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In the United States and elsewhere, sales of prescription pharmaceuticals still depend in large part on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement to the consumer from third-party payors, such as governmental and private insurance plans. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for medical products and services. The market for AFREZZA and our product candidates for which we may receive regulatory approval will depend significantly on access to third-party payors’ drug formularies, or lists of medications for which third-party payors provide coverage and reimbursement. The industry competition to be included in such formularies often leads to downward pricing pressures on pharmaceutical companies. Also, third-party payors may refuse to include a particular branded drug in their formularies or otherwise restrict patient access to a branded drug when a less costly generic equivalent or other alternative is available. In addition, because each third-party payor individually approves coverage and reimbursement levels, obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement is a time-consuming and costly process. We may be required to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of any product to each third-party payor separately with no assurance that approval would be obtained. This process could delay the market acceptance of any product and could have a negative effect on our future revenues and operating results. Even if we succeed in bringing more products to market, we cannot be certain that any such products would be considered cost-effective or that coverage and adequate reimbursement to the consumer would be available. Patients will be unlikely to use our products unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of our products.
32 holdings.*
At September 30, 2015, Alfred E. Mann, our Executive Chairman and principal stockholder, beneficially owned approximately 37.2% of our outstanding shares of capital stock. By virtue of his holdings, Mr. Mann may be able to heavily influence elections of directors, our management and our affairs and prevent corporate transactions such as mergers, consolidations or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets that may be favorable from our standpoint or that of our other stockholders or cause a transaction that we or our other stockholders may view as unfavorable.
Subject to compliance with United States federal and state securities laws, Mr. Mann is free to sell the shares of our stock he holds at any time. Upon his death, we have been advised by Mr. Mann that his shares of our capital stock will be left to the Alfred E. Mann Medical Research Organization (“AEMMRO”), and AEM Foundation for Biomedical Engineering (“AEMFBE”), not-for-profit medical research foundations that serve as funding organizations for Mr. Mann’s various charities, including the Alfred Mann Foundation (“AMF”), and the Alfred Mann Institutes at the University of Southern California, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and Purdue University, and that may serve as funding organizations for any other charities that he may establish. The AEMMRO is a membership foundation consisting of nine members, including Mr. Mann, his wife, three of his children and Dr. Joseph Schulman, the chief scientist of the AEMFBE. The AEMFBE is a membership foundation consisting of five members, including Mr. Mann, his wife, and the same three of his children. Although we understand that the members of AEMMRO and AEMFBE have been advised of Mr. Mann’s objectives for these foundations, once Mr. Mann’s shares of our capital stock become the property of the foundations, we cannot assure you as to how those shares will be distributed or how they will be voted.
