws, regulations and standards may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, which could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members to serve on our board of directors or committees or as members of senior management. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we will incur as a public company or the timing of such costs.

As a result of becoming a public company, we will be obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our common shares.

We will be required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, or Section 404, to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal controls over

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financial reporting for the fiscal year beginning January 1,             . This assessment will need to include disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal controls over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting until our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC following the date we are no longer an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. At such time as we are required to obtain auditor attestation, if we then have a material weakness, we would receive an adverse opinion regarding our internal control over financial reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm. We will be required to disclose significant changes made in our internal controls procedures on a quarterly basis.

We are beginning the costly and challenging process of compiling the system and processing documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404, and we may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion. Our compliance with Section 404 will require that we incur substantial legal, accounting and other compliance expense and expend significant management efforts. We currently do not have an internal audit group, and we will need to hire additional accounting and finance staff and consultants with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge and compile the system and process documentation necessary to perform the evaluation needed to comply with Section 404.

During the evaluation and testing process of our internal controls, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition or results of operations. If we are unable to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal controls over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common shares could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by             , the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also negatively impact our ability to access to the capital markets.

In addition, effective disclosure controls and procedures enable us to make timely and accurate disclosure of financial and non-financial information that we are required to disclose. As a public company, if our disclosure controls and procedures are ineffective, we may be unable to report our financial results or make other disclosures accurately on a timely basis, which could cause our reported financial results or other disclosures to be materially misstated and result in the loss of investor confidence and cause the market price of our common shares to decline. If we were to subsequently elect instead to comply with these public company effective dates, such election would be irrevocable pursuant to the JOBS Act.

We are an emerging growth company and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure 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. Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to use this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that have not made this election.

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For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we also intend to take advantage of certain other exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies including, but not limited to, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will 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.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the closing of this offering; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three fiscal years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC.

Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.

Our chief executive officer does not have experience managing a public company, interacting with public company investors or complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team, as a whole, may not successfully or efficiently manage the transition to being a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These new obligations and constituents will require significant attention from our senior management, particularly from our chief executive officer, and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could adversely affect our revenue, business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to This Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

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

The offering price of our common stock is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock, which on a pro forma basis was $         per share of our common stock as of              , 2019. Based on the assumed initial public offering price of $         per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, you will experience immediate dilution of $        per share, representing the difference between our pro forma net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering and the assumed initial public offering price. This means that you will pay a higher price per share than the amount of our total tangible assets, less our total liabilities, divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding. Furthermore, if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option or our previously issued options, warrant and other rights to acquire common stock at prices below the assumed initial public offering price are exercised, you will experience further dilution. In addition, you may also experience additional dilution if options or other rights to purchase our common stock that are outstanding or that we may issue in the future are exercised or converted or we issue additional shares of our common stock at prices lower than our net tangible book value at such time. See “Dilution.”

No public market for our common stock currently exists, and an active trading market may not develop or be sustained following this offering.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. Although we have applied to have our common stock listed on the             , an active trading market may not develop

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following the closing of this offering or, if developed, may not be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. The lack of an active market may also reduce the fair market value of your shares. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration. The initial public offering price was determined by negotiations between us and the underwriters and may not be indicative of the future prices of our common stock.

Our share price may be volatile, and you may be unable to sell your shares at or above the offering price.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to many risk factors listed in this section, and others beyond our control, including:

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Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock. If the market price of our common stock after this offering does not exceed the initial public offering price, you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities litigation. This risk is especially relevant for biopharmaceutical companies, which have experienced significant stock price volatility in recent years. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

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

As of             , 2020, our directors, officers, five percent or greater stockholders, and their respective affiliates beneficially owned in the aggregate approximately     % of our outstanding voting stock and, upon the completion of this offering, that same group will beneficially own in the aggregate approximately     % of our outstanding voting stock (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares). As a result, these stockholders 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 may be able to control elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, and 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 feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.

Future sales of our common stock in the public market could cause our share price to fall.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market after this offering, 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. Based on         shares of common stock outstanding as of             , 2020, the conversion of all of our preferred stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering into         shares of common stock and the payment of an accrued dividend to holders of our convertible preferred stock upon the closing of this offering in the aggregate amount of          shares of our common stock, upon the closing of this offering, we will have         shares of common stock outstanding.

All of the common stock sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, except for any shares held by our affiliates as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. The remaining shares of common stock outstanding after this offering will be restricted as a result of securities laws, lock-up agreements or other contractual restrictions that restrict transfers for at least 180 days after the date of this prospectus, subject to certain extensions. See also the section of this prospectus captioned “Shares Eligible For Future Sale.”

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The underwriters may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters prior to expiration of the lock-up period. For more information regarding the lock-up agreements with the underwriters, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Underwriting.”

The holders of         shares of common stock, or    %, based on shares outstanding on an as-converted basis as of             , 2020, the conversion of all of our preferred stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering into         shares of common stock and the payment of an accrued dividend to holders of our convertible preferred stock upon the closing of this offering in the aggregate amount of          shares of our common stock, will be entitled to rights with respect to registration of such shares under the Securities Act pursuant to a registration rights agreement between such holders and us. See “Description of Capital Stock—Registration Rights” below. If such holders, by exercising their registration rights, sell a large number of shares, they could adversely affect the market price for our common stock. We intend to file a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register the shares subject to outstanding stock options under the Equity Incentive Plan as of the date of this prospectus and         shares of common stock for issuance under our 2020 Plan. The 2020 Plan will provide for automatic increases in the shares reserved for grant or issuance under the plan which could result in additional dilution to our stockholders. Once we register the shares under these plans, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and vesting, subject to a 180-day lock-up period and other restrictions provided under the terms of the applicable plan and/or the award agreements entered into with participants.

Our management has broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use the net proceeds effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds of this offering. We cannot specify with certainty the uses to which we will apply these net proceeds. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could adversely affect our ability to continue maintaining and expanding our business.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline. Moreover, if our operating results do not meet the expectations of the investor community, one or more of the analysts who cover our company may change their recommendations regarding our company, and our stock price could decline.

Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly.

We expect our operating results to be subject to quarterly fluctuations. Our net loss and other operating results will be affected by numerous factors, including:

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

Future sales and 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 the stock price of our common stock to decline.

We may issue additional securities following the closing of this offering. In the future, we may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. We also expect to issue common stock to employees, consultants and directors pursuant to our equity incentive plans. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in subsequent transactions, or common stock is issued pursuant to equity incentive plans, investors may be materially diluted. New investors in such subsequent transactions could gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock and we do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Consequently, any gains from an investment in our common stock will likely depend on whether the price of our common stock increases.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the operation of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments. Furthermore, we are party to a Credit Agreement with OrbiMed that contains negative covenants that limit our ability to pay dividends. For more information, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Our charter documents and Delaware law could prevent a takeover that stockholders consider favorable and could also reduce the market price of our stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws will contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change in control of our company. These provisions could also make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions include:

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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 the anti-takeover provisions contained in Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL. Under Section 203 of the DGCL, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or, among other exceptions, the board of directors has approved the transaction.

These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts, reduce the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock and result in the market price of our common stock being lower than it would be without these provisions. For more information, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Capital Stock—Anti-Takeover Provisions.”

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that will become effective immediately prior to the closing of this offering provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and 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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation that will become effective immediately prior to the closing of this offering provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for:

By becoming a stockholder in our Company, you will be deemed to have notice of and have consented to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation related to choice of forum. This exclusive 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 lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to

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find the exclusive forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.

Claims for indemnification by our directors and officers may reduce our available funds to satisfy successful third-party claims against us and may reduce the amount of money available to us.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the DGCL, our amended and restated bylaws and our indemnification agreements that we have entered into with our directors and officers provide that:

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the operating results and financial condition of our business. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or management’s good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, statements about:

In this prospectus, the words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “predict,” “potential” and similar expressions, as they relate to our company, our business and our management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this prospectus may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking

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statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable laws. If we 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.

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry, including industry statistics and forecasts, competitive position and the markets in which we operate is based on information from independent industry and research organizations, other third-party sources and management estimates. Management estimates are derived from publicly available information released by independent industry analysts and other third-party sources, as well as data from our internal research, and are based on assumptions made by us upon reviewing such data, and our experience in, and knowledge of, such industry and markets, which we believe to be reasonable. In addition, projections, forecasts, assumptions and estimates of the future performance of the industry in which we operate and our future performance are necessarily subject to uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed and forecasts in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

Unless expressly stated, we obtained industry, business, market and other data from the reports, publications and other materials and sources listed below. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In that regard, when we refer to one or more sources of this type of data in any paragraph, you should assume that other data of this type appearing in the same paragraph is derived from the same sources unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires.

You should read this prospectus and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate, based upon an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share (which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus), that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately $             million (or $             million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of common stock in full), after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We currently estimate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, as follows:

Our expected use of proceeds from this offering represents our current intentions based on our present plans and business condition. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the proceeds to be received upon the completion of this offering or the actual amounts that we will spend on the uses set forth above. We may also use a portion of the proceeds to in-license, acquire or invest in additional businesses, technologies, products or assets. Although we have no specific agreements, commitments or understandings with respect to any in-licensing activity or acquisition, we evaluate these opportunities and engage in related discussions with other companies from time to time.

The amount and timing of our actual expenditures will depend on numerous factors, including the results of our research and development efforts, the timing and outcome of any ongoing or future preclinical studies or clinical trials, and the timing and outcome of regulatory submissions. As a result, our management will have broad discretion over the use of the proceeds from this offering.

Pending the use of the proceeds from this offering, we may invest the proceeds in interest- bearing, investment-grade securities, certificates of deposit or government securities.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $        per share (which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $             million, assuming the number of shares offered, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each 1,000,000 share increase (decrease) in the number of shares offered in this offering would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $             million, assuming that the price per share for the offering remains at $              (which is the midpoint 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.

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth the cash and capitalization as of December 31, 2019, as follows:

The pro forma as adjusted information below is illustrative only, and our capitalization following the completion 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 information in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section and other financial information contained in this prospectus.

Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $        per share (which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) would increase or decrease each of cash and cash equivalents, total stockholders’ (deficit) equity and total capitalization on a pro forma as adjusted basis by approximately $             million, assuming the number of shares offered, 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.

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Each 1,000,000 share increase or decrease in the number of shares offered in this offering would increase or decrease each of cash and cash equivalents, total stockholders’ (deficit) equity and total capitalization on a pro forma as adjusted basis by approximately $             million, assuming that the price per share for the offering remains at $              (which is the midpoint 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.

The information in the table above excludes:

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development, commercialization and growth of our business, and therefore we do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on any class of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any future determination as to the declaration and payment of dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to compliance with contractual restrictions and covenants in the agreements governing our current and future indebtedness. Any such determination will also depend upon our business prospects, results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements and availability and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Our Credit Agreement with OrbiMed prohibits us from declaring and paying cash dividends.

The terms of our current certificate of incorporation provide that, upon the conversion of our Series A preferred stock, our Series B preferred stock and our Series C preferred stock into shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering, each holder of our Series A preferred stock, our Series B preferred stock and our Series C preferred stock will receive a cumulative accrued dividend calculated at a rate per annum of 10% of the applicable issue price of such series of preferred stock, in each case, compounded annually, payable, at the determination of our board of directors, in either (i) shares of common stock or (ii) cash in an aggregate amount equal to the cumulative accrued dividend. We intend to pay the cumulative accrued dividend in shares of common stock. Assuming we pay the cumulative accrued dividend in shares of common stock, the cumulative accrued dividend will be issued to each holder of preferred stock as of immediately prior to the closing of this offering a number of shares of common stock equal to (x) the aggregate amount of the accrued dividend held by such holder and not previously paid as of immediately prior to the closing of this offering divided by (y) the actual price per share of common stock sold to the public in this offering. Based on the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, we expect to issue (i)             shares of our common stock for cumulative accrued dividends to holder of our Series A preferred stock, (ii)             shares of our common stock for cumulative accrued dividends to holders of our Series B preferred stock and (iii)             shares of our common stock to holders of our Series C preferred stock. Stock dividends will not be paid on any shares of our common stock purchased in this offering.

Accordingly, you may need to sell your shares of our common stock to realize a return on your investment, and you may not be able to sell your shares at or above the price you paid for them. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to This Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock—We have never paid dividends on our common stock and we do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Consequently, any gains from an investment in our common stock will likely depend on whether the price of our common stock increases.”

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be immediately diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) as of December 31, 2019 was             , or $         per share of our common stock. Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) is the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities and preferred stock, which is not included within stockholders’ equity (deficit). Historical net tangible book value (deficit) per share represents historical net tangible book value (deficit) divided by the          shares of our common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2019.

Our pro forma net tangible book value (deficit) as of December 31, 2019 was $            million, or $        per share. Pro forma net tangible book value per share is determined by subtracting our total liabilities from the total book value of our tangible assets and dividing the difference by the number of shares of common stock deemed to be outstanding, after giving effect to (i) the conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering in          shares of common stock and (ii) the payment of an accrued dividend to holders of our convertible preferred stock in the aggregate amount of         shares of our common stock which becomes due and payable to such holders upon the conversion of their convertible preferred stock upon the closing of this offering.

After giving further effect to our issuance and sale of        shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share (which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus) and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of            , would have been $              million, or $         per share of common stock. This amount represents an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of $         per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of $        per share to new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering. We determine dilution by subtracting the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the amount of cash that a new investor paid for a share of common stock. The following table illustrates this dilution:

A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $        per share (which is the midpoint of the price range listed on the cover page of this prospectus) would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by approximately $            , and dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share to new investors by approximately $            , 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 estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

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If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in full, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after the offering would be $        per share, the increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share to existing stockholders would be $        per share and the dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value to new investors would be $        per share, in each case assuming an initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range listed on the cover page of this prospectus.

The following table summarizes, as of December 31, 2019, after giving effect to this offering, the number of shares of our common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid, or to be paid, to us and the average price per share paid, or to be paid, by existing stockholders and by the new investors. The calculation below is based on an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share (which is the midpoint of the price range listed on the cover page of this prospectus) before deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $         per share would increase (decrease) the total consideration paid by new investors and the total consideration paid by all stockholders by $             million, assuming the number of shares offered by us remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions but before estimated offering expenses.

Except as otherwise indicated, the discussion and the tables above assume no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of our common stock and excludes:

To the extent any of these outstanding options are exercised, there will be further dilution to new investors. To the extent all of such outstanding options had been exercised as of             , the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering would be $            , and total dilution per share to new investors would be $            .

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in full:

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SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables present our summary consolidated financial data. We have derived the summary consolidated statements of operations data for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2019 and the summary consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read the following selected consolidated financial data in conjunction with the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected consolidated financial data in this section is not intended to replace the consolidated financial statements and is qualified in its entirety by the consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical results for any prior period are not necessarily indicative of our future results.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the section titled “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We are a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for patients with rare neurological disorders living with unmet medical needs. Our product, WAKIX (pitolisant), is a first-in-class molecule with a novel mechanism of action, or MOA, specifically designed to increase histamine signaling in the brain by binding to H₃ receptors. In August 2019, WAKIX was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, for the treatment of our lead indication, excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, in adult patients with narcolepsy, and its U.S. commercial launch was initiated in November 2019. WAKIX is the first-and-only approved product for patients with narcolepsy that is not scheduled as a controlled substance. We plan to expand the label for WAKIX in narcolepsy and expect to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial in pediatric patients in pursuit of indications for both EDS and cataplexy, as well as to pursue pediatric exclusivity. In addition, we are evaluating our options regarding the approach to take with the FDA in pursuit of a cataplexy indication in adult patients with narcolepsy. We believe that pitolisant’s ability to regulate histamine gives it the potential to provide therapeutic benefit in other rare neurological disorders that are mediated through H₃ receptors and histamine signaling. We are initially focusing on the treatment of EDS associated with Prader-Willi Syndrome, or PWS, and myotonic dystrophy type 1, or DM1. We intend to commence a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate pitolisant for the treatment of EDS and other key symptoms in patients with PWS in the first half of 2020, with topline results expected in the second half of 2021. We are also planning to commence a Phase 2 clinical trial for DM1 in the second half of 2020, with topline results expected in the first half of 2022. Beyond these indications, we intend to further explore pitolisant in other rare neurological disorders in which fatigue and cognitive impairment are prominent symptoms with significant impact on daily functioning.

Pitolisant was developed by Bioprojet Société Civile de Recherche, or Bioprojet, and approved by the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, in 2016 for the treatment of narcolepsy in adult patients with or without cataplexy. We acquired an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize pitolisant in the United States pursuant to our license agreement with Bioprojet, or the Bioprojet License Agreement, in July 2017. See “—Strategic Agreements—License and Commercialization Agreement with Bioprojet” for further information regarding the Bioprojet License Agreement. Pitolisant was granted Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of narcolepsy by the FDA in 2010. It received Breakthrough Therapy designation for the treatment of cataplexy in patients with narcolepsy and Fast Track status for the treatment of EDS and cataplexy in patients with narcolepsy in April 2018.

Our operating subsidiary, Harmony Biosciences, LLC, was formed in May 2017. We were formed in July 2017 as Harmony Biosciences II, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and we converted to a Delaware corporation named Harmony Biosciences II, Inc. in September 2017. In February 2020, we changed our name to Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. Our operations to date have consisted of building and staffing our organization, acquiring the rights to pitolisant, raising capital, opening an Investigational New Drug, or IND, for pitolisant, initiating an Expanded Access Program, or EAP, for pitolisant for appropriate patients in the United States, preparing and submitting our pitolisant New

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Drug Application, or NDA, gaining NDA approval for WAKIX for EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, and launching and commercializing WAKIX in the United States. In addition, we have initiated or intend to initiate clinical development programs in PWS, DM1 and pediatric narcolepsy to pursue potential new indications. We have funded our operations through private placements of our convertible preferred stock as well as borrowings under a term loan agreement. We raised an aggregate of $295.0 million through offerings of our Series A and B convertible preferred stock in September 2017 and January 2018, respectively. In February 2019, we entered into a multi-draw term loan agreement with CRG Servicing LLC, or CRG, for an aggregate of $200.0 million, or the Loan Agreement of which $102.5 million was outstanding as of December 31, 2019. In August 2019, we raised an additional $50.0 million in gross proceeds from the sale of our Series C convertible preferred stock. On January 9, 2020, we entered into a credit agreement with OrbiMed Royalty & Credit Opportunities III, LP, or OrbiMed, for an aggregate of $200.0 million, or the Credit Agreement. We paid off all of our obligations under the Loan Agreement with proceeds from the Credit Agreement. As of January 2020, there was $200.0 million outstanding under the Credit Agreement.

We have generated limited revenue from product sales since inception. We expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution as well as significant expenses related to further clinical development programs with pitolisant for potential new indications. We have incurred significant operating losses since inception and expect to continue to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future. We recorded a net loss of $39.9 million and $                 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2018 and 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $242.7 million and $                 million, respectively.

As of December 31, 2019, our cash and cash equivalents were $                 million. We believe that the expected revenue generated from sales of WAKIX, our existing cash and cash equivalents, together with the anticipated net proceeds from this offering, will enable us to fund our commercialization efforts, operating expenses, clinical trials, product development and capital requirements through the end of                 . See “—Liquidity and Capital Resources”.

We expect our expenses and operating losses to increase substantially as we continue to:

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In addition, as we continue to commercialize pitolisant, we will be obligated to make certain milestone payments to the licensor. For example, previously, we made a milestone payment of $75.0 million plus an additional $2.0 million extension fee to Bioprojet in November 2019 and August 2019, respectively, for the approval of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy. See “Business—Strategic Agreement—License and Commercialization Agreement with Bioprojet” elsewhere in this prospectus for further information regarding the Bioprojet License Agreement. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly quarterly or yearly, depending on the timing of milestone payments, clinical trials, research and development expenditures and commercialization expenses.

We may need to raise additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of WAKIX, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity securities, debt financings or other capital resources, including potential collaborations with third parties or other strategic transactions. Adequate funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as and when needed, we may have to significantly scale back or discontinue the development of pitolisant and commercialization of WAKIX, and/or one or more possible indications or delay our efforts to expand our product pipeline.

Financial Operations Overview

Revenue

We did not generate any revenue from inception until the fourth quarter of 2019. Our current product, WAKIX, was approved by the FDA for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy in August 2019 and became commercially available in November 2019.

Total revenue consists of net sales of WAKIX, which was commercially launched in November 2019. Net sales represent the gross sales of WAKIX less provisions for product sales discounts and allowances. At this time, these provisions include trade allowances, rebates, and discounts. Although we expect net sales to increase over time, the provisions for product sales discounts and allowances may fluctuate based on the mix of sales to different customer segments and/or changes in our accrual estimates. For further discussion of the components of Revenue see “—Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates.”

Cost of Product Sales

Cost of product sales includes manufacturing and distribution costs, the cost of the drug substance, FDA program fees, royalties due to third parties on net product sales, freight, shipping, handling, storage costs, and salaries of employees involved with production. We began capitalizing inventory upon FDA approval of WAKIX with a portion of inventory sold during the year produced prior to FDA approval and, therefore, expensed previously as research and development expense.

Research and Development Expenses

Our research and development expenses have primarily been limited to the license of the rights to pitolisant, the establishment of an Expanded Access Program, or EAP, to provide appropriate

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patients with pitolisant at no cost as part of a clinical trial tracking safety, the preparation of the NDA, and the creation of a development program for new indications for pitolisant in patients with PWS, DM1 and pediatric narcolepsy. Research and development activities account for a significant portion of our operating expenses and these costs are expensed as incurred. Following the closing of this offering, we expect to significantly increase our research and development efforts as we continue to pursue an indication for the treatment of cataplexy in adult patients with narcolepsy, conduct clinical trials in patients with PWS, DM1 and pediatric narcolepsy, and continue to expand our product-candidate pipeline. Research and development expenses include:

We currently have one product, WAKIX, and do not currently track our internal research and development expenses on an indication-by-indication basis as they primarily relate to personnel, early research and consumable costs, which are deployed across multiple programs. A significant portion of our research and development costs are external costs, such as fees paid to consultants, central laboratories, contractors, CMOs and CROs in connection with our clinical development activities.

Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials, milestone payments, NDA process and pre-launch planning. We expect our research and development expenses to be significant over the next several years as we advance our current clinical development programs and prepare to seek regulatory approval for additional product candidates.

At this time, we cannot reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing and estimated costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the development of any additional product candidates that we develop from our programs. We have begun to generate net cash inflows from sales of WAKIX; however we are unable to predict when if ever we would generate material cash inflows from WAKIX or other product candidates we develop, if at all. This is due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing product candidates, including uncertainty related to:

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A change in the outcome of any of these variables with respect to the development of any of our programs or any product candidate we develop would significantly change the costs, timing and viability associated with the development of such program or product candidate.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Our sales and marketing expenses have primarily been limited to the market development and launch activities of WAKIX for EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy. Market development and commercial launch activities account for a significant portion of the overall company operating expenses and are expensed as they are incurred. We expect our sales and marketing expenses to increase in the near- and mid-term to support our EDS in adult patient with narcolepsy indication and expand our portfolio with the anticipated growth from potential additional indications and assets. Sales and marketing expenses include:

In addition, these expenses include external costs such as website development, media placement fees, agency fees for patient, medical education and promotional expenses, market research and analysis secondary data expenses, conference fees, consulting fees and travel expenses.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of employee-related expenses, such as salaries, share-based compensation, benefits and travel expenses for our personnel in executive, legal, finance and accounting, human resources, and other administrative departments. General and administrative expenses also consist of office leases, interest expenses, and professional fees, including legal, tax and accounting and consulting fees.

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We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support our continued commercialization efforts, ongoing and future potential research and development activities, and increased costs of operating as a public company. These increases will likely include increased costs related to the hiring of additional personnel and fees paid to outside consultants, lawyers and accountants, among other expenses. Additionally, we anticipate increased costs associated with being a public company, including expenses related to services associated with maintaining compliance with the requirements of                and the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, insurance and investor relations costs. If any of our current or future indication expansion programs or new product candidates obtains U.S. regulatory approval, we expect that we would incur significantly increased expenses associated with building a sales and marketing team.

Paragon Agreements

We are party to a management services agreement, or the Management Services Agreement, with Paragon Biosciences, LLC, or Paragon, entered into on September 22, 2017, pursuant to which Paragon provides to us certain professional services. In exchange for services provided to us under the Management Services Agreement, we pay to Paragon a management fee of $0.3 million per each calendar month. This fee is reduced to $0.2 million per each calendar month following September 22, 2020. We intend to terminate the Management Services Agreement upon the consummation of this offering. Upon termination, we will owe Paragon a termination fee of $        million. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Related Party Agreements in Effect Prior to this Offering—Management and Other Agreements” for further information.

We are also party to a right of use agreement with Paragon whereby we have access to and the right to use certain office space leased by Paragon in Chicago, Illinois. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we paid a fee of $                million pursuant to this agreement.

Interest Income / Interest Expense

Interest income (expense), net consists primarily of interest expenses on outstanding line of credit balances and is offset by interest income earned on our cash balances.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2018 and 2019

The following table sets forth our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019.

Net Product Revenue

Net product revenue was $            million for the year ended December 31, 2019, following the commercial launch of WAKIX on November 1, 2019.

Cost of Product Sales

Cost of product sales were $            million for the year ended December 31, 2019, following the commercial launch of WAKIX on November 1, 2019.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $            million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $12.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $            million, or    %.

The            in research and development expenses is attributable to            .

Research and development expenses consisted of            for the year ended December 31, 2019. Research and development expenses consisted of personnel expenses of $4.7 million, professional fees and services of $3.9 million, clinical supply purchases for our EAP of $1.9 million, tablet development expenses of $1.0 million and other expenses of $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Sales and marketing expenses were $            million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $16.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $            million, or    %.

The            in sales and marketing expenses is attributable to            .

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Sales and marketing expenses consisted of            for the year ended December 31, 2019. Sales and marketing expenses consisted of personnel expenses of $6.0 million, professional fees of $3.6 million, promotional and patient activities of $3.1 million and public relations, external communications, unbranded awareness, website development and digital marketing of $2.4 million and other expenses of $1.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses were $            million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $12.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $            million, or    %.

The            in general and administrative expenses is attributable to            .

General and administrative expenses consisted of            for the year ended December 31, 2019. General and administrative expenses consisted of personnel expenses of $4.9 million, a management fee to Paragon of $4.0 million, professional fees of $1.8 million, and rent, facility and other expenses of $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Interest Income (Expense), Net

Interest income was $            million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $            million, or    %.

The increase in interest income (expense) is attributable to us entering into the Loan Agreement with CRG and the payment of interest expense thereunder.

Income Taxes

At December 31, 2018 and 2019, we had federal net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards of $12.1 million and $             million, respectively, with no expiration. At December 31, 2018 and 2019 we had state NOL carryforwards of $4.6 million and $             million, respectively, with a 20-year expiration. In light of these considerations as well as uncertainty as to when we might generate taxable income, we have recorded a full valuation allowance of $             million as of December 31, 2019. The amount of the net deferred tax asset considered realizable could be adjusted in the future based on changes in positive and negative evidences subject to evaluation, including estimates of taxable income.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Overview

To date, we have financed our operations primarily with proceeds from sales of our convertible preferred stock and borrowings under (i) our Loan Agreement with CRG and (ii) our Credit Agreement with OrbiMed. From our inception through December 31, 2019, we have received aggregate proceeds of $345.0 million from sales of our Series A convertible preferred stock, Series B convertible preferred stock and Series C convertible preferred stock. As of December 31, 2019, we had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $             million and accumulated deficit of $             million. As of December 31, 2018 we had no outstanding debt and as of December 31, 2019, we had outstanding debt of $             million.

On February 28, 2019, we entered into the Loan Agreement with CRG for an aggregate of $200.0 million of which $102.5 million was outstanding at December 31, 2019. On January 9, 2020, we

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entered into the Credit Agreement with OrbiMed for an aggregate of $200.0 million and paid off all of our obligations under the Loan Agreement. The Credit Agreement matures on January 9, 2026 and bears an interest rate of the greater of (a) LIBOR or (b) 2.00% per annum, plus 11.00% per annum. When the LIBOR rate is no longer used post-2021, the Prime Rate will be used in the determination of the interest rate. The Credit Agreement requires compliance with certain financial covenants, including minimum net revenue thresholds and cash balance requirements (which include maintaining minimum liquidity of $12.5 million), and financial reporting requirements. The Credit Agreement contains certain negative restrictive covenants that either limit our ability to, or require a mandatory prepayment in the event we, engage in new lines of business, incur additional indebtedness or liens, make certain investments, make certain payments, pay cash dividends, merge with other companies or consummate certain changes of control, acquire other companies, transfer or dispose of certain assets, liquidate or dissolve, amend certain material agreements, enter into sale and leaseback transactions, enter into various other specified transactions, and change our name, location, executive office or executive management without notice.

To date, we have drawn a total of $200.0 million under the Credit Agreement, all of which is outstanding.

We currently estimate that we will use the net proceeds from this offering to fund the clinical development of additional indications for pitolisant in PWS, DM1 and pediatric narcolepsy, and for working capital, business development opportunities, potential milestone payments to Bioprojet and general corporate purposes, including to support the continued commercialization of WAKIX in the United States. We may need additional funding to complete the clinical development of, seek regulatory approval for and commercially launch future potential indications for pitolisant.

Until such time as we generate substantial product revenue from sales of any of our current or future product candidates, we may finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and potential collaboration, license or development agreements. 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 of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common shareholder. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends.

If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. Adequate additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of our product candidates, grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves or potentially discontinue operations.

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Cash Flows

The following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019:

Operating Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2019, $            million of cash was used in operating activities, compared to $39.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $            million, or    %.

The            in cash used in operating activities was primarily attributable to            .

Cash used in operating activities consisted of            in 2019. Cash used in operating activities consisted of sales and marketing, research and development and general and administrative expenditures in 2018.

Investing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2019, $            million of cash was used in investing activities, compared to $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $                million, or    %.

The            in cash used in investing activities is attributable to            .

Cash used in investing activities consisted of            in 2019. Cash used in investing activities consisted of the purchase of property and equipment for our new corporate headquarters in 2018.

Financing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2019, cash provided by financing activities was $            million, compared to $22.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, a            of $            million, or    %.

The            in cash provided by financing activities is attributable to            .

Cash provided by financing activities consisted of            in 2019. Cash provided by financing activities consisted of $25.0 million in proceeds from the issuance of our Series A and Series B Preferred Stock, offset by a $3.2 million repurchase of common stock from our former chief executive officer in 2018.

Outlook

Based on the expected net proceeds from this offering, our research and development plans and our timing expectations related to the development of our clinical programs to pursue indications for PWS, DM1 and pediatric narcolepsy, we believe that the expected revenue generated from sales of WAKIX, our existing cash and cash equivalents, together with the anticipated net proceeds from this

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offering will enable us to fund our operating expenses, clinical development, sales and marketing, interest expense and capital expenditure requirements into             . However, we have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect.

The amount and timing of future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

As of December 31, 2019, our commitments consisted of operating leases for our corporate headquarters in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, for approximately 15,651 square feet, and office space in Chicago, Illinois. The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2019.

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Under the Bioprojet License Agreement, we have obligations that are contingent upon future events such as our achievement of regulatory and commercial milestones and are required to make royalty and trademark payments in connection with the sale of products. In February 2019, we achieved one of our regulatory milestones, FDA file acceptance, and as a result, a milestone payment of $50.0 million was due to Bioprojet and was paid in February 2019. Further, upon achieving FDA approval for WAKIX for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy, we paid Bioprojet an FDA approval milestone payment of $75.0 million in November 2019 and an additional payment of $2.0 million in August 2019. As of December 31, 2019, we were unable to estimate the timing and likelihood of achieving the milestones or making future product sales and, therefore, any related payments are not included in the table above. See the section titled “Business—License Agreement with Bioprojet” for additional information regarding our license agreement with Bioprojet.

We enter into contracts in the normal course of business with clinical trial sites and clinical supply manufacturers and other services and products for operating purposes. These contracts generally provide for termination after a notice period, and, therefore, are cancelable contracts and not included in the table above.

Going Concern

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared as though we will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. We have incurred operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception. As of December 31, 2018 and 2019, we have an accumulated deficit of $242.7 million and $             million, respectively. Management expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative cash flows from operations for the foreseeable future. In addition, we are subject to potential milestone payments associated with a license agreement with Bioprojet, of between $40.0 million and $142.0 million. We have financed our operations to date with proceeds from the sale of preferred securities and drawing down on our Loan Agreement.

We will need to raise additional capital in order to continue to fund operations, including milestone obligations under the Bioprojet License Agreement. We believe we will be able to obtain additional capital through equity financings or other arrangements to fund operations; however, there can be no assurance that such additional financing, if available, can be obtained on acceptable terms. If we are unable to obtain such additional financing, future operations would need to be scaled back or discontinued.

Accordingly, these factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date the consolidated financial statements are issued. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined under SEC rules.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these financial

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statements requires us to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the dates of the balance sheets and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting periods. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, we evaluate our estimates and judgments on an ongoing basis. Significant estimates include assumptions used in the determination of some of our costs incurred under our Services Agreement and which costs are charged to research and development and general and administrative expense. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

We define our critical accounting policies as those under U.S. GAAP that require us to make subjective estimates and judgments about matters that are uncertain and are likely to have a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations, as well as the specific manner in which we apply those principles. While our accounting policies are more fully described in Note 3 to our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, we believe the following are the critical accounting policies used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements that require significant estimates and judgments.

Revenue Recognition

Effective January 1, 2019, we adopted Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, 606. This standard applies to all contracts with customers, except for contracts that are within the scope of other standards, such as leases, insurance, collaboration arrangements and financial instruments. Under ASC 606, an entity recognizes revenue when its customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which the entity expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services. To determine revenue recognition for arrangements that an entity determines are within the scope of ASC 606, the entity performs the following five steps: (i) identify the contract(s) with a customer; (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract; (iii) determine the transaction price; (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (v) recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation. We only apply the five-step model to contracts when it is probable that we will collect the consideration we are entitled to in exchange for the goods or services it transfers to the customer. At contract inception, once the contract is determined to be within the scope of ASC 606, we assess the goods or services promised within each contract and determine those that are performance obligations. We then recognize as revenue the amount of the transaction price that is allocated to the respective performance obligation when (or as) the performance obligation is satisfied. We have determined that the delivery of our product to our customer constitutes a single performance obligation as there are no other promises to deliver goods or services. Shipping and handling activities are considered to be fulfilment activities and are not considered to be a separate performance obligation. We have assessed the existence of a significant financing component in the agreements with our customers. The trade payment terms with our customers do not exceed one year and therefore, no amount of consideration has been allocated as a financing component. Taxes collected related to product sales are remitted to governmental authorities and are excluded from revenue.

Product Sales, Net

We began commercial sales of WAKIX in November 2019. We sell WAKIX to our customers (a limited number of specialty distributors) that, in turn, distribute WAKIX to patients.

We recognize revenue on sales of WAKIX when the customer obtains control of the product, which occurs at a point in time, typically upon delivery. Product revenues are recorded at the product’s

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wholesale acquisition costs, net of applicable reserves for variable consideration that are offered within contracts between us and our customers, payors, and other indirect customers relating to the sale of WAKIX. Components of variable consideration include government and commercial contracts, product returns, commercial co-payment assistance program transactions, and distribution service fees. These deductions, as detailed below, are based on the amounts earned, or to be claimed on the related sales, and are classified as a current liability or reduction of receivables, based on the expected value method and a range of outcomes and are probability weighted in accordance with ASC 606.

The amount of variable consideration which is included in the transaction price may be constrained and is included in the net sales price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of the cumulative revenue recognized under contracts will not occur in a future period. Our analyses contemplate the application of the constraint in accordance with ASC 606. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2019, we determined a material reversal of revenue would not likely occur in a future period for the rebate estimates detailed below and, therefore, the transaction price was not reduced further. Actual amounts of consideration ultimately received may differ from our estimates. If actual results in the future vary from our estimates, we will adjust these estimates, which would affect net product revenue and earnings in the period such variances become known.

Government Contracts

We have entered into contracts (i) to participate in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and the Medicare Part D program, and (ii) to sell to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 340b entities and other government agencies, or Government Payors, so that WAKIX will be eligible for purchase by, in partial or full reimbursement from, such Government Payors. These reserves are recorded in the same period the revenue is recognized, resulting in a reduction of product revenue and the establishment of a current liability, which is included in accounts payable or accrued expenses. For Medicare Part D, we estimate the number of patients in the prescription drug coverage gap for whom we will owe a payment under the Medicare Part D program.

We estimate the rebates that we will provide to Government Payors for those programs that require rebates. These rebate estimates are based upon (i) the government-mandated discounts applicable to government-funded programs, (ii) information obtained from its customers and (iii) information obtained from other third parties regarding the payor mix for WAKIX. The liability for these rebates consists of estimates of claims for the current year and estimated future claims that will be made for product shipments that have been recognized as revenue but remain in the distribution channel inventories at the end of each reporting period.

Accrued Research and Development Expenses

As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued research and development expenses. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated costs incurred for the services when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual costs. The majority of our service providers invoice us in arrears for services performed and some require advanced payments. We make estimates of our accrued expenses of each balance sheet date in our financial statements based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. Examples of estimated accrued research and development expenses include fees paid to:

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We base our expenses for services rendered on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes, contracts and communicating with our vendors. The financial terms of these agreement are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payments. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or amount of prepaid or accrued expenses accordingly. Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, our understanding of the status and timing of services performed relative to the actual status and timing of services performed may vary and may result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, we have not made any material adjustments to our prior estimates of accrued research and development expenses.

Stock-Based Compensation

We recognize stock-based compensation expense related to stock options granted to employees based on the estimated fair value of the awards on the date of grant. We estimate the grant date fair value, and the resulting stock-based compensation expense, for stock options that only have service vesting requirements or performance-based vesting requirements without market conditions using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The grant date fair value of the stock-based awards with service vesting requirements is generally recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective awards. Determining the appropriate amount to expense for performance-based awards based on the achievement of stated goals requires judgment. The estimate of expense is revised periodically based on the probability of achieving the required performance targets and adjustments are made as appropriate. The cumulative impact of any revisions is reflected in the period of change. If any applicable financial performance goals are not met, no compensation cost is recognized and any previously recognized compensation cost is reversed.

We recognize stock-based compensation expense related to stock options granted to non-employees issued in exchange for services based on the estimated fair value of the awards on the date of grant. We estimate the grant date fair value, and the resulting share-based compensation expense, using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model; however, the fair value of the stock options granted to non-employees is remeasured each reporting period until the service is complete, and the resulting increase or decrease in value, if any, is recognized as expense or a reduction in previously recognized expense, respectively, during the period the related services are rendered.

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires the use of highly subjective assumptions, which determine the fair value of share-based awards. These assumptions include:

Expected term.  Our expected term represents the period that our stock-based awards are expected to be outstanding and is determined using the simplified method (based on the mid-point between the vesting date and the end of the contractual term). For stock-based awards granted to non-employees, the expected term represents the contractual term of the award.

Common stock price.  Our board of directors estimates the fair value of our common stock. Given the absence of a public trading market for our common stock, and in accordance with the American

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Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Practice Guide, Valuation of Privately Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation, our board of directors exercises reasonable judgment and considers a number of objective and subjective factors to determine its best estimate of the fair value of our common stock, as further described below under “—Common Stock Valuations.”

Expected volatility.  Prior to this offering, we were a privately held company and did not have any trading history for our common stock and the expected volatility was estimated using weighted-average measures of implied volatility and the historical volatility of our peer group of companies for a period equal to the expected life of the stock options. Our peer group of publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies was chosen based on their similar size, stage in the life cycle or area of specialty.

Risk-free interest rate.  The risk-free interest rate is based on the rates paid on securities issued by the U.S. Treasury with a term approximating the expected life of the stock options.

Expected dividend.  We have never paid, and do not anticipate paying, cash dividends on our common stock. Therefore, the expected dividend yield was assumed to be zero.

The following table reflects the weighted average assumptions used to estimate the fair value of options granted during the periods presented.

Common Stock Valuations

Historically, for all periods prior to this initial public offering, the fair values of the shares of common stock underlying our stock-based awards were determined on each grant date by our board of directors. Given the absence of a public trading market for our common stock, our board of directors exercised reasonable judgment and considered a number of objective and subjective factors to determine the best estimate of the fair value of our common stock, including our stage of development; our actual operating results and financial performance; the progress of our commercialization research and development efforts; conditions in the industry and economy in general; the rights, preferences and privileges of our convertible preferred stock relative to those of our common stock; the likelihood of achieving a liquidity event for the holders of our common stock, such as an initial public offering or a sale of our company, given prevailing market conditions; equity market conditions affecting comparable public companies; the lack of marketability of our common stock and the results of independent third party valuations. Our board of directors also took into consideration the valuations of our common stock that were prepared by an independent third-party valuation firm in accordance with the guidance provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants 2013 Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation.

For our valuations performed prior to December 31, 2019, we used the Option Pricing Model Backsolve method to estimate the fair value of our common stock. In an option pricing method, or OPM, framework, the backsolve method for inferring the equity value implied by a recent financing transaction involves making assumptions for the expected time to liquidity, volatility and risk-free rate and then solving for the value of equity such that value for the most recent financing equals the amount paid. Furthermore, as of each of the valuation dates prior to December 31, 2019 and even being a late stage development company, the future liquidity events were difficult to forecast. We applied a discount for lack of marketability to account for a lack of access to an active public market.

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Our common stock valuations prior to December 31, 2019 resulted in valuations, as of December 31, 2017, December 31, 2018, February 13, 2019, August 14, 2019 and December 31, 2019, of $0.40, $0.40, $0.50, $0.62 and $            , respectively, per share. All historic option grants were made above such valuations at an exercise price of $1.00 per share.

After the closing of this offering, our board of directors will determine the fair value of each common share underlying share-based awards based on the closing price of our common shares as reported on the date of grant on the primary stock exchange on which our common stock is traded.

Based upon the initial public offering price of $            per common share, the aggregate intrinsic value of outstanding options to purchase our common shares as of            , 2020 was $            million, all of which are related to unvested options.

Income Taxes

We provide for income taxes under the asset and liability method. Current income tax expense or benefit represents the amount of income taxes expected to be payable or refundable for the current year. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and the respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

When uncertain tax positions exist, we recognize the tax benefit of tax positions to the extent that the benefit will more likely than not be realized. The determination as to whether the tax benefit will more likely than not be realized is based upon the technical merits of the tax position as well as consideration of the available facts and circumstances. As of December 31, 2018 and 2019, we did not have any significant uncertain tax positions.

As of December 31, 2018, our total deferred tax assets were $59.0 million. Due to our lack of earnings history and uncertainties surrounding our ability to generate future taxable income, the net deferred tax assets have been fully offset by a valuation allowance. The deferred tax assets were primarily comprised of federal and state tax NOL carryforwards. We had a Series A preferred stock financing in September 2017, a Series B preferred stock financing in January 2018 and a Series C in August 2019. We have not completed a Section 382 study to assess whether an ownership change has occurred or whether there have been multiple ownership changes since our formation due to the complexity and cost associated with such a study and the fact that there may be additional such ownership changes in the future. Pursuant to Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code, annual use of our net operating loss and research and development tax credit carryforwards may be limited in the event a cumulative change in ownership of more than 50% occurs within a three-year period.

In the United States, on December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the Tax Act, was signed into law. Substantially all of the provisions of the Tax Act are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. The Tax Act includes significant changes to the Code, including amendments that significantly change the taxation of individuals and business entities. The Tax Act contains numerous provisions that might impact us, the most significant of which reduces the federal corporate statutory tax rate from 34% to 21%.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 3 to our financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for more information.

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The JOBS Act

We are an “emerging growth company”, or EGC, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, of 2012. Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards issued subsequent to the enactment of the JOBS Act until such time as those standards apply to private companies.

We have elected to use this extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until the earlier of the date we (i) are no longer an EGC or (ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates. If we were to subsequently elect instead to comply with these public company effective dates, such election would be irrevocable pursuant to the JOBS Act.

We will remain an EGC until the earliest of (i) the last day of our fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completing of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenues of at least $1.07 billion or (ii) 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 $700.0 million as of the prior June 30^th and (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Interest Rate Fluctuation Risk

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates. As of December 31, 2019, our cash and cash equivalents consisted of cash and money market accounts. Our primary exposure to market risk is interest income sensitivity, which is affected by changes in the general level of U.S. interest rates. However, because of the short-term nature of the instruments in our portfolio, an immediate 10% change in market interest rates would not have a material impact on the fair market value of our investment portfolio or on our financial position or results of operations.

As of December 31, 2019, we had $102.5 million in borrowings outstanding. In January 2020, we closed on the Credit Agreement with OrbiMed and drew down $200.0 million upon closing. The term loan bears interest at an interest rate of the greater of (a) LIBOR or (b) 2.00% per annum, plus 11.00% per annum. Based on the $200.0 million of principal outstanding as of January 2020, an immediate 10% change in the Prime Rate would not have a material impact on our debt-related obligations, financial position or results of operations.

Foreign Currency Fluctuation Risk

We are not currently exposed to significant market risk related to changes in foreign currency exchange rates; however, we have contracted with and may continue to contract with foreign vendors that are located in Europe. Our operations may be subject to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates in the future.

Inflation Fluctuation Risk

Inflation generally affects us by increasing our cost of labor and clinical trial costs. We do not believe that inflation had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations for the years ending December 31, 2018 and 2019.

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BUSINESS

Overview

We are a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for patients with rare neurological disorders living with unmet medical needs. Our product, WAKIX (pitolisant), is a first-in-class molecule with a novel mechanism of action, or MOA, specifically designed to increase histamine signaling in the brain by binding to H₃ receptors. In August 2019, WAKIX was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, for the treatment of our lead indication, excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, in adult patients with narcolepsy, and its U.S. commercial launch was initiated in November 2019. WAKIX is the first-and-only approved product for patients with narcolepsy that is not scheduled as a controlled substance. We plan to expand the label for WAKIX in narcolepsy and expect to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial in pediatric patients in pursuit of indications for both EDS and cataplexy, as well as to pursue pediatric exclusivity. In addition, we are evaluating our options regarding the approach to take with the FDA in pursuit of a cataplexy indication in adult patients with narcolepsy. We believe that pitolisant’s ability to regulate histamine gives it the potential to provide therapeutic benefit in other rare neurological disorders that are mediated through H₃ receptors and histamine signaling. We are initially focusing on the treatment of EDS associated with Prader-Willi Syndrome, or PWS, and myotonic dystrophy type 1, or DM1. We intend to commence a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate pitolisant for the treatment of EDS and other key symptoms in patients with PWS in the first half of 2020, with topline results expected in the second half of 2021. We are also planning to commence a Phase 2 clinical trial for DM1 in the second half of 2020, with topline results expected in the first half of 2022. Beyond these indications, we intend to further explore pitolisant in other rare neurological disorders in which fatigue and cognitive impairment are prominent symptoms with significant impact on daily functioning.

Pitolisant was developed by Bioprojet Société Civile de Recherche, or Bioprojet, and approved by the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, in 2016 for the treatment of narcolepsy in adult patients with or without cataplexy. We acquired an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize pitolisant in the United States pursuant to our license agreement with Bioprojet, or the Bioprojet License Agreement, in July 2017. See “—Strategic Agreement—License and Commercialization Agreement with Bioprojet” for further information regarding the Bioprojet License Agreement. Pitolisant was granted Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of narcolepsy by the FDA in 2010. It received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA for the treatment of cataplexy in patients with narcolepsy and Fast Track status for the treatment of EDS and cataplexy in patients with narcolepsy in April 2018.

Narcolepsy Market Overview

Narcolepsy is a rare, chronic and debilitating neurologic disorder of sleep-wake state instability that is estimated to affect anywhere from 135,000 to 200,000 Americans, with fewer than 50% diagnosed. Narcolepsy is characterized by EDS, which is present in all patients with narcolepsy and is the primary reason why patients seek treatment. EDS is the inability to stay awake or alert throughout the day, including an irrepressible need for sleep, with lapses into drowsiness or sleep, which has a significant impact on a patient’s ability to function. Additional symptoms of narcolepsy may include cataplexy (which is characterized by sudden and transient episodes of muscle weakness accompanied by full conscious awareness), hallucinations, sleep paralysis and disrupted nighttime sleep. In most patients, narcolepsy is caused by the loss of hypocretin, a neuropeptide in the brain that, along with histamine, works to support sleep-wake state stability. This disorder affects men and women equally, with typical symptom onset in adolescence or young adulthood; however, it can take up to a decade after onset of symptoms to be properly diagnosed. The U.S. narcolepsy market had an approximate

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net sales value of $1.8 billion in 2019. The market is expected to continue to grow based on several factors, including, but not limited to, the introduction of new innovative therapies that offer novel mechanisms of action resulting in improved safety/tolerability profiles while delivering clinically meaningful efficacy, additional investment in education, increased rates of diagnosis, and population growth.

Prior to the approval of WAKIX, there were six approved medications to treat patients with narcolepsy, all of which are scheduled as controlled substances: Xyrem (sodium oxybate), Provigil (modafinil), Nuvigil (armodafinil), methylphenidate, amphetamine and Sunosi (solriamfetol). Other prescription drugs are used off-label for the treatment of either EDS or cataplexy in patients with narcolepsy, including stimulants and antidepressants. Some of the current therapies have significant side effects (such as increased heart rate and blood pressure) and boxed warnings due to the risk of respiratory depression, abuse and dependence. These therapies also have the potential for rebound and withdrawal symptoms. According to the 2007 American Academy of Sleep Medicine treatment guidelines, medications for narcolepsy, at best, provided only moderate improvement in narcolepsy symptoms and side effects may limit their use. The Voice of the Patient report from the FDA’s patient-focused drug development initiative, published in 2014, concluded that, based on the overall benefit-risk assessment of current medications, there is a continued need for additional effective and tolerable treatment options for patients with narcolepsy. In a retrospective electronic chart review conducted on our behalf from June 2011 to December 2018, over 75% (73 out of 97 respondents) of patients with narcolepsy reported at least one residual symptom while on their current treatment. In a third party survey that we commissioned prior to the commercialization of WAKIX, of the 200 patients with narcolepsy who were surveyed, 93% (157 out of 169 respondents) expressed frustration with current treatment options, while 31 patients were not on treatment and, as such, did not provide a response to this question. The main drivers of patients’ dissatisfaction were side effects and tolerability, loss of efficacy over time and concerns about abuse and dependence with current therapies. In 2019, two new therapies for narcolepsy, including WAKIX, were approved by the FDA, which represent the first new therapies for narcolepsy patients in the United States since 2007.

In market research sponsored by us prior to the commercial release of WAKIX, both patients and healthcare professionals, or HCPs, expressed frustration and dissatisfaction with then-existing therapies, reflecting current unmet medical needs. These unmet needs included, in order of importance, the availability of: (i) non-scheduled treatment options, (ii) more tolerable treatment regimens, (iii) more effective treatment options, (iv) novel MOAs beyond currently available therapies and (v) once-daily treatment options. Based on our market research, we believe the most significant unmet need identified was the availability of non-scheduled treatment options. Other than WAKIX, all drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of narcolepsy, including stimulants, are scheduled as controlled substances by the DEA. Controlled substances have the potential for abuse, misuse, diversion. In addition, these products also have the potential for the development of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. Despite their inherent drawbacks, due to the limited number of treatment options, stimulants have historically been a primary treatment for people with narcolepsy. In addition to having the potential for abuse, all of the treatments approved for narcolepsy, except WAKIX, require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, program, which is required by the FDA for certain medications with serious safety concerns to help ensure the benefits of the medication outweigh its risks.

Our Solution

WAKIX (pitolisant) represents a novel approach to narcolepsy treatment. We believe that WAKIX offers a meaningfully differentiated product profile over current treatment options for the following reasons:

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Our Strategy

Our goal is to become a leading pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel treatment options for patients with rare neurological disorders living with unmet medical needs, beginning with a focus on narcolepsy. The key elements of our strategy are to:

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Early Launch Metrics

As of March 31, 2020, total prescriptions written were             , which represents     % of the approximately 44,000 diagnosed and treated narcolepsy patients in the United States within              days of product availability. We have also secured formulary access for              million covered lives, which represents     % of our target covered lives. Of those              patients who received a prescription,              patients started treatment on WAKIX. For the three months ended March 31, 2020, net sales of WAKIX were $             million.

Our History and Leadership Team

Our operating subsidiary, Harmony Biosciences, LLC, was formed in May 2017. We were formed as a Delaware limited liability company in July 2017 and converted to a Delaware corporation in September 2017. We concurrently acquired the U.S. rights to develop and commercialize pitolisant from Bioprojet. In February 2020, we changed our name to Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. Since inception, we have raised approximately $345 million in equity financing from healthcare investors including Paragon Biosciences, LLC, venBio Partners, Novo Holdings A/S, Valor Equity Partners, Vivo Capital and HBM Healthcare Investments, or their respective affiliates. We have assembled an experienced leadership team with a track record of developing and commercializing products to treat rare neurological disorders. We believe that the clinical development, regulatory, commercial and operational expertise of our executive and senior leadership team will be essential as we execute on our strategy of becoming a leading pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for the treatment of rare neurological disorders while delivering significant value to both patients and shareholders.

Our management team has held senior positions at leading pharmaceutical companies, including Cephalon, Inc., or Cephalon, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., or Teva, Merck & Co., Inc., or Merck, Wyeth, LLC and ViroPharma Incorporated, or ViroPharma, among others, and possesses substantial experience and expertise in developing and commercializing products for rare neurological disorders, including narcolepsy and other sleep disorders.

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John C. Jacobs, our President and Chief Executive Officer, has held a variety of senior leadership roles of increasing responsibility throughout his career including roles in marketing, commercial, operations and general management in both U.S. and global markets. Prior to Harmony, Mr. Jacobs held roles as General Manager of Teva’s branded business in Canada and led North American Commercial Operations for Teva. Jeffrey Dierks, our Chief Commercial Officer, formerly Vice President of Marketing at Harmony Biosciences and Senior Director U.S. Pain Care and Sleep Disorders and Migraine Marketing at Teva, has over 20 years of commercial leadership experience with demonstrated success in leading product launches. Jeffrey Dayno, MD, our Chief Medical Officer, formerly Chief Medical Officer at Egalet Corporation, is a neurologist with 10 years of experience in clinical and academic medicine followed by over 20 years of experience in research and development leadership roles at Merck, Cephalon and ViroPharma.

Overview of Development Pipeline

We are actively working on label expansion for WAKIX in narcolepsy, including a Phase 3 clinical trial in pediatric patients to support FDA approval for indications for both EDS and cataplexy in pediatric patients. We also intend to work with the FDA toward obtaining pediatric exclusivity for WAKIX. In addition, following the FDA’s decision not to grant approval to WAKIX for the treatment of cataplexy in adult patients with narcolepsy, we are evaluating our options regarding the approach to take with the FDA in pursuit of this indication.

We believe that pitolisant’s ability to regulate histamine gives it the potential to provide therapeutic benefit in other rare neurological disorders that are mediated through the H₃ receptor and histamine signaling. We plan to explore the potential benefit of pitolisant in additional rare neurological indications beyond narcolepsy, initially focusing on the treatment of EDS associated with PWS and DM1.

PWS is a rare genetic disorder caused by a loss of function of specific genes on chromosome 15 resulting in hypothalamic dysfunction. The hypothalamus controls both sleep-wake states and hunger-satiety. Therefore, two of the main symptoms in patients with PWS are EDS and insatiable hunger, or hyperphagia. Other consequences of PWS include low muscle tone, short stature, behavioral problems and cognitive impairment. It is estimated that approximately one in 12,000 to 15,000 people in the United States suffers from PWS. In a recent study, more than 90% of PWS patients surveyed reported EDS. We completed a Phase 1 PK clinical trial in pediatric patients with PWS in the fourth quarter of 2019, and initiated a long-term, open-label safety study in these patients. We intend to commence a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with PWS in the first half of 2020. Topline results from this clinical trial are expected in the second half of 2021.

DM1 is a rare, multi-system genetic disease that affects the neuromuscular system as well as several other systems. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern and the underlying cause of DM1 is a mutation in the myotonic dystrophy protein kinase, or DMPK, gene on chromosome 19. DM1 is the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy and affects as many as 40,000 patients in the United States. EDS and fatigue are hallmark clinical characteristics in patients with DM1 and are referred to as the most frequent non-muscular symptoms in patients with DM1. Cognitive impairment is also a prominent symptom in patients with DM1 and all of these symptoms are thought to be mediated through H₃ receptors and histaminergic pathways located throughout the central nervous system, or CNS. We anticipate commencing a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with DM1 in the second half of 2020. Topline results from this clinical trial are expected in the first half of 2022.

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Beyond the target indications listed above, we intend to further explore pitolisant in other rare neurological disorders in which fatigue and cognitive impairment are prominent symptoms with significant impact on daily functioning.

Our Commercialization Strategy

We launched WAKIX into the narcolepsy market in November 2019 and are engaging with HCPs, patients and payors through the focused commercialization strategy outlined below to optimize adoption of WAKIX in the marketplace:

We believe the differentiating attributes of WAKIX that will facilitate awareness, adoption, and coverage include: (i) it is a first-in-class molecule with a novel MOA, (ii) it is the first-and-only non-scheduled treatment approved for narcolepsy, (iii) it is not a stimulant, (iv) it has broad clinical utility because it can be used as monotherapy or administered concomitantly with other narcolepsy treatments, and (v) it is a once-daily oral tablet administered in the morning upon wakening.

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Clinical Development of WAKIX (pitolisant)

Overview

The strategy behind the clinical development of pitolisant is based on its MOA, which is thought to work by regulating histamine transmission. Pitolisant is a first-in-class molecule with a novel MOA, acting as a potent and highly selective antagonist/inverse agonist of the H₃ receptor. It activates histaminergic neurons in the brain, a neuronal system involved in the maintenance of wakefulness, attention, vigilance and cognition. Pitolisant binds to H₃ receptors on presynaptic neurons and blocks the normal negative feedback mechanism for histamine release, resulting in increased release of this wake-promoting neurotransmitter. It also functions as an inverse agonist, resulting in enhanced histamine synthesis and release from presynaptic neurons. Increased histamine available in the synapse binds to postsynaptic H₁ receptors, activating postsynaptic neurons, which stimulate wake-promoting brain regions and inhibit sleep-promoting regions of the brain.

Pitolisant also stimulates the release of other wake-promoting neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine) via H₃ heteroreceptors within those neuronal systems. Importantly, pitolisant does not increase dopamine levels in the striatum, including the nucleus accumbens, which is the pleasure center of the brain where increase in dopamine levels is correlated with abuse potential. This feature of pitolisant’s MOA, along with primarily working through the histaminergic system, are two of the aspects that differentiate pitolisant from all other currently approved treatments for narcolepsy.

WAKIX^® (pitolisant) Mechanism of Action

Pitolisant is a histamine receptor antagonist/inverse agonist that enhances the activity of histaminergic neurons in the brain 1.Pitolisant blinds to presynaptic H3 autoreceptors, pitolisant initiates increased histamine binding to these receptors and increases histamine release from presynaptic neurons 2.Acting as an inverse agonist, pitolisant initiates increased histamine synthesis and releases from vesicles into the synapse3.This increased histamine in the synapse is then available to blind to excitatory postsynaptic H1 receptors4.Increased histamine blinding at H1 receptors results in an increase in neuronal firing of postsynaptic neurons 5.Increased firing of histamine neurons further activates wake-associated brain regions and further inhibits non-REM and REM sleep-associated brain regionsHA = Histamine; HDC = L-histidine decarboxylase;H3R = Histamine 3 Receptor; H1R = Histamine 1 ReceptorFigure adapted from Benarroch EE.Neurology.2010;75(16):1472-1479

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The safety profile of pitolisant is based on pooled safety data from 22 Phase 2/3 clinical trials conducted by Bioprojet, eight of which were in patients with narcolepsy and 14 of which were in other indications. These trials included a total of 1,513 unique patients, of whom 1,043 received pitolisant in double-blind placebo-controlled studies, and others received pitolisant in single-blind or open-label trials. Three successful pivotal trials in narcolepsy, HARMONY 1, HARMONY 1bis, and HARMONY CTP, were completed in Europe by Bioprojet and served as the foundation for the approval of pitolisant by the EMA in 2016 for the treatment of narcolepsy in adults with or without cataplexy. Pitolisant was evaluated in a long-term safety and tolerability trial, HARMONY 3, which further supported the results observed in HARMONY 1, HARMONY 1bis, and HARMONY CTP. The data from these trials were submitted, along with a human abuse potential, or HAP, trial, to the FDA as part of the NDA for WAKIX (pitolisant), which the FDA approved on August 14, 2019 for the treatment of EDS in adult patients with narcolepsy. The table below provides an overview of the trial designs from these five clinical trials.