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Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-184807

 

The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, relating to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities and we are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED DECEMBER 12, 2012

 

 

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

(To Prospectus dated November 7, 2012)

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

 

         Shares of Common Stock

We are offering              shares of our common stock in this offering.

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “SRPT.” On December 11, 2012, the last reported sale price of our common stock was $25.92 per share.

 

 

Investing in our common stock involves significant risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-5 of this prospectus supplement and page 10 of the accompanying prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

		Per Share				Total
Public Offering Price		$				$
Underwriting discounts and commissions		$				$
Proceeds to us, before expenses		$				$

We estimate the total expenses of this offering, excluding the underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $            . We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days from the date of this prospectus supplement to purchase up to a total of          additional shares of our common stock at the public offering price per share, less the underwriting discounts and commissions, to cover any over-allotments.

We anticipate that delivery of the shares will be made through the facilities of the Depository Trust Company on or about December     , 2012 subject to customary closing conditions.

Sole Book-Running Manager

Lazard Capital Markets

Prospectus supplement dated December    , 2012.

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PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

 

		Page
ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT			S-ii
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT SUMMARY			S-1
THE OFFERING			S-4
RISK FACTORS			S-5
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			S-24
USE OF PROCEEDS			S-27
DILUTION			S-28
UNDERWRITING			S-29
LEGAL MATTERS			S-33
EXPERTS			S-33
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION			S-33
INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE			S-33

ACCOMPANYING PROSPECTUS

 

		Page
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY			1
RISK FACTORS			10
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS			24
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES			26
USE OF PROCEEDS			26
DESCRIPTION OF OUR CAPITAL STOCK			27
DESCRIPTION OF THE DEBT SECURITIES			30
DESCRIPTION OF THE WARRANTS			39
DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITS			40
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION			40
LEGAL MATTERS			43
EXPERTS			43
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION			43
INFORMATION INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE			44
DISCLOSURE OF COMMISSION POSITION ON INDEMNIFICATION FOR SECURITES ACT LIABILITIES			44

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

This document is in two parts. The first part is the prospectus supplement, including the documents incorporated by reference, which describes the specific terms of this offering. The second part, the accompanying prospectus, including the documents incorporated by reference, provides more general information. Generally, when we refer to this prospectus, we are referring to both parts of this document combined. Before you invest, you should carefully read this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, all information incorporated by reference herein and therein, as well as the additional information described under “Where You Can Find Additional Information” on page S-33 of this prospectus supplement. These documents contain information you should consider when making your investment decision. This prospectus supplement may add, update or change information contained in the accompanying prospectus. To the extent that any statement that we make in this prospectus supplement is inconsistent with statements made in the accompanying prospectus or any documents incorporated by reference therein, the statements made in this prospectus supplement will be deemed to modify or supersede those made in the accompanying prospectus and such documents incorporated by reference therein.

You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and in any free writing prospectuses we may provide to you in connection with this offering. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized any other person to provide you with any information that is different. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The distribution of this prospectus supplement and the offering of the common stock in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus supplement must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the common stock and the distribution of this prospectus supplement outside the United States. This prospectus supplement does not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities offered by this prospectus supplement by any person in any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful for such person to make such an offer or solicitation.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Investors should carefully consider the risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, each of which is or upon filing will be incorporated herein by reference, and which may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports we file with the SEC in the future, as well as other information in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein before deciding whether to invest in our securities. The risks described below are not the only ones we face. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements made throughout this prospectus supplement as a result of different factors, including the risks we face described below.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Our product candidates are at an early stage of development, and it is possible that none of our product candidates will ever become commercial products.

Our product candidates are in relatively early stages of development. These product candidates will require significant further development, financial resources and personnel to obtain regulatory approval and develop into commercially viable products, if at all. Currently, eteplirsen in DMD and AVI-7288 in Marburg are in active clinical development. AVI-7537 in Ebola was in active clinical development until August 2012, when we received a stop-work order from DoD instructing us to cease all work and ordering of supplies in support of the development of this product candidate. On October 2, 2012, we received notice from DoD that the program for the development of AVI-7537 was terminated for the convenience of the government due to funding constraints. The clinical development of AVI-7100 in influenza is currently paused and the rest of our product candidates are in preclinical development. We expect that much of our effort and many of our expenditures over the next several years will be devoted to development activities associated with eteplirsen and other exon-skipping candidates as part of our larger pan-exon strategy in DMD and our antiviral candidates. With current resources, we may be restricted or delayed in our ability to develop other clinical and preclinical product candidates.

Our ability to commercialize any of our product candidates, including eteplirsen, depends on first receiving required regulatory approvals, and it is possible that we may never receive regulatory approval (including any accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) under Subpart H—Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-Threatening Illnesses) for any of our product candidates based on an inability to adequately demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of our product candidates, lack of funding, changes in the regulatory landscape, manufacturing or other reasons. Even if a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the resulting product may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payers and the medical community. Assuming that any of our product candidates receives the required regulatory approvals, commercial success will depend on a number of factors, including:

 

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establishment and demonstration of clinical efficacy and safety and acceptance of the same by the medical community;

 

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cost-effectiveness of the product;

 

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the availability of adequate reimbursement by third parties, including governmental payers such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, managed care organizations, and private health insurers;

 

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the product’s potential advantage over alternative treatment methods;

 

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whether the product can be produced in commercial quantities at acceptable costs;

 

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marketing and distribution support for the product; and

 

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any exclusivities applicable to the product.

To date we have been granted orphan status for two of our product candidates in DMD and for AVI-6002 and AVI-7537 for the treatment of Ebola virus and AVI-6003 and AVI-7288 for the treatment of Marburg virus. We are not guaranteed to receive orphan status for other product candidates in development or product candidates we may develop in the future. Even though we have received orphan status for some of our product candidates, we would not enjoy orphan drug exclusivity for such product candidates in the event that another entity received approval of products with the same active ingredient for the same indication before we receive market approval. Further, application of the orphan drug regulations in the United States and Europe is uncertain and we cannot predict how the respective regulatory bodies will interpret and apply the regulations to our or our competitors’ product candidates. If a competitor’s product receives orphan drug status for an indication that we are targeting, and such product is approved for commercial sales before our product, regulators may interpret our product to be the same drug as the competing product and could prevent us from selling our product in the applicable territories for the competitors orphan exclusivity period. Furthermore, pediatric exclusivity only applies if the product has another form of exclusivity.

If we are unable to develop and commercialize any of our product candidates, if development is delayed or if sales revenue from any product candidate that receives marketing approval is insufficient, we may never reach sustained profitability.

If we are unable to obtain or maintain required regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates, our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired and our business will not be successful.

The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, selling, marketing and distribution of drug products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA in the United States, and other regulatory authorities in other countries, with regulations differing from country to country. Marketing of our product candidates in the United States or foreign countries is not permitted until we obtain marketing approval from the FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive regulatory approval for the commercial sale of any of our product candidates. Obtaining marketing approval is a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process and approval is never assured. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not progressed to the point of preparing or filing the applications necessary to gain regulatory approvals. Further, the FDA and other foreign regulatory agencies have substantial discretion in the approval process, and determining when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for any product candidate we develop. In this regard, even if we believe the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or any other foreign regulatory authority. In addition, the FDA or their advisors may disagree with our interpretations of data from preclinical studies and clinical trials. Regulatory agencies may approve a product candidate for fewer indications than requested or may grant approval subject to the performance of post-approval studies for a product candidate. Similarly, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.

In addition, changes in regulatory requirements and guidance may occur and we may need to amend clinical trial protocols or other approval strategies to reflect these changes. Amendments may require us to resubmit our clinical trial protocols to Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) or the FDA for review, which may impact the costs, timing or successful completion of a clinical trial. Changes in our approval strategies may require additional studies that were not originally planned. Other factors may also impact our ability to commercialize our product candidates, including, for example, the fact that a therapeutic commercial product utilizing our RNA-based technologies has never been approved by any regulatory authority. Due to these factors, our current product candidates or any of our other future product candidates could take a significantly longer time to gain regulatory approval than we expect or may never gain regulatory approval, which could delay or

 

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eliminate any potential product revenue by delaying or terminating the potential commercialization of our product candidates.

If we receive regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will also be subject to ongoing FDA obligations and oversight, including adverse event reporting requirements, marketing restrictions and, potentially, other post-marketing obligations, all of which may result in significant expense and limit our ability to commercialize such products. The FDA’s policies may also change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates or further restrict or regulate post-approval activities. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States, or abroad. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, we may not be permitted to market our products and our business could suffer. Any delay in, or failure to, receive or maintain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates could harm our business and prevent us from ever generating meaningful revenues or achieving profitability. We will need to obtain regulatory approval from authorities in foreign countries to market our product candidates in those countries. We have not filed for regulatory approval to market our product candidates in any foreign jurisdiction. Approval by one regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. If we fail to obtain approvals from foreign jurisdictions, the geographic market for our product candidates would be limited.

Our preclinical and clinical trials may fail to demonstrate acceptable levels of safety and efficacy of our product candidates, which could prevent or significantly delay their regulatory approval.

To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to market and sell any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate, through extensive preclinical and clinical studies, that the product candidate is safe and effective in humans. Ongoing and future preclinical and clinical trials of our product candidates may not show sufficient safety or efficacy to obtain regulatory approvals.

Phase I clinical trials generally are not designed to test the efficacy of a product candidate but rather are designed to test safety, to study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and to understand the product candidate’s side effects at various doses and dosing schedules in healthy volunteers. Delays in establishing the appropriate dosage levels can lead to delays in the overall clinical development of a product candidate. As of the date of this prospectus, we do not believe that we have identified the preferred dose of eteplirsen for individuals with DMD. We plan to evaluate the appropriate dosage in a future confirmatory pivotal study. We recently completed a U.S.-based Phase IIb clinical trial for eteplirsen at 30 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg, higher doses than was initiated in August 2011. Following completion of this study, we initiated an open label extension study with the same participants from the original Phase IIb placebo controlled trial. These trials were initiated, in part, to further explore and identify a more consistently effective dose that may be more appropriate for future clinical trials. We cannot assure you that these efforts will be successful. If a consistently effective dose is found in the U.S.-based clinical trial, we will expect to engage in discussions with regulatory authorities about the design and subsequent execution of any further studies which may be required. Regulatory authorities might require more extensive preclinical or clinical trials than anticipated and conforming to any guidance regulatory authorities provide does not guarantee receipt of marketing approval, even if we believe our preclinical and clinical trials are successful. Such clinical trials might include additional open label “extension studies” for all participants who have previously received eteplirsen, as well as other participants (e.g., non-ambulatory participants) and any additional placebo-controlled “pivotal” study or studies. If we are not able to establish an optimal dosage in these trials we may need to conduct additional dose-ranging trials before conducting our pivotal trials of the product. Any such additional clinical trials required by regulatory authorities would increase our costs and delay commercialization of eteplirsen.

Furthermore, success in preclinical and early clinical trials does not ensure that later larger-scale trials will be successful nor does it predict final results. Acceptable results in early trials may not be reproduced in later trials. For example, pivotal trials for eteplirsen will likely involve a larger number of participants to achieve

 

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statistical significance, will be expensive and will take a substantial amount of time to complete. As a result, we may conduct lengthy and expensive clinical trials of our product candidates, only to learn that the product candidate is not an effective treatment or is not superior to existing approved therapies, or has an unacceptable safety profile, which could prevent or significantly delay regulatory approval for such product candidate.

The Animal Rule is a new and seldom-used approach to seeking approval of a new drug and our infectious disease program may not meet the requirements for this ill-defined path to regulatory approval.

Clinical trials cannot be used to assess the efficacy of most biodefense countermeasures against rare and lethal pathogens due to ethical considerations and the relative infrequency of naturally occurring cases. In the United States, we plan to develop the therapeutic product candidate to treat Marburg virus using the Animal Rule regulatory mechanism. Pursuant to the Animal Rule, the sponsor of a drug product must demonstrate efficacy in animal models and safety in humans. There is no guarantee that the FDA will agree to this approach to the development of our infectious disease product candidate, considering that no validated animal model has been established as predicting human outcomes in the prevention or treatment of any filovirus disease. Animal models represent, at best, a rough approximation of efficacy in humans, and, as such, countermeasures developed using animal models will be untested until their use in humans during an emergency. We have yet to demonstrate the predictive value of our animal studies to the FDA’s satisfaction. If we fail to do so, we will have to demonstrate efficacy of AVI-7288 through adequate well-controlled trials in humans in order to obtain regulatory approval of this product in the United States, which, if possible, will greatly add to the time and expense required to commercialize this product. Furthermore, the Animal Rule mechanism has been used only rarely and questions remain regarding the FDA’s interpretation and implementation. No novel products have been approved using the Animal Rule. It has thus far been used to extend the indicated use of three previously licensed products which had considerable prior human experience. We do not have any experience successfully navigating this approach to drug approval. Even if the Animal Rule represents a viable approach to seeking approval of AVI-7288, it may present challenges for gaining final regulatory approval for this product candidate, including an extended timeline to approval and less predictable study requirements. In addition, the FDA would require post-marketing human efficacy studies if the countermeasure is used in humans, which would most likely be in the aftermath of a bioterrorist attack. The ability to reliably perform efficacy clinical trials in the midst of a national crisis is uncertain.

The timing and conduct of animal studies may be further constrained given that filoviruses are classified for use only in BSL-4 laboratories. There are limited laboratories and staff world-wide that can work with these live viruses and companies will be competing for the limited availability of this critical infrastructure to test their countermeasures. Furthermore, we anticipate limits in conforming to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) requirements given the requirement for BSL-4 containment.

We rely on U.S. government contracts to support certain research and development programs and substantially all of our revenue. If the U.S. government fails to fund such programs on a timely basis or at all, or such contracts are terminated, the results of our operations would be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on U.S. government contracts and awards to fund certain development programs, including the Marburg virus which accounts for substantially all of our current revenue. The funding of U.S. government programs is subject to Congressional appropriations. Congress generally appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis even though a program may extend over several fiscal years, as is the case with our DoD contract for the development of our Marburg product candidate. Consequently, programs are often only partially funded initially and additional funds are committed only as Congress makes further appropriations. If appropriations for one of our programs become unavailable, or are reduced or delayed, our contracts may be terminated or adjusted by the government, which could have a negative impact on our future revenue under such contract or subcontract. From time to time, when a formal appropriation bill has not been signed into law before the end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, Congress may pass a continuing resolution that authorizes agencies of the U.S. government to continue to operate, generally at the same funding levels from the prior year, but does not

 

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authorize new spending initiatives, during a certain period. During such a period, or until the regular appropriation bills are passed, delays can occur in government procurement due to lack of funding and such delays can affect our operations during the period of delay. Additionally, the DoD is planning on hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to defense spending over the next decade and faces a possible sequestration of an additional $600 billion over the same timeframe beginning in January 2013 unless Congress acts. These cuts would have widespread ramifications including on DoD’s procurement and research and development programs. The 2004 Project BioShield Act which created the Special Reserve Fund for use by DHHS to purchase countermeasures over 10 years avoids the uncertainty of the annual appropriations process, but the $5.6 billion appropriation is rapidly depleting and will expire in 2013. Thus, the viability of DHHS as a potential customer hinges in part on Congress taking action to replenish the Special Reserve Fund.

In addition, U.S. government contracts generally also permit the government to terminate the contract, in whole or in part, without prior notice, at the government’s convenience or for default based on performance. From time to time, we receive communications from the U.S. government regarding our performance, including requests for us to provide additional information and/or take certain steps to remedy noted deficiencies. While we work closely with our contacts at the U.S. government and believe we can adequately address issues raised through such communications, there is no guarantee that we will be able to adequately respond to all requests or remedy all deficiencies cited. If one of our contracts is terminated for convenience, we would generally be entitled to payments for our allowable costs and would receive some allowance for profit on the work performed. If one of our contracts is terminated for default, we would generally be entitled to payments for our work that has been completed to that point. A termination arising out of our default could expose us to liability and have a negative impact on our ability to obtain future contracts. Furthermore, if we fail to satisfy certain performance or deliverable requirements or to adhere to development timelines, revenues associated with the satisfaction of such requirements or timelines may be delayed or may not be realized.

The termination of one or more of these government contracts, whether due to lack of funding, for convenience, for our failure to perform, or otherwise, or the occurrence of delays or product failures in connection with one or more of these contracts, could negatively impact our financial condition. For example, on October 2, 2012, we received notice from DoD that the program for the development of our Ebola product candidate was terminated for the convenience of the government due to funding constraints. We had previously received a stop-work order for the Ebola program which was in effect from August 2, 2012 through the termination on October 2, 2012. If the government terminates the Marburg development program or contract, our business could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we can give no assurance that we would be able to procure new U.S. government contracts to offset the revenue lost as a result of termination of any of our existing contracts. Even if our Marburg contract is not terminated and is completed, there is no assurance that we will receive future government contracts.

Even if we successfully complete development of our Marburg product candidate, the major, if not only, potential purchaser is the U.S. government. The lack of a commercial market makes us reliant upon the U.S. government to determine and communicate the market for biodefense countermeasures and government purchasing is subject to evolving threat assessments and shifting political priorities, which exacerbate market uncertainties. Within the DoD, the war fighter has evolving requirements specifically related to route of administration and time to treat. Until future studies are completed, it is unclear whether our drug candidate will successfully meet these requirements. If it does not, DoD may choose to terminate the contract. With respect to the civilian sector, Marburg virus is among the top chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats to national security, yet DHHS has not defined the civilian requirement, making the broader demand for our drug candidate uncertain.

This expected dependence on government purchases presents additional challenges, since the government is incentivized to negotiate prices for countermeasures to just above their marginal cost of production, which would severely limit our profit potential. If companies resist low prices, governments can, in extreme cases, threaten compulsory licensing or purchase patent-breaching generics.

 

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Our U.S. government contracts may be terminated and we may be liable for penalties under a variety of procurement rules and regulations and changes in government regulations or practices could adversely affect our profitability, cash balances or growth prospects.

We must comply with laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration and performance of U.S. government contracts, which affect how we do business with our customers. Such laws and regulations may potentially impose added costs on our business and our failure to comply with them may lead to penalties and the termination of our U.S. government contracts. Some significant regulations that affect us include:

 

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the Federal Acquisition Regulation and supplements, which regulate the formation, administration and performance of U.S. government contracts;

 

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the Truth in Negotiations Act, which requires certification and disclosure of cost and pricing data in connection with contract negotiations; and

 

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the Cost Accounting Standards, which impose accounting requirements that govern our right to reimbursement under certain cost-based government contracts.

Our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to periodic review and investigation. If such a review or investigation identifies improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties or administrative sanctions, including the termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, the triggering of price reduction clauses, suspension of payments, fines and suspension or debarment from doing business with U.S. government agencies. We could also suffer harm to our reputation if allegations of impropriety were made against us, which would impair our ability to win awards of contracts in the future or receive renewals of existing contracts.

In addition, U.S. government agencies routinely audit and review their contractors’ performance on contracts, cost structure, pricing practices and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards. They also review the adequacy of, and a contractor’s compliance with, its internal control systems and policies, including the contractor’s purchasing, property, estimating, compensation and management information systems. Such audits may result in adjustments to our contract costs, and any costs found to be improperly allocated will not be reimbursed. We have recorded contract revenues based upon costs we expect to realize upon final audit; however, we do not know the outcome of any future audits and adjustments and, if future audit adjustments exceed our estimates, our results of operations could be adversely affected. Additionally, we may be required to enter into agreements and subcontracts with third parties, including suppliers, consultants and other third party contractors in order to satisfy our contractual obligations pursuant to our agreements with the U.S. government. Negotiating and entering into such arrangements can be time-consuming and we may not be able to reach agreement with such third parties. Any such agreement also has to be compliant with the terms of our government grants. Any delay or inability to enter into such arrangements or entering into such arrangements in a manner that is non-compliant with the terms of our grants, may result in violations of our contracts with the U.S. government.

Clinical trials for our product candidates are expensive and time consuming, may take longer than we expect or may not be completed at all, and their outcomes are uncertain.

We have completed a Phase Ib/II clinical trial for eteplirsen in the UK and announced results in October 2010, which were published in The Lancet in July 2011. We have also completed a U.S.-based Phase IIb placebo controlled trial in eteplirsen and announced results in April 2012. Following completion of this study, we initiated an open label extension study with the same participants from the original Phase IIb placebo controlled trial and announced 48-week results on October 3, 2012. We expect to commence additional trials of eteplirsen and other product candidates in the future. Each of our clinical trials requires the investment of substantial planning, expense and time, and the timing of the commencement, continuation and completion of these clinical

 

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trials may be subject to significant delays relating to various causes, including scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and clinical institutions, difficulties in identifying and enrolling participants who meet trial eligibility criteria, failure of participants to complete the clinical trial, delay or failure to obtain IRB or other regulatory approval to conduct a clinical trial at a prospective site, unexpected adverse events and shortages of available drug supply. Participant enrollment is a function of many factors, including the size of the relevant population, the proximity of participants to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the existence of competing clinical trials and the availability of alternative or new treatments.

We depend on medical institutions and clinical research organizations, or CROs, to conduct our clinical trials in compliance with Good Clinical Practice, or GCP, and to the extent they fail to enroll participants for our clinical trials, fail to conduct the study to GCP standards or are delayed for a significant time in the execution of our trials, including achieving full enrollment, we may be affected by increased costs, program delays or both, which may harm our business. In addition, we have in the past conducted clinical trials in foreign countries and may do so again in the future, which may subject us to further delays and expenses as a result of increased drug shipment costs, additional regulatory requirements and the engagement of foreign CROs, as well as expose us to risks associated with less experienced clinical investigators who are unknown to the FDA, and different standards of medical care. Foreign currency transactions insofar as changes in the relative value of the U.S. dollar to the foreign currency where the trial is being conducted may impact our actual costs. In addition, for some programs (e.g., DMD and Marburg infection) there are currently no approved drugs to compare against and an agreement about how to measure efficacy has yet to be reached with the FDA and then demonstrated.

Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with FDA or other applicable foreign government guidelines and are subject to oversight by the FDA, other foreign governmental agencies and IRBs at the medical institutions where the clinical trials are conducted. In addition, clinical trials must be conducted with supplies of our product candidates produced under current Good Manufacturing Practice, or cGMP, and other requirements in foreign countries, and may require large numbers of participants. The FDA or other foreign governmental agencies or we ourselves could delay, suspend or halt our clinical trials of a product candidate for numerous reasons, including:

 

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deficiencies in the trial design;

 

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deficiencies in the conduct of the clinical trial including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or clinical protocols;

 

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deficiencies in the clinical trial operations or trial sites resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold;

 

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the product candidate may have unforeseen adverse side effects, including fatalities, or a determination may be made that a clinical trial presents unacceptable health risks;

 

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the time required to determine whether the product candidate is effective may be longer than expected;

 

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fatalities or other adverse events arising during a clinical trial that may not be related to clinical trial treatments;

 

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the product candidate may appear to be no more effective than current therapies;

 

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the quality or stability of the product candidate may fail to conform to acceptable standards;

 

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our inability to produce or obtain sufficient quantities of the product candidate to complete the trials;

 

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our inability to reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;

 

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our inability to obtain IRB approval to conduct a clinical trial at a prospective site;

 

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our inability to obtain regulatory approval to conduct a clinical trial;

 

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lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial, including the occurrence of unforeseen costs due to enrollment delays, requirements to conduct additional trials and studies and increased expenses associated with the services of our CROs and other third parties;

 

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our inability to recruit and enroll individuals to participate in clinical trials for reasons including competition from other clinical trial programs for the same or similar indications; or

 

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our inability to retain participants who have initiated a clinical trial but may be prone to withdraw due to side effects from the therapy, lack of efficacy or personal issues, or who are lost to further follow-up.

In addition, we may experience significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after promising results in earlier trials, such as unexpected adverse events that occur when our product candidates are combined with other therapies and drugs or given to larger populations, which often occur in later-stage clinical trials. In addition, clinical results are frequently susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals. Also, patient advocacy groups and parents of trial participants may demand additional clinical trials or continued access to drug even if our interpretation of clinical results received thus far leads us to determine that additional clinical trials or continued access are unwarranted. Any disagreement with patient advocacy groups or parents of trial participants may require management’s time and attention and may result in legal proceedings being instituted against us, which could be expensive, time-consuming and distracting, and may result in delay of the program. Negative or inconclusive results or adverse medical events, including participant fatalities that may be attributable to our product candidates, during a clinical trial may necessitate that it be redesigned, repeated or terminated. Further, some of our clinical trials may be overseen by an independent data safety monitoring board, or DSMB, and the DSMB may determine to delay or suspend one or more of these trials due to safety or futility findings based on events occurring during a clinical trial. Any such delay, suspension, termination or request to repeat or redesign a trial could increase our costs and prevent or significantly delay our ability to commercialize our product candidates.

We have incurred operating losses since our inception and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

We had an operating loss of $19.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2012, and incurred an operating loss of $35.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2011. As of September 30, 2012, our accumulated deficit was $369.2 million. Our losses have resulted principally from expenses incurred in research and development of our technology and products, from general and administrative expenses that we have incurred while building our business infrastructure and acquired in-process research and development resulting from two acquisitions. We expect to continue to incur significant operating losses in the future as we continue our research and development efforts and seek to obtain regulatory approval of our products. Our ability to achieve profitability depends on our ability to raise additional capital, partner one or more programs, complete development of our products, obtain regulatory approvals and market our products. It is uncertain when, if ever, we will become profitable.

 

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We will need additional funds to conduct our planned research and development efforts. If we fail to continue to attract significant capital or fail to enter into strategic relationships, we may be unable to continue to develop our product candidates.

We will require additional capital from time to time in the future in order to continue the development of product candidates in our pipeline and to expand our product portfolio. The actual amount of funds that we will need will be determined by many factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include the success of our research and development efforts, the status of our preclinical and clinical testing, costs relating to securing regulatory approvals and the costs and timing of obtaining new patent rights, regulatory changes and competitive and technological developments in the market. An unforeseen change in these factors, or others, might increase our need for additional capital.

We would expect to seek additional financing from the sale and issuance of equity or equity-linked or debt securities, and we cannot predict that financing will be available when and as we need financing or that, if available, the financing terms will be commercially reasonable. If we are unable to obtain additional financing, when and if we require or on commercially reasonable terms, it would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

If we are able to consummate such financings, the trading price of our common stock could be adversely affected and/or the terms of such financings may adversely affect the interests of our existing shareholders. To the extent we issue additional equity securities, our existing shareholders could experience substantial dilution in their economic and voting rights. For example, through December 10, 2012, we sold an aggregate of approximately 14.0 million shares of our common stock in connection with our December 2007, January 2009, August 2009 and April 2011 financings and September 2012 at-the-market equity offering program and issued warrants to purchase approximately 5.0 million additional shares of our common stock in connection with our December 2007, January 2009 and August 2009 financings, which warrants have been exercised for an aggregate of 1.0 million shares of common stock.

Further, we may also enter into relationships with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to perform research and development with respect to our RNA-based technologies, research programs or to conduct clinical trials and to market our product candidates. Other than pre-clinical collaborations with academic/research institutions and a U.S. government entity for the development of additional exon-skipping drug candidates for the treatment of DMD, we currently do not have a strategic relationship with a third party to perform research or development using our RNA-based technologies or assist us in funding the continued development and commercialization of any of our programs or drug candidates other than that with the U.S. government. If we are unable to enter into partnerships or strategic relationships with respect to our technologies or any of our programs or drug candidates on favorable terms it may impede our ability to discover, develop and commercialize our product candidates.

We currently rely on third-party manufacturers and other third parties for production of our drug products and our dependence on these manufacturers may impair the advancement of our research and development programs and the development of our product candidates.

We do not currently have the internal ability to manufacture the product candidates that we need to conduct our clinical trials and we rely upon a limited number of manufacturers to supply our product candidates and the components of our drug substance. We may also need to rely on manufacturers for the production of our product candidates to support our research and development programs. In addition, we rely on other third parties to perform additional steps in the manufacturing process, including filling and labeling of vials and storage of our product candidates. For the foreseeable future, we expect to continue to rely on contract manufacturers and other third parties to produce, fill vials and store sufficient quantities of our product candidates for use in our research and development programs and clinical trials. For each of our eteplirsen and Marburg development programs, based on limited capacity for our specialized manufacturing needs we have had to enter into a sole-source

 

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agreement with multinational manufacturing firms for the production of the API for eteplirsen and Marburg therapeutics. There are a limited number of companies that can produce phosphorodiamidate-linked morpholino oligomer, or PMO, in the quantities and with the quality and purity that we require for our development efforts. This might limit our ability to rapidly expand our programs or commercialize our products. If we are required to seek alternative supply arrangements, the resulting delays and potential inability to find suitable replacements or bring on-line new suppliers could materially and adversely impact our business.

Our product candidates require precise, high-quality manufacturing. The failure to achieve and maintain high quality standards, including failure to detect or control anticipated or unanticipated manufacturing errors could result in patient injury or death or product recalls. Contract drug manufacturers often encounter difficulties involving production yields, quality control and quality assurance and shortages of qualified personnel. If our contract manufacturers or other third parties fail to deliver our product candidates for our research and development programs and for clinical use on a timely basis, with sufficient quality, and at commercially reasonable prices, and we fail to find replacement manufacturers or to develop our own manufacturing capabilities, we may be required to delay or suspend clinical trials, research and development programs or otherwise discontinue development and production of our product candidates. In addition, we depend on certain sole-source third-party vendors for the supply of raw materials used to produce our product candidates. If the third-party suppliers were to cease production or otherwise fail to supply us with quality raw materials and we are unable to contract on acceptable terms for these raw materials with alternative suppliers, our ability to have our product candidates manufactured and to conduct preclinical testing and clinical trials of our product candidates would be adversely affected.

We do not yet have all of the agreements necessary for the supply of our product candidates in quantities sufficient for commercial sale and we may not be able to establish or maintain sufficient commercial manufacturing arrangements on commercially reasonable terms. Securing commercial quantities of our product candidates from contract manufacturers will require us to commit significant capital and resources. We may also be required to enter into long-term manufacturing agreements that contain exclusivity provisions and/or substantial termination penalties. In addition, contract manufacturers have a limited number of facilities in which our product candidates can be produced and any interruption of the operation of those facilities due to events such as equipment malfunction or failure or damage to the facility by natural disasters could result in the cancellation of shipments, loss of product in the manufacturing process or a shortfall in available product candidates.

Our contract manufacturers are required to produce our clinical product candidates under cGMP conditions in order to meet acceptable standards for our clinical trials. If such standards change, the ability of contract manufacturers to produce our product candidates on the schedule we require for our clinical trials may be affected. In addition, contract manufacturers may not perform their obligations under their agreements with us or may discontinue their business before the time required by us to successfully produce and market our product candidates. We and our contract manufacturers are subject to periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over a third-party manufacturer’s compliance with these regulations and standards. Any difficulties or delays in our contractors’ manufacturing and supply of product candidates or any failure of our contractors to maintain compliance with the applicable regulations and standards could increase our costs, cause us to lose revenue, make us postpone or cancel clinical trials, prevent or delay regulatory approval by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities, prevent the import and/or export of our product candidates, or cause our products to be recalled or withdrawn.

We may not be able to successfully scale-up manufacturing of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, which would delay or prevent us from developing our product candidates and commercializing resulting approved drug products, if any.

To date, our product candidates have been manufactured in small quantities for preclinical studies and early stage clinical trials. In order to conduct larger or late-stage scale clinical trials for a product candidate and

 

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for commercialization of the resulting drug product if that product candidate is approved for sale, we will need to manufacture it in larger quantities. We may not be able to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any of our product candidates, whether in collaboration with third-party manufacturers or on our own, in a timely or cost-effective manner or at all. If a contract manufacturer makes improvements in the manufacturing process for our product candidates, we may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to those improvements. Significant scale-up of manufacturing may require additional validation studies, which are costly and which the FDA must review and approve. In addition, quality issues may arise during those scale-up activities because of the inherent properties of a product candidate itself or of a product candidate in combination with other components added during the manufacturing and packaging process, or during shipping and storage of the finished product or active pharmaceutical ingredients. If we are unable to successfully scale-up manufacture of any of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, the development of that product candidate and regulatory approval or commercial launch for any resulting drug products may be delayed or there may be a shortage in supply, which could significantly harm our business.

In addition, in order to release product and demonstrate stability of product candidates for use in late stage clinical trials (and any resulting drug products for commercial use), our analytical methods must be validated in accordance with regulatory guidelines. We may not be able to successfully validate our analytical methods or demonstrate adequate stability of the product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner or at all. If we are unable to successfully validate our analytical methods or to demonstrate adequate stability, the development of our product candidates and regulatory approval or commercial launch for any resulting drug products may be delayed, which could significantly harm our business.

We rely on third parties to provide services in connection with our preclinical and clinical development programs. The inadequate performance by or loss of any of these service providers could affect our product candidate development.

Several third parties provide services in connection with our preclinical and clinical development programs, including in vitro and in vivo studies, assay and reagent development, immunohistochemistry, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, clinical assessments, data monitoring and management and statistical analysis and other outsourced activities. If these service providers do not adequately perform the services for which we have contracted or cease to continue operations and we are not able to quickly find a replacement provider or we lose information or items associated with our product candidates, our development programs may be delayed.

Our RNA-based, or antisense, technology has not been incorporated into a therapeutic commercial product and is still at a relatively early stage of development.

Our RNA-based platforms, utilizing proprietary PMO-based technology, have not been incorporated into a therapeutic commercial product and are still at a relatively early stage of development. This technology is used in all of our therapeutic candidates, including eteplirsen. We are conducting toxicology, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and other preclinical studies and, although we have conducted Phase I clinical trials for AVI-6003 (we are now pursuing development of AVI-7288, one of the two component oligomers in AVI-6003) and AVI-7100 and conducted a Phase IIb clinical trial in eteplirsen, additional preclinical studies may be required for these product candidates and before other product candidates enter human clinical trials. In addition, preclinical models to study participant toxicity and activity of compounds are not necessarily predictive of toxicity or efficacy of these compounds in the treatment of human disease and there may be substantially different results in clinical trials from the results obtained in preclinical studies. Any failures or setbacks in utilizing our PMO-based technology, including adverse effects resulting from the use of this technology in humans, could have a detrimental impact on our internal product candidate pipeline and our ability to maintain and/or enter into new corporate collaborations regarding these technologies, which would negatively affect our business and financial position.

 

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The relocation of our corporate headquarters and selected research and development activities may create unintended negative consequences, including increased costs and loss of personnel.

We plan to move our corporate headquarters from Bothell, Washington to Cambridge, Massachusetts and move selected research and development activities from Bothell to our existing site in Corvallis, Oregon and a yet to be selected site in Cambridge. This transition is in the early planning stage and we expect the transition will continue through mid-2013. While we believe the relocation will improve our business operations and enhance our ability to attract and retain industry talent in the Cambridge area, we cannot ensure that this relocation will not result in any or all of the following unintended negative consequences:

 

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increased costs associated with the closing of our existing facility in Bothell, Washington including the moving of lab equipment and furniture to Cambridge and Corvallis;

 

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increased costs associated with the relocation of personnel, including reimbursement of relocation expenses and cost of living adjustments to base salaries;

 

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employee turnover due to relocation;

 

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increased costs associated with retention and/or severance packages for Bothell based personnel;

 

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business disruptions resulting from the relocation; and

 

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inability to locate suitable administrative and laboratory space for a long-term lease arrangement in Cambridge at a reasonable cost.

If any of these unintended negative consequences occurs, the negative impact may outweigh any benefits related to the relocation, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

If we fail to retain our key personnel or are unable to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, our future growth, ability to perform our U.S. government contracts and our ability to compete would suffer.

We are highly dependent on the efforts and abilities of the principal members of our senior management. Additionally, we have scientific personnel with significant and unique expertise in RNA-based therapeutics and related technologies and personnel with experience overseeing compliance with and execution of the terms of our U.S. government contracts. The loss of the services of any one of the principal members of our managerial, scientific or government contract compliance staff may prevent us from achieving our business objectives.

The competition for qualified personnel in the biotechnology field and for qualified personnel with government contracting experience is intense, and our future success depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate such personnel. In order to develop and commercialize our products successfully, we will be required to retain key managerial, scientific and government contract compliance staff. In certain instances, we may also need to expand our workforce and our management ranks. We face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as academic and other research institutions. If we are unable to attract, assimilate or retain such key personnel, our ability to advance our proprietary programs and perform our U.S. government contracts would be adversely affected. Any failure to perform under our U.S. government contracts could result in a termination of the agreement, which would harm our business.

 

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Recent changes in our executive leadership and any similar changes in the future may serve as a significant distraction for our management and employees.

In January 2011, Christopher Garabedian, a member of our board of directors, was hired to serve as our president and chief executive officer. Since the beginning of 2011, there have been a number of changes to our executive leadership team. Most recently, in June 2012, our former senior vice president and chief scientific officer, Dr. Peter Linsley, resigned from his employment with us. Such changes, or any other future changes in our executive leadership, may disrupt our operations as we adjust to the reallocation of responsibilities and assimilate new leadership and, potentially, differing perspectives on our strategic direction. If the transition in executive leadership is not smooth, the resulting disruption could negatively affect our operations and impede our ability to execute our strategic plan.

We may engage in future acquisitions that increase our capital requirements, dilute our shareholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.

We actively evaluate various strategic transactions on an ongoing basis, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, technologies or businesses. Any potential acquisitions may entail numerous risks, including increased operating expenses and cash requirements, assimilation of operations and products, retention of key employees, diversion of our management’s attention and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships of the acquired entities. In addition, if we undertake acquisitions, we may issue dilutive securities, assume or incur debt obligations, incur large one-time expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expense.

Asserting, defending and maintaining our intellectual property rights could be challenging and costly, and our failure to do so could harm our ability to compete and impair the outcome of our operations. The pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic environments are highly competitive and competing intellectual property could limit our ability to protect our products.

Our success will depend in significant part on our existing intellectually property rights and our ability to obtain additional patents and licenses in the future. As of October 31, 2012, we owned or controlled approximately 280 U.S. and corresponding foreign patents and 180 U.S. and corresponding foreign patent applications. We license patents from other parties for certain complementary technologies. We cannot be certain that pending patent applications will result in patents being issued in the United States or foreign countries. We cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions covered by any of our patents, if issued, or our pending patent applications. In addition, the patents that have been or will be issued may not afford meaningful protection for our technology and products. Competitors may develop products similar to ours that do not conflict with our patents. To protect our rights to any of our patents, if issued, and proprietary information, we may need to litigate against infringing third parties, or avail ourselves of the courts or participate in hearings to determine the scope and validity of those patents or other proprietary rights. These types of proceedings are often costly and could be very time-consuming to us, and we cannot assure you that the deciding authorities will rule in our favor. An unfavorable decision could allow third parties to use our technology without being required to pay us licensing fees or may compel us to license needed technologies to avoid infringing third-party patent and proprietary rights.

Pharmaceutical research and development is highly competitive; others may file patents first that cover our products or technology. For example, our competitor Prosensa has rights to patent families corresponding to WO2002/024906 and WO2004/083432, including issued US 7,973,015, US 7,534,879, and granted European Patent No. EP 1619249. We opposed EP 1619249 in the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office, or the Opposition Division, and in November 2011, we announced that, although we succeeded in invalidating some of the patent’s claims, the Opposition Division maintained in amended form certain claims of this patent relating to the treatment of DMD by skipping dystrophin exons 51 and 46. We and Prosensa both have the right to appeal this decision; however, pending final resolution of this matter and any appeal thereof, the patent at issue may

 

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provide the basis for Prosensa or other parties that have rights to such patent to assert that our drug eteplirsen infringes on such patent. A final resolution of this opposition proceeding may take a number of years and the outcome cannot be predicted or determined as of the date of this prospectus. We are also aware of certain claims that have issued to Prosensa in Japan (JP 4846965) that may provide the basis for Prosensa or other parties that have rights to these claims to assert that our drug eteplirsen infringes on such claims. We believe we have a basis to invalidate some or all of these claims and are evaluating the potential initiation of invalidation proceedings. Because we have not yet initiated an invalidation proceeding in Japan, the outcome and timing of such proceeding cannot be predicted or determined as of the date of this prospectus. If we are unsuccessful in invalidating other of Prosensa’s claims or if previously invalidated claims are restored on appeal, our ability to commercialize both eteplirsen and other therapeutic candidates for our pan-exon strategy could be materially impaired.

Our success will also depend partly on our ability to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others as well as our ability to prevent others from infringing on our proprietary rights. We may be required at times to take legal action to protect our proprietary rights and, despite our best efforts, we may be sued for infringing on the patent rights of others. We have not received any communications or other indications from owners of related patents or others that such persons believe our products or technology may infringe on their patents. Patent litigation can involve complex factual and legal questions and its outcome is uncertain. Patent litigation is costly and, even if we prevail, the cost of such litigation could adversely affect our financial condition. If we do not prevail, in addition to any damages we might have to pay, we could be required to stop the infringing activity or obtain a license. If any patent related to our products or technology issues, and if our activities are determined to be covered by such a patent, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain or maintain a license, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, ability to sell our products, operating results and ability to obtain and/or maintain our strategic business relationships.

Others may challenge our patents and, as a result, our patents could be narrowed or invalidated. The patent position of pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, as well as academia, is generally highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has recently been the subject of much litigation. No consistent policy has emerged from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or the courts regarding the breadth of claims allowed or the degree of protection afforded under biotechnology patents. In addition, there is a substantial backlog of pharmaceutical and biotechnology patent applications at the USPTO and the approval or rejection of patents may take several years.

To help protect our proprietary rights in unpatented proprietary information, trade secrets and know-how, we require our employees, consultants and advisors to execute confidentiality agreements and invention assignment agreements. However, such agreements may not provide us with adequate protection if confidential information is used or disclosed improperly. In addition, in some situations these agreements may conflict with, or be subject to, the rights of third parties with whom our employees, consultants or advisors have prior employment or consulting relationships. Further, others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques, or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets.

Our research collaborators may publish data and information to which we have rights. If we cannot maintain the confidentiality of our technology and other confidential information in connection with our collaborations, then our ability to receive patent protection or protect our proprietary information may be impaired.

We face intense competition and rapid technological change, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing competing products before or more successfully than we do.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are highly competitive and subject to significant and rapid technological change. We are aware of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are actively engaged in research and development in areas related to antisense technology and other RNA technologies or that

 

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are developing alternative approaches to or therapeutics for the disease indications on which we are focused. Some of these competitors are developing or testing product candidates that now, or may in the future, compete directly with our product candidates. For example, we believe that companies including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Isis Pharmaceuticals and Santaris share a focus on RNA-based drug discovery and development. Competitors with respect to our exon-skipping DMD program, or eteplirsen, include Prosensa and GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, and other companies such as PTC Therapeutics and Summit plc have also been working on DMD programs.

Clinical trials evaluating the systemic administration of the Prosensa/GSK lead DMD drug candidate are currently ongoing, including a placebo-controlled global Phase III trial and two placebo-controlled Phase II trials, one based in the United States and one based outside the United States. The Prosensa/GSK drug candidate may, or may not, prove to be safer or more efficacious than our product candidate and it could gain marketing approval before our product candidate. This might affect our ability to successfully complete a clinical development program or market eteplirsen once approved. This competition may also extend to other exon-skipping drugs for DMD limiting our ability to gain market share.

Other potential competitors include large, fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and more established biotechnology companies that have significantly greater resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, testing, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing. Also, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and marketing. It is possible that these competitors will succeed in developing technologies that are more effective than our product candidates or that would render our technology obsolete or noncompetitive. Our competitors may, among other things:

 

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develop safer or more effective products;

 

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implement more effective approaches to sales and marketing;

 

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develop less costly products;

 

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obtain quicker regulatory approval;

 

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have access to more manufacturing capacity;

 

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develop products that are more convenient and easier to administer;

 

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form more advantageous strategic alliances; or

 

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establish superior proprietary positions.

We may be subject to clinical trial claims and our insurance may not be adequate to cover damages.

We currently have no products that have been approved for commercial sale; however, the current and future use of our product candidates by us and our corporate collaborators in clinical trials, and the sale of any approved products in the future, may expose us to liability claims. These claims might be made directly by consumers or healthcare providers or indirectly by pharmaceutical companies, our corporate collaborators or others selling such products. We may experience financial losses in the future due to product liability claims. We have obtained limited general commercial liability insurance coverage for our clinical trials. We intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates. However, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against all losses. If a successful product liability claim or series of claims is

 

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brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.

Our operations involve the use of hazardous materials, and we must comply with environmental laws, which can be expensive, and may affect our business and operating results.

Our research and development activities involve the use of hazardous materials, including organic and inorganic solvents and reagents. Accordingly, we are subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling, manufacturing, exposure to, and disposal of these hazardous materials. In addition, we are subject to environmental, health and workplace safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures, exposure to blood-borne pathogens, and the handling of biohazardous materials. Although we believe that our activities conform in all material respects with such environmental laws, there can be no assurance that violations of these laws will not occur in the future as a result of human error, accident, equipment failure, or other causes. Liability under environmental, health and safety laws can be joint and several and without regard to fault or negligence. The failure to comply with past, present or future laws could result in the imposition of substantial fines and penalties, remediation costs, property damage and personal injury claims, loss of permits or a cessation of operations, and any of these events could harm our business and financial conditions. We expect that our operations will be affected by other new environmental and health and workplace safety laws on an ongoing basis, and although we cannot predict the ultimate impact of any such new laws, they may impose greater compliance costs or result in increased risks or penalties, which could harm our business.

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

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

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and this Offering

Our stock price is volatile and may fluctuate due to factors beyond our control.

The market prices for, and trading volumes of, securities of biotechnology companies, including our securities, have been historically volatile. The market has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly due to a variety of factors, including:

 

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positive or negative results of testing and clinical trials by ourselves, strategic partners, or competitors;

 

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delays in entering into strategic relationships with respect to development and/or commercialization of our product candidates or entry into strategic relationships on terms that are not deemed to be favorable to our company;

 

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technological innovations or commercial product introductions by ourselves or competitors;

 

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changes in government regulations;

 

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developments concerning proprietary rights, including patents and litigation matters;

 

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public concern relating to the commercial value or safety of any of our products;

 

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financing, through the issuance of equity or equity linked securities or incurrence of debt, or other corporate transactions;

 

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comments by securities analysts;

 

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litigation;

 

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the perception that shares of our common stock may be delisted from The NASDAQ Global Market; or

 

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general market conditions in our industry or in the economy as a whole.

In addition, the stock market has recently experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of individual companies. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of companies’ stock, including ours, regardless of actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instigated against these companies. Such litigation, if instigated against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

Provisions of our articles of incorporation, bylaws and Oregon corporate law might deter acquisition bids for us that might be considered favorable and prevent or frustrate any attempt to replace or remove the then current management and board of directors.

Certain provisions of our articles of incorporation and bylaws may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us or effect a change in our board of directors and management. These provisions include:

 

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classification of our board of directors into two classes, with one class elected each year;

 

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prohibition of cumulative voting of shares in the election of directors;

 

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prohibition of shareholder actions by less than unanimous written consent;

 

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express authorization of the board of directors to make, alter or repeal our bylaws;

 

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advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by shareholders at shareholder meetings; and

 

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the ability of our board of directors to authorize the issuance of undesignated preferred stock, the terms and rights of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without shareholder approval, including rights superior to the rights of the holders of common stock.

In addition, the Oregon Control Share Act and Business Combination Act may limit parties that acquire a significant amount of voting shares from exercising control over us for specific periods of time. These provisions

 

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could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change of control, even if doing so would benefit our shareholders. These provisions also could discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for shareholders to elect directors of their choosing or cause us to take other corporate actions, such as replacing or removing management or members of our board of directors.

We expect our quarterly operating results to fluctuate in future periods, which may adversely affect our stock price.

Our quarterly operating results have fluctuated in the past, and we believe they will continue to do so in the future. Some of these fluctuations may be more pronounced than they were in the past as a result of the issuance of warrants to purchase approximately 5.0 million shares (which number gives effect to our July 2012 one-for-six reverse stock split) of our common stock by us in December 2007 and January and August 2009. Each of these warrants is classified as a derivative liability. Accordingly, the fair value of the warrants is recorded on our consolidated balance sheet as a liability, and such fair value is adjusted at each financial reporting date with the adjustment to fair value reflected in our consolidated statement of operations. The fair value of the warrants is determined using the Black-Scholes option valuation model. Fluctuations in the assumptions and factors used in the Black-Scholes model can result in adjustments to the fair value of the warrants reflected on our balance sheet and, therefore, our statement of operations. Due to the classification of such warrants and other factors, quarterly results of operations are difficult to forecast, and period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be predictive of future performance. Additionally, our quarterly operating results may fluctuate due to the variable nature of our revenue and research and development expenses. Specifically, a change in the timing of activities performed in support of our U.S. government research contracts could either accelerate or defer anticipated revenue from period to period. Likewise, our research and development expenses may experience fluctuations as a result of the timing of activities performed in support of our U.S. government research contracts and the timing and magnitude of expenditures incurred in support of our DMD and other proprietary development programs. In one or more future quarters, our results of operations may fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline. In addition, the market price of our common stock may fluctuate or decline regardless of our operating performance.

A significant number of shares of our common stock are issuable pursuant to outstanding options and warrants, and we expect to issue additional shares of common stock in the future. Sales of these shares will dilute the interests of other security holders and may depress the price of our common stock.

As of December 10, 2012, there were 25,987,597 shares of common stock outstanding, outstanding options to purchase 1,950,022 shares of common stock, restricted stock units representing 38,796 shares and outstanding warrants to purchase up to 3,356,727 shares of common stock. Additionally, as of December 10, 2012, there were 1,111,077 shares of common stock available for future issuance under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan and up to an aggregate of $2.2 million in shares of our common stock (or approximately 85,000 shares of common stock assuming a public offering price of $25.92 per share, the last reported sale price on The Nasdaq Global Market on December 11, 2012) to be sold by us through Citadel Securities LLC pursuant to the at-the-market equity offering sales agreement entered into on September 4, 2012. In addition, we may issue additional common stock and warrants from time to time to finance our operations. We may also issue additional shares to fund potential acquisitions or in connection with additional stock options or other equity awards granted to our employees, officers, directors and consultants under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or warrants to purchase common stock, perception that such issuances may occur, or exercise of outstanding warrants or options will have a dilutive impact on other shareholders and could have a material negative effect on the market price of our common stock.

 

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Management will have broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds to us from this offering and may apply it to uses that do not improve our operating results or the value of your securities.

Our management will have broad discretion to use the net proceeds to us from this offering, and investors will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors and management regarding the application of these proceeds. Although we expect to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, we have not allocated these net proceeds for specific purposes. Investors will not have the opportunity, as part of their investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. Our use of the proceeds may not improve our operating results or increase the value of the securities being offered hereby.

A substantial number of shares of common stock may be sold in the market following this offering, which may depress the market price for our common stock.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market following this offering could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. A substantial majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock are, and the shares of common stock sold in this offering upon issuance will be, freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

Investors in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution.

Since the price per share of our common stock being offered is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock, you will suffer substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the common stock you purchase in this offering. Based on the assumed public offering of 3,000,000 shares at the assumed price of $25.92 per share (the closing price on the Nasdaq Global Market on December 11, 2012), and without deducting underwriting discounts and commissions but after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us, and based on a net tangible book value of our common stock of $(0.39) per share as of September 30, 2012, if you purchase shares of common stock in this offering, you will suffer immediate and substantial dilution of $23.57 per share in the net tangible book value of common stock. See the section entitled “Dilution” below for a more detailed discussion of the dilution you will incur if you purchase common stock in this offering.

 

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and the SEC filings that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus contain or incorporate by reference “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can generally identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking words such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “will,” “may,” and other similar expressions. You should read these statements carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition, or state other “forward-looking” information. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and financial performance and the assumptions that underlie these statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

 

•

our expectations regarding the development and clinical benefits of our product candidates;

 

•

the results of our research and development efforts and the efficacy of our PMO-based chemistries and other RNA-based technology;

 

•

our expectations regarding the development and clinical benefits of our product candidates;

 

•

the results of our research and development efforts and the efficacy of our PMO-based chemistries and other RNA-based technology;

 

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our expectations regarding our ability to become a leading developer and marketer of RNA-based therapeutics;

 

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the efficacy, potency and utility of our product candidates in the treatment of rare and infectious diseases, and their potential to treat a broad number of human diseases;

 

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our expectations regarding the results of preclinical and clinical testing of our product candidates;

 

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our expectations regarding initiating enrollment of a pivotal Phase III trial in late 2013;

 

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our expectations regarding the timing, completion and receipt of results from our ongoing development programs;

 

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the receipt of any required approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, or other regulatory approval for our products;

 

•

the effect of regulation by FDA and other agencies;

 

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our expectations regarding the markets for our products;

 

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acceptance of our products, if introduced, in the marketplace;

 

•

the impact of competitive products, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties;

 

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our expectations regarding partnering opportunities and other strategic transactions;

 

•

the extent of protection that our patents provide and our pending patent applications may provide, if patents issue from such applications, to our technologies and programs;

 

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our plans to file additional patent applications to enhance and protect our existing intellectual property portfolio;

 

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our ability to invalidate some or all of the claims covered by patents issued to competitors;

 

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our estimates regarding our future revenues, research and development expenses, other expenses, payments to third parties and changes in staffing levels;

 

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our estimates regarding how long our currently available cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to finance our operations and statements about our future capital needs;

 

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our expectations about funding from the government and other sources; and

 

•

other factors set forth above under the heading “Risk Factors” and in the section entitled “Risk Factors” incorporated herein by reference from our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K we file after the date of this prospectus supplement.

All forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and the risk factors incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus supplement. Except to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations, we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus supplement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances described in this prospectus supplement may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We anticipate that our net proceeds to us, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses payable by us, from the assumed sale of 3,000,000 shares of our common stock offered hereby, at an assumed public offering price of $25.92 per share, the closing price on the Nasdaq Global Market on December 11, 2012, will be approximately $73,372,000 million, or approximately $84,452,800 million if the underwriters exercise in full their over-allotment option to purchase an assumed 450,000 additional shares of common stock.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including the continued development of eteplirsen and other product candidates. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures for each purpose may vary significantly depending upon numerous factors, including the status of our product development and clinical trial efforts, regulatory approvals, competition, our ability to obtain government funding or other non-dilutive financing for the development of certain of our product candidates and our evaluation of opportunities to further the development efforts for our lead product candidate, eteplirsen. We reserve the right to change the use of proceeds as a result of certain contingencies such as competitive developments, opportunities to acquire technologies or products and other factors. Pending application of the proceeds of sale of the securities, we intend to invest the net proceeds of the sale in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments.

 

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DILUTION

Purchasers of common stock offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus will suffer immediate and substantial dilution in the net tangible book value per share of common stock. Our net tangible book value as of September 30, 2012 was approximately $(9.4) million, or approximately $(0.39) per share of common stock. Net tangible book value per share represents the amount of total tangible assets less total liabilities, divided by the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2012.

Dilution in net tangible book value per share represents the difference between the amount per share paid by purchasers of shares in this offering and the net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering. After giving effect to the assumed sale of 3,000,000 shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed public offering price of $25.92 per share (the last reported sale price on The NASDAQ Global Market on December 11, 2012), and after deduction of the estimated offering expenses payable by us, our as adjusted net tangible book value as of September 30, 2012 would have been approximately $64.1 million, or $2.35 per share of common stock. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $2.73 per share of common stock to our existing shareholders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $23.57 per share of common stock to investors participating in this offering. The following table illustrates this per share dilution:

 

Assumed public offering price per share						$	25.92
Net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2012		$	(0.39	)
Increase per share attributable to this offering		$	2.73
As adjusted net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2012, after giving effect to this offering						$	2.35
Dilution per share to new investors participating in this offering						$	23.57

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $25.92 per share (the last reported sale price of our common stock on The NASDAQ Global Market on December 11, 2012) would increase (decrease) our as adjusted net tangible book value after this offering by approximately $2.9 million, or approximately $0.10 per share, and the dilution per share to new investors by approximately $0.90 per share, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth above, remains the same and after deducting the commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We may also increase or decrease the number of shares we are offering from the assumed number of shares set forth above. An increase of 100,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us from the assumed number of shares set forth above would increase our as adjusted net tangible book value after this offering by approximately $2.5 million, or approximately $0.08 per share, and the dilution per share to new investors would be $0.09 per share, assuming that the assumed public offering price remains the same and after deducting the commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, a decrease of 100,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us from the assumed number of shares set forth above would decrease our as adjusted net tangible book value after this offering by approximately $2.5 million, or approximately $0.09 per share, and the dilution per share to new investors would be approximately $0.09 per share, assuming that the assumed public offering price remains the same and after deducting the commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The information discussed above is illustrative only and will adjust based on the actual public offering price, the actual number of shares that we offer in this offering, and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

The above table is based on 24,302,261 shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2012 and excludes the following:

 

•

4,822,090 shares of our common stock reserved for issuance upon the exercise of outstanding warrants with a weighted average exercise price of $9.70 per share, of which 0.9 million shares have been issued upon exercise of such warrants subsequent to September 30, 2012;

•

2,440,470 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding at September 30, 2012 under our 2002 Equity Incentive Plan, our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan and certain non-plan option grants;

 

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•

38,911 shares of restricted stock units issuable upon vesting under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan;

•

70,000 shares subject to stock appreciation rights under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan;

•

1,539,930 shares of our common stock available as of September 30, 2012 for future issuance under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan; and

•

up to an aggregate of $19.0 million in shares of our common stock (or approximately 733,000 shares of common stock assuming a public offering price of $25.92 per share, the last reported sale price on The Nasdaq Global Market on December 11, 2012) to be sold by us through Citadel Securities LLC pursuant to the at-the-market equity offering sales agreement entered into on September 4, 2012, of which $16.9 million (or approximately 555,000 shares) were sold subsequent to September 30, 2012.

To the extent that any options or warrants are exercised, new options are issued under our equity incentive plans, or we otherwise issue additional shares of common stock in the future, there will be further dilution to new investors.

If the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase an assumed 450,000 additional shares of common stock at the assumed public offering price of $25.92 per share, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after this offering would be $2.71 per share, representing an increase in net tangible book value of $0.40 per share to existing stockholders and immediate dilution in net tangible book value of $0.36 per share to investors purchasing our common stock in this offering at the public offering price.

 

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UNDERWRITING

Under the terms and subject to the conditions in an underwriting agreement dated the date of this prospectus supplement, Lazard Capital Markets LLC and the underwriters set forth in the table below, have each agreed to purchase, and we have agreed to sell to them, the number of shares of our common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement as indicated below:

 

Underwriter		Number     of Shares
Lazard Capital Markets LLC
Total

The underwriters are offering the shares of common stock subject to their acceptance of the shares from us and subject to prior sale. The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of the underwriters to pay for and accept delivery of the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus supplement are subject to the approval of certain legal matters by their counsel and to other conditions. The underwriters are obligated to take and pay for all of the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus supplement if any such shares are taken.

The underwriters have an option to buy up to              additional shares of common stock from us to cover sales of shares by the underwriters which exceed the number of shares specified in the table above. The underwriters may exercise this option at any time and from time to time during the 30-day period from the date of this prospectus supplement. If any additional shares of common stock are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares are being offered.

The underwriters initially propose to offer the shares of common stock directly to the public at the public offering price listed on the cover page of this prospectus supplement. After the initial offering of the shares of common stock, the offering price and other selling terms may from time to time be varied by the underwriters.

The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of the underwriters are subject to certain conditions precedent, including the absence of any material adverse change in our business and the receipt of customary legal opinions, letters and certificates.

Commissions and Discounts

The following table summarizes the public offering price, underwriting discounts and commissions and proceeds before expenses to us assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares:

 

Total

Per Share

Without Over- Allotment

With Over- Allotment

Public offering price

$

$

$

Underwriting discounts and commissions

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

The expenses of the offering, not including the underwriting discounts and commissions, payable by us are estimated to be $            .

 

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The relationship between Lazard Frères & Co. LLC and Lazard Capital Markets LLC is governed by a business alliance agreement between their respective parent companies. Pursuant to such agreement, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC referred this transaction to Lazard Capital Markets LLC and will receive a referral fee from Lazard Capital Markets LLC in connection therewith; however, such referral fee is not in addition to the fee paid by us to Lazard Capital Markets LLC described above.

Indemnification

We and the underwriters have agreed to indemnify each other, and we have also agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and liabilities arising from breaches of representations and warranties contained in the underwriting agreement. We have also agreed to contribute to payments the underwriters may be required to make in respect of such liabilities.

No Sales of Similar Securities

We and each of our executive officers and directors, subject to certain exceptions, have agreed with the underwriters not to dispose of or hedge any of our shares of common stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock for 60 days after the date of this prospectus supplement without first obtaining the written consent of the underwriters. The exceptions to the lock-up for executive officers and directors are: (a) transactions relating to shares of common stock or other securities acquired in open market transactions after the completion of the Offering; (b) the transfer of shares of common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock (i) to the spouse, domestic partner, parent, child or grandchild of the undersigned or to a trust formed for the benefit of an immediate family member or (ii) by bona fide gift; (c) the transfer of shares of common stock or any securities convertible into shares of common stock to us upon a vesting event of our securities or upon the exercise of options or warrants to purchase our securities, in each case on a “cashless” or “net exercise” basis or to cover tax withholding obligations; (d) the establishment of a trading plan pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act for the transfer of shares of common stock; and (e) the transfer of shares of common stock or any security convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock that occurs by operation of law, such as pursuant to a qualified domestic order or in connection with a divorce settlement; each of which is subject to certain conditions set forth in the lock-up agreements with the executive officers and directors. The exceptions to the lock-up for us are: (w) our sale of shares in this offering; (x) the issuance of restricted common stock or options to acquire common stock pursuant to our benefit plans, qualified equity incentive plans or other compensation plans; (y) the issuance of options to induce personnel to accept employment with our company (whether or not pursuant to a plan), which in the aggregate shall not exceed 3% of our outstanding common stock; and (z) the issuance of common stock pursuant to the valid exercises of options, warrants or rights; each of which is subject to certain conditions set forth in the underwriting agreement. The 60-day “lock-up” period during which we and our executive officers and directors are restricted from engaging in transactions in our common stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock is subject to extension such that, in the event that either (i) during the last 17 days of the “lock-up” period, we issue an earnings or financial results release or material news or a material event relating to us occurs, or (ii) prior to the expiration of the “lock-up” period, we announce that we will release earnings or financial results during the 16-day period beginning on the last day of the “lock-up” period, then in either case the expiration of the “lock-up” period will be extended until the expiration of the 18-day period beginning on the issuance of the earnings or financial results release or the occurrence of the material news or material event, as applicable, unless the underwriters waive, in writing, such an extension

Price Stabilization, Short Positions

In order to facilitate the offering of our common stock, the underwriters may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of our common stock. Specifically, the underwriters may sell more shares than they are obligated to purchase under the underwriting agreement, creating a short position. The underwriters must close out any short position by purchasing shares in the open market. A short position may be

 

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created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the common stock in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchased in this offering. As an additional means of facilitating this offering, the underwriters may bid for, and purchase, shares of our common stock in the open market to stabilize the price of the common stock. These activities may raise or maintain the market price of our common stock above independent market levels or prevent or slow a decline in the market price of our common stock. The underwriters are not required to engage in these activities, and may end any of these activities at any time.

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on websites maintained by the underwriters. The underwriters may agree to allocate a number of shares of common stock to other underwriters for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the underwriters on the same basis as other allocations.

United Kingdom

This document is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) to investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (e) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). The shares of common stock are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such common stock will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

Each underwriter has represented and agreed that:

(a) it has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or FSMA) received by it in connection with the issue or sale of the shares in circumstances in which Section 21(1) of the FSMA does not apply to us, and

(b) it has complied with, and will comply with all applicable provisions of FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the shares in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom.

European Economic Area

To the extent that the offer of the common stock is made in any Member State of the European Economic Area that has implemented the Prospectus Directive before the date of publication of a prospectus in relation to the common stock which has been approved by the competent authority in the Member State in accordance with the Prospectus Directive (or, where appropriate, published in accordance with the Prospectus Directive and notified to the competent authority in the Member State in accordance with the Prospectus Directive), the offer (including any offer pursuant to this document) is only addressed to qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive or has been or will be made otherwise in circumstances that do not require us to publish a prospectus pursuant to the Prospectus Directive.

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a “Relevant Member State”), each underwriter has represented and agreed that with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that Relevant Member State (the “Relevant Implementation Date”) it has not made and will not make an offer of shares to the public in that Relevant Member State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the shares which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant Member State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant Member State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant Member State, all in accordance with the

 

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Prospectus Directive, except that it may, with effect from and including the Relevant Implementation Date, make an offer of shares to the public in that Relevant Member State at any time:

(a) to legal entities which are authorized or regulated to operate in the financial markets or, if not so authorized or regulated, whose corporate purpose is solely to invest in securities,

(b) to any legal entity which has two or more of (1) an average of at least 250 employees during the last financial year; (2) a total balance sheet of more than €43,000,000 and (3) an annual net turnover of more than €50,000,000, as shown in its last annual or consolidated accounts, or

(c) in any other circumstances which do not require the publication by us of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive. For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of shares to the public” in relation to any shares in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the shares, as the same may be varied in that Relevant Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Relevant Member State and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each Relevant Member State.

The EEA selling restriction is in addition to any other selling restrictions set out below. In relation to each Relevant Member State, each purchaser of shares of common stock (other than the underwriters) will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that it will not make an offer of shares of common stock to the public in any Relevant Member State, except that it may, with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in the Relevant Member State, make an offer of shares of common stock to the public in that Relevant Member State at any time in any circumstances which do not require the publication by us of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive, provided that such purchaser agrees that it has not and will not make an offer of any shares of common stock in reliance or purported reliance on Article 3(2)(b) of the Prospectus Directive. For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of shares to the public” in relation to any shares of common stock in any Relevant Member State has the same meaning as in the preceding paragraph.

Switzerland

This document does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Art. 652a of the Swiss Code of Obligations. The shares of common stock may not be sold directly or indirectly in or into Switzerland except in a manner which will not result in a public offering within the meaning of the Swiss Code of Obligations. Neither this document nor any other offering materials relating to the shares of common stock may be distributed, published or otherwise made available in Switzerland except in a manner which will not constitute a public offer of the shares of common stock in Switzerland.

Listing on The NASDAQ Global Market

Our common shares are traded on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “SRPT.” The transfer agent for our common shares to be issued in this offering is BNY Mellon Shareowner Services.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

White Summers Caffee & James, LLP, Portland, Oregon, will pass upon the validity with respect to Oregon law of the issuance and sale of the common stock offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and certain other matters relating to Oregon law. Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, New York is counsel to the underwriters in connection with the transaction.

EXPERTS

The financial statements of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (a developmental stage enterprise) as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2011 and the information included in the cumulative from inception presentations for the period January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2011 (not separately presented), and management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011 have been incorporated by reference herein and in the registration statement in reliance upon the reports of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We file annual, quarterly and other reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the Public Reference Room. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments to those reports, and other information that we file with or furnish to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act can also be accessed free of charge on our website at http://www.sareptatherapeutics.com under the “Investor Relations—SEC Filings” caption. These filings will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not part of this prospectus supplement.

You should rely only on the information provided in, and incorporated by reference in, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and the registration statement to which this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus form a part. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information. Our securities are not being offered in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. The information contained in documents that are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the dates of those documents. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference the information we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document that we have filed separately with the SEC. You should read the information incorporated by reference because it is an important part of this prospectus. We incorporate by reference the following information or documents that we have filed with the SEC (excluding those portions of any Form 8-K that are not deemed “filed” pursuant to the General Instructions of Form 8-K):

 

•

our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, filed with the SEC on March 13, 2012, as amended by Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on April 30, 2012;

 

•

our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2012, June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2012, filed with the SEC on May 10, 2012, August 7, 2012 and November 7, 2012, respectively;

 

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our Current Reports on Form 8-K, as filed with the SEC on March 1, 2012 (with respect to Item 8.01 only), April 2, 2012, April 12, 2012, April 25, 2012, June 1, 2012, June 5, 2012, July 12, 2012, July 16, 2012, August 3, 2012, August 29, 2012, September 4, 2012 (filed at 8:37 AM Eastern time, with respect to Items 1.01, 8.01 and 9.01 only), September 4, 2012 (filed at 5:21 PM Eastern time), September 19, 2012, October 3, 2012 (as amended by Amendment No. 1 on Form 8-K/A filed on October 4, 2012), October 4, 2012 and November 6, 2012; and

 

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the description of our common stock contained in our registration statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on May 29, 1997.

All reports and other documents we subsequently file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the termination of this offering, but excluding any information furnished to, rather than filed with, the SEC, will also be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and deemed to be part of this prospectus from the date of the filing of such reports and documents.

Any statement contained in any document incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus.

We will provide without charge to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom this prospectus is delivered, upon written or oral request, a copy of any or all documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus, but not delivered with the prospectus, other than exhibits to such documents unless such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference into the documents that this prospectus incorporates. You should direct written requests to: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., 3450 Monte Villa Parkway, Suite 101, Bothell, Washington 98021, or you may call us at (425) 354-5038.

 

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PROSPECTUS

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

 

Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Debt Securities, Warrants and Units

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. or certain selling securityholders may, from time to time offer, in one or more classes or series, separately or together, and in amounts, at prices and on terms to be set forth in one or more supplements to this prospectus, common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants to purchase common stock, preferred stock or debt securities, or any combination of the foregoing, either individually or as units comprised of two or more other securities.

We refer to the common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants and units registered hereunder collectively as the “securities” in this prospectus. We will offer our securities in amounts, at prices and on terms determined at the time of the offering of any such security.

The prospectus provides a general description of the securities we or any selling securityholder may offer. The specific terms of each series or class of the securities will be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement and will include, as applicable: (i) in the case of common stock, any public offering price; (ii) in the case of preferred stock, the specific title and any dividend, liquidation, redemption, conversion, voting and other rights and any public offering price; (iii) in the case of debt securities, the specific terms of such debt securities; (iv) in the case of warrants, the duration, offering price, exercise price and detachability; and (v) in the case of units, the constituent securities comprising the units, the offering price and detachability.

We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you in connection with these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus may add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should carefully read this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the documents incorporated by reference before you invest in any of our securities. This prospectus may not be used to sell securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “SRPT.” On November 6, 2012, the last reported sale price on The NASDAQ Global Market was $23.86 per share. There is currently no market for the other securities we may offer.

 

 

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Please carefully read the information under the headings “Risk Factors” beginning on page 10 and “Forward-Looking Statements,” on page 24 of this prospectus before you invest in our securities. This information may also be included in any supplement, any related free writing prospectus and/or any other future filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

 

 

NEITHER THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THESE SECURITIES OR DETERMINED IF THIS PROSPECTUS IS TRUTHFUL OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

We may offer and sell these securities to or through one or more underwriters, dealers and agents, or directly to purchasers, on a continuous or delayed basis. In addition, certain selling securityholders may offer and sell our securities from time to time. We will provide specific information about any selling securityholders in one or more supplements to this prospectus. If any underwriters, dealers or agents are involved in the sale of any of the securities, their names, and any applicable purchase price, fee, commission or discount arrangement between or among them will be set forth, or will be calculable from the information set forth, in the applicable prospectus supplement. See the sections entitled “Plan of Distribution” and “About This Prospectus” for more information. The price to the public of those securities and the net proceeds we or any selling securityholders expect to receive from that sale will also be set forth in a prospectus supplement. No securities may be sold without delivery of this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement describing the method and terms of the offering of such series of securities.

The date of this prospectus is November 7, 2012.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

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Prospectus Summary			1
Risk Factors			10
Forward-Looking Statements			24
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges			26
Use of Proceeds			26
Description of the Warrants			39
Plan of Distribution			40
Legal Matters			43
Experts			43
Where You Can Find More Information			43
Information Incorporated by Reference			44
Disclosure of Commission Position on Indemnification for Securities Act Liabilities			44

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf process, we or any selling securityholder may, from time to time, offer or sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings.

This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities offered by us or any selling securityholder. Each time we or any selling securityholder sell securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information about the terms of that offering. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add to, update or change information contained in the prospectus or in any documents that we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and, accordingly, to the extent inconsistent, information in this prospectus is superseded by the information in the prospectus supplement or the related free writing prospectus.

You should only rely on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. We have not authorized any other person to provide you with different information. You should read the entire prospectus and any prospectus supplement and any related issuer free writing prospectus, as well as the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any prospectus supplement, before making an investment decision. The prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement, if any, do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor do this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. You should assume that the information in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on the front of the document and that any information we have incorporated by reference is accurate only as of the date of the document incorporated by reference, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of a security. We do not imply or represent by delivering this prospectus that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., or its business, financial condition or results of operations, are unchanged after the date on the front of this prospectus or that the information in this prospectus is correct as any time after such date.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investment in any securities offered pursuant to this prospectus involves risks. You should carefully consider the risk factors incorporated by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K we file after the date of this prospectus, together with any amendments or supplements thereto, and all other information contained or incorporated by reference into this prospectus, as updated by our subsequent filings under the Exchange Act, and the risk factors and other information contained in any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, before acquiring any of such securities. The risks described below are not the only risks we face. The occurrence of any of these risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment in the offered securities. Please also refer to the section below titled “Forward-Looking Statements.” Additional risks not known to us or that we believe are immaterial may also significantly impair our business operations and could result in a loss of all or part of your investment in the offered securities.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Our product candidates are at an early stage of development, and it is possible that none of our product candidates will ever become commercial products.

Our product candidates are in relatively early stages of development. These product candidates will require significant further development, financial resources and personnel to obtain regulatory approval and develop into commercially viable products, if at all. Currently, eteplirsen in DMD and AVI-7288 in Marburg are in active clinical development. AVI-7537 in Ebola was in active clinical development until August 2012, when we received a stop-work order from DoD instructing us to cease all work and ordering of supplies in support of the development of this product candidate. On October 2, 2012, we received notice from DoD that the program for the development of AVI-7537 was terminated for the convenience of the government due to funding constraints. The clinical development of AVI-7100 in influenza is currently paused and the rest of our product candidates are in preclinical development. We expect that much of our effort and many of our expenditures over the next several years will be devoted to development activities associated with eteplirsen and other exon-skipping candidates as part of our larger pan-exon strategy in DMD and our antiviral candidates. With current resources, we may be restricted or delayed in our ability to develop other clinical and preclinical product candidates.

Our ability to commercialize any of our product candidates, including eteplirsen, depends on first receiving required regulatory approvals, and it is possible that we may never receive regulatory approval (including any accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) under Subpart H—Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-Threatening Illnesses) for any of our product candidates based on an inability to adequately demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of our product candidates, lack of funding, changes in the regulatory landscape, manufacturing or other reasons. Even if a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the resulting product may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payers and the medical community. Assuming that any of our product candidates receives the required regulatory approvals, commercial success will depend on a number of factors, including:

 

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establishment and demonstration of clinical efficacy and safety and acceptance of the same by the medical community;

 

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cost-effectiveness of the product;

 

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the availability of adequate reimbursement by third parties, including governmental payers such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, managed care organizations, and private health insurers;

 

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the product’s potential advantage over alternative treatment methods;

 

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whether the product can be produced in commercial quantities at acceptable costs;

 

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marketing and distribution support for the product; and

 

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any exclusivities applicable to the product.

 

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To date we have been granted orphan status for two of our product candidates in DMD and for AVI-6002 and AVI-7537 for the treatment of Ebola virus and AVI-6003 and AVI-7288 for the treatment of Marburg virus. We are not guaranteed to receive orphan status for other product candidates in development or product candidates we may develop in the future. Even though we have received orphan status for some of our product candidates, we would not enjoy orphan drug exclusivity for such product candidates in the event that another entity received approval of products with the same active ingredient for the same indication before we receive market approval. Further, application of the orphan drug regulations in the United States and Europe is uncertain and we cannot predict how the respective regulatory bodies will interpret and apply the regulations to our or our competitors’ product candidates. If a competitor’s product receives orphan drug status for an indication that we are targeting, and such product is approved for commercial sales before our product, regulators may interpret our product to be the same drug as the competing product and could prevent us from selling our product in the applicable territories for the competitors orphan exclusivity period. Furthermore, pediatric exclusivity only applies if the product has another form of exclusivity.

If we are unable to develop and commercialize any of our product candidates, if development is delayed or if sales revenue from any product candidate that receives marketing approval is insufficient, we may never reach sustained profitability.

If we are unable to obtain or maintain required regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates, our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired and our business will not be successful.

The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, selling, marketing and distribution of drug products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA in the United States, and other regulatory authorities in other countries, with regulations differing from country to country. Marketing of our product candidates in the United States or foreign countries is not permitted until we obtain marketing approval from the FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive regulatory approval for the commercial sale of any of our product candidates. Obtaining marketing approval is a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process and approval is never assured. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not progressed to the point of preparing or filing the applications necessary to gain regulatory approvals. Further, the FDA and other foreign regulatory agencies have substantial discretion in the approval process, and determining when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for any product candidate we develop. In this regard, even if we believe the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or any other foreign regulatory authority. In addition, the FDA or their advisors may disagree with our interpretations of data from preclinical studies and clinical trials. Regulatory agencies may approve a product candidate for fewer indications than requested or may grant approval subject to the performance of post-approval studies for a product candidate. Similarly, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.

In addition, changes in regulatory requirements and guidance may occur and we may need to amend clinical trial protocols or other approval strategies to reflect these changes. Amendments may require us to resubmit our clinical trial protocols to Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) or the FDA for review, which may impact the costs, timing or successful completion of a clinical trial. Changes in our approval strategies may require additional studies that were not originally planned. Other factors may also impact our ability to commercialize our product candidates, including, for example, the fact that a therapeutic commercial product utilizing our RNA-based technologies has never been approved by any regulatory authority. Due to these factors, our current product candidates or any of our other future product candidates could take a significantly longer time to gain regulatory approval than we expect or may never gain regulatory approval, which could delay or eliminate any potential product revenue by delaying or terminating the potential commercialization of our product candidates.

 

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If we receive regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will also be subject to ongoing FDA obligations and oversight, including adverse event reporting requirements, marketing restrictions and, potentially, other post-marketing obligations, all of which may result in significant expense and limit our ability to commercialize such products. The FDA’s policies may also change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates or further restrict or regulate post-approval activities. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States, or abroad. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, we may not be permitted to market our products and our business could suffer. Any delay in, or failure to, receive or maintain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates could harm our business and prevent us from ever generating meaningful revenues or achieving profitability. We will need to obtain regulatory approval from authorities in foreign countries to market our product candidates in those countries. We have not filed for regulatory approval to market our product candidates in any foreign jurisdiction. Approval by one regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. If we fail to obtain approvals from foreign jurisdictions, the geographic market for our product candidates would be limited.

Our preclinical and clinical trials may fail to demonstrate acceptable levels of safety and efficacy of our product candidates, which could prevent or significantly delay their regulatory approval.

To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to market and sell any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate, through extensive preclinical and clinical studies, that the product candidate is safe and effective in humans. Ongoing and future preclinical and clinical trials of our product candidates may not show sufficient safety or efficacy to obtain regulatory approvals.

Phase I clinical trials generally are not designed to test the efficacy of a product candidate but rather are designed to test safety, to study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and to understand the product candidate’s side effects at various doses and dosing schedules in healthy volunteers. Delays in establishing the appropriate dosage levels can lead to delays in the overall clinical development of a product candidate. As of the date of this prospectus, we do not believe that we have identified the preferred dose of eteplirsen for individuals with DMD. We plan to evaluate the appropriate dosage in a future confirmatory pivotal study. We recently completed a U.S.-based Phase IIb clinical trial for eteplirsen at 30 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg, higher doses than was initiated in August 2011. Following completion of this study, we initiated an open label extension study with the same participants from the original Phase IIb placebo controlled trial. These trials were initiated, in part, to further explore and identify a more consistently effective dose that may be more appropriate for future clinical trials. We cannot assure you that these efforts will be successful. If a consistently effective dose is found in the U.S.-based clinical trial, we will expect to engage in discussions with regulatory authorities about the design and subsequent execution of any further studies which may be required. Regulatory authorities might require more extensive preclinical or clinical trials than anticipated and conforming to any guidance regulatory authorities provide does not guarantee receipt of marketing approval, even if we believe our preclinical and clinical trials are successful. Such clinical trials might include additional open label “extension studies” for all participants who have previously received eteplirsen, as well as other participants (e.g., non-ambulatory participants) and any additional placebo-controlled “pivotal” study or studies. If we are not able to establish an optimal dosage in these trials we may need to conduct additional dose-ranging trials before conducting our pivotal trials of the product. Any such additional clinical trials required by regulatory authorities would increase our costs and delay commercialization of eteplirsen.

Furthermore, success in preclinical and early clinical trials does not ensure that later larger-scale trials will be successful nor does it predict final results. Acceptable results in early trials may not be reproduced in later trials. For example, pivotal trials for eteplirsen will likely involve a larger number of participants to achieve statistical significance, will be expensive and will take a substantial amount of time to complete. As a result, we may conduct lengthy and expensive clinical trials of our product candidates, only to learn that the product candidate is not an effective treatment or is not superior to existing approved therapies, or has an unacceptable safety profile, which could prevent or significantly delay regulatory approval for such product candidate.

 

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The Animal Rule is a new and seldom-used approach to seeking approval of a new drug and our infectious disease program may not meet the requirements for this ill-defined path to regulatory approval.

Clinical trials cannot be used to assess the efficacy of most biodefense countermeasures against rare and lethal pathogens due to ethical considerations and the relative infrequency of naturally occurring cases. In the United States, we plan to develop the therapeutic product candidate to treat Marburg virus using the Animal Rule regulatory mechanism. Pursuant to the Animal Rule, the sponsor of a drug product must demonstrate efficacy in animal models and safety in humans. There is no guarantee that the FDA will agree to this approach to the development of our infectious disease product candidate, considering that no validated animal model has been established as predicting human outcomes in the prevention or treatment of any filovirus disease. Animal models represent, at best, a rough approximation of efficacy in humans, and, as such, countermeasures developed using animal models will be untested until their use in humans during an emergency. We have yet to demonstrate the predictive value of our animal studies to the FDA’s satisfaction. If we fail to do so, we will have to demonstrate efficacy of AVI-7288 through adequate well-controlled trials in humans in order to obtain regulatory approval of this product in the United States, which, if possible, will greatly add to the time and expense required to commercialize this product. Furthermore, the Animal Rule mechanism has been used only rarely and questions remain regarding the FDA’s interpretation and implementation. No novel products have been approved using the Animal Rule. It has thus far been used to extend the indicated use of three previously licensed products which had considerable prior human experience. We do not have any experience successfully navigating this approach to drug approval. Even if the Animal Rule represents a viable approach to seeking approval of AVI-7288, it may present challenges for gaining final regulatory approval for this product candidate, including an extended timeline to approval and less predictable study requirements. In addition, the FDA would require post-marketing human efficacy studies if the countermeasure is used in humans, which would most likely be in the aftermath of a bioterrorist attack. The ability to reliably perform efficacy clinical trials in the midst of a national crisis is uncertain.

The timing and conduct of animal studies may be further constrained given that filoviruses are classified for use only in BSL-4 laboratories. There are limited laboratories and staff world-wide that can work with these live viruses and companies will be competing for the limited availability of this critical infrastructure to test their countermeasures. Furthermore, we anticipate limits in conforming to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) requirements given the requirement for BSL-4 containment.

We rely on U.S. government contracts to support certain research and development programs and substantially all of our revenue. If the U.S. government fails to fund such programs on a timely basis or at all, or such contracts are terminated, the results of our operations would be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on U.S. government contracts and awards to fund certain development programs, including the Marburg virus which accounts for substantially all of our current revenue. The funding of U.S. government programs is subject to Congressional appropriations. Congress generally appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis even though a program may extend over several fiscal years, as is the case with our DoD contract for the development of our Marburg product candidate. Consequently, programs are often only partially funded initially and additional funds are committed only as Congress makes further appropriations. If appropriations for one of our programs become unavailable, or are reduced or delayed, our contracts may be terminated or adjusted by the government, which could have a negative impact on our future revenue under such contract or subcontract. From time to time, when a formal appropriation bill has not been signed into law before the end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, Congress may pass a continuing resolution that authorizes agencies of the U.S. government to continue to operate, generally at the same funding levels from the prior year, but does not authorize new spending initiatives, during a certain period. During such a period, or until the regular appropriation bills are passed, delays can occur in government procurement due to lack of funding and such delays can affect our operations during the period of delay. Additionally, the DoD is planning on hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to defense spending over the next decade and faces a possible sequestration of an additional $600 billion over the same timeframe beginning in January 2013 unless Congress acts. These cuts would have widespread ramifications including on DoD’s procurement and research and development programs.

 

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The 2004 Project BioShield Act which created the Special Reserve Fund for use by DHHS to purchase countermeasures over 10 years avoids the uncertainty of the annual appropriations process, but the $5.6 billion appropriation is rapidly depleting and will expire in 2013. Thus, the viability of DHHS as a potential customer hinges in part on Congress taking action to replenish the Special Reserve Fund.

In addition, U.S. government contracts generally also permit the government to terminate the contract, in whole or in part, without prior notice, at the government’s convenience or for default based on performance. From time to time, we receive communications from the U.S. government regarding our performance, including requests for us to provide additional information and/or take certain steps to remedy noted deficiencies. While we work closely with our contacts at the U.S. government and believe we can adequately address issues raised through such communications, there is no guarantee that we will be able to adequately respond to all requests or remedy all deficiencies cited. If one of our contracts is terminated for convenience, we would generally be entitled to payments for our allowable costs and would receive some allowance for profit on the work performed. If one of our contracts is terminated for default, we would generally be entitled to payments for our work that has been completed to that point. A termination arising out of our default could expose us to liability and have a negative impact on our ability to obtain future contracts. Furthermore, if we fail to satisfy certain performance or deliverable requirements or to adhere to development timelines, revenues associated with the satisfaction of such requirements or timelines may be delayed or may not be realized.

The termination of one or more of these government contracts, whether due to lack of funding, for convenience, for our failure to perform, or otherwise, or the occurrence of delays or product failures in connection with one or more of these contracts, could negatively impact our financial condition. For example, on October 2, 2012, we received notice from DoD that the program for the development of our Ebola product candidate was terminated for the convenience of the government due to funding constraints. We had previously received a stop-work order for the Ebola program which was in effect from August 2, 2012 through the termination on October 2, 2012. If the government terminates the Marburg development program or contract, our business could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we can give no assurance that we would be able to procure new U.S. government contracts to offset the revenue lost as a result of termination of any of our existing contracts. Even if our Marburg contract is not terminated and is completed, there is no assurance that we will receive future government contracts.

Even if we successfully complete development of our Marburg product candidate, the major, if not only, potential purchaser is the U.S. government. The lack of a commercial market makes us reliant upon the U.S. government to determine and communicate the market for biodefense countermeasures and government purchasing is subject to evolving threat assessments and shifting political priorities, which exacerbate market uncertainties. Within the DoD, the war fighter has evolving requirements specifically related to route of administration and time to treat. Until future studies are completed, it is unclear whether our drug candidate will successfully meet these requirements. If it does not, DoD may choose to terminate the contract. With respect to the civilian sector, Marburg virus is among the top chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats to national security, yet DHHS has not defined the civilian requirement, making the broader demand for our drug candidate uncertain.

This expected dependence on government purchases presents additional challenges, since the government is incentivized to negotiate prices for countermeasures to just above their marginal cost of production, which would severely limit our profit potential. If companies resist low prices, governments can, in extreme cases, threaten compulsory licensing or purchase patent-breaching generics.

Our U.S. government contracts may be terminated and we may be liable for penalties under a variety of procurement rules and regulations and changes in government regulations or practices could adversely affect our profitability, cash balances or growth prospects.

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potentially impose added costs on our business and our failure to comply with them may lead to penalties and the termination of our U.S. government contracts. Some significant regulations that affect us include:

 

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the Federal Acquisition Regulation and supplements, which regulate the formation, administration and performance of U.S. government contracts;

 

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the Truth in Negotiations Act, which requires certification and disclosure of cost and pricing data in connection with contract negotiations; and

 

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the Cost Accounting Standards, which impose accounting requirements that govern our right to reimbursement under certain cost-based government contracts.

Our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to periodic review and investigation. If such a review or investigation identifies improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties or administrative sanctions, including the termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, the triggering of price reduction clauses, suspension of payments, fines and suspension or debarment from doing business with U.S. government agencies. We could also suffer harm to our reputation if allegations of impropriety were made against us, which would impair our ability to win awards of contracts in the future or receive renewals of existing contracts.

In addition, U.S. government agencies routinely audit and review their contractors’ performance on contracts, cost structure, pricing practices and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards. They also review the adequacy of, and a contractor’s compliance with, its internal control systems and policies, including the contractor’s purchasing, property, estimating, compensation and management information systems. Such audits may result in adjustments to our contract costs, and any costs found to be improperly allocated will not be reimbursed. We have recorded contract revenues based upon costs we expect to realize upon final audit; however, we do not know the outcome of any future audits and adjustments and, if future audit adjustments exceed our estimates, our results of operations could be adversely affected. Additionally, we may be required to enter into agreements and subcontracts with third parties, including suppliers, consultants and other third party contractors in order to satisfy our contractual obligations pursuant to our agreements with the U.S. government. Negotiating and entering into such arrangements can be time-consuming and we may not be able to reach agreement with such third parties. Any such agreement also has to be compliant with the terms of our government grants. Any delay or inability to enter into such arrangements or entering into such arrangements in a manner that is non-compliant with the terms of our grants, may result in violations of our contracts with the U.S. government.

Clinical trials for our product candidates are expensive and time consuming, may take longer than we expect or may not be completed at all, and their outcomes are uncertain.

We have completed a Phase Ib/II clinical trial for eteplirsen in the UK and announced results in October 2010, which were published in The Lancet in July 2011. We have also completed a U.S.-based Phase IIb placebo controlled trial in eteplirsen and announced results in April 2012. Following completion of this study, we initiated an open label extension study with the same participants from the original Phase IIb placebo controlled trial and announced 48-week results on October 3, 2012. We expect to commence additional trials of eteplirsen and other product candidates in the future. Each of our clinical trials requires the investment of substantial planning, expense and time, and the timing of the commencement, continuation and completion of these clinical trials may be subject to significant delays relating to various causes, including scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and clinical institutions, difficulties in identifying and enrolling participants who meet trial eligibility criteria, failure of participants to complete the clinical trial, delay or failure to obtain IRB or other regulatory approval to conduct a clinical trial at a prospective site, unexpected adverse events and shortages of available drug supply. Participant enrollment is a function of many factors, including the size of the relevant population, the proximity of participants to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the existence of competing clinical trials and the availability of alternative or new treatments.

 

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We depend on medical institutions and clinical research organizations, or CROs, to conduct our clinical trials in compliance with Good Clinical Practice, or GCP, and to the extent they fail to enroll participants for our clinical trials, fail to conduct the study to GCP standards or are delayed for a significant time in the execution of our trials, including achieving full enrollment, we may be affected by increased costs, program delays or both, which may harm our business. In addition, we have in the past conducted clinical trials in foreign countries and may do so again in the future, which may subject us to further delays and expenses as a result of increased drug shipment costs, additional regulatory requirements and the engagement of foreign CROs, as well as expose us to risks associated with less experienced clinical investigators who are unknown to the FDA, and different standards of medical care. Foreign currency transactions insofar as changes in the relative value of the U.S. dollar to the foreign currency where the trial is being conducted may impact our actual costs. In addition, for some programs (e.g., DMD and Marburg infection) there are currently no approved drugs to compare against and an agreement about how to measure efficacy has yet to be reached with the FDA and then demonstrated.

Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with FDA or other applicable foreign government guidelines and are subject to oversight by the FDA, other foreign governmental agencies and IRBs at the medical institutions where the clinical trials are conducted. In addition, clinical trials must be conducted with supplies of our product candidates produced under current Good Manufacturing Practice, or cGMP, and other requirements in foreign countries, and may require large numbers of participants. The FDA or other foreign governmental agencies or we ourselves could delay, suspend or halt our clinical trials of a product candidate for numerous reasons, including:

 

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deficiencies in the trial design;

 

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deficiencies in the conduct of the clinical trial including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or clinical protocols;

 

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deficiencies in the clinical trial operations or trial sites resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold;

 

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the product candidate may have unforeseen adverse side effects, including fatalities, or a determination may be made that a clinical trial presents unacceptable health risks;

 

•

the time required to determine whether the product candidate is effective may be longer than expected;

 

•

fatalities or other adverse events arising during a clinical trial that may not be related to clinical trial treatments;

 

•

the product candidate may appear to be no more effective than current therapies;

 

•

the quality or stability of the product candidate may fail to conform to acceptable standards;

 

•

our inability to produce or obtain sufficient quantities of the product candidate to complete the trials;

 

•

our inability to reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;

 

•

our inability to obtain IRB approval to conduct a clinical trial at a prospective site;

 

•

our inability to obtain regulatory approval to conduct a clinical trial;

 

•

lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial, including the occurrence of unforeseen costs due to enrollment delays, requirements to conduct additional trials and studies and increased expenses associated with the services of our CROs and other third parties;

 

•

our inability to recruit and enroll individuals to participate in clinical trials for reasons including competition from other clinical trial programs for the same or similar indications; or

 

•

our inability to retain participants who have initiated a clinical trial but may be prone to withdraw due to side effects from the therapy, lack of efficacy or personal issues, or who are lost to further follow-up.

 

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In addition, we may experience significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after promising results in earlier trials, such as unexpected adverse events that occur when our product candidates are combined with other therapies and drugs or given to larger populations, which often occur in later-stage clinical trials. In addition, clinical results are frequently susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals. Also, patient advocacy groups and parents of trial participants may demand additional clinical trials or continued access to drug even if our interpretation of clinical results received thus far leads us to determine that additional clinical trials or continued access are unwarranted. Any disagreement with patient advocacy groups or parents of trial participants may require management’s time and attention and may result in legal proceedings being instituted against us, which could be expensive, time-consuming and distracting, and may result in delay of the program. Negative or inconclusive results or adverse medical events, including participant fatalities that may be attributable to our product candidates, during a clinical trial may necessitate that it be redesigned, repeated or terminated. Further, some of our clinical trials may be overseen by an independent data safety monitoring board, or DSMB, and the DSMB may determine to delay or suspend one or more of these trials due to safety or futility findings based on events occurring during a clinical trial. Any such delay, suspension, termination or request to repeat or redesign a trial could increase our costs and prevent or significantly delay our ability to commercialize our product candidates.

We have incurred operating losses since our inception and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

We had an operating loss of $19.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2012, and incurred an operating loss of $35.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2011. As of September 30, 2012, our accumulated deficit was $369.2 million. Our losses have resulted principally from expenses incurred in research and development of our technology and products, from general and administrative expenses that we have incurred while building our business infrastructure and acquired in-process research and development resulting from two acquisitions. We expect to continue to incur significant operating losses in the future as we continue our research and development efforts and seek to obtain regulatory approval of our products. Our ability to achieve profitability depends on our ability to raise additional capital, partner one or more programs, complete development of our products, obtain regulatory approvals and market our products. It is uncertain when, if ever, we will become profitable.

We will need additional funds to conduct our planned research and development efforts. If we fail to continue to attract significant capital or fail to enter into strategic relationships, we may be unable to continue to develop our product candidates.

We will require additional capital from time to time in the future in order to continue the development of product candidates in our pipeline and to expand our product portfolio. The actual amount of funds that we will need will be determined by many factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include the success of our research and development efforts, the status of our preclinical and clinical testing, costs relating to securing regulatory approvals and the costs and timing of obtaining new patent rights, regulatory changes and competitive and technological developments in the market. An unforeseen change in these factors, or others, might increase our need for additional capital.

We would expect to seek additional financing from the sale and issuance of equity or equity-linked or debt securities, and we cannot predict that financing will be available when and as we need financing or that, if available, the financing terms will be commercially reasonable. If we are unable to obtain additional financing, when and if we require or on commercially reasonable terms, it would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

If we are able to consummate such financings, the trading price of our common stock could be adversely affected and/or the terms of such financings may adversely affect the interests of our existing shareholders. To the extent we issue additional equity securities, our existing shareholders could experience substantial dilution in their economic and voting rights. For example, through November 6, 2012, we sold an aggregate of

 

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approximately 14.0 million shares of our common stock in connection with our December 2007, January 2009, August 2009 and April 2011 financings and September 2012 at-the-market equity offering program and issued warrants to purchase approximately 5.0 million additional shares of our common stock in connection with our December 2007, January 2009 and August 2009 financings, which warrants have been exercised for an aggregate of 0.7 million shares of common stock.

Further, we may also enter into relationships with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to perform research and development with respect to our RNA-based technologies, research programs or to conduct clinical trials and to market our product candidates. Other than pre-clinical collaborations with academic/research institutions and a U.S. government entity for the development of additional exon-skipping drug candidates for the treatment of DMD, we currently do not have a strategic relationship with a third party to perform research or development using our RNA-based technologies or assist us in funding the continued development and commercialization of any of our programs or drug candidates other than that with the U.S. government. If we are unable to enter into partnerships or strategic relationships with respect to our technologies or any of our programs or drug candidates on favorable terms it may impede our ability to discover, develop and commercialize our product candidates.

We currently rely on third-party manufacturers and other third parties for production of our drug products and our dependence on these manufacturers may impair the advancement of our research and development programs and the development of our product candidates.

We do not currently have the internal ability to manufacture the product candidates that we need to conduct our clinical trials and we rely upon a limited number of manufacturers to supply our product candidates and the components of our drug substance. We may also need to rely on manufacturers for the production of our product candidates to support our research and development programs. In addition, we rely on other third parties to perform additional steps in the manufacturing process, including filling and labeling of vials and storage of our product candidates. For the foreseeable future, we expect to continue to rely on contract manufacturers and other third parties to produce, fill vials and store sufficient quantities of our product candidates for use in our research and development programs and clinical trials. For each of our eteplirsen and Marburg development programs, based on limited capacity for our specialized manufacturing needs we have had to enter into a sole-source agreement with multinational manufacturing firms for the production of the API for eteplirsen and Marburg therapeutics. There are a limited number of companies that can produce phosphorodiamidate-linked morpholino oligomer, or PMO, in the quantities and with the quality and purity that we require for our development efforts. This might limit our ability to rapidly expand our programs or commercialize our products. If we are required to seek alternative supply arrangements, the resulting delays and potential inability to find suitable replacements or bring on-line new suppliers could materially and adversely impact our business.

Our product candidates require precise, high-quality manufacturing. The failure to achieve and maintain high quality standards, including failure to detect or control anticipated or unanticipated manufacturing errors could result in patient injury or death or product recalls. Contract drug manufacturers often encounter difficulties involving production yields, quality control and quality assurance and shortages of qualified personnel. If our contract manufacturers or other third parties fail to deliver our product candidates for our research and development programs and for clinical use on a timely basis, with sufficient quality, and at commercially reasonable prices, and we fail to find replacement manufacturers or to develop our own manufacturing capabilities, we may be required to delay or suspend clinical trials, research and development programs or otherwise discontinue development and production of our product candidates. In addition, we depend on certain sole-source third-party vendors for the supply of raw materials used to produce our product candidates. If the third-party suppliers were to cease production or otherwise fail to supply us with quality raw materials and we are unable to contract on acceptable terms for these raw materials with alternative suppliers, our ability to have our product candidates manufactured and to conduct preclinical testing and clinical trials of our product candidates would be adversely affected.

 

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We do not yet have all of the agreements necessary for the supply of our product candidates in quantities sufficient for commercial sale and we may not be able to establish or maintain sufficient commercial manufacturing arrangements on commercially reasonable terms. Securing commercial quantities of our product candidates from contract manufacturers will require us to commit significant capital and resources. We may also be required to enter into long-term manufacturing agreements that contain exclusivity provisions and/or substantial termination penalties. In addition, contract manufacturers have a limited number of facilities in which our product candidates can be produced and any interruption of the operation of those facilities due to events such as equipment malfunction or failure or damage to the facility by natural disasters could result in the cancellation of shipments, loss of product in the manufacturing process or a shortfall in available product candidates.

Our contract manufacturers are required to produce our clinical product candidates under cGMP conditions in order to meet acceptable standards for our clinical trials. If such standards change, the ability of contract manufacturers to produce our product candidates on the schedule we require for our clinical trials may be affected. In addition, contract manufacturers may not perform their obligations under their agreements with us or may discontinue their business before the time required by us to successfully produce and market our product candidates. We and our contract manufacturers are subject to periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over a third-party manufacturer’s compliance with these regulations and standards. Any difficulties or delays in our contractors’ manufacturing and supply of product candidates or any failure of our contractors to maintain compliance with the applicable regulations and standards could increase our costs, cause us to lose revenue, make us postpone or cancel clinical trials, prevent or delay regulatory approval by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities, prevent the import and/or export of our product candidates, or cause our products to be recalled or withdrawn.

We may not be able to successfully scale-up manufacturing of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, which would delay or prevent us from developing our product candidates and commercializing resulting approved drug products, if any.

To date, our product candidates have been manufactured in small quantities for preclinical studies and early stage clinical trials. In order to conduct larger or late-stage scale clinical trials for a product candidate and for commercialization of the resulting drug product if that product candidate is approved for sale, we will need to manufacture it in larger quantities. We may not be able to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any of our product candidates, whether in collaboration with third-party manufacturers or on our own, in a timely or cost-effective manner or at all. If a contract manufacturer makes improvements in the manufacturing process for our product candidates, we may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to those improvements. Significant scale-up of manufacturing may require additional validation studies, which are costly and which the FDA must review and approve. In addition, quality issues may arise during those scale-up activities because of the inherent properties of a product candidate itself or of a product candidate in combination with other components added during the manufacturing and packaging process, or during shipping and storage of the finished product or active pharmaceutical ingredients. If we are unable to successfully scale-up manufacture of any of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, the development of that product candidate and regulatory approval or commercial launch for any resulting drug products may be delayed or there may be a shortage in supply, which could significantly harm our business.

In addition, in order to release product and demonstrate stability of product candidates for use in late stage clinical trials (and any resulting drug products for commercial use), our analytical methods must be validated in accordance with regulatory guidelines. We may not be able to successfully validate our analytical methods or demonstrate adequate stability of the product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner or at all. If we are unable to successfully validate our analytical methods or to demonstrate adequate stability, the development of our product candidates and regulatory approval or commercial launch for any resulting drug products may be delayed, which could significantly harm our business.

 

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We rely on third parties to provide services in connection with our preclinical and clinical development programs. The inadequate performance by or loss of any of these service providers could affect our product candidate development.

Several third parties provide services in connection with our preclinical and clinical development programs, including in vitro and in vivo studies, assay and reagent development, immunohistochemistry, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, clinical assessments, data monitoring and management and statistical analysis and other outsourced activities. If these service providers do not adequately perform the services for which we have contracted or cease to continue operations and we are not able to quickly find a replacement provider or we lose information or items associated with our product candidates, our development programs may be delayed.

Our RNA-based, or antisense, technology has not been incorporated into a therapeutic commercial product and is still at a relatively early stage of development.

Our RNA-based platforms, utilizing proprietary PMO-based technology, have not been incorporated into a therapeutic commercial product and are still at a relatively early stage of development. This technology is used in all of our therapeutic candidates, including eteplirsen. We are conducting toxicology, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and other preclinical studies and, although we have conducted Phase I clinical trials for AVI-6003 (we are now pursuing development of AVI-7288, one of the two component oligomers in AVI-6003) and AVI-7100 and conducted a Phase IIb clinical trial in eteplirsen, additional preclinical studies may be required for these product candidates and before other product candidates enter human clinical trials. In addition, preclinical models to study participant toxicity and activity of compounds are not necessarily predictive of toxicity or efficacy of these compounds in the treatment of human disease and there may be substantially different results in clinical trials from the results obtained in preclinical studies. Any failures or setbacks in utilizing our PMO-based technology, including adverse effects resulting from the use of this technology in humans, could have a detrimental impact on our internal product candidate pipeline and our ability to maintain and/or enter into new corporate collaborations regarding these technologies, which would negatively affect our business and financial position.

The relocation of our corporate headquarters and selected research and development activities may create unintended negative consequences, including increased costs and loss of personnel.

We plan to move our corporate headquarters from Bothell, Washington to Cambridge, Massachusetts and move selected research and development activities from Bothell to our existing site in Corvallis, Oregon and a yet to be selected site in Cambridge. This transition is in the early planning stage and we expect the transition will continue through mid-2013. While we believe the relocation will improve our business operations and enhance our ability to attract and retain industry talent in the Cambridge area, we cannot ensure that this relocation will not result in any or all of the following unintended negative consequences:

 

•

increased costs associated with the closing of our existing facility in Bothell, Washington including the moving of lab equipment and furniture to Cambridge and Corvallis;

 

•

increased costs associated with the relocation of personnel, including reimbursement of relocation expenses and cost of living adjustments to base salaries;

 

•

employee turnover due to relocation;

 

•

increased costs associated with retention and/or severance packages for Bothell based personnel;

 

•

business disruptions resulting from the relocation; and

 

•

inability to locate suitable administrative and laboratory space for a long-term lease arrangement in Cambridge at a reasonable cost.

If any of these unintended negative consequences occurs, the negative impact may outweigh any benefits related to the relocation, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

 

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If we fail to retain our key personnel or are unable to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, our future growth, ability to perform our U.S. government contracts and our ability to compete would suffer.

We are highly dependent on the efforts and abilities of the principal members of our senior management. Additionally, we have scientific personnel with significant and unique expertise in RNA-based therapeutics and related technologies and personnel with experience overseeing compliance with and execution of the terms of our U.S. government contracts. The loss of the services of any one of the principal members of our managerial, scientific or government contract compliance staff may prevent us from achieving our business objectives.

The competition for qualified personnel in the biotechnology field and for qualified personnel with government contracting experience is intense, and our future success depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate such personnel. In order to develop and commercialize our products successfully, we will be required to retain key managerial, scientific and government contract compliance staff. In certain instances, we may also need to expand our workforce and our management ranks. We face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as academic and other research institutions. If we are unable to attract, assimilate or retain such key personnel, our ability to advance our proprietary programs and perform our U.S. government contracts would be adversely affected. Any failure to perform under our U.S. government contracts could result in a termination of the agreement, which would harm our business.

Recent changes in our executive leadership and any similar changes in the future may serve as a significant distraction for our management and employees.

In January 2011, Christopher Garabedian, a member of our board of directors, was hired to serve as our president and chief executive officer. Since the beginning of 2011, there have been a number of changes to our executive leadership team. Most recently, in June 2012, our former senior vice president and chief scientific officer, Dr. Peter Linsley, resigned from his employment with us. Such changes, or any other future changes in our executive leadership, may disrupt our operations as we adjust to the reallocation of responsibilities and assimilate new leadership and, potentially, differing perspectives on our strategic direction. If the transition in executive leadership is not smooth, the resulting disruption could negatively affect our operations and impede our ability to execute our strategic plan.

We may engage in future acquisitions that increase our capital requirements, dilute our shareholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and subject us to other risks.

We actively evaluate various strategic transactions on an ongoing basis, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, technologies or businesses. Any potential acquisitions may entail numerous risks, including increased operating expenses and cash requirements, assimilation of operations and products, retention of key employees, diversion of our management’s attention and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships of the acquired entities. In addition, if we undertake acquisitions, we may issue dilutive securities, assume or incur debt obligations, incur large one-time expenses and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expense.

Asserting, defending and maintaining our intellectual property rights could be challenging and costly, and our failure to do so could harm our ability to compete and impair the outcome of our operations. The pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic environments are highly competitive and competing intellectual property could limit our ability to protect our products.

Our success will depend in significant part on our existing intellectually property rights and our ability to obtain additional patents and licenses in the future. As of October 31, 2012, we owned or controlled approximately 280 U.S. and corresponding foreign patents and 180 U.S. and corresponding foreign patent applications. We license patents from other parties for certain complementary technologies. We cannot be certain that pending patent applications will result in patents being issued in the United States or foreign countries. We cannot be

 

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certain that we were the first to make the inventions covered by any of our patents, if issued, or our pending patent applications. In addition, the patents that have been or will be issued may not afford meaningful protection for our technology and products. Competitors may develop products similar to ours that do not conflict with our patents. To protect our rights to any of our patents, if issued, and proprietary information, we may need to litigate against infringing third parties, or avail ourselves of the courts or participate in hearings to determine the scope and validity of those patents or other proprietary rights. These types of proceedings are often costly and could be very time-consuming to us, and we cannot assure you that the deciding authorities will rule in our favor. An unfavorable decision could allow third parties to use our technology without being required to pay us licensing fees or may compel us to license needed technologies to avoid infringing third-party patent and proprietary rights.

Pharmaceutical research and development is highly competitive; others may file patents first that cover our products or technology. For example, our competitor Prosensa has rights to patent families corresponding to WO2002/024906 and WO2004/083432, including issued US 7,973,015, US 7,534,879, and granted European Patent No. EP 1619249. We opposed EP 1619249 in the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office, or the Opposition Division, and in November 2011, we announced that, although we succeeded in invalidating some of the patent’s claims, the Opposition Division maintained in amended form certain claims of this patent relating to the treatment of DMD by skipping dystrophin exons 51 and 46. We and Prosensa both have the right to appeal this decision; however, pending final resolution of this matter and any appeal thereof, the patent at issue may provide the basis for Prosensa or other parties that have rights to such patent to assert that our drug eteplirsen infringes on such patent. A final resolution of this opposition proceeding may take a number of years and the outcome cannot be predicted or determined as of the date of this prospectus. We are also aware of certain claims that have issued to Prosensa in Japan (JP 4846965) that may provide the basis for Prosensa or other parties that have rights to these claims to assert that our drug eteplirsen infringes on such claims. We believe we have a basis to invalidate some or all of these claims and are evaluating the potential initiation of invalidation proceedings. Because we have not yet initiated an invalidation proceeding in Japan, the outcome and timing of such proceeding cannot be predicted or determined as of the date of this prospectus. If we are unsuccessful in invalidating other of Prosensa’s claims or if previously invalidated claims are restored on appeal, our ability to commercialize both eteplirsen and other therapeutic candidates for our pan-exon strategy could be materially impaired.

Our success will also depend partly on our ability to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others as well as our ability to prevent others from infringing on our proprietary rights. We may be required at times to take legal action to protect our proprietary rights and, despite our best efforts, we may be sued for infringing on the patent rights of others. We have not received any communications or other indications from owners of related patents or others that such persons believe our products or technology may infringe on their patents. Patent litigation can involve complex factual and legal questions and its outcome is uncertain. Patent litigation is costly and, even if we prevail, the cost of such litigation could adversely affect our financial condition. If we do not prevail, in addition to any damages we might have to pay, we could be required to stop the infringing activity or obtain a license. If any patent related to our products or technology issues, and if our activities are determined to be covered by such a patent, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain or maintain a license, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, ability to sell our products, operating results and ability to obtain and/or maintain our strategic business relationships.

Others may challenge our patents and, as a result, our patents could be narrowed or invalidated. The patent position of pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, as well as academia, is generally highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has recently been the subject of much litigation. No consistent policy has emerged from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or the courts regarding the breadth of claims allowed or the degree of protection afforded under biotechnology patents. In addition, there is a substantial backlog of pharmaceutical and biotechnology patent applications at the USPTO and the approval or rejection of patents may take several years.

 

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To help protect our proprietary rights in unpatented proprietary information, trade secrets and know-how, we require our employees, consultants and advisors to execute confidentiality agreements and invention assignment agreements. However, such agreements may not provide us with adequate protection if confidential information is used or disclosed improperly. In addition, in some situations these agreements may conflict with, or be subject to, the rights of third parties with whom our employees, consultants or advisors have prior employment or consulting relationships. Further, others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques, or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets.

Our research collaborators may publish data and information to which we have rights. If we cannot maintain the confidentiality of our technology and other confidential information in connection with our collaborations, then our ability to receive patent protection or protect our proprietary information may be impaired.

We face intense competition and rapid technological change, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing competing products before or more successfully than we do.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are highly competitive and subject to significant and rapid technological change. We are aware of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are actively engaged in research and development in areas related to antisense technology and other RNA technologies or that are developing alternative approaches to or therapeutics for the disease indications on which we are focused. Some of these competitors are developing or testing product candidates that now, or may in the future, compete directly with our product candidates. For example, we believe that companies including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Isis Pharmaceuticals and Santaris share a focus on RNA-based drug discovery and development. Competitors with respect to our exon-skipping DMD program, or eteplirsen, include Prosensa and GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, and other companies such as PTC Therapeutics and Summit plc have also been working on DMD programs.

Clinical trials evaluating the systemic administration of the Prosensa/GSK lead DMD drug candidate are currently ongoing, including a placebo-controlled global Phase III trial and two placebo-controlled Phase II trials, one based in the United States and one based outside the United States. The Prosensa/GSK drug candidate may, or may not, prove to be safer or more efficacious than our product candidate and it could gain marketing approval before our product candidate. This might affect our ability to successfully complete a clinical development program or market eteplirsen once approved. This competition may also extend to other exon-skipping drugs for DMD limiting our ability to gain market share.

Other potential competitors include large, fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and more established biotechnology companies that have significantly greater resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, testing, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing. Also, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and marketing. It is possible that these competitors will succeed in developing technologies that are more effective than our product candidates or that would render our technology obsolete or noncompetitive. Our competitors may, among other things:

 

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develop safer or more effective products;

 

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implement more effective approaches to sales and marketing;

 

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develop less costly products;

 

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obtain quicker regulatory approval;

 

•

have access to more manufacturing capacity;

 

•

develop products that are more convenient and easier to administer;

 

•

form more advantageous strategic alliances; or

 

•

establish superior proprietary positions.

 

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We may be subject to clinical trial claims and our insurance may not be adequate to cover damages.

We currently have no products that have been approved for commercial sale; however, the current and future use of our product candidates by us and our corporate collaborators in clinical trials, and the sale of any approved products in the future, may expose us to liability claims. These claims might be made directly by consumers or healthcare providers or indirectly by pharmaceutical companies, our corporate collaborators or others selling such products. We may experience financial losses in the future due to product liability claims. We have obtained limited general commercial liability insurance coverage for our clinical trials. We intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates. However, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against all losses. If a successful product liability claim or series of claims is brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.

Our operations involve the use of hazardous materials, and we must comply with environmental laws, which can be expensive, and may affect our business and operating results.

Our research and development activities involve the use of hazardous materials, including organic and inorganic solvents and reagents. Accordingly, we are subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling, manufacturing, exposure to, and disposal of these hazardous materials. In addition, we are subject to environmental, health and workplace safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures, exposure to blood-borne pathogens, and the handling of biohazardous materials. Although we believe that our activities conform in all material respects with such environmental laws, there can be no assurance that violations of these laws will not occur in the future as a result of human error, accident, equipment failure, or other causes. Liability under environmental, health and safety laws can be joint and several and without regard to fault or negligence. The failure to comply with past, present or future laws could result in the imposition of substantial fines and penalties, remediation costs, property damage and personal injury claims, loss of permits or a cessation of operations, and any of these events could harm our business and financial conditions. We expect that our operations will be affected by other new environmental and health and workplace safety laws on an ongoing basis, and although we cannot predict the ultimate impact of any such new laws, they may impose greater compliance costs or result in increased risks or penalties, which could harm our business.

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

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

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and the SEC filings that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus contain or incorporate by reference “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation

 

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Reform Act of 1995. You can generally identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking words such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “will,” “may,” and other similar expressions. You should read these statements carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition, or state other “forward-looking” information. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and financial performance and the assumptions that underlie these statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

 

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our expectations regarding the development and clinical benefits of our product candidates;

 

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the results of our research and development efforts and the efficacy of our PMO-based chemistries and other RNA-based technology;

 

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our expectations regarding the development and clinical benefits of our product candidates;

 

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the results of our research and development efforts and the efficacy of our PMO-based chemistries and other RNA-based technology;

 

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our expectations regarding our ability to become a leading developer and marketer of RNA-based therapeutics;

 

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the efficacy, potency and utility of our product candidates in the treatment of rare and infectious diseases, and their potential to treat a broad number of human diseases;

 

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our expectations regarding the results of preclinical and clinical testing of our product candidates;

 

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our expectations regarding initiating enrollment of a pivotal Phase III trial in late 2013;

 

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our expectations regarding the timing, completion and receipt of results from our ongoing development programs;

 

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the receipt of any required approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, or other regulatory approval for our products;

 

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the effect of regulation by FDA and other agencies;

 

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our expectations regarding the markets for our products;

 

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acceptance of our products, if introduced, in the marketplace;

 

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the impact of competitive products, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties;

 

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our expectations regarding partnering opportunities and other strategic transactions;

 

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the extent of protection that our patents provide and our pending patent applications may provide, if patents issue from such applications, to our technologies and programs;

 

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our plans to file additional patent applications to enhance and protect our existing intellectual property portfolio;

 

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our ability to invalidate some or all of the claims covered by patents issued to competitors;

 

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our estimates regarding our future revenues, research and development expenses, other expenses, payments to third parties and changes in staffing levels;

 

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our estimates regarding how long our currently available cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to finance our operations and statements about our future capital needs;

 

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our expectations about funding from the government and other sources; and

 

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other factors set forth above under the heading “Risk Factors” and in the section entitled “Risk Factors” incorporated by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K we file after the date of this prospectus.

 

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All forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and the risk factors incorporated by reference into this prospectus. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus. Except to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations, we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances described in this prospectus may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements

RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES

The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, our ratio of earnings to fixed charges and our ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends. For purposes of computing the ratio of earnings to fixed charges and the ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends, earnings consist of income or loss from continuing operations before income taxes and fixed charges. Fixed charges consist of interest expense and an estimate of the interest component of rent expense. In each of the periods presented, earnings were insufficient to cover fixed charges and combined fixed charges and deemed dividends on preferred stock and the extent of such deficiencies in each period is shown below. You should read these ratios in connection with our consolidated financial statements, including the notes to those statements, incorporated by reference in this prospectus.

 

		Year Ended December 31,																				Nine months ended September 30, 2012
		2007				2008				2009				2010				2011
Ratio of earnings to fixed charges (1)			—				—				—				—				—				—
Deficiency of earnings available to cover fixed charges		$	(27,168	)		$	(23,953	)		$	(25,159	)		$	(32,177	)		$	(2,318	)		$	(59,220	)
Ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends (1)			—				—				—				—				—				—
Deficiency of earnings available to cover combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends		$	(27,168	)		$	(23,953	)		$	(25,159	)		$	(32,177	)		$	(2,318	)		$	(59,220	)

 

(1)

The ratio of earnings to fixed charges and the ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends represent the number of times that fixed charges and combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends, respectively, are covered by earnings. In each of the periods presented, earnings were negative and calculation of such ratios is not meaningful.

USE OF PROCEEDS

Unless we state otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities for one or more of the following purposes:

 

•

to fund research and development, including clinical trials and expansion of manufacturing capacity;

 

•

to finance capital expenditures and capacity expansions; and/or

 

•

for general corporate purposes and working capital.

Until we apply the proceeds from a sale of securities to their intended purposes, we may invest these proceeds in highly liquid, investment grade securities. We cannot predict whether the proceeds invested will yield a favorable return.

 

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The specific allocations of the proceeds we receive from the sale of our securities will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

DESCRIPTION OF OUR CAPITAL STOCK

The following description of our common stock and preferred stock, together with any additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus, summarizes the material terms and provisions of our common stock and preferred stock that we may offer under this prospectus. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future common stock or preferred stock that we may offer, we will describe the particular terms of any class or series of these securities in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. For the complete terms of our common stock and preferred stock, please refer to our articles of incorporation and bylaws that are incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or may be incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement. The summary below and that contained in any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus are qualified in their entirety by reference to our articles of incorporation and bylaws, as in effect at the time of any offering of securities under this prospectus.

Common Stock

We are authorized to issue 50,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of which 25,453,110 shares were issued and outstanding as of the date of this prospectus. Each shareholder of record is entitled to one vote for each outstanding share of our common stock owned by that shareholder on every matter properly submitted to the shareholders for their vote. Subject to the satisfaction of the dividend rights of holders of any shares of preferred stock issued hereafter, holders of common stock are entitled to any dividend declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available for this purpose. As an Oregon corporation, we are subject to statutory limitations on the declaration and payment of dividends. Currently, we do not pay a dividend. Subject to the satisfaction of any outstanding debts and the payment of liquidation preferences to holders of any shares of preferred stock issued hereafter, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive, on a pro rata basis, all of our remaining assets available for distribution to the shareholders in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up. The holders of our common stock have no conversion, redemption, preemptive or cumulative voting rights. The preferences, limitations, relative rights and other terms that holders of our common stock are subject to, may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.

Preferred Stock

Our articles of incorporation allow us to issue, without shareholder approval, preferred stock having rights senior to those of our common stock. Our board of directors is authorized, without further shareholder approval, to issue up to 3,333,333 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of which no shares are issued and outstanding as of the date of this prospectus, in one or more series and to fix and designate the preferences, limitations, relative rights and other terms of the preferred stock, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences. Our board of directors may fix the number of shares constituting any series of preferred stock and the designations of the series.

We will fix the preferences, limitations, relative rights and other terms of the preferred stock of each series by the filing of an articles of amendment relating to each series. We will specify the terms of the preferred stock in a prospectus supplement, including:

 

•

the maximum number of shares in the series and the distinctive designation;

 

•

the terms on which dividends will be paid, if any;

 

•

the terms on which the shares may be redeemed, if at all;

 

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•

the liquidation preference, if any;

 

•

the terms of any retirement or sinking fund for the purchase or redemption of the shares of the series;

 

•

the terms and conditions, if any, on which the shares of the series will be convertible into, or exchangeable for, shares of any other class or classes of capital stock;

 

•

the voting rights, if any, on the shares of the series; and

 

•

any or all other preferences and relative, participating, operational or other special rights or qualifications, limitations or restrictions of the shares.

We will describe the specific terms of a particular series of preferred stock in the prospectus supplement relating to that series. The preferences, limitations, relative rights and other terms of the preferred stock of each series that we or any securityholder offer and sell under this prospectus and applicable prospectus supplements will be set forth in an articles of amendment relating to the series. We will file as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from another report that we file with the SEC, the articles of amendment that describe the terms of any series of preferred stock we offer under this prospectus before the issuance of shares of that series of preferred stock. You should read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the series of preferred stock being offered, as well as the articles of amendment that contain the terms of the applicable series of preferred stock.

Anti-Takeover Effect of Unissued Shares of Capital Stock

Common Stock. Our shares of authorized and unissued common stock are available for future issuance without additional shareholder approval. While these additional shares are not designed to deter or prevent a change of control, under some circumstances we could use the additional shares to create voting impediments or to frustrate persons seeking to effect a takeover or otherwise gain control by, for example, issuing those shares in private placements to purchasers who might side with our board of directors in opposing a hostile takeover bid.

Preferred Stock. Our articles of incorporation grant our board of directors the authority, without any further vote or action by our shareholders, to issue preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the number of shares constituting any such series and the preferences, limitations and relative rights, including dividend rights, dividend rate, voting rights, terms of redemption, redemption price or prices, conversion rights and liquidation preferences of the shares constituting any series. The existence of authorized but unissued preferred stock could reduce our attractiveness as a target for an unsolicited takeover bid since we could, for example, issue shares of preferred stock to parties who might oppose such a takeover bid or shares that contain terms the potential acquirer may find unattractive. This may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control, may discourage bids for the common stock at a premium over the market price of the common stock, and may adversely affect the market price of, and the voting and other rights of the holders of, common stock.

Oregon Anti-Takeover Law and Certain Provisions of Our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws

Certain provisions of Oregon law and our articles of incorporation and bylaws could make it more difficult to acquire us by means of a tender offer, a proxy contest or otherwise and to remove our incumbent officers and directors. These provisions, summarized below, are expected to discourage certain types of coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids and to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with us. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure us outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging takeover or acquisition proposals because, among other things, negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.

 

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Oregon Business Combination Act. We are subject to the Oregon Business Combination Act, which prohibits an Oregon corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested shareholder for three years after the date the shareholder became an interested shareholder, with the following exceptions:

 

•

before the combination or transaction date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the shareholder becoming an interested shareholder;

 

•

upon completion of the transaction that resulted in the shareholder becoming an interested shareholder, the interested shareholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction began, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested shareholder) (i) those shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or an exchange offer; or

 

•

on or after that date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or a special meeting of the shareholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested shareholder.

In general, the Oregon Business Combination Act defines “business combination” to include the following:

 

•

any merger or consolidation involving the corporation or any direct or indirect majority owned subsidiary of the corporation and the interested shareholder or any other corporation, partnership, unincorporated association or other entity if the merger or consolidation is caused by the interested shareholder and as a result of such merger or consolidation the transaction is not excepted as described above;

 

•

any sale, transfer, pledge or other disposition (in one transaction or a series) of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation involving the interested shareholder;

 

•

subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested shareholder;

 

•

any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock or any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested shareholder; or

 

•

the receipt by the interested shareholder of the benefit of any losses, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits by or through the corporation.

In general, the Oregon Business Combination Act defines an “interested shareholder” as an entity or a person who, together with the person’s affiliates and associates, beneficially owns, or within three years prior to the time of determination of interested shareholder status owned, 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

Oregon Control Share Act. We are subject to the Oregon Control Share Act, which regulates the process by which a person may acquire control of certain Oregon-based corporations without the consent and cooperation of the corporation’s board of directors. Under the Oregon Control Share Act a person who acquires voting stock in a transaction that results in the person holding more than 20%, 33 1/3% or 50% of the total voting power cannot vote the shares it acquires in the acquisition. This restriction does not apply if voting rights are given to the control shares by:

 

•

the holders of a majority of the outstanding voting shares, excluding the control shares held by the acquirer and shares held by our officers and employee directors, and

 

•

the holders of a majority of the outstanding voting shares, including the control shares held by such person and shares held by our officers and employee directors.

 

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To retain the voting rights attached to acquired shares, these approvals are required at the time an acquirer’s holdings first exceed 20% of the total voting power, and again at the times the acquiring person’s holdings first exceed 33 1/3% and 50%. An acquiring person includes persons acting as a group.

The acquirer may, but is not required to, submit to the target company an “acquiring person statement” including specific information about the acquirer and its plans for the corporation. The acquiring person statement may also request that the corporation call a special meeting of shareholders to determine whether the control shares will be allowed to have voting rights. If the acquirer does not request a special meeting of shareholders, the issue of voting rights of control shares will be considered at the next annual or special meeting of shareholders that is held more than 60 days after the date of the acquisition of control shares. If the acquirer’s control shares are allowed to have voting rights and represent a majority or more of all voting power, shareholders who do not vote in favor of voting rights for the control shares will have the right to receive the appraised fair value of their shares, which may not be less than the highest price paid per share by the acquirer for the control shares.

Shares are not deemed to be acquired in a control share acquisition if, among other things, they are acquired from the issuing corporation, or are issued pursuant to a plan of merger or exchange effected in compliance with the Oregon Business Corporation Act and the issuing corporation is a party to the merger or exchange agreement.

Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. Our articles of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management, including provisions that:

 

•

authorize “blank check” preferred stock, which could be issued without shareholder approval and could have voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our common stock;

 

•

create a classified board of directors whose members serve staggered two-year terms (which provision cannot be amended or repealed without the affirmative vote of the holders of not less than two-thirds of the shares entitled to vote);

 

•

require that any action required or permitted by law to be taken at a shareholders’ meeting may be taken without a meeting only if the action is taken by all the shareholders entitled to vote on the action; and

 

•

require that special meetings of our shareholders may be called only by our president, the board of directors or at the request of holders of not less than one-tenth of all the outstanding shares of the Company entitled to vote at the meeting.

These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management.

Transfer Agent

The transfer agent for our common stock is Computershare, 480 Washington Blvd., Jersey City, New Jersey 07310, (866) 272-4615.

Listing

Our common stock is quoted on The NASDAQ Global Market under the trading symbol “SRPT.”

DESCRIPTION OF THE DEBT SECURITIES

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes certain general terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. When we offer to sell a particular series of debt securities, we will describe the specific terms of the series in a supplement to this prospectus. We will also indicate in the supplement to what extent the general terms and provisions described in this prospectus apply to a particular series of debt securities.

 

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We may issue debt securities either separately, or together with, or upon the conversion or exercise of or in exchange for, other securities described in this prospectus. Debt securities may be our senior, senior subordinated or subordinated obligations and, unless otherwise specified in a supplement to this prospectus, the debt securities will be our direct, unsecured obligations and may be issued in one or more series.

The debt securities will be issued under an indenture between us and a trustee. We have summarized select portions of the indenture below. The summary is not complete. The form of the indenture has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement and you should read the indenture for provisions that may be important to you. In the summary below, we have included references to the section numbers of the indenture so that you can easily locate these provisions. Capitalized terms used in the summary and not defined herein have the meanings specified in the indenture.

General

The terms of each series of debt securities will be established by or pursuant to a resolution of our board of directors and set forth or determined in the manner provided in a resolution of our board of directors, in an officer’s certificate or by a supplemental indenture. (Section 2.2) The particular terms of each series of debt securities will be described in a prospectus supplement relating to such series (including any pricing supplement or term sheet).

We can issue an unlimited amount of debt securities under the indenture that may be in one or more series with the same or various maturities, at par, at a premium, or at a discount. (Section 2.1) We will set forth in a prospectus supplement (including any pricing supplement or term sheet) relating to any series of debt securities being offered, the aggregate principal amount and the following terms of the debt securities, if applicable:

 

•

the title and ranking of the debt securities (including the terms of any subordination provisions);

 

•

the price or prices (expressed as a percentage of the principal amount) at which we will sell the debt securities;

 

•

any limit on the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities;

 

•

the date or dates on which the principal of the securities of the series is payable;

 

•

the rate or rates (which may be fixed or variable) per annum or the method used to determine the rate or rates (including any commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index) at which the debt securities will bear interest, the date or dates from which interest will accrue, the date or dates on which interest will commence and be payable and any regular record date for the interest payable on any interest payment date;

 

•

the place or places where principal of, and interest, if any, on the debt securities will be payable (and the method of such payment), where the securities of such series may be surrendered for registration of transfer or exchange, and where notices and demands to us in respect of the debt securities may be delivered;

 

•

the period or periods within which, the price or prices at which and the terms and conditions upon which we may redeem the debt securities;

 

•

any obligation we have to redeem or purchase the debt securities pursuant to any sinking fund or analogous provisions or at the option of a holder of debt securities and the period or periods within which, the price or prices at which and in the terms and conditions upon which securities of the series shall be redeemed or purchased, in whole or in part, pursuant to such obligation;

 

•

the dates on which and the price or prices at which we will repurchase debt securities at the option of the holders of debt securities and other detailed terms and provisions of these repurchase obligations;

 

•

the denominations in which the debt securities will be issued, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof;

 

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•

whether the debt securities will be issued in the form of certificated debt securities or global debt securities;

 

•

the portion of principal amount of the debt securities payable upon declaration of acceleration of the maturity date, if other than the principal amount;

 

•

the currency of denomination of the debt securities, which may be United States Dollars or any foreign currency, and if such currency of denomination is a composite currency, the agency or organization, if any, responsible for overseeing such composite currency;

 

•

the designation of the currency, currencies or currency units in which payment of principal of, premium and interest on the debt securities will be made;

 

•

if payments of principal of, premium or interest on the debt securities will be made in one or more currencies or currency units other than that or those in which the debt securities are denominated, the manner in which the exchange rate with respect to these payments will be determined;

 

•

the manner in which the amounts of payment of principal of, premium, if any, or interest on the debt securities will be determined, if these amounts may be determined by reference to an index based on a currency or currencies other than that in which the debt securities are denominated or designated to be payable or by reference to a commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index;

 

•

any provisions relating to any security provided for the debt securities;

 

•

any addition to, deletion of or change in the Events of Default described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities and any change in the acceleration provisions described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities;

 

•

any addition to, deletion of or change in the covenants described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities;

 

•

any depositaries, interest rate calculation agents, exchange rate calculation agents or other agents with respect to the debt securities;

 

•

the provisions, if any, relating to conversion or exchange of any securities of such series, including if applicable, the conversion or exchange price and period, provisions as to whether conversion or exchange will be mandatory, the events requiring an adjustment of the conversion or exchange price and provisions affecting conversion or exchange; and

 

•

any other terms of the debt securities, which may supplement, modify or delete any provision of the indenture as it applies to that series, including any terms that may be required under applicable law or regulations or advisable in connection with the marketing of the securities. (Section 2.2)

We may issue debt securities that provide for an amount less than their stated principal amount to be due and payable upon declaration of acceleration of their maturity pursuant to the terms of the indenture. We will provide you with information on the federal income tax considerations and other special considerations applicable to any of these debt securities in the applicable prospectus supplement.

If we denominate the purchase price of any of the debt securities in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, or if the principal of and any premium and interest on any series of debt securities is payable in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, we will provide you with information on the restrictions, elections, general tax considerations, specific terms and other information with respect to that issue of debt securities and such foreign currency or currencies or foreign currency unit or units in the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

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Transfer and Exchange

Each debt security will be represented by either one or more global securities registered in the name of The Depository Trust Company, or the Depositary, or a nominee of the Depositary (we will refer to any debt security represented by a global debt security as a “book-entry debt security”), or a certificate issued in definitive registered form (we will refer to any debt security represented by a certificated security as a “certificated debt security”) as set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. Except as set forth under the heading “Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System” below, book-entry debt securities will not be issuable in certificated form.

Certificated Debt Securities. You may transfer or exchange certificated debt securities at any office we maintain for this purpose in accordance with the terms of the indenture. (Section 2.4) No service charge will be made for any transfer or exchange of certificated debt securities, but we may require payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with a transfer or exchange. (Section 2.7)

You may effect the transfer of certificated debt securities and the right to receive the principal of, premium and interest on certificated debt securities only by surrendering the certificate representing those certificated debt securities and either reissuance by us or the trustee of the certificate to the new holder or the issuance by us or the trustee of a new certificate to the new holder.

Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System. Each global debt security representing book-entry debt securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, the Depositary, and registered in the name of the Depositary or a nominee of the Depositary. Please see “Global Securities.”

Global Securities

The debt securities of any series may be represented, in whole or in part, by one or more global securities. Each global security will:

 

•

be registered in the name of a depositary, or its nominee, that we will identify in a prospectus supplement;

 

•

be deposited with the depositary or nominee or custodian; and

 

•

bear any required legends.

No global security may be exchanged in whole or in part for debt securities registered in the name of any person other than the depositary or any nominee unless:

 

•

the depositary has notified us that it is unwilling or unable to continue as depositary or has ceased to be qualified to act as depositary;

 

•

an event of default is continuing with respect to the debt securities of the applicable series; or

 

•

any other circumstance described in a prospectus supplement has occurred permitting or requiring the issuance of any such security.

As long as the depositary, or its nominee, is the registered owner of a global security, the depositary or nominee will be considered the sole owner and holder of the debt securities represented by the global security for all purposes under the indentures. Except in the above limited circumstances, owners of beneficial interests in a global security will not be:

 

•

entitled to have the debt securities registered in their names;

 

•

entitled to physical delivery of certificated debt securities; or

 

•

considered to be holders of those debt securities under the indenture.

 

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Payments on a global security will be made to the depositary or its nominee as the holder of the global security. Some jurisdictions have laws that require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. These laws may impair the ability to transfer beneficial interests in a global security.

Institutions that have accounts with the depositary or its nominee are referred to as “participants.” Ownership of beneficial interests in a global security will be limited to participants and to persons that may hold beneficial interests through participants. The depositary will credit, on its book-entry registration and transfer system, the respective principal amounts of debt securities represented by the global security to the accounts of its participants.

Ownership of beneficial interests in a global security will be shown on and effected through records maintained by the depositary, with respect to participants’ interests, or any participant, with respect to interests of persons held by participants on their behalf.

Payments, transfers and exchanges relating to beneficial interests in a global security will be subject to policies and procedures of the depositary. The depositary policies and procedures may change from time to time. Neither any trustee nor we will have any responsibility or liability for the depositary’s or any participant’s records with respect to beneficial interests in a global security.

Payment and Paying Agents

Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, the provisions described in this paragraph will apply to the debt securities. Payment of interest on a debt security on any interest payment date will be made to the person in whose name the debt security is registered at the close of business on the regular record date. Payment on debt securities of a particular series will be payable at the office of a paying agent or paying agents designated by us. However, at our option, we may pay interest by mailing a check to the record holder. The trustee will be designated as our initial paying agent.

We may also name any other paying agents in a prospectus supplement. We may designate additional paying agents, change paying agents or change the office of any paying agent. However, we will be required to maintain a paying agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of a particular series.

All moneys paid by us to a paying agent for payment on any debt security that remain unclaimed for a period ending the earlier of:

 

•

10 business days prior to the date the money would be turned over to the applicable state; or

 

•

at the end of two years after such payment was due, will be repaid to us. Thereafter, the holder may look only to us for such payment.

Covenants

We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement any restrictive covenants applicable to any issue of debt securities. (Article IV)

No Protection In the Event of a Change of Control

Unless we state otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the debt securities will not contain any provisions which may afford holders of the debt securities protection in the event we have a change in control or in the event of a highly leveraged transaction (whether or not such transaction results in a change in control) which could adversely affect holders of debt securities.

 

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Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets

We may not consolidate with or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to any person (a “successor person”) unless:

 

•

we are the surviving corporation or the successor person (if other than Sarepta Therapeutics) is a corporation organized and validly existing under the laws of any U.S. domestic jurisdiction and expressly assumes our obligations on the debt securities and under the indenture; and

 

•

immediately after giving effect to the transaction, no Default or Event of Default, shall have occurred and be continuing.

Notwithstanding the above, any of our subsidiaries may consolidate with, merge into or transfer all or part of its properties to us. (Section 5.1)

Events of Default

“Event of Default” means with respect to any series of debt securities, any of the following:

 

•

default in the payment of any interest upon any debt security of that series when it becomes due and payable, and continuance of such default for a period of 30 days (unless the entire amount of the payment is deposited by us with the trustee or with a paying agent prior to the expiration of the 30-day period);

 

•

default in the payment of principal of any security of that series at its maturity;

 

•

default in the performance or breach of any other covenant or warranty by us in the indenture (other than a covenant or warranty that has been included in the indenture solely for the benefit of a series of debt securities other than that series), which default continues uncured for a period of 60 days after we receive written notice from the trustee or we and the trustee receive written notice from the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series as provided in the indenture;

 

•

certain voluntary or involuntary events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization of our company; and

 

•

any other Event of Default provided with respect to debt securities of that series that is described in the applicable prospectus supplement. (Section 6.1)

No Event of Default with respect to a particular series of debt securities (except as to certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization) necessarily constitutes an Event of Default with respect to any other series of debt securities. (Section 6.1) The occurrence of certain Events of Default or an acceleration under the indenture may constitute an event of default under certain indebtedness of ours or our subsidiaries outstanding from time to time.

If an Event of Default with respect to debt securities of any series at the time outstanding occurs and is continuing, then the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may, by a notice in writing to us (and to the trustee if given by the holders), declare to be due and payable immediately the principal of (or, if the debt securities of that series are discount securities, that portion of the principal amount as may be specified in the terms of that series) and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all debt securities of that series. In the case of an Event of Default resulting from certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization, the principal (or such specified amount) of and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all outstanding debt securities will become and be immediately due and payable without any declaration or other act on the part of the trustee or any holder of outstanding debt securities. At any time after a declaration of acceleration with respect to debt securities of any series has been made, but before a judgment or decree for payment of the money due has been obtained by the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal

 

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amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may rescind and annul the acceleration if all Events of Default, other than the non-payment of accelerated principal and interest, if any, with respect to debt securities of that series, have been cured or waived as provided in the indenture. (Section 6.2) We refer you to the prospectus supplement relating to any series of debt securities that are discount securities for the particular provisions relating to acceleration of a portion of the principal amount of such discount securities upon the occurrence of an Event of Default.

The indenture provides that the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture unless the trustee receives indemnity satisfactory to it against any cost, liability or expense which might be incurred by it in exercising such right of power. (Section 7.1(e)) Subject to certain rights of the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee with respect to the debt securities of that series. (Section 6.12)

No holder of any debt security of any series will have any right to institute any proceeding, judicial or otherwise, with respect to the indenture or for the appointment of a receiver or trustee, or for any remedy under the indenture, unless:

 

•

that holder has previously given to the trustee written notice of a continuing Event of Default with respect to debt securities of that series; and

 

•

the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series have made written request, and offered reasonable indemnity or security, to the trustee to institute the proceeding as trustee, and the trustee has not received from the holders of not less than a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series a direction inconsistent with that request and has failed to institute the proceeding within 60 days. (Section 6.7)

Notwithstanding any other provision in the indenture, the holder of any debt security will have an absolute and unconditional right to receive payment of the principal of, premium and any interest on that debt security on or after the due dates expressed in that debt security and to institute suit for the enforcement of payment. (Section 6.8)

The indenture requires us, within 120 days after the end of our fiscal year, to furnish to the trustee a statement as to compliance with the indenture. (Section 4.3) If a Default or Event of Default occurs and is continuing with respect to the securities of any series and if it is known to a responsible officer of the trustee, the trustee shall mail to each Securityholder of the securities of that series notice of a Default or Event of Default within 90 days after it occurs. The indenture provides that the trustee may withhold notice to the holders of debt securities of any series of any Default or Event of Default (except in payment on any debt securities of that series) with respect to debt securities of that series if the trustee determines in good faith that withholding notice is in the interest of the holders of those debt securities. (Section 7.5)

Modification and Waiver

We and the trustee may modify and amend the indenture or the debt securities of any series without the consent of any holder of any debt security:

 

•

to cure any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency;

 

•

to comply with covenants in the indenture described above under the heading “Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets”;

 

•

to provide for uncertificated securities in addition to or in place of certificated securities;

 

•

to make any change that does not adversely affect the rights of any holder of debt securities;

 

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•

to provide for the issuance of and establish the form and terms and conditions of debt securities of any series as permitted by the indenture;

 

•

to effect the appointment of a successor trustee with respect to the debt securities of any series and to add to or change any of the provisions of the indenture to provide for or facilitate administration by more than one trustee; or

 

•

to comply with requirements of the Commission in order to effect or maintain the qualification of the indenture under the Trust Indenture Act. (Section 9.1)

We may also modify and amend the indenture with the consent of the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series affected by the modifications or amendments. We may not make any modification or amendment without the consent of the holders of each affected debt security then outstanding if that amendment will:

 

•

reduce the amount of debt securities whose holders must consent to an amendment, supplement or waiver;

 

•

reduce the rate of or extend the time for payment of interest (including default interest) on any debt security;

 

•

reduce the principal of or premium on or change the fixed maturity of any debt security or reduce the amount of, or postpone the date fixed for, the payment of any sinking fund or analogous obligation with respect to any series of debt securities;

 

•

reduce the principal amount of discount securities payable upon acceleration of maturity;

 

•

waive a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or interest on any debt security (except a rescission of acceleration of the debt securities of any series by the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the then outstanding debt securities of that series and a waiver of the payment default that resulted from such acceleration);

 

•

make the principal of or premium or interest on any debt security payable in currency other than that stated in the debt security;

 

•

make any change to certain provisions of the indenture relating to, among other things, the right of holders of debt securities to receive payment of the principal of, premium and interest on those debt securities and to institute suit for the enforcement of any such payment and to waivers or amendments; or

 

•

waive a redemption payment with respect to any debt security. (Section 9.3)

Except for certain specified provisions, the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all debt securities of that series waive our compliance with provisions of the indenture. (Section 9.2) The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all the debt securities of such series waive any past default under the indenture with respect to that series and its consequences, except a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or any interest on any debt security of that series; provided, however, that the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may rescind an acceleration and its consequences, including any related payment default that resulted from the acceleration. (Section 6.13)

Defeasance of Debt Securities and Certain Covenants in Certain Circumstances

Legal Defeasance. The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, we may be discharged from any and all obligations in respect of the debt securities of any series (subject to certain exceptions). We will be so discharged upon the deposit with the trustee, in trust, of

 

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money and/or U.S. government obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, government obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants or investment bank to pay and discharge each installment of principal, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities.

This discharge may occur only if, among other things, we have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel stating that we have received from, or there has been published by, the United States Internal Revenue Service a ruling or, since the date of execution of the indenture, there has been a change in the applicable United States federal income tax law, in either case to the effect that, and based thereon such opinion shall confirm that, the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit, defeasance and discharge and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit, defeasance and discharge had not occurred. (Section 8.3)

Defeasance of Certain Covenants. The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, upon compliance with certain conditions:

 

•

we may omit to comply with the covenant described under the heading “Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets” and certain other covenants set forth in the indenture, as well as any additional covenants which may be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement; and

 

•

any omission to comply with those covenants will not constitute a Default or an Event of Default with respect to the debt securities of that series (“covenant defeasance”).

The conditions include:

 

•

depositing with the trustee money and/or U.S. government obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, government obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants or investment bank to pay and discharge each installment of principal of, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities; and

 

•

delivering to the trustee an opinion of counsel to the effect that the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit and related covenant defeasance and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit and related covenant defeasance had not occurred. (Section 8.4)

Covenant Defeasance and Events of Default. In the event we exercise our option to effect covenant defeasance with respect to any series of debt securities and the debt securities of that series are declared due and payable because of the occurrence of any Event of Default, the amount of money and/or U.S. government obligations or foreign government obligations on deposit with the trustee will be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of their stated maturity but may not be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of the acceleration resulting from the Event of Default. However, we shall remain liable for those payments. (Section 8.4).

 

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Governing Law

The indenture and the debt securities, including any claim or controversy arising out of or relating to the indenture or the securities, will be governed by the laws of the State of New York without regard to conflict of law principles that would result in the application of any law other than the laws of the State of New York. (Section 10.10)

DESCRIPTION OF THE WARRANTS

We may issue warrants for the purchase of shares of our common stock or preferred stock or of debt securities. We may issue warrants independently or together with other securities, and the warrants may be attached to or separate from any offered securities. Each series of warrants will be issued under a separate warrant agreement to be entered into between us and the investors or a warrant agent. The following summary of material provisions of the warrants and warrant agreements are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the warrant agreement and warrant certificate applicable to a particular series of warrants. The terms of any warrants offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the complete warrant agreements and warrant certificates that contain the terms of the warrants.

The particular terms of any issue of warrants will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to the issue. Those terms may include:

 

•

the number of shares of common stock or preferred stock purchasable upon the exercise of warrants to purchase such shares and the price at which such number of shares may be purchased upon such exercise;

 

•

the designation, stated value and terms (including, without limitation, liquidation, dividend, conversion and voting rights) of the series of preferred stock purchasable upon exercise of warrants to purchase preferred stock;

 

•

the principal amount of debt securities that may be purchased upon exercise of a debt warrant and the exercise price for the warrants, which may be payable in cash, securities or other property;

 

•

the date on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence and the date on which the right will expire;

 

•

United States Federal income tax consequences applicable to the warrants; and

 

•

any additional terms of the warrants, including terms, procedures, and limitations relating to the exchange, exercise and settlement of the warrants.

Holders of equity warrants will not be entitled:

 

•

to vote, consent or receive dividends;

 

•

receive notice as shareholders with respect to any meeting of shareholders for the election of our directors or any other matter; or

 

•

exercise any rights as shareholders of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Each warrant will entitle its holder to purchase the principal amount of debt securities or the number of shares of preferred stock or common stock at the exercise price set forth in, or calculable as set forth in, the applicable prospectus supplement. Unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the warrants may exercise the warrants at any time up to the specified time on the expiration date that we set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void.

 

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A holder of warrant certificates may exchange them for new warrant certificates of different denominations, present them for registration of transfer and exercise them at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement. Until any warrants to purchase debt securities are exercised, the holder of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the debt securities that can be purchased upon exercise, including any rights to receive payments of principal, premium or interest on the underlying debt securities or to enforce covenants in the applicable indenture. Until any warrants to purchase common stock or preferred stock are exercised, the holders of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the underlying common stock or preferred stock, including any rights to receive dividends or payments upon any liquidation, dissolution or winding up on the common stock or preferred stock, if any.

DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITS

We may issue units consisting of our common stock or preferred stock, debt securities and/or warrants to purchase any of these securities in one or more series. We may evidence each series of units by unit certificates that we will issue under a separate agreement. We may enter into unit agreements with a unit agent. Each unit agent will be a bank or trust company that we select. We will indicate the name and address of the unit agent in the applicable prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of units.

The following description, together with the additional information included in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the general features of the units that we may offer under this prospectus. You should read any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you related to the series of units being offered, as well as the complete unit agreements that contain the terms of the units. Specific unit agreements will contain additional important terms and provisions and we will file as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from another report that we file with the SEC, the form of each unit agreement relating to units offered under this prospectus.

If we offer any units, certain terms of that series of units will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following, as applicable:

 

•

the title of the series of units;

 

•

identification and description of the separate constituent securities comprising the units;

 

•

the price or prices at which the units will be issued;

 

•

the date, if any, on and after which the constituent securities comprising the units will be separately transferable;

 

•

a discussion of certain United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the units; and

 

•

any other terms of the units and their constituent securities.

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We may sell the securities offered through this prospectus (i) to or through underwriters or dealers, (ii) directly to purchasers, including our affiliates, (iii) through agents, or (iv) through a combination of any these methods. The securities may be distributed at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed, market prices prevailing at the time of sale, prices related to the prevailing market prices, or negotiated prices. The prospectus supplement will include the following information:

 

•

the terms of the offering;

 

•

the names of any underwriters or agents;

 

•

the name or names of any managing underwriter or underwriters;

 

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•

the purchase price of the securities;

 

•

the net proceeds from the sale of the securities;

 

•

any delayed delivery arrangements;

 

•

any underwriting discounts, commissions or agency fees and other items constituting underwriters’ or agents’ compensation;

 

•

any initial public offering price;

 

•

any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers; and

 

•

any commissions paid to agents.

We may engage in at-the-market offerings into an existing trading market in accordance with Rule 415(a)(4). Any at-the-market offering will be through an underwriter or underwriters acting as principal or agent for us.

We may issue to the holders of our common stock on a pro rata basis for no consideration, subscription rights to purchase shares of our common stock or preferred stock. These subscription rights may or may not be transferable by shareholders. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the specific terms of any offering of our common or preferred stock through the issuance of subscription rights, including the terms of the subscription rights offering, the terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange and exercise of the subscription rights and, if applicable, the material terms of any standby underwriting or purchase arrangement entered into by us in connection with the offering of common or preferred stock through the issuance of subscription rights.

Sale Through Underwriters or Dealers

If underwriters are used in the sale, the underwriters will acquire the securities for their own account, including through underwriting, purchase, security lending or repurchase agreements with us. The underwriters may resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions. Underwriters may sell the securities in order to facilitate transactions in any of our other securities (described in this prospectus or otherwise), including other public or private transactions and short sales. Underwriters may offer securities to the public either through underwriting syndicates represented by one or more managing underwriters or directly by one or more firms acting as underwriters. Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to certain conditions, and the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all the offered securities if they purchase any of them. The underwriters may change from time to time any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers.

If dealers are used in the sale of securities offered through this prospectus, we will sell the securities to them as principals. They may then resell those securities to the public at varying prices determined by the dealers at the time of resale. The prospectus supplement will include the names of the dealers and the terms of the transaction.

Direct Sales and Sales Through Agents

We may sell the securities offered through this prospectus directly. In this case, no underwriters or agents would be involved. Such securities may also be sold through agents designated from time to time. The prospectus supplement will name any agent involved in the offer or sale of the offered securities and will describe any commissions payable to the agent. Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement, any agent will agree to use its reasonable best efforts to solicit purchases for the period of its appointment.

 

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We may sell the securities directly to institutional investors or others who may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act with respect to any sale of those securities. The terms of any such sales will be described in the prospectus supplement.

Delayed Delivery Contracts

If the prospectus supplement indicates, we may authorize agents, underwriters or dealers to solicit offers from certain types of institutions to purchase securities at the public offering price under delayed delivery contracts. These contracts would provide for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. The contracts would be subject only to those conditions described in the prospectus supplement. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the commission payable for solicitation of those contracts.

Market Making, Stabilization and Other Transactions

Unless the applicable prospectus supplement states otherwise, each series of offered securities will be a new issue and will have no established trading market. We may elect to list any series of offered securities on an exchange. Any underwriters that we use in the sale of offered securities may make a market in such securities, but may discontinue such market making at any time without notice. Therefore, we cannot assure you that the securities will have a liquid trading market.

Any underwriter may also engage in stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Rule 104 under the Securities Exchange Act. Stabilizing transactions involve bids to purchase the underlying security in the open market for the purpose of pegging, fixing or maintaining the price of the securities. Syndicate covering transactions involve purchases of the securities in the open market after the distribution has been completed in order to cover syndicate short positions.

Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a syndicate member when the securities originally sold by the syndicate member are purchased in a syndicate covering transaction to cover syndicate short positions. Stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would be in the absence of the transactions. The underwriters may, if they commence these transactions, discontinue them at any time.

Derivative Transactions and Hedging

We, the underwriters or other agents may engage in derivative transactions involving the securities. These derivatives may consist of short sale transactions and other hedging activities. The underwriters or agents may acquire a long or short position in the securities, hold or resell securities acquired and purchase options or futures on the securities and other derivative instruments with returns linked to or related to changes in the price of the securities. In order to facilitate these derivative transactions, we may enter into security lending or repurchase agreements with the underwriters or agents. The underwriters or agents may effect the derivative transactions through sales of the securities to the public, including short sales, or by lending the securities in order to facilitate short sale transactions by others. The underwriters or agents may also use the securities purchased or borrowed from us or others (or, in the case of derivatives, securities received from us in settlement of those derivatives) to directly or indirectly settle sales of the securities or close out any related open borrowings of the securities.

Electronic Auctions

We may also make sales through the Internet or through other electronic means. Since we may from time to time elect to offer securities directly to the public, with or without the involvement of agents, underwriters or dealers, utilizing the Internet or other forms of electronic bidding or ordering systems for the pricing and allocation of such securities, you will want to pay particular attention to the description of that system we will provide in a prospectus supplement.

 

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Such electronic system may allow bidders to directly participate, through electronic access to an auction site, by submitting conditional offers to buy that are subject to acceptance by us, and which may directly affect the price or other terms and conditions at which such securities are sold. These bidding or ordering systems may present to each bidder, on a so-called “real-time” basis, relevant information to assist in making a bid, such as the clearing spread at which the offering would be sold, based on the bids submitted, and whether a bidder’s individual bids would be accepted, prorated or rejected. For example, in the case of debt security, the clearing spread could be indicated as a number of “basis points” above an index treasury note. Of course, many pricing methods can and may also be used.

Upon completion of such an electronic auction process, securities will be allocated based on prices bid, terms of bid or other factors. The final offering price at which securities would be sold and the allocation of securities among bidders would be based in whole or in part on the results of the Internet or other electronic bidding process or auction.

General Information

Agents, underwriters, and dealers may be entitled, under agreements entered into with us, to indemnification by us against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Our agents, underwriters, and dealers, or their affiliates, may be customers of, engage in transactions with or perform services for us, in the ordinary course of business.

LEGAL MATTERS

Certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the equity securities will be passed upon for us by White Summers Caffee & James, LLP, Portland, Oregon. Certain other legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the debt securities, warrants and units will be passed upon for us by Latham & Watkins LLP, Menlo Park, California. Additional legal matters may be passed on for us, or any underwriters, dealers or agents, by counsel that we will name in the applicable prospectus supplement.

EXPERTS

The financial statements of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (a developmental stage enterprise) as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2011, and the information included in the cumulative from inception presentations for the period January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2011 (not separately presented), and management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2011 have been incorporated by reference herein and in the registration statement in reliance upon the reports of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We file annual, quarterly and other reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the Public Reference Room. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments to those reports, and other information that we file with or furnish to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act can also be accessed free of charge on our website at http://www.sareptatherapeutics.com under the “Investor Relations—SEC Filings” caption. These filings will be available as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not part of this prospectus.

 

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INFORMATION INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference the information we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document that we have filed separately with the SEC. You should read the information incorporated by reference because it is an important part of this prospectus. We incorporate by reference the following information or documents that we have filed with the SEC (excluding those portions of any Form 8-K that are not deemed “filed” pursuant to the General Instructions of Form 8-K):

 

•

our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, filed with the SEC on March 13, 2012, as amended by Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on April 30, 2012;

 

•

our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2012, June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2012, filed with the SEC on May 10, 2012, August 7, 2012 and November 7, 2012, respectively;

 

•

our Current Reports on Form 8-K, as filed with the SEC on March 1, 2012 (with respect to Item 8.01 only), April 2, 2012, April 12, 2012, April 25, 2012, June 1, 2012, June 5, 2012, July 12, 2012, July 16, 2012, August 3, 2012, August 29, 2012, September 4, 2012 (filed at 8:37 AM Eastern time, with respect to Items 1.01, 8.01 and 9.01 only), September 4, 2012 (filed at 5:21 PM Eastern time), September 19, 2012, October 3, 2012 (as amended by Amendment No. 1 on Form 8-K/A filed on October 4, 2012), October 4, 2012 and November 6, 2012; and

 

•

the description of our common stock contained in our registration statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on May 29, 1997.

All reports and other documents we subsequently file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act prior to the termination of this offering, but excluding any information furnished to, rather than filed with, the SEC, will also be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and deemed to be part of this prospectus from the date of the filing of such reports and documents.

Any statement contained in any document incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus.

We will provide without charge to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom this prospectus is delivered, upon written or oral request, a copy of any or all documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus, but not delivered with the prospectus, other than exhibits to such documents unless such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference into the documents that this prospectus incorporates. You should direct written requests to: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., 3450 Monte Villa Parkway, Suite 101, Bothell, Washington 98021, or you may call us at (425) 354-5038.

DISCLOSURE OF COMMISSION POSITION ON INDEMNIFICATION FOR SECURITIES ACT LIABILITIES

Our articles of incorporation provide that we are required to indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Oregon law. We also have entered into separate indemnification agreements with each of our directors and executive officers which may be broader than the specific indemnification provisions contained in the Oregon Business Corporation Act.

 

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Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers or controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that, in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable. If a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by us of expenses incurred or paid by a director or officer of our company in the successful defense of the action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by a director or officer in connection with securities which may have been registered, we will, unless in the opinion of our counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by us is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issues.

 

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Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

 

 

 

PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

 

 

Lazard Capital Markets

 

December    , 2012