As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 6, 2021 as amendment No. 2 to the Confidential Submission pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012

Registration No. 333-             

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

Form F-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

ICECURE MEDICAL LTD.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Copies to:

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

If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☒

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

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933.

Emerging growth company ☒

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards † provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

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

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

91,885,555 Ordinary Shares

IceCure Medical Ltd.

This prospectus relates to the resale, by the selling shareholders identified in this prospectus of up to 91,885,555 ordinary shares, no par value, or Ordinary Shares, as further described below under “Prospectus Summary—Recent Private Placement.”

The selling shareholders are identified in the table commencing on page 111. No Ordinary Shares are being registered hereunder for sale by us. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Ordinary Shares by the selling shareholders. All net proceeds from the sale of the Ordinary Shares covered by this prospectus will go to the selling shareholders (see “Use of Proceeds”). The selling shareholder are offering their securities in order to create a public trading market for our equity securities in the United States. Unlike an initial public offering, any sale by the selling shareholders of the Ordinary Shares is not being underwritten by any investment bank. The selling shareholders may sell all or a portion of the Ordinary Shares from time to time in market transactions through any market on which our Ordinary Shares are then traded, in negotiated transactions or otherwise, and at prices and on terms that will be determined by the then prevailing market price or at negotiated prices directly or through a broker or brokers, who may act as agent or as principal or by a combination of such methods of sale (see “Plan of Distribution”).

We have applied to list the Ordinary Shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “ICCM.” This offering is contingent upon the listing of the Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq. Although we believe that as of the closing of the January 2021 SPA we meet the initial listing criteria for listing our Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq, no assurance can be given that our application will be approved or that a trading market in the United States will develop.

Our Ordinary Shares currently trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, or TASE, under the symbol “ICCM.” The last reported sale price of our Ordinary Shares on , 2021 was NIS , or approximately $ per share (based on the exchange rate reported by the Bank of Israel on such date).

We expect the opening price of our Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq to be determined based on the closing price of our Ordinary Shares on the TASE on , 2021, converted to U.S. dollars (based on the exchange rate reported by the Bank of Israel on such date).

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, and a “foreign private issuer”, as defined in Rule 405 under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and are eligible for reduced public company reporting requirements.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. (see “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11).

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, the Israel Securities Authority nor any state or other foreign securities commission has approved nor disapproved these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The date of this prospectus is      , 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus and any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. Neither we nor the selling shareholder have authorized anyone to provide you with different information. Neither we nor the selling shareholders are making an offer of these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement is accurate as of any date other than the date of the applicable document. Since the date of this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed.

For investors outside of the United States: Neither we nor any of the selling shareholders have done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. You are required to inform yourselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus.

In this prospectus, “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company” and “IceCure” refer to IceCure Medical Ltd. and its wholly owned subsidiaries, IceCure Medical Inc., a Delaware corporation, IceCure Medical HK Limited a Hong Kong corporation and IceCure (Shanghai) MedTech Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of IceCure Medical HK Limited.

Our reporting currency and functional currency is the U.S. dollar. Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to “NIS” are to New Israeli Shekels, and references to “dollars” or “$” mean U.S. dollars.

This prospectus includes statistical, market and industry data and forecasts which we obtained from publicly available information and independent industry publications and reports that we believe to be reliable sources. These publicly available industry publications and reports generally state that they obtain their information from sources that they believe to be reliable, but they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information. Although we believe that these sources are reliable, we have not independently verified the information contained in such publications.

We report our financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP.

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus describes the general manner in which the selling shareholders identified in this prospectus may offer from time to time up to 91,885,555 Ordinary Shares. If necessary, the specific manner in which the Ordinary Shares may be offered and sold will be described in a supplement to this prospectus, which supplement may also add, update or change any of the information contained in this prospectus. To the extent there is a conflict between the information contained in this prospectus and the prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement, provided that if any statement in one of these documents is inconsistent with a statement in another document having a later date—for example, any prospectus supplement—the statement in the document having the later date modifies or supersedes the earlier statement.

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including the financial statements and related notes, before deciding whether to purchase our securities. If any of the following risks are realized, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the price of our Ordinary Shares could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements

We have a limited operating history and we have incurred significant operating losses since our inception, and anticipate that we will incur continued losses for the foreseeable future. The report of our independent registered public accounting firm contains an explanatory paragraph regarding substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, which could prevent us from obtaining new financing on reasonable terms or at all.

We are a medical device company with a limited operating history. To date, we have focused on developing our first commercial product for cryoablating tumors, the ProSense system, collecting clinical data, obtaining regulatory approvals in different geographical territories and indications and initiated our commercialization effort. We have funded our operations to date primarily through raising capital on TASE, private offerings, minimal sales of our ProSense system and its components, including affiliated needles, or Probes, guiding needles, or Introducers and other products, which we collectively refer to as disposables, loans, convertible loans and royalty-bearing grants that we received from the Israeli Innovation Authority, or the IIA, formerly known as the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy and Industry.

We have only a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. In addition, we have limited experience and have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the medical device industry. To date, we have generated minimal revenues from the sale of our ProSense system and its components (see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information). We have incurred losses in each year since our inception, including operating losses of $4,142 thousand and $4,784 thousand for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $48,536 thousand. Substantially all of our operating losses resulted from costs incurred in connection with our development of our technology, business development and commercialization and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations.

Until we can generate significant revenues, if ever, we expect to satisfy our future cash needs through debt or equity financing. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all. If funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate research or development plans for, or commercialization efforts with respect to our products.

We expect our research and development expenses to increase in connection with our planned expanded research and development efforts, including those conducted in connection with the development of our next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, and as we seek to receive approval from applicable regulatory authorities to commence commercialization of our ProSense system for treatment in breast cancer and other indications. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for our ProSense system for the treatment of breast cancer and other indications in different countries across the world, including the United States, and for our next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, we will likely incur significant sales, marketing and outsourced manufacturing expenses. In addition, although we have certain regulatory approvals, these only allow us to conduct minimal commercialization of our products, and therefore we will need to seek additional regulatory approvals in order to initiate commercialization, in scale, that has the potential to generate significant revenues for us. Even if we were to receive marketing approval for our ProSense and MultiSense systems, we expect that we will continue to incur significant research and development expenses as we seek to improve our technology and effectively compete with our competitors and as we seek additional approvals for their use in different indications and marketing and commercialization costs.

Furthermore, in addition to such operating expenses, we expect to incur additional costs associated with the process of listing our Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq and operating as a public company subject to the rules and regulations of the SEC, which we estimate will be at least one million dollars annually. As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing a medical device, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if at all.

The regulatory marketing approvals that we currently have are insufficient to generate significant revenue. Therefore, we expect to continue to incur significant losses until we are able to meaningfully commercialize our ProSense system or our next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, which we may not be successful in achieving. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:

The amount of any future operating losses will depend, in part, on the rate of our future expenditures and our ability to obtain funding through sales, equity or debt financings, strategic collaborations or grants. Even if we obtain regulatory approval to market our ProSense system or any future products, including the next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, our future revenues will depend on the market size (geographic and indication-specific) in which any such product receives approval and our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, competition, pricing, reimbursement from third-party payors for our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems or any future product candidates. Further, the operating losses that we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year, such that a period-to-period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indication of our future performance. Other unanticipated costs may also arise.

We have generated minimal revenues from product sales and may never be profitable, even if we receive regulatory approval to commercialize our products in additional geographical territories and indications.

Our system and its disposables are approved for marketing in a limited number of jurisdictions and for use in treatment of certain indications. In order to generate significant revenue, we will need to obtain additional regulatory approvals in jurisdictions within which we already have certain regulatory approvals and also in jurisdictions in which we currently have no regulatory approvals to market our products. Even if our ProSense or MultiSense systems or any future products are approved for marketing and sale, we anticipate incurring significant incremental costs associated with commercializing such products.

Our ProSense system, and its disposables, has regulatory approvals that allow us to market our system or its disposables in certain geographical areas and for specific indications. However, even with these regulatory approvals in place, we have yet to generate significant revenues and we plan to seek for additional regulatory approvals covering additional clinical indications, to allow us to increase clinical acceptance of our products by the medical community, obtain reimbursement coverage, and partner with distributors, all in order to increase commercialization efforts (see “Business—Government Regulation” for additional information). However, there can be no assurance that we will obtain regulatory approvals for all indications we have applied, or intend to apply for, or at all.

In addition to our dependency on receiving adequate regulatory approvals to market our products to our target market (geographic and indication-specific), our ability to generate significant revenues and achieve profitability also depends on our success in many areas, including but not limited to:

In addition, even if we were to receive all of the regulatory approvals that we may seek to receive, our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA, or other regulatory agencies, domestic or foreign, to change our manufacturing processes or assays or to perform studies in addition to those that we currently anticipate.

Further, if we are not able to generate significant revenues from the sale of our approved products, we may be forced to curtail or cease our operations. Due to the numerous risks and uncertainties involved in product development, it is difficult to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses, or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

Even following the January 2021 SPA, we expect that we will need to raise substantial additional funding, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain funding on acceptable terms and on a timely basis may require us to curtail, delay or discontinue our commercialization and product development efforts, expansion to new markets, or other activities.

As of December 31, 2020, our cash and cash equivalents and deposits were approximately $8.17 million, and we had a working capital of $5,875 thousand and an accumulated deficit of $48,536 thousand. On March 9, 2021 and May 10, 2021 pursuant to the January 2021 SPA, we received $9,000 thousand, and $6,000 thousand, accordingly. We expect that our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits will be sufficient for the next 12 months of operation. We expect that we will require substantial additional capital to commercialize our ProSense system and to develop and commercialize our next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems. In addition, our operating plans may change as a result of many factors that may currently be unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including but not limited to:

Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems and any future product candidates. We cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all, during or after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our ability to raise capital could be affected by various factors, including clinical adverse events. Moreover, the terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of holders of our securities and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our Ordinary Shares to decline. The incurrence of indebtedness could result in increased fixed payment obligations, and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or otherwise at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable, and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or product candidates or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects. Even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital if market conditions are favorable or if we have specific strategic considerations.

If we are unable to obtain funding on a timely basis, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or discontinue one or more of our research or development programs or the development or commercialization of our ProSense or next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems or any other products or be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We are highly dependent on the successful development, marketing and sale of our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems.

Our ProSense system, our second generation cryoablation system, is the basis of our business. As a result, the success of our business plan is highly dependent on our ability to manufacture our ProSense at a large scale, and commercialize our ProSense system for the treatment of breast cancer, and other intended uses in the field of interventional oncology (including kidney cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer and bone cancer) and our failure to do so could cause our business to fail. Successful production and commercialization of medical devices is a complex and uncertain process, dependent on the efforts of management, manufacturers, local operators, integrators, medical professionals, third-party payors, as well as general economic conditions, among other factors. Any factor that adversely impacts the production and commercialization of our ProSense system, will have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We have limited experience in commercializing our ProSense system and we may face several challenges with respect to our commercialization efforts, including, among others, that:

If we are unable to meet any one or more of these challenges successfully, our ability to effectively commercialize our products could be limited, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face business disruption and related risks resulting from the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The outbreak of COVID-19, which originated in Wuhan, China in 2019, has since spread across the globe, including the United States, Japan, Israel, many European and other countries in which we operate. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic. While COVID-19 is still spreading and the final implications of the pandemic are difficult to estimate at this stage, it is clear that it has affected the lives of a large portion of the global population. At this time, the pandemic has caused states of emergency to be declared in various countries, travel restrictions imposed globally, quarantines established in certain jurisdictions and various institutions and companies being closed. We are actively monitoring the pandemic and we are taking any necessary measures to respond to the situation in cooperation with the various stakeholders.

COVID-19 infection of our workforce could result in a temporary disruption in our business activities, including manufacturing, and other functions. Based on guidelines provided by the Israeli government, employers (including us) are also required to prepare and increase as much as possible the capacity and arrangement for employees to work remotely. In that regard, while we continued to operate almost fully including carrying out our studies in compliance with all applicable Israeli rules and guidelines, our employees worked remotely when full lockdowns were enforced. In addition, the closure of borders and state mandated quarantines, have made it difficult for us to assist in the installation and maintenance of our ProSense and providing clinical hands-on support and were required to provide such services remotely.

The spread of an infectious disease, including COVID-19, may also result in the inability of our manufacturers to deliver components or finished products on a timely basis and may also result in the inability of our suppliers to deliver the parts required by our manufacturers to complete manufacturing of components or finished products. Since March 2020 we have experienced delays in supply of some components of our products from abroad. While we were able to overcome such delays, we might not be able to do so if the future. In addition, governments and medical service providers may divert spending from other budgeted resources as they seek to reduce and/or stop the spread of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19. Such events may result in a period of business and manufacturing disruption, and in reduced operations, any of which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our business will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others.

If we fail to maintain existing strategic relationships with Terumo Corporation or are unable to identify additional distributors of our products or any future products and technologies, our revenues may decrease.

We currently derive a significant amount of our revenues through our strategic relationships and exclusive distribution agreements with Terumo Corporation (including its affiliates). If our relationships with Terumo Corporation are terminated or impaired for any reason and we are unable to replace these relationships with other means of distribution, we could suffer a material decrease in revenues.

We may need, or decide it is otherwise advantageous to us, to obtain the assistance of additional distributors to market and distribute our future products and technologies, as well as to market and distribute our existing ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, to existing or new markets or geographical areas. We may not be able to find additional distributors who will agree to and are able to successfully market and distribute our systems and technologies on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. If we are unable to establish additional distribution relationships on favorable terms, our revenues may decline. In addition, our distributors may choose to favor the products of our competitors over ours and give preference to them.

Also, our financial results are dependent upon the service efforts of Terumo Corporation. If Terumo Corporation is unsuccessful in adequately servicing our products, our sales could significantly decrease and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely impacted.

Pursuant to our agreements with Terumo Corporation, we are also dependent on Terumo Corporation’s efforts to obtain regulatory approval for the marketing and sale and the reimbursement of our products in Japan and other territories in which it seeks to commercialize our ProSense system, such as Thailand. If Terumo Corporation fails to obtain such approvals, it might adversely impact our future plans for sales in Japan and other regions.

Medical device development is costly and involves continual technological change which may render our current or future products obsolete.

The market for medical device technologies and products is characterized by factors such as rapid technological change, medical advances, changing consumer requirements, short device lifecycles, changing regulatory requirements and evolving industry standards. Any one of these factors could reduce the demand for our devices or require substantial resources and expenditures for, among other things, research, design and development, to avoid technological or market obsolescence.

Our success will depend on our ability to enhance our current technology and develop or acquire new technologies to keep pace with technological developments and evolving industry standards, while responding to changes in customer needs. A failure to adequately develop or acquire device enhancements or new devices that will address changing technologies and customer requirements adequately, or to introduce such devices on a timely basis, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We might have insufficient financial resources to improve our ProSense system or complete the development of our next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, and any other future products, and advance technologies and develop new devices at competitive prices. Technological advances by one or more competitors or future entrants into the field may result in our present services or devices becoming non-competitive or obsolete, which may decrease revenues and profits and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may encounter significant competition across our product lines and in each market in which we will sell our products and services from various companies, some of which may have greater financial and marketing resources than we do. Our competitors may include any companies engaged in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of non-invasive or minimal invasive solutions and technologies to treat tumors, as well as a wide range of medical device companies that sell a single or limited number of competitive products and services or participate in only a specific market segment.

We will be dependent upon success in our customer acquisition strategy.

Our business will be dependent upon success in our customer acquisition strategy. If we fail to maintain a high quality of device technology, we may fail to retain or add new customers. If we fail, our revenue, financial results and business may be significantly harmed. Our future success depends upon expanding our commercial operations in the United States, Europe and South East Asia, as well as entering additional markets (geographic and indication-specific) to commercialize our next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems and any other future products. We believe that our expanded growth will depend on the further development, regulatory approval(s) and commercialization of our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems. If we fail to commercialize our products in a timely manner and across a range of indications, including breast cancer, we may not be able to expand our markets or to grow our revenue, and our business and financial condition may be adversely impacted. If medical practitioners do not perceive our products to be useful and reliable, we may not be able to attract or retain new customers. A decrease in sales growth could cause us to enter into sales or distribution agreements on terms less favorable to us or cause us to license our technology on unfavorable and unexpected terms, which may have a material and adverse impact on our revenue, business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent upon third-party manufacturers and suppliers making us vulnerable to supply shortages and problems, increased costs and quality or compliance issues, any of which could harm our business.

We rely on third parties to manufacture and supply us with proprietary custom components. We rely on a limited number of suppliers who provide us materials and components as well as manufacture and assemble certain components of our products. Our suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including, for example, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, equipment malfunction and environmental factors, failure to properly conduct their own business affairs, infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting government restrictions, any of which could delay or impede their ability to meet our requirements. Our reliance on these third-party suppliers also subjects us to other risks that could harm our business, including:

We consistently monitor our inventory levels and maintain recovery plans to address potential disruptions that we may encounter from our suppliers. However, we may not be able to quickly establish additional or alternative suppliers if necessary, in part because we may need to undertake additional activities to establish such suppliers as required by the regulatory approval process. Any interruption or delay in obtaining products from our third-party suppliers, or our inability to obtain products from qualified alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers and cause them to switch to competing products. Given our reliance on certain suppliers, we may be susceptible to supply shortages while looking for alternate suppliers (see “Business – Production and Manufacturing for additional information).

We may not be able to replace our current manufacturing capabilities in a timely manner.

If our contract manufacturing facility or our in-house facility suffers any type of prolonged interruption, whether caused by regulator action, equipment failure, critical facility services failure, fire, natural disaster or any other event that causes the cessation of manufacturing activities, such as COVID-19, we may be exposed to long-term loss of sales and profits. There are limited facilities which are capable of contract manufacturing some of our products and product candidates. Replacement of our current manufacturing capabilities may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We are dependent upon third-party service providers. If such third-party service providers fail to maintain a high quality of service, the utility of our products could be impaired, which could adversely affect the penetration of our products, our business, operating results and reputation.

The success of certain services and products that we provide are dependent upon third-party service providers. Such service providers include manufacturers of proprietary custom components for our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems. As we expand our commercial activities, an increased burden will be placed upon the quality of such third-party providers. If third-party providers fail to maintain a high quality of service, our products, business, reputation and operating results could be adversely affected. In addition, poor quality of service by third-party service providers could result in liability claims and litigation against us for damages or injuries.

If we are not able to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, scientific, technical and marketing personnel, we may not be able to implement our business model successfully.

Our success depends in part on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management, clinical and scientific personnel. We are highly dependent upon our senior management as well as other employees, consultants and scientific and medical collaborators. Our management team must be able to act decisively to apply and adapt our business model in the rapidly changing markets in which we will compete. In addition, we will rely upon technical and scientific employees or third-party contractors to effectively establish, manage and grow our business. Consequently, we believe that our future viability will depend largely on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, sales, scientific and technical personnel. In order to do so, we may need to pay higher compensation or fees to our employees or consultants than currently expected and such higher compensation payments may have a negative effect on our operating results. Competition for experienced, high-quality personnel in the medical device field is intense. We may not be able to hire or retain the necessary personnel to implement our business strategy. Our failure to hire and retain quality personnel on acceptable terms could impair our ability to develop new products and services and manage our business effectively.

If we engage in future acquisitions or strategic partnerships, this may increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities, and subject us to other risks.

We may evaluate various acquisition opportunities and strategic partnerships, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, intellectual property rights, technologies or businesses. Any potential acquisition or strategic partnership may entail numerous risks, including:

We are subject to certain U.S. and foreign anticorruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations. We can face serious consequences for violations.

Among other matters, U.S. and foreign anticorruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations, which are collectively referred to as Trade Laws, prohibit companies and their employees, agents, clinical research organizations, legal counsel, accountants, consultants, contractors and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting or receiving, directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector. Violations of Trade Laws can result in substantial criminal fines and civil penalties, imprisonment, the loss of trade privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm, and other consequences. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We also expect our non-U.S. activities to increase over time. We plan to engage third parties for clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other regulatory approvals, and we can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our personnel, agents or partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have prior knowledge of such activities.

Non-U.S. governments often impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our future profitability.

We may be subject to rules and regulations in the United States and non-U.S. jurisdictions relating to our ProSense and MultiSense systems or any future products. In some countries, including countries of the European Union, or the EU, Japan, or China each of which has developed its own rules and regulations, pricing may be subject to governmental control under certain circumstances. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental agencies can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a medical device candidate. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product to other available products. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability.

We manage our business through a small number of employees and key consultants.

As of July 6, 2021, we had 42 full-time employees, 11 part time employees 1 independent contractor and 2 consultants. Our future growth and success depend to a large extent on the continued services of members of our current management including, in particular, our VP Research and Development and our Chief Executive Officer. Any of our employees and consultants may leave our company at any time, subject to certain notice periods. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers or any key employees or consultants may adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan and harm our operating results. Our operational success will substantially depend on the continued employment of senior executives, technical staff and other key personnel. The loss of key personnel may have an adverse effect on our operations and financial performance

We may need to expand our organization and we may experience difficulties in recruiting needed additional employees and consultants, which could disrupt our operations.

As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop and because we are leanly staffed, we may need additional managerial, development, operational, sales, marketing, financial, legal and other resources. The competition for qualified personnel in the medical device industry is intense. Due to this intense competition, we may be unable to attract and retain qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business or to recruit suitable replacement personnel.

Our management may need to divert its attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Our expected growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of additional medical device products. If our management is unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate and/or grow revenues could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize medical device products and services and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth.

International expansion of our business exposes us to business, regulatory, political, operational, financial and economic risks associated with doing business outside of the United States or Israel.

Other than our headquarters and other operations which are located in Israel (as further described below), our business strategy incorporates significant international expansion, particularly in anticipated expansion of regulatory approvals of our products. Doing business internationally involves a number of risks, including but not limited to: 

Any of these factors could significantly harm our future international expansion and operations and, consequently, our results of operations.

We face intense competition in the market, and as a result we may be unable to effectively compete in our industry.

The major market players within the cancer cryoablation care market and our primary competitors in the United States and abroad include Boston Scientific and Siemens Healthineers. Some of these companies hold significant market share. Their dominant market position and significant control over the market could significantly limit our ability to introduce or effectively market and generate sales of our ProSense and MultiSense systems.

Many of our competitors have long histories and strong reputations within the industry. They have significantly greater brand recognition, financial and human resources than we do. They also have more experience and capabilities in researching and developing testing devices, obtaining and maintaining regulatory clearances and other requirements, manufacturing and marketing those products than we do. There is a significant risk that we may be unable to overcome the advantages held by our competition, and our inability to do so could lead to the failure of our business and the loss of your investment. In addition, we may be unable to develop additional products in the future or to keep pace with developments and innovations in the market and lose market share to our competitors.

Competition in the medical devices and cancer treatment market is intense, and can lead to, among other things, price reductions, longer selling cycles, lower product margins, loss of market share and additional working capital requirements. To succeed, we must, among other critical matters, gain consumer acceptance for our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, as compared to other solutions currently available in the market for the treatment of tumors and potential future medical devices incorporating our principal technology or offering other advanced cryoablation, heat ablation or other non or minimal invasive solutions. For example, since the currently accepted treatment for breast cancer is surgery, we will need to invest resources in educating the medical community and consumers, and establish strategic collaborations before we able to gain market acceptance for our ProSense system as a treatment to breast cancer. If our competitors offer significant discounts on certain products and solutions, we may need to lower our prices or offer other favorable terms in order to compete successfully. Moreover, any broad-based changes to our prices and pricing policies could make it difficult to generate revenues or cause our revenues to decline. Moreover, if our competitors develop and commercialize products and solutions that are more effective or desirable than products and solutions that we may develop, we may not convince our customers to use our products and solutions. Any such changes would likely reduce our commercial opportunity and revenues potential and could materially adversely impact our operating results.

Our commercial success is very much dependent on third-party payors to provide adequate insurance coverage and reimbursement for the use of our systems, or any future products that we may commercialize. 

Our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems, and any other product in our development pipeline, is not yet approved for third-party payor coverage or reimbursement in some of the geographical markets in which we operate, or plan to operate in the future. Such reimbursement may vary based on the particular device used in providing services and is based on the identity of the third-party. Our ability to maintain a leading position in the medical device market, and specifically in the cancer care market, depends on our relationships with private third parties.

We expect to engage with private third parties to allow our customers to receive reimbursement from insurance companies for our ProSense and next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems. The loss of a significant number of private third-party contracts may have an adverse effect on our revenues, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Over the past few years, reimbursement rates from certain third parties have declined, in some cases significantly. There can be no assurance that this trend will not continue or apply on more third parties.

In addition, private third parties may not reimburse any new procedures conducted with our products or reimburse those new clinical procedures at commercially viable rates. The failure to receive reimbursement at adequate levels for our existing or future products may adversely affect demand for those products, our revenues and expected growth. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to litigation for a variety of claims, which could adversely affect our results of operations, harm our reputation or otherwise negatively impact our business.

We may be subject to litigation for a variety of claims arising from our normal business activities. These may include claims, suits, and proceedings involving labor and employment, wage and hour, commercial and other matters. The outcome of any litigation, regardless of its merits, is inherently uncertain. Any claims and lawsuits, and the disposition of such claims and lawsuits, could be time-consuming and expensive to resolve, divert management attention and resources, and lead to attempts on the part of other parties to pursue similar claims. Any adverse determination related to litigation could adversely affect our results of operations, harm our reputation or otherwise negatively impact our business. In addition, depending on the nature and timing of any such dispute, a resolution of a legal matter could materially affect our future operating results, our cash flows and our ability to raise capital.

We could become subject to product liability, warranty or similar claims and product recalls that could be expensive, divert management’s attention and harm our business reputation and financial results.

Our business exposes us to an inherent risk of potential product liability, warranty or similar claims and product recalls. The medical device industry has historically been litigious, and we face financial exposure to product liability, warranty or similar claims if the use of any of our products were to cause or contribute to injury or death. There is also the possibility that defects in the design or manufacture of any of our products might necessitate a product recall. Although we plan to maintain product liability insurance, the coverage limits of these policies may not be adequate to cover future claims. In the future, we may be unable to maintain product liability insurance on acceptable terms or at reasonable costs and such insurance may not provide us with adequate coverage against potential liabilities. A product liability claim, regardless of merit or ultimate outcome, or any product recall could result in substantial costs to us, damage to our reputation, customer dissatisfaction and frustration and a substantial diversion of management attention. A successful claim brought against us in excess of, or outside of, our insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our management team has limited experience managing a U.S. reporting company.

Most members of our management team do not have experience managing a publicly traded company in the United States, interacting with public company investors and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies in the United States. Although we are a public company in Israel, our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage our transition to being a public company in the United States that is subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the U.S. federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These new obligations and constituents will require significant attention from our senior management and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Risks Related to Product Development and Regulatory Approval

Our product candidates and operations are subject to extensive government regulation and oversight both in the United States and abroad, and our failure to comply with applicable requirements could harm our business.

We expect our ProSense, next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems and any future products we develop to be regulated by the FDA as medical devices. Regulation in the United States may subject us to the jurisdiction of the FDA, the U.S. Department of Justice, or the DOJ, and the U.S. Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General, or the HHS. Outside of the United States, we may be subject to the regulation of the FDA’s foreign counterparts as well as other foreign regulators. The FDA and foreign regulatory agencies regulate, among other things, with respect to medical devices: design, development and manufacturing; testing, labeling, content and language of instructions for use and storage; clinical trials; product safety; establishment registration and device listing; marketing, sales and distribution; pre-market clearance and approval; conformity assessment procedures; record keeping procedures; advertising and promotion; recalls and field safety corrective actions; post-market surveillance, including reporting of deaths or serious injuries and malfunctions that, if they were to occur, could lead to death or serious injury; post-market approval studies; and product import and export.

The regulations our product candidate is subject to are complex and have tended to become more stringent over time. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to carry on or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales for any approved product. Failure to comply with applicable regulations could jeopardize our ability to sell our future products, if cleared or approved, and result in enforcement actions such as: warning or untitled letters; fines; injunctions; consent decrees; civil penalties; customer notifications; termination of distribution; recalls or seizures of products; administrative detention of medical devices believed to be adulterated or misbranded; delays in the introduction of products into the market; operating restrictions; total or partial suspension of production; refusal to grant future clearances or approvals for new products, new intended uses or modifications to our products; withdrawals or suspensions of current approvals, resulting in prohibitions on sales of our products; and in the most serious cases, criminal prosecution or penalties. The occurrence of any of these events would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could result in shareholders losing their entire investment.

Our, or our partners’, clinical trials may encounter delays, suspensions or other problems.

We, or our partners, may encounter problems in clinical trials that may cause us or the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies to delay, suspend or terminate any such clinical trials at any phase. These problems could include the possibility that we may not be able to conduct clinical trials at our preferred sites, enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials at one or more sites or begin or successfully complete clinical trials in a timely fashion, if at all. Furthermore, we, our partners, the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies may suspend clinical trials at any time if we or they believe the subjects participating in the trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or if we or they find deficiencies in the clinical trial process or conduct of the investigation. If clinical trials of any of our products fail, we will not be able to market the product which is the subject of the failed clinical trials. The FDA and foreign regulatory agencies could also require additional clinical trials, which would result in increased costs and significant development delays. Our, or our partners’, failure to adequately demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a product under development could delay or prevent regulatory approval of the product and could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted clinical trials broadly. We, or our partners, may experience delays in site initiation and patient enrollment, failures to comply with study protocols, delays in the manufacture of our product candidates for clinical testing and other difficulties in starting or competing our clinical trials, and we do not know if the existence of a vaccine for COVID-19 will have an impact on the potential occurrence of the risks that are associated with clinical trials as a result of COVID-19.

We may not receive, or may be delayed in receiving, the necessary clearances or approvals for our ProSense, next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems or future products in order to commercialize these products in specific countries or regions or in a specific indication, and failure to timely obtain necessary clearances or approvals for our existing or future products would adversely affect our ability to grow our business.

In the United States, before we can market a new medical device, or a new use of, new claim for or significant modification to an existing product, we must first receive either clearance under Section 510(k) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDCA, or De Novo classification or approval of a pre-market approval application, or a PMA, from the FDA, unless an exemption applies. In the 510(k)-clearance process, before a device may be marketed, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a legally-marketed “predicate” device, which includes a device that has been previously cleared through the 510(k) process, a device that was legally marketed prior to May 28, 1976 (pre-amendments device), a device that was originally on the U.S. market pursuant to an approved PMA and later down-classified, or a 510(k)-exempt device. To be “substantially equivalent,” the proposed device must have the same intended use as the predicate device, and either have the same technological characteristics as the predicate device or have different technological characteristics and not raise different questions of safety or effectiveness than the predicate device. Clinical data are sometimes required to support substantial equivalence. The FDA may request clinical data in addition that provided from our clinical sites outside the United States. In the process of obtaining De Novo classification or PMA approval, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is safe and effective for its intended use based, in part, on extensive data, including, but not limited to, technical, pre-clinical, clinical trial, manufacturing and labeling data. The PMA process is typically required for devices that are deemed to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices.

Modifications to products that are approved through a PMA application generally require FDA approval. Similarly, certain modifications made to products cleared through a 510(k)-clearance process may require a new 510(k) clearance. Both the PMA approval and the 510(k)-clearance process can be expensive, lengthy and uncertain. The FDA’s 510(k)-clearance process usually takes from three to 12 months, but can last longer. The process of obtaining a PMA is much more costly and uncertain than the 510(k)-clearance process and generally takes from one to three years, or even longer, from the time the application is submitted to the FDA. In addition, a PMA generally requires the performance of one or more clinical trials. Despite the time, effort and cost, a device may not be approved or cleared by the FDA. Any delay or failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals could harm our business. Furthermore, even if we are granted regulatory clearances or approvals, they may include significant limitations on the indicated uses for the device or other restrictions or requirements, which may limit the market for the device.

In the United States, we cleared the 510(k) application process and received regulatory approval to market our ProSense system and related accessories systems for the treatment of kidney and liver tumors. Specifically, FDA 510(k) approval covers IceSense3, ProSense, next generation single Probe and MultiSense systems and MultiSense, including the ancillary products thereto, such as Probes and ancillary products, and software updates. However, even after receiving this regulatory approval from the FDA, we require additional approvals from the FDA in order to begin commercialization efforts capable of generating significant revenues for us.

Our 510(k) application may not be cleared by the FDA in a timely manner or at all, in this case we will suggest submitting for De Novo classification and gain FDA agreement. If cleared, any modification to our ProSense system that has not been previously cleared for treatment of the indication for which approval was granted may require us to submit a new 510(k) premarket notification and obtain clearance, or submit a PMA and obtain FDA approval prior to implementing the change. Specifically, any modification to a 510(k)-cleared device that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in its intended use, design or manufacture, requires a new 510(k) clearance or, possibly, approval of a PMA. The FDA requires every manufacturer to make this determination in the first instance, but the FDA may review any manufacturer’s decision. The FDA may not agree with our decisions regarding whether new clearances or approvals are necessary. We may make modifications or add additional features in the future that we believe do not require a new 510(k) clearance or approval of a PMA. If the FDA disagrees with our determination and requires us to submit new 510(k) notifications or PMA applications for modifications to our previously cleared products for which we have concluded that new clearances or approvals are unnecessary, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain clearance or approval, and we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties. If the FDA requires us to go through a lengthier, more rigorous examination for future products or modifications to existing products than we had expected, product introductions or modifications could be delayed or canceled, which could adversely affect our ability to grow our business.

The FDA can delay, limit or deny clearance or approval of a medical device for many reasons, including:

In order to sell our products in member countries of the European Economic Area, or EEA, our products must comply with the essential requirements of the EU Medical Devices Directive (Council Directive 93/42/EEC) and with the Medical Device Regulations 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which will fully enter into force on May 26, 2024. Compliance with these requirements is a prerequisite to be able to affix the Conformité Européene, or CE, mark to our products, without which they cannot be sold or marketed in the EEA. To demonstrate compliance with the essential requirements we must undergo a conformity assessment procedure, which varies according to the type of medical device and its classification. Except for low-risk medical devices (Class I non-sterile, non-measuring devices), where the manufacturer can issue a European Community, or EC, Declaration of Conformity based on a self-assessment of the conformity of its products with the essential requirements of the EU Medical Devices Directive, a conformity assessment procedure requires the intervention of an organization accredited by a member state of the EEA to conduct conformity assessments, or a Notified Body. Depending on the relevant conformity assessment procedure, the Notified Body would typically audit and examine the technical file and the quality system for the manufacture, design and final inspection of our devices. The Notified Body issues a certificate of conformity following successful completion of a conformity assessment procedure conducted in relation to the medical device and its manufacturer and their conformity with the essential requirements. This certificate entitles the manufacturer to affix the CE mark and the Notified Body number to its medical devices after having prepared and signed a related EC Declaration of Conformity.

As a general rule, demonstration of conformity of medical devices and their manufacturers with the essential requirements must be based, among other things, on the evaluation of clinical data supporting the safety and performance of the products during normal conditions of use. Specifically, a manufacturer must demonstrate that the device achieves its intended performance during normal conditions of use, that the known and foreseeable risks, and any adverse events, are minimized and acceptable when weighed against the benefits of its intended performance, and that any claims made about the performance and safety of the device are supported by suitable evidence. If we fail to remain in compliance with applicable European laws and directives, we would be unable to continue to affix the CE mark to our products, which would prevent us from selling them within the EEA.

Preliminary data that we or others announce or publish from time to time with respect to our products may change as more data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we, or our partners, may publish or seek to publish preliminary data from ongoing clinical trials, which are based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data. Positive preliminary data may not be predictive of such trial’s subsequent or overall results. Preliminary data are subject to the risk that one or more of the results and related findings and conclusions may materially change following a more comprehensive review of the data or as more data become available. Therefore, positive preliminary results in any ongoing clinical trial may not be predictive of such results in the completed trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully evaluate all data. As a result, preliminary data that we report may differ from future results from the same clinical trials, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Material adverse changes in the final data compared to preliminary data could significantly harm our business prospects.

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

Healthcare legislative and regulatory reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our industry is highly regulated and changes in law may adversely impact our business, operations or financial results. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or the PPACA, is a sweeping measure intended to, among other things, expand healthcare coverage within the United States, primarily through the imposition of health insurance mandates on employers and individuals and expansion of the Medicaid program. Several provisions of the law may affect us and increase certain of our costs.

In addition, other legislative changes have been adopted since the PPACA was enacted. These changes include aggregate reductions in Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, following passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, will remain in effect through 2027 unless additional Congressional action is taken. In January 2013, President Obama signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. These laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, which could have a material adverse effect on our customers and, accordingly, our financial operations.

We anticipate that the PPACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and an additional downward pressure on the reimbursement our customers may receive for our products. Further, there have been, and there may continue to be, judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the PPACA. For example, the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or TCJA, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the PPACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” Additional legislative and regulatory changes to the PPACA, its implementing regulations and guidance and its policies, remain possible in Congress and under the Trump administration. However, it remains unclear how any new legislation or regulation might affect the prices we may obtain for any of our products for which regulatory approval is obtained. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare and other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payers. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate significant revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our products in scale.

In addition, the delivery of healthcare in the European Union, including the establishment and operation of health services, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than EU, law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of health care and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. Coupled with ever-increasing EU and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay additional marketing approval of our ProSense system or any initial marketing approval for our ProSense system or any future product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to commercialize any products for which we obtain marketing approval.

We are currently unable to predict what additional legislation or regulation, if any, relating to the health care industry may be enacted in the future or what effect recently enacted federal legislation or any such additional legislation or regulation would have on our business. The pendency or approval of such proposals or reforms could result in a decrease in the price of our Ordinary Shares or limit our ability to raise capital or to enter into collaboration agreements for the further development and potential commercialization of our products.

Failure to comply with post-marketing regulatory requirements could subject us to enforcement actions, including substantial penalties, and might require us to recall or withdraw a product from the market.

Although we have certain regulatory approvals to market our ProSense system, we are still subject to ongoing and pervasive regulatory requirements governing, among other things, the manufacture, marketing, advertising, medical device reporting, sale, promotion, import, export, registration, and listing of devices. In addition, if we receive additional regulatory approvals to market the ProSense system or regulatory approvals to market the MultiSense system or other products we will likewise remain subject to ongoing regulation. For example, we will be required to submit periodic reports to the FDA as a condition of 510(k) clearance, which we have received for our ProSense system and related accessories, for the treatment of kidney and liver tumors. These reports include information about failures and certain adverse events associated with the device after its clearance. Failure to submit such reports, or failure to submit the reports in a timely manner, could result in enforcement action by the FDA. Following its review of the periodic reports, the FDA might ask for additional information or initiate further investigation.

The regulations to which we are subject are complex and have become more stringent over time. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to continue or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs, or lower than anticipated sales. Even after we have obtained the proper regulatory clearance to market a device, we have ongoing responsibilities under FDA regulations and applicable foreign laws and regulations. The FDA, state and foreign regulatory authorities have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA, state or foreign regulatory authorities, which may include any of the following sanctions:

Any of these sanctions could result in higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the FDA or state or foreign authorities may change their clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions, which may prevent or delay clearance or approval of our future products under development on a timely basis. Such policy or regulatory changes could impose additional requirements upon us that could delay our ability to obtain new clearances or approvals, increase the costs of compliance or restrict our ability to maintain any approvals we are able to obtain. For example, the FDA recently announced forthcoming steps that the FDA intends to take to modernize the premarket notification pathway under Section 510(k) of the FDCA.

Our products must be manufactured in accordance with federal, state and foreign regulations, and we could be forced to recall our devices or terminate production if we fail to comply with these regulations.

The methods used in, and the facilities used for, the manufacture of our products must comply with the Quality System Regulation, or QSR, which is a complex regulatory scheme that covers the procedures and documentation of the design, testing, production, process controls, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, handling, storage, distribution, installation, servicing and shipping of medical devices. As manufacturers of electron radiation-emitting products, we are also responsible for compliance with the radiological health regulations and certain radiation safety performance standards.

Furthermore, we are required to verify that our suppliers maintain facilities, procedures and operations that comply with our quality standards and applicable regulatory requirements. The FDA enforces the QSR through periodic announced or unannounced inspections of medical device manufacturing facilities, which may include the facilities of subcontractors. Our products are also subject to similar state regulations and various laws and regulations of foreign countries governing manufacturing.

Our third-party manufacturers may not take the necessary steps to comply with applicable regulations, which could cause delays in the delivery of our products. In addition, failure to comply with applicable FDA or state or foreign requirements or later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products or manufacturing processes could result in, among other things: warning letters or untitled letters; fines, injunctions or civil penalties; suspension or withdrawal of approvals; seizures or recalls of our products; total or partial suspension of production or distribution; administrative or judicially imposed sanctions; the FDA’s refusal to grant pending or future clearances or approvals for our products; clinical holds; refusal to permit the import or export of our products; and criminal prosecution of us, our suppliers or our employees.

Any of these actions could significantly and negatively affect supply of our products. If any of these events occurs, our reputation could be harmed, we could be exposed to product liability claims and we could lose customers and experience reduced sales and increased costs.

Current and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and collaborators, if any, to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize, in scale, our products and affect the prices we, or they, may obtain.

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system, including cost-containment measures that may reduce or limit coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs or medical procedures and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. In particular, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the U.S. federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of healthcare.

For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively, the Affordable Care Act, was enacted in the United States. Among the provisions of the Affordable Care Act of importance to our potential product candidates, the Affordable Care Act established an annual, nondeductible fee on any entity that manufactures or imports specified branded prescription drugs and biologic agents; expands eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs; increased the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; created a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program; required certain Affordable Care Act marketplace and other private payor plans to include coverage for preventative services, including vaccinations recommended by the ACIP without cost share obligations (i.e., co-payments, deductibles or co-insurance) for plan members; established a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; and established a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending.

Since its enactment, there have been judicial and congressional challenges to numerous aspects of the Affordable Care Act. By way of example, the 2017 Tax Reform Act included a provision repealing the individual mandate, effective January 1, 2019. On December 14, 2018, a U.S. District Court judge in the Northern District of Texas ruled that the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act is an essential and inseverable feature of the Affordable Care Act, and therefore because the mandate was repealed, the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act are invalid as well. On December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the District Court ruling that the individual mandate was unconstitutional, but remanded the case back to the District Court to determine whether the remaining provisions of the Affordable Care Act are invalid as well. On March 2, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petitions for writs of certiorari to review the case, although it is unclear when a decision will be made or how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule. In addition, there may be other efforts to challenge, repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act. We are continuing to monitor any changes to the Affordable Care Act that, in turn, may potentially impact our business in the future.

Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. These changes include aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year pursuant to the Budget Control Act of 2011 and subsequent laws, which began in 2013 and will remain in effect through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, unless additional Congressional action is taken. In addition, in January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. New laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, which may materially adversely affect customer demand and affordability for our product candidates, if approved, and, accordingly, the results of our financial operations.

We cannot predict whether future healthcare legislative or policy changes will be implemented at the federal or state level or in countries outside of the United States in which we may do business, or the effect any future legislation or regulation will have on us, but we expect there will continue to be legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels directed at containing or lowering the cost of health care.

The misuse or off-label use of our products may harm our reputation in the marketplace, result in injuries that may lead to product liability suits or result in costly investigations, fines or sanctions by regulatory bodies if we are deemed to have engaged in the promotion of these uses, any of which could be costly to our business.

Advertising and promotion of our products that obtain marketing approval in the United States may be heavily scrutinized by the FDA, the DOJ, HHS, state attorneys general, members of Congress, and the public. In addition, advertising and promotion of any product that obtains approval outside of the United States may be heavily scrutinized by comparable foreign regulatory authorities.

We expect that, if cleared or approved, our products, will be cleared by the requisite regulatory authorities for specific indications. We expect to train our marketing personnel and direct sales force to not promote our devices for uses outside of the FDA-approved indications for use, known as “off-label uses.” We cannot, however, prevent a physician from using our devices off-label, when in the physician’s independent professional medical judgment, he or she deems it appropriate. There may be increased risk of injury to patients if physicians attempt to use our devices off-label. Furthermore, the use of our devices for indications other than those approved by the FDA or approved by any foreign regulatory body may not effectively treat such conditions, which could harm our reputation in the marketplace among healthcare providers and patients.

If the FDA or any state or foreign regulatory body determines that our promotional materials or training constitute promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance or imposition of an untitled letter, which is used for violators that do not necessitate a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action under other regulatory authority, such as false claims laws, if they consider our business activities to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant penalties, including, but not limited to, criminal, civil and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs and the curtailment of our operations. We may become subject to such actions and, if we are not successful in defending against such actions, those actions may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Equivalent laws and potential consequences exist in foreign jurisdictions.

In addition, if our products are cleared or approved, healthcare providers may misuse our products or use improper techniques if they are not adequately trained, potentially leading to injury and an increased risk of product liability. If our devices are misused or used with improper technique, we may become subject to costly litigation by our customers or their patients. As described above, product liability claims could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend and result in sizeable damage awards against us that may not be covered by insurance.

Our products may cause or contribute to adverse medical events or be subject to failures or malfunctions that we are required to immediately report to all relevant regulatory authorities, and if we fail to do so, we would be subject to sanctions that could harm our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. The discovery of serious safety issues with our products, or a recall of our products either voluntarily or at the direction of the FDA or another governmental authority, could have a negative impact on us.

We are subject to the FDA’s medical device reporting regulations and similar foreign regulations, which require us to report to the FDA when we receive or become aware of information that reasonably suggests that one or more of our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that, if the malfunction were to recur, could cause or contribute to a death or serious injury. The timing of our obligation to report is triggered by the date we become aware of the adverse event as well as the nature of the event. We may fail to report adverse events of which we become aware within the prescribed timeframe. We may also fail to recognize that we have become aware of a reportable adverse event, especially if it is not reported to us as an adverse event or if it is an adverse event that is unexpected or removed in time from the use of the product. If we fail to comply with our reporting obligations, the FDA or other regulatory bodies could take action, including warning letters, untitled letters, administrative actions, criminal prosecution, imposition of civil monetary penalties, revocation of our device clearance or approval, seizure of our products or delay in clearance or approval of future products.

The FDA and foreign regulatory bodies have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture of a product or in the event that a product poses an unacceptable risk to health. The FDA’s authority to require a recall must be based on a finding that there is reasonable probability that the device could cause serious injury or death. We may also choose to voluntarily recall a product if any material deficiency is found. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of an unacceptable risk to health, component failures, malfunctions, manufacturing defects, labeling or design deficiencies, packaging defects or other deficiencies or failures to comply with applicable regulations. Product defects or other errors may occur in the future.

Depending on the corrective action we take to redress a product’s deficiencies or defects, the FDA may require, or we may decide, that we will need to obtain new clearances or approvals for the device before we may market or distribute the corrected device. Seeking such clearances or approvals may delay our ability to replace the recalled devices in a timely manner. Moreover, if we do not adequately address problems associated with our devices, we may face additional regulatory enforcement action, including FDA warning letters, product seizure, injunctions, administrative penalties or civil or criminal fines.

Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls and corrections, even if they are not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary withdrawals or corrections for our products in the future that we determine do not require notification of the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, it could require us to report those actions as recalls and we may be subject to enforcement action. A future recall announcement could harm our reputation with customers, potentially lead to product liability claims against us and negatively affect our sales. Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, as well as defending ourselves in a lawsuit, will require the dedication of our time and capital, distract management from operating our business and may harm our reputation and financial results.

We may be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws and health information privacy and security laws. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.

Many federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and regulations apply to medical devices. We may be subject to certain federal and state regulations, including the federal healthcare programs’ Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving, or paying any remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward purchasing, ordering or arranging for or recommending the purchase or order of any item or service for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid; the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, which imposes criminal and civil liability for knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, or knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false statement in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services; the federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which authorizes the imposition of substantial civil monetary penalties against an entity that engages in activities including, among others (1) knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a claim for services not provided as claimed or that is otherwise false or fraudulent in any way; (2) arranging for or contracting with an individual or entity that is excluded from participation in federal healthcare programs to provide items or services reimbursable by a federal healthcare program; (3) violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute; or (4) failing to report and return a known overpayment; the federal False Statements Statute, which prohibits knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation, or making or using any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry, in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items, or services; the federal civil False Claims Act, or the FCA, which prohibits, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented claims for payment of government funds that are false or fraudulent, or knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to such a false or fraudulent claim, or knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding, decreasing, or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal government; and other federal and state false claims laws. The FCA prohibits anyone from knowingly presenting, conspiring to present, making a false statement in order to present, or causing to be presented, for payment to federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) claims for items or services that are false or fraudulent, claims for items or services not provided as claimed, or claims for medically unnecessary items or services. This law also prohibits anyone from knowingly underpaying an obligation owed to a federal program. Increasingly, U.S. federal agencies are requiring nonmonetary remedial measures, such as corporate integrity agreements in FCA settlements. The DOJ announced in 2016 its intent to follow the “Yates Memo,” taking a far more aggressive approach in pursuing individuals as FCA defendants in addition to corporations.

The majority of states also have statutes similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and false claims laws that apply to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs, or, in several states, that apply regardless of whether the payer is a government entity or a private commercial entity. The Federal Open Payments, or Physician Payments Sunshine Act, program requires manufacturers of products for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to track and report annually to the federal government (for disclosure to the public) certain payments and other transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals as well as disclosure of payments and other transfers of value provided to physicians and teaching hospitals, and ownership and investment interests held by physicians and other healthcare providers and their immediate family members and applicable group purchasing organizations. Our failure to appropriately track and report payments to the government could result in civil fines and penalties, which could adversely affect the results of our operations. In addition, several U.S. states and localities have enacted legislation requiring medical device companies to establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, and/or make periodic public disclosures on sales, marketing, pricing, clinical trials, and other activities. Other state laws prohibit certain marketing-related activities including the provision of gifts, meals or other items to certain healthcare providers. Many of these laws and regulations contain ambiguous requirements that government officials have not yet clarified. Given the lack of clarity in the laws and their implementation, our reporting actions could be subject to the penalty provisions of the pertinent federal and state laws and regulations.

The medical device industry has been under heightened scrutiny as the subject of government investigations and enforcement actions involving manufacturers who allegedly offered unlawful inducements to potential or existing customers in an attempt to procure their business, including arrangements with physician consultants. If our operations or arrangements are found to be in violation of such governmental regulations, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the curtailment of our operations. All of these penalties could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results.

Changes in laws or regulations relating to data protection, or any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws and regulations or our privacy policies, could materially and adversely affect our business or could lead to government enforcement actions and significant penalties against us, and adversely impact our operating results.

We expect to receive health information and other highly sensitive or confidential information and data of patients and other third parties (e.g., healthcare providers who refer patients for scans), which we expect to compile and analyze. Collection and use of this data might raise privacy and data protection concerns, which could negatively impact our business. There are numerous federal, state and international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, information security, and the collection, storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure, and protection of personal information and other data, and the scope of such laws and regulations may change, be subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent among countries and regions we intend to operate in (e.g., the United States, the European Union and Israel), or conflict with other laws and regulations. The regulatory framework for privacy and data protection worldwide is, and is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, uncertain and complex, and this or other actual or alleged obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that we may not anticipate or that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or practices including ours. Further, any significant change to applicable laws, regulations, or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security, or disclosure of data, or their interpretation, or any changes regarding the manner in which the consent of relevant users for the collection, use, retention, or disclosure of such data must be obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and candidate products, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete, and may limit our ability to store and process patients’ data or develop new services and features.

In particular, we will be subject to U.S. data protection laws and regulations (i.e., laws and regulations that address privacy and data security) at both the federal and state levels. The legislative and regulatory landscape for data protection continues to evolve, and in recent years there has been an increasing focus on privacy and data security issues. Numerous federal and state laws, including state data breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws, and federal and state consumer protection laws, govern the collection, use, and disclosure of health-related and other personal information. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions and create liability for us (including the imposition of significant civil or criminal penalties), private litigation and/or adverse publicity that could negatively affect our business. For instance, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on June 28, 2018, which took effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA creates individual privacy rights for California consumers and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal data. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability, and many similar laws have been proposed at the federal level and in other states.

In addition, we expect to obtain health information that is subject to privacy and security requirements under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH, and its implementing regulations. The Privacy Standards and Security Standards under HIPAA establish a set of standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information by health plans, health care clearinghouses and certain health care providers, referred to as Covered Entities, and the business associates with whom Covered Entities enter into service relationships pursuant to which individually identifiable health information may be exchanged. Notably, whereas HIPAA previously directly regulated only Covered Entities, HITECH makes certain of HIPAA’s privacy and security standards also directly applicable to Covered Entities’ business associates. As a result, both Covered Entities and business associates are now subject to significant civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply with Privacy Standards and Security Standards. As part of our normal operations, we expect to collect, process and retain personal identifying information regarding patients, including as a business associate of Covered Entities, so we expect to be subject to HIPAA, including changes implemented through HITECH, and we could be subject to criminal penalties if we knowingly obtain or disclose individually identifiable health information in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA. A data breach affecting sensitive personal information, including health information, also could result in significant legal and financial exposure and reputational damages that could potentially have an adverse effect on our business.

HIPAA requires Covered Entities (like many of our potential customers) and business associates, like us, to develop and maintain policies and procedures with respect to protected health information that is used or disclosed, including the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information. HITECH expands the notification requirement for breaches of patient-identifiable health information, restricts certain disclosures and sales of patient-identifiable health information and provides for civil monetary penalties for HIPAA violations. HITECH also increased the civil and criminal penalties that may be imposed against Covered Entities and business associates and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce HIPAA and its implementing regulations and seek attorney’s fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions. Additionally, certain states have adopted comparable privacy and security laws and regulations, some of which may be more stringent than HIPAA.

Internationally, many jurisdictions have or are considering enacting privacy or data protection laws or regulations relating to the collection, use, storage, transfer, disclosure and/or other processing of personal data, as well as certification requirements for the hosting of health data specifically. Such laws and regulations may include data hosting, data residency or data localization requirements (which generally require that certain types of data collected within a certain country be stored and processed within that country), data export restrictions, international transfer laws (which prohibit or impose conditions upon the transfer of such data from one country to another), or may require companies to implement privacy or data protection and security policies, enable users to access, correct and delete personal data stored or maintained by such companies, inform individuals of security breaches that affect their personal data or obtain individuals’ consent to use their personal data. For example, European legislators adopted the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679), or GDPR, which became effective on May 25, 2018, and are now in the process of finalizing the ePrivacy Regulation to replace the European ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC). The GDPR, supplemented by national laws and further implemented through binding guidance from the European Data Protection Board, imposes more stringent EU data protection requirements and provides for significant penalties for noncompliance. Further, the United Kingdom’s initiating a process to leave the EU has created uncertainty with regard to the regulation of data protection in the United Kingdom. In particular, the United Kingdom has brought the GDPR into domestic law with the Data Protection Act 2018 which will remain in force, even if and when the United Kingdom leaves the EU.

Virtually every jurisdiction in which we expect to operate has established its own data security and privacy legal framework with which we must, and our target customers will need to, comply, including the rules and regulation mentioned above. We may also need to comply with varying and possibly conflicting privacy laws and regulations in other jurisdictions. As a result, we could face regulatory actions, including significant fines or penalties, adverse publicity and possible loss of business.

While we are preparing to implement various measures intended to enable us to comply with applicable privacy or data protection laws, regulations and contractual obligations, these measures may not always be effective and do not guarantee compliance. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our contractual or legal obligations or regulatory requirements relating to privacy, data protection, or information security may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, litigation, claims, or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could result in significant liability, cause our customers, partners or patients to lose trust in us, and otherwise materially and adversely affect our reputation and business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our customers or partners may limit the adoption and use of, and reduce the overall demand for, our products and services. Additionally, if third parties we work with violate applicable laws, regulations, or agreements, such violations may put the data we have received at risk, could result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, fines, litigation, claims, or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could result in significant liability, cause our customers, partners or patients to lose trust in us, and otherwise materially and adversely affect our reputation and business. Further, public scrutiny of, or complaints about, technology companies or their data handling or data protection practices, even if unrelated to our business, industry or operations, may lead to increased scrutiny of technology companies, including us, and may cause government agencies to enact additional regulatory requirements, or to modify their enforcement or investigation activities, which may increase our costs and risks.

If we do not obtain and maintain international regulatory registrations, clearances or approvals for our products, we will be unable to market and sell our products.

Sales of our products are subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country. Approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approvals may differ substantially. While the regulations of some countries may not impose barriers to marketing and selling our products or only require notification, others require that we obtain the clearance or approval of a specified regulatory body. Complying with foreign regulatory requirements, including obtaining registrations, clearances or approvals, can be expensive and time-consuming, and we may not receive regulatory clearances or approvals in each country in which we plan to market our products or we may be unable to do so on a timely basis. The time required to obtain registrations, clearances or approvals, if required by other countries, may be longer than that required for FDA clearance or approval, and requirements for such registrations, clearances or approvals may significantly differ from FDA requirements. If we modify our products, we may need to apply for additional regulatory clearances or approvals before we are permitted to sell the modified product. In addition, we may not continue to meet the quality and safety standards required to maintain the authorizations that we have received. If we are unable to maintain our authorizations in a particular country, we will no longer be able to sell the applicable product in that country.

Regulatory clearance or approval by the FDA does not ensure registration, clearance or approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and registration, clearance or approval by one or more foreign regulatory authorities does not ensure registration, clearance or approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. However, a failure or delay in obtaining registration or regulatory clearance or approval in one country may have a negative effect on the regulatory process in others.

Legislative or regulatory reforms in the United States or the EU may make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain regulatory clearances or approvals for our products or to manufacture, market or distribute our products after clearance or approval is obtained.

From time to time, legislation is drafted and introduced in Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the regulation of medical devices. In addition, the FDA may change its clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions, which may prevent or delay approval or clearance of our future products under development or impact our ability to modify our currently cleared products on a timely basis. Over the last several years, the FDA has proposed reforms to its 510(k)-clearance process, and such proposals could include increased requirements for clinical data and a longer review period, or could make it more difficult for manufacturers to utilize the 510(k)-clearance process for their products. For example, in November 2018, FDA officials announced forthcoming steps that the FDA intends to take to modernize the premarket notification pathway under Section 510(k) of the FDCA. Among other things, the FDA announced that it planned to develop proposals to drive manufacturers utilizing the 510(k) clearance pathway toward the use of newer predicates. These proposals included plans to potentially sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k)-clearance pathway, and to potentially publish a list of devices that have been cleared on the basis of demonstrated substantial equivalence to predicate devices that are more than 10 years old. In May 2019, the FDA solicited public feedback on these proposals. The FDA requested public feedback on whether it should consider certain actions that might require new authority, such as whether to sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k) clearance pathway. These proposals have not yet been finalized or adopted, and the FDA may work with Congress to implement such proposals through legislation. Accordingly, it is unclear the extent to which any proposals, if adopted, could impose additional regulatory requirements on us that could delay our ability to obtain new 510(k) clearances, increase the costs of compliance, or restrict our ability to maintain our current clearances, or otherwise create competition that may negatively affect our business.

More recently, in September 2019, the FDA finalized guidance describing an optional “safety and performance based” premarket review pathway for manufacturers of “certain, well-understood device types” to demonstrate substantial equivalence under the 510(k) clearance pathway by showing that such device meets objective safety and performance criteria established by the FDA, thereby obviating the need for manufacturers to compare the safety and performance of their medical devices to specific predicate devices in the clearance process. The FDA intends to develop and maintain a list device types appropriate for the “safety and performance based” pathway and will continue to develop product-specific guidance documents that identify the performance criteria for each such device type, as well as the testing methods recommended in the guidance documents, where feasible. The FDA may establish performance criteria for classes of devices for which we or our competitors seek or currently have received clearance, and it is unclear the extent to which such performance standards, if established, could impact our ability to obtain new 510(k) clearances or otherwise create competition that may negatively affect our business.

In addition, FDA regulations and guidance are often revised or reinterpreted by the FDA in ways that may significantly affect our business and our products. Any new statutes, regulations or revisions or reinterpretations of existing regulations may impose additional costs or lengthen review times of any future products or make it more difficult to obtain clearance or approval for, manufacture, market or distribute our products. We cannot determine what effect changes in regulations, statutes, legal interpretation or policies, when and if promulgated, enacted or adopted may have on our business in the future. Such changes could, among other things, require: additional testing prior to obtaining clearance or approval; changes to manufacturing methods; recall, replacement or discontinuance of our products; or additional record keeping.

The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be promulgated that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory clearance or approval of our future products. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the Trump administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, FDA’s ability to engage in routine oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. It is difficult to predict how these executive actions will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose restrictions on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval or clearance that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

On April 5, 2017, the European Parliament passed the Medical Devices Regulation (Regulation 2017/745), which repeals and replaces the EU Medical Devices Directive. Unlike directives, which must be implemented into the national laws of the EEA member states, the regulations would be directly applicable, i.e., without the need for adoption of EEA member state laws implementing them, in all EEA member states and are intended to eliminate current differences in the regulation of medical devices among EEA member States. The Medical Devices Regulation, among other things, is intended to establish a uniform, transparent, predictable and sustainable regulatory framework across the EEA for medical devices and ensure a high level of safety and health while supporting innovation. Among other things, the Medical Devices Regulation:

These modifications may have an effect on the way we conduct our business in the EEA.

Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new or modified products from being cleared or approved or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.

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

Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new medical devices or modifications to cleared or approved medical devices to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business.

Separately, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 10, 2020 the FDA announced its intention to postpone most inspections of foreign manufacturing facilities, and on March 18, 2020, the FDA temporarily postponed routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities. Subsequently, on July 10, 2020 the FDA announced its intention to resume certain on-site inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities subject to a risk-based prioritization system. The FDA intends to use this risk-based assessment system to identify the categories of regulatory activity that can occur within a given geographic area, ranging from mission critical inspections to resumption of all regulatory activities. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain effective patent rights for our products and services, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets. If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets or know-how, such proprietary information may be used by others to compete against us.

Our success and future revenues growth will depend, in part, on our ability to protect our patent rights. In addition to the protection afforded by any patents that may be granted, historically, we have relied on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, and contractors to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable or that we elect not to patent, processes that are not easily known, knowable or easily ascertainable, and for which patent infringement is difficult to monitor and enforce and any other elements of our product candidate discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered by patents. However, agreements may be breached, trade secrets may be difficult to protect, and we may not receive adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets and intellectual property may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors or other unauthorized third parties.

There is no guarantee that the patent registration applications that we submitted with regards to our technologies will result in patent registration. In the event of failure to complete patent registration, our developments will not be proprietary, which might allow other entities to manufacture our products or design our services and compete with them.

Further, there is no assurance that all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patent applications has been found, which can invalidate a patent or prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application. Even if patents do successfully issue, and even if such patents cover our products or services, third parties may challenge their validity, enforceability, or scope, which may result in such patents being narrowed, found unenforceable or invalidated. Furthermore, even if they are unchallenged, our patent applications and any future patents may not adequately protect our intellectual property, products or services and provide exclusivity for our new products or services or prevent others from designing around our claims. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that third parties will not infringe or misappropriate our patents or similar proprietary rights. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will not have to pursue litigation against other parties to assert its rights.

Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties, which may have an adverse impact on our business.

If we cannot obtain and maintain effective patent rights for our products and services, we may not be able to compete effectively, and our business and results of operations would be harmed.

We cannot provide any assurances that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed in violation of our confidentiality agreements or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. Also, misappropriation or unauthorized and unavoidable disclosure of our trade secrets and intellectual property could impair our competitive position and may have a material adverse effect on our business. Additionally, if the steps taken to maintain our trade secrets and intellectual property are deemed inadequate, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating any trade secret.

Intellectual property rights of third parties could adversely affect our ability to commercialize our products and services, and we might be required to litigate or obtain licenses from third parties in order to develop or market our product candidates. Such litigation or licenses could be costly or not available on commercially reasonable terms.

It is inherently difficult to conclusively assess our freedom to operate without infringing on third-party rights. Our competitive position may be adversely affected if existing patents or patents resulting from patent applications issued to third parties or other third-party intellectual property rights are held to cover our products or services or elements thereof, or our manufacturing or uses relevant to our development plans. In such cases, we may not be in a position to develop or commercialize products or services or our product candidates (and any relevant services) unless we successfully pursue litigation to nullify or invalidate the third-party intellectual property right concerned or enter into a license agreement with the intellectual property right holder, if available on commercially reasonable terms. There may also be pending patent applications that if they result in issued patents, could be alleged to be infringed by our new products or services. If such an infringement claim should be brought and be successful, we may be required to pay substantial damages, be forced to abandon our new products or services or seek a license from any patent holders. No assurances can be given that a license will be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.

It is also possible that we have failed to identify relevant third-party patents or applications. For example, U.S. patent applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain U.S. patent applications filed after that date that will not be filed outside the United States remain confidential until patents issue. Patent applications in the United States and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing for which priority is claimed, with such earliest filing date being commonly referred to as the priority date. Therefore, patent applications covering our new products or services could have been filed by others without our knowledge. Additionally, pending patent applications which have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our services, our new products or the use of our new products. Third-party intellectual property right holders may also actively bring infringement claims against us. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully settle or otherwise resolve such infringement claims. If we are unable to successfully settle future claims on terms acceptable to us, we may be required to engage in or continue costly, unpredictable and time-consuming litigation and may be prevented from or experience substantial delays in pursuing the development of and/or marketing our new products or services. If we fail in any such dispute, in addition to being forced to pay damages, we may be temporarily or permanently prohibited from commercializing our new products or services that are held to be infringing. We might, if possible, also be forced to redesign our new products so that we no longer infringe the third-party intellectual property rights. Any of these events, even if we were ultimately to prevail, could require us to divert substantial financial and management resources that we would otherwise be able to devote to our business.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts.

Our commercial success depends in part on our avoiding infringement of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing new products and services. As our industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our products and services may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties.

Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, designs or methods of manufacture related to the use or manufacture of our products or services. There may be currently pending patent applications or continued patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our products or services may infringe. In addition, third parties may obtain patents or services in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents.

If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our processes for designs, or methods of use, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the applicable product candidate unless we obtain a license or until such patent expires or is finally determined to be invalid or unenforceable. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our products or services. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, pay royalties, redesign our infringing products or services, or obtain one or more licenses from third parties, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure.

Patent policy and rule changes could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of any issued patents.

Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of any patents that may issue from our patent applications or narrow the scope of our patent protection. The laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. We therefore cannot be certain that we were the first to file the invention claimed in our owned and licensed patent or pending applications, or that we or our licensor were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. Assuming all other requirements for patentability are met, in the United States prior to March 15, 2013, the first to make the claimed invention without undue delay in filing, is entitled to the patent, while generally outside the United States, the first to file a patent application is entitled to the patent. After March 15, 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, enacted on September 16, 2011, the United States has moved to a first to file system. The Leahy-Smith Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. In general, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of any issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property, which could be expensive, time consuming, and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe our intellectual property. If we were to initiate legal proceedings against a third-party to enforce a patent covering one of our new products or services, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent covering our product candidate is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Under the Leahy-Smith Act, the validity of U.S. patents may also be challenged in post-grant proceedings before the USPTO. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable.

Derivation proceedings initiated by third parties or brought by us may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions and/or their scope with respect to our patent or patent applications or those of our licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Our defense of litigation or interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our clinical trials, continue our research programs, license necessary technology from third parties, or enter into development partnerships that would help us bring our new products or services to market.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our Ordinary Shares.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship of our intellectual property.

We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in, or right to compensation, with respect to our current patent and patent applications, future patents or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of consultants or others who are involved in developing our products or services. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or claiming the right to compensation. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting, and defending patents on products and services, as well as monitoring their infringement in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States.

Competitors may use our technologies develop their own products or services in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to and may export infringing products or services to territories where we have patent protection, but where patents are not enforced as strictly as they are in the United States. These products or services may compete with our products or services. Future patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

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

Risks Related to the Ownership of our Ordinary Shares

Future sales of our Ordinary Shares could reduce the market price of our Ordinary Shares.

Substantial sales of our Ordinary Shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market, including following this offering, may cause the market price of our Ordinary Shares to decline. Sales by our security holders of substantial amounts of our Ordinary Shares, or the perception that these sales may occur in the future, could cause a reduction in the market price of our Ordinary Shares.

The issuance of any additional Ordinary Shares or any securities that are exercisable for or convertible into Ordinary Shares, may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Ordinary Shares and will have a dilutive effect on our existing shareholders and holders of Ordinary Shares.

Our principal shareholders, officers and directors currently beneficially own approximately 75.81% of our Ordinary Shares. They will therefore be able to exert significant control over matters submitted to our shareholders for approval.

As of the date of this prospectus, our principal shareholders, officers and directors beneficially own approximately 75.81% of our Ordinary Shares. This significant concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price for our Ordinary Shares because investors often perceive disadvantages in owning shares in companies with controlling shareholders. As a result, these shareholders, if they acted together, could significantly influence or even unilaterally approve matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions. The interests of these shareholders may not always coincide with our interests or the interests of other shareholders.

We do not know whether a market for the Ordinary Shares will be sustained or what the trading price of the Ordinary Shares will be and as a result it may be difficult for you to sell your Ordinary Shares.

Although we intend to list the Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq, an active trading market for the Ordinary Shares may not be sustained. It may be difficult for you to sell your Ordinary Shares without depressing the market price for the Ordinary Shares or at all. As a result of these and other factors, you may not be able to sell your Ordinary Shares at or above the offering price or at all. Further, an inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling Ordinary Shares and may impair our ability to enter into strategic partnerships or acquire companies, products, or services by using our equity securities as consideration.

We have never paid cash dividends on our share capital, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends, and we do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in Ordinary Shares as a source for any future dividend income. Our board of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

We may need additional capital, and the sale of additional shares or equity or debt securities could result in additional dilution to our stockholders.

We may need to raise additional capital through a combination of private and public equity offerings, debt financings and collaborations, and strategic and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a holder of our Ordinary Shares. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take certain actions, such as incurring debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financing when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

We may be a “passive foreign investment company,” or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes in the current taxable year or may become one in any subsequent taxable year. There generally would be negative tax consequences for U.S. taxpayers that are holders of the Ordinary Shares if we are or were to become a PFIC.

Based on the projected composition of our income and valuation of our assets, we do not expect to be a PFIC for 2021, and we do not expect to become a PFIC in the future, although there can be no assurance in this regard. The determination of whether we are a PFIC is made on an annual basis and will depend on the composition of our income and assets from time to time. We will be treated as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in any taxable year in which either (1) at least 75% of our gross income is “passive income” or (2) on average at least 50% of our assets by value produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income. Passive income for this purpose generally includes, among other things, certain dividends, interest, royalties, rents and gains from commodities and securities transactions and from the sale or exchange of property that gives rise to passive income. Passive income also includes amounts derived by reason of the temporary investment of funds, including those raised in a public offering. In determining whether a non-U.S. corporation is a PFIC, a proportionate share of the income and assets of each corporation in which it owns, directly or indirectly, at least a 25% interest (by value) is taken into account. The tests for determining PFIC status are applied annually, and it is difficult to make accurate projections of future income and assets which are relevant to this determination. In addition, our PFIC status may depend in part on the market value of the Ordinary Shares. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we currently are not or will not become a PFIC in the future. If we are a PFIC in any taxable year during which a U.S. taxpayer holds the Ordinary Shares, such U.S. taxpayer would be subject to certain adverse U.S. federal income tax rules. In particular, if the U.S. taxpayer did not make an election to treat us as a “qualified electing fund”, or QEF, or make a “mark-to-market” election, then “excess distributions” to the U.S. taxpayer, and any gain realized on the sale or other disposition of the Ordinary Shares by the U.S. taxpayer: (1) would be allocated ratably over the U.S. taxpayer’s holding period for the Ordinary Shares; (2) the amount allocated to the current taxable year and any period prior to the first day of the first taxable year in which we were a PFIC would be taxed as ordinary income; and (3) the amount allocated to each of the other taxable years would be subject to tax at the highest rate of tax in effect for the applicable class of taxpayer for that year, and an interest charge for the deemed deferral benefit would be imposed with respect to the resulting tax attributable to each such other taxable year. In addition, if the U.S. Internal Revenues Service, or the IRS, determines that we are a PFIC for a year with respect to which we have determined that we were not a PFIC, it may be too late for a U.S. taxpayer to make a timely QEF or mark-to-market election. U.S. taxpayers that have held the Ordinary Shares during a period when we were a PFIC will be subject to the foregoing rules, even if we cease to be a PFIC in subsequent years, subject to exceptions for U.S. taxpayer who made a timely QEF or mark-to-market election. A U.S. taxpayer can make a QEF election by completing the relevant portions of and filing IRS Form 8621 in accordance with the instructions thereto. We do not intend to notify U.S. taxpayers that hold the Ordinary Shares if we believe we will be treated as a PFIC for any taxable year in order to enable U.S. taxpayers to consider whether to make a QEF election. In addition, we do not intend to furnish such U.S. taxpayers annually with information needed in order to complete IRS Form 8621 and to make and maintain a valid QEF election for any year in which we or any of our subsidiaries are a PFIC. U.S. taxpayers that hold the Ordinary Shares are strongly urged to consult their tax advisors about the PFIC rules, including tax return filing requirements and the eligibility, manner, and consequences to them of making a QEF or mark-to-market election with respect to the Ordinary Shares in the event that we are a PFIC (see “Taxation—U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Companies” for additional information).

Risks Related to Israeli Law and Our Operations in Israel

Potential political, economic and military instability in the State of Israel, where our headquarters, members of our management team, our production and research and development facilities are located, may adversely affect our results of operations.

Our executive offices, research and development laboratories and manufacturing facility are located in Caesarea, Israel. In addition, the majority of our key employees, officers and directors are residents of Israel. Accordingly, political, economic and military conditions in Israel may directly affect our business. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a number of armed conflicts have taken place between Israel and groups in its neighboring countries, Hamas (an Islamist militia and political group that has historically controlled the Gaza Strip) and Hezbollah (an Islamist militia and political group based in Lebanon). In addition, several countries, principally in the Middle East, restrict doing business with Israel, and additional countries may impose restrictions on doing business with Israel and Israeli companies whether as a result of hostilities in the region or otherwise. Any hostilities involving Israel, terrorist activities, political instability or violence in the region or the interruption or curtailment of trade or transport between Israel and its trading partners could adversely affect our operations and results of operations and the market price of our Ordinary Shares.

Our commercial insurance does not cover losses that may occur as a result of an event associated with the security situation in the Middle East. Although the Israeli government is currently committed to covering the reinstatement value of direct damages that are caused by terrorist attacks or acts of war, we cannot assure you that this government coverage will be maintained or, if maintained, will be sufficient to compensate us fully for damages incurred. Any losses or damages incurred by us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Further, many Israeli citizens are obligated to perform several days, and in some cases more, of annual military reserve duty each year until they reach the age of 40 (or older for certain reservists) and, in the event of a military conflict, may be called to active duty. In response to increases in terrorist activity, there have been periods of significant call-ups of military reservists. It is possible that there will be military reserve duty call-ups in the future. Our operations could be disrupted by such call-ups, which may include the call-up of members of our management. Such disruption could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We expect to be exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We incur expenses in NIS, U.S. dollars, Euros and Chinese Yuan (CNY), but our financial statements are denominated in U.S. dollars. Accordingly, we face exposure to adverse movements in currency exchange rates. Our revenues in the EU is denominated in Euros. Accordingly, we face exposure to adverse movements in the currency exchange rate of the U.S. dollars against the Euro, which may have a negative effect on our revenue. If the U.S. dollar strengthens against the Euro, the translation of these foreign currency denominated transactions will result in decreased revenues in U.S. dollars. Our cost of operations in Israel and in China are influenced by any movements in the currency exchange rate of the NIS and CNY. Such movements in the currency exchange rate may have a negative effect on our financial results. If the U.S. dollar weakens against the NIS and CNY, the translation of the NIS and CNY currency denominated transactions to U.S. dollar will result in increased operating expenses. Similarly, if the U.S. dollar strengthens against NIS and CNY, the translation of these NIS and CNY denominated transactions to U.S. dollars will result in decreased expenses. As exchange rates vary, sales and other operating results, when translated, may differ materially from our or the capital market’s expectations.

The termination or reduction of tax and other incentives that the Israeli government provides to Israeli companies may increase our costs and taxes.

The Israeli government currently provides tax and capital investment incentives to Israeli companies, as well as grant and loan programs relating to research and development and marketing and export activities. In recent years, the Israeli government has reduced the benefits available under these programs and the Israeli governmental authorities may in the future further reduce or eliminate the benefits of these programs. We may take advantage of these benefits and programs in the future; however, there can be no assurance that such benefits and programs will be available to us. If we qualify for such benefits and programs and fail to meet the conditions thereof, the benefits could be canceled and we could be required to refund any benefits we might already have enjoyed and become subject to penalties. Additionally, if we qualify for such benefits and programs and they are subsequently terminated or reduced, it could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be required to pay monetary remuneration to our Israeli employees for their inventions, even if the rights to such inventions have been duly assigned to us.

We enter into agreements with our Israeli employees pursuant to which such individuals agree that any inventions created in the scope of their employment are either owned exclusively by us or are assigned to us, depending on the jurisdiction, without the employee retaining any rights. A portion of our intellectual property has been developed by our Israeli employees during their employment for us. Under the Israeli Patent Law, 5727-1967, or the Patent Law, inventions conceived by an employee during the course of his or her employment and within the scope of said employment are considered “service inventions. Service inventions belong to the employer by default, absent a specific agreement between the employee and employer otherwise. The Patent Law also provides that if there is no agreement regarding the remuneration for the service inventions, even if the ownership rights were assigned to the employer, the Israeli Compensation and Royalties Committee, or the Committee, a body constituted under the Patent Law, shall determine whether the employee is entitled to remuneration for these inventions. The Committee has not yet determined the method for calculating this Committee-enforced remuneration. While it has previously been held that an employee may waive his or her rights to remuneration in writing, orally or by conduct, litigation is pending in the Israeli labor court is questioning whether such waiver under an employment agreement is enforceable. Although our Israeli employees have agreed that we exclusively own any rights related to their inventions, we may face claims demanding remuneration in consideration for employees’ service inventions. As a result, we could be required to pay additional remuneration or royalties to our current and/or former employees, or be forced to litigate such claims, which could negatively affect our business.

We received Israeli government grants for certain of our research and development activities, the terms of which may require us to pay royalties and to satisfy specified conditions in order to manufacture products and transfer technologies outside of Israel. If we fail to satisfy these conditions, we may be required to pay penalties and refund grants previously received.

Our research and development efforts have been financed in part through royalty-bearing grants in an aggregate amount of approximately $2.46 million (including accumulated interest) that we received from the IIA as of December 31, 2020. With respect to the royalty-bearing grants we are committed to pay royalties at a rate of 3% to 3.5% on sales proceeds from our products that were developed under IIA programs up to the total amount of grants received, linked to the U.S. dollar and bearing interest at an annual rate of LIBOR applicable to U.S. dollar deposits. We are further required to comply with the requirements of the Israeli Encouragement of Industrial Research, Development and Technological Innovation Law, 5744-1984, as amended, and related regulations, or the Research Law, with respect to those past grants. When a company develops know-how, technology or products using IIA grants, the terms of these grants and the Research Law restrict the transfer or license of such know-how, and the transfer of manufacturing or manufacturing rights of such products, technologies or know-how outside of Israel, without the prior approval of the IIA. Therefore, the discretionary approval of an IIA committee would be required for any transfer or license to third parties inside or outside of Israel of know how or for the transfer outside of Israel of manufacturing or manufacturing rights related to those aspects of such technologies. We may not receive those approvals. Furthermore, the IIA may impose certain conditions on any arrangement under which it permits us to transfer technology or development.

The transfer or license of IIA-supported technology or know-how outside of Israel and the transfer of manufacturing of IIA-supported products, technology or know-how outside of Israel may involve the payment of significant amounts, depending upon the value of the transferred or licensed technology or know-how, our research and development expenses, the amount of IIA support, the time of completion of the IIA-supported research project and other factors. These restrictions and requirements for payment may impair our ability to sell, license or otherwise transfer our technology assets outside of Israel or to outsource or transfer development or manufacturing activities with respect to any product or technology outside of Israel. Furthermore, the consideration available to our shareholders in a transaction involving the transfer outside of Israel of technology or know-how developed with IIA funding (such as a merger or similar transaction) may be reduced by any amounts that we are required to pay to the IIA.

We may not be able to enforce covenants not-to-compete under current Israeli law that might result in added competition for our products.

We have non-competition agreements with all of our employees, all of which are governed by Israeli law. These agreements prohibit our employees from competing with or working for our competitors, generally during their employment and for up to 12 months after termination of their employment. However, Israeli courts are reluctant to enforce non-compete undertakings of former employees and tend, if at all, to enforce those provisions for relatively brief periods of time in restricted geographical areas, and only when the employee has obtained unique value to the employer specific to that employer’s business and not just regarding the professional development of the employee. If we are not able to enforce non-compete covenants, we may be faced with added competition.

Provisions of Israeli law and our amended and restated articles of association may delay, prevent or otherwise impede a merger with, or an acquisition of, us, which could prevent a change of control, even when the terms of such a transaction are favorable to us and our shareholders.

Israeli corporate law regulates mergers, requires tender offers for acquisitions of shares above specified thresholds, requires special approvals for transactions involving directors, officers or significant shareholders and regulates other matters that may be relevant to such types of transactions. For example, a merger may not be consummated unless at least 50 days have passed from the date on which a merger proposal is filed by each merging company with the Israel Registrar of Companies and at least 30 days have passed from the date on which the shareholders of both merging companies have approved the merger. In addition, a majority of each class of securities of the target company must approve a merger. Moreover, a tender offer for all of a company’s issued and outstanding shares can only be completed if the acquirer receives positive responses from the holders of at least 95% of the issued share capital. Completion of the tender offer also requires approval of a majority of the offerees that do not have a personal interest in the tender offer, unless, following consummation of the tender offer, the acquirer would hold at least 98% of the Company’s outstanding shares. Furthermore, the shareholders, including those who indicated their acceptance of the tender offer, may, at any time within six months following the completion of the tender offer, claim that the consideration for the acquisition of the shares does not reflect their fair market value, and petition an Israeli court to alter the consideration for the acquisition accordingly, unless the acquirer stipulated in its tender offer that a shareholder that accepts the offer may not seek such appraisal rights, and the acquirer or the company published all required information with respect to the tender offer prior to the tender offer’s response date.

Furthermore, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions unappealing to us or to our shareholders whose country of residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel exempting such shareholders from Israeli tax. For example, Israeli tax law does not recognize tax-free share exchanges to the same extent as U.S. tax law. With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law allows for tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of a number of conditions, including, in some cases, a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction during which sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are subject to certain restrictions. Moreover, with respect to certain share swap transactions, the tax deferral is limited in time, and when such time expires, the tax becomes payable even if no disposition of the shares has occurred. These provisions could delay, prevent or impede an acquisition of us or our merger with another company, even if such an acquisition or merger would be beneficial to us or to our shareholders.

It may be difficult to enforce a judgment of a U.S. court against us and our executive officers and directors and the Israeli experts named in this prospectus in Israel or the United States, to assert U.S. securities laws claims in Israel or to serve process on our executive officers and directors and these experts.

We were incorporated in Israel. Substantially all of our executive officers and directors reside outside of the United States, and all of our assets and most of the assets of these persons are located outside of the United States. Therefore, a judgment obtained against us, or any of these persons, including a judgment based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws, may not be collectible in the United States and may not be enforced by an Israeli court. It also may be difficult for you to effect service of process on these persons in the United States or to assert U.S. securities law claims in original actions instituted in Israel. Additionally, it may be difficult for an investor, or any other person or entity, to initiate an action with respect to U.S. securities laws in Israel. Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on an alleged violation of U.S. securities laws reasoning that Israel is not the most appropriate forum in which to bring such a claim. In addition, even if an Israeli court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim. If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proven as a fact by expert witnesses, which can be a time consuming and costly process. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel that addresses the matters described above. As a result of the difficulty associated with enforcing a judgment against us in Israel, you may not be able to collect any damages awarded by either a U.S. or foreign court (see “Enforceability of Civil Liabilities” for additional information on your ability to enforce a civil claim against us and our executive officers or directors named in this prospectus).

Your rights and responsibilities as a shareholder will be governed in key respects by Israeli laws, which differs in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. companies.

The rights and responsibilities of the holders of our Ordinary Shares are governed by our amended and restated articles of association and by Israeli law. These rights and responsibilities differ in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders in U.S. companies. In particular, a shareholder of an Israeli company has a duty to act in good faith and in a customary manner in exercising its rights and performing its obligations towards the company and other shareholders, and to refrain from abusing its power in such company, including, among other things, in voting at a general meeting of shareholders on matters such as amendments to a company’s amended and restated articles of association, increases in a company’s authorized share capital, mergers and acquisitions and related party transactions requiring shareholder approval, as well as a general duty to refrain from discriminating against other shareholders. In addition, a shareholder who is aware that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a vote at a meeting of the shareholders or to appoint or prevent the appointment of a director or executive officer in the company has a duty of fairness toward the company. There is limited case law available to assist us in understanding the nature of these duties or the implications of these provisions. These provisions may be interpreted to impose additional obligations and liabilities on holders of our ordinary shares that are not typically imposed on shareholders of U.S. companies.

General Risk Factors

Our business may be impacted by changes in general economic conditions.

Our business is subject to risks arising from changes in domestic and global economic conditions, including adverse economic conditions in markets in which we operate, which may harm our business. For example, the current COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant volatility and uncertainty in U.S. and international markets. If our future customers significantly reduce spending in areas in which our technology and products are utilized, or prioritize other expenditures over our technology and products, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects would be materially adversely affected.

Disruption to the global economy could also result in a number of follow-on effects on our business, including a possible slow-down resulting from lower customer expenditures; inability of customers to pay for products, solutions or services on time, if at all; more restrictive export regulations which could limit our potential customer base; negative impact on our liquidity, financial condition and share price, which may impact our ability to raise capital in the market, obtain financing and secure other sources of funding in the future on terms favorable to us.

In addition, the occurrence of catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, medical epidemics and other catastrophes that adversely affect the business climate in any of our markets could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Some of our operations are located in areas that have been in the past, and may be in the future, susceptible to such occurrences.

Changes in financial accounting standards may cause adverse and unexpected revenues fluctuations and impact our results of operations.

A change in accounting standards or practices could harm our operating results. New accounting pronouncements and varying interpretations of accounting pronouncements have occurred and may occur in the future. Changes to existing rules or the questioning of current practices may harm our operating results or the way we conduct our business.

The JOBS Act will allow us to postpone the date by which we must comply with some of the laws and regulations intended to protect investors and to reduce the amount of information we provide in our reports filed with the SEC, which could undermine investor confidence in our company and adversely affect the market price of the Ordinary Shares.

For so long as we remain an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements that are applicable to public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including:

We intend to take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the date of our first sale of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenues of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Ordinary Shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

We cannot predict if investors will find the Ordinary Shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find the Ordinary Shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for the Ordinary Shares, and our market prices may be more volatile and may decline.

As a “foreign private issuer” we are subject to less stringent disclosure requirements than domestic registrants and are permitted, and may in the future elect to follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of otherwise applicable SEC and Nasdaq requirements, which may result in less protection than is accorded to investors under rules applicable to domestic U.S. registrants.

As a foreign private issuer and emerging growth company, we may be subject to different disclosure and other requirements than domestic U.S. registrants and non-emerging growth companies. For example, as a foreign private issuer, in the United States, we are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as a domestic U.S. registrant under the Exchange Act, including the requirements to prepare and issue quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or to file current reports on Form 8-K upon the occurrence of specified significant events, the proxy rules applicable to domestic U.S. registrants under Section 14 of the Exchange Act or the insider reporting and short-swing profit rules applicable to domestic U.S. registrants under Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we intend to rely on exemptions from certain U.S. rules which will permit us to follow Israeli legal requirements rather than certain of the requirements that are applicable to U.S. domestic registrants.

We will follow Israeli laws and regulations that are applicable to Israeli companies. However, Israeli laws and regulations applicable to Israeli companies do not contain any provisions comparable to the U.S. proxy rules, the U.S. rules relating to the filing of reports on Form 10-Q or 8-K or the U.S. rules relating to liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time, as referred to above.

Furthermore, foreign private issuers are required to file their annual report on Form 20-F within 120 days after the end of each fiscal year, while U.S. domestic registrants that are non-accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from Regulation Fair Disclosure, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information, although we will be subject to Israeli laws and regulations having substantially the same effect as Regulation Fair Disclosure. As a result of the above, even though we are required to file reports on Form 6-K disclosing the limited information which we have made or are required to make public pursuant to Israeli law, or are required to distribute to shareholders generally, and that is material to us, you may not receive information of the same type or amount that is required to be disclosed to shareholders of a U.S. registrant.

These exemptions and leniencies will reduce the frequency and scope of information and protections to which you are entitled as an investor.

The determination of foreign private issuer status is made annually on the last business day of an issuer’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter and, accordingly, the next determination will be made with respect to us on June 30, 2021. In the future, we would lose our foreign private issuer status if a majority of our shareholders, directors or management are U.S. citizens or residents and we fail to meet additional requirements necessary to avoid loss of foreign private issuer status. The regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws as a U.S. domestic registrant may be significantly higher.

We may be subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.

In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Litigation of this type could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could seriously hurt our business. Any adverse determination in litigation could also subject us to significant liabilities.

We will incur significant increased costs as a result of the listing of our securities for trading on Nasdaq. By becoming a public company in the United States, our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives as well as compliance with ongoing U.S. requirements.

Upon the listing of securities on Nasdaq, we will become a publicly traded company in the United States. As a public company in the United States, we will incur additional significant accounting, legal and other expenses that we did not incur before the offering. We also anticipate that we will incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements of the SEC, as well as requirements under Section 404 and other provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs, introduce new costs such as investor relations, stock exchange listing fees and shareholder reporting, and to make some activities more time consuming and costly. The implementation and testing of such processes and systems may require us to hire outside consultants and incur other significant costs. Any future changes in the laws and regulations affecting public companies in the United States, including Section 404 and other provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the rules and regulations adopted by the SEC, for so long as they apply to us, will result in increased costs to us as we respond to such changes. These laws, rules and regulations could make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees, or as executive officers.

Our business and operations might be adversely affected by security breaches, including any cybersecurity incidents.

We depend on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our computer and communications systems, and those of our consultants, contractors and vendors, which we use for, among other things, sensitive company data, including our intellectual property, financial data and other proprietary business information.

While certain of our operations have business continuity and disaster recovery plans and other security measures intended to prevent and minimize the impact of IT-related interruptions, our IT infrastructure and the IT infrastructure of our consultants, contractors and vendors are vulnerable to damage from cyberattacks, computer viruses, unauthorized access, electrical failures and natural disasters or other catastrophic events. We could experience failures in our information systems and computer servers, which could result in an interruption of our normal business operations and require substantial expenditure of financial and administrative resources to remedy. System failures, accidents or security breaches can cause interruptions in our operations and can result in a material disruption of our targeted phage therapies, product candidates and other business operations. The loss of data from completed or future studies or clinical trials could result in delays in our research, development or 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 regulatory investigations and redresses, penalties and liabilities and the development of our product candidates could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

Even though we believe we carry commercially reasonable business interruption and liability insurance, we might suffer losses as a result of business interruptions that exceed the coverage available under our insurance policies or for which we do not have coverage. For example, we are not insured against terrorist attacks or cyberattacks. Any natural disaster or catastrophic event could have a significant negative impact on our operations and financial results. Moreover, any such event could delay the development of our product candidates.

Our business and operations would suffer in the event of computer system failures, cyber-attacks or a deficiency in our cybersecurity.

Despite the implementation of security measures intended to secure our data against impermissible access and to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data, our internal computer systems, and those of third parties on which we rely, are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, malware, natural disasters, terrorism, war, telecommunication and electrical failures, cyber-attacks or cyber-intrusions over the Internet, attachments to emails, persons inside our organization, or persons with access to systems inside our organization. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments, and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our new products development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or ongoing or planned clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach was to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur material legal claims and liability, including under data privacy laws such as the GDPR, damage to our reputation, and the further development of our new products could be delayed.

Sales of a significant number of shares of our Ordinary Shares in the public markets or significant short sales of our Ordinary Shares, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our Ordinary Shares and impair our ability to raise capital.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Ordinary Shares or other equity-related securities in the public markets, could depress the market price of our Ordinary Shares. If there are significant short sales of our Ordinary Shares, the price decline that could result from this activity may cause the share price to decline more so, which, in turn, may cause long holders of the Ordinary Shares to sell their shares, thereby contributing to sales of Ordinary Shares in the market. Such sales also may impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities in the future at a time and price that our management deems acceptable, if at all.

The market price of our Ordinary Shares may be highly volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

The market price of our Ordinary Shares is likely to be volatile. This volatility may prevent you from being able to sell your Ordinary Shares at or above the price you paid for your securities. Our share price could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors, which include:

In addition, the stock market in general, and the stock of publicly-traded medical device companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our Ordinary Shares, regardless of our actual operating performance, and we have little or no control over these factors.

Our securities will be traded on more than one market or exchange and this may result in price variations.

Our Ordinary Shares have been trading on the TASE since February 2, 2011. Assuming that our Ordinary Shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq, trading in our Ordinary Shares will take place in different currencies (U.S. dollars on the Nasdaq and NIS on the TASE), and at different times (resulting from different time zones, trading days, and public holidays in the United States and Israel). The trading prices of our securities on these two markets may differ due to these and other factors. Any decrease in the price of our Ordinary Shares on the TASE could cause a decrease in the trading price of our Ordinary Shares on the Nasdaq.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they adversely change their recommendations or publish negative reports regarding our business or the Ordinary Shares, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for the Ordinary Shares will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts and we cannot provide any assurance that analysts will cover us or provide favorable coverage. If any of the analysts who may cover us adversely change their recommendation regarding the Ordinary Shares, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our Ordinary Shares would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the price of our Ordinary Shares or trading volume to decline.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements made under “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Business” and elsewhere in this prospectus constitute forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” “intends” or “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.

These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our objectives, plans and strategies, statements that contain projections of results of operations or of financial condition, expected capital needs and expenses, statements relating to the research, development, completion and use of our products, and all statements (other than statements of historical facts) that address activities, events or developments that we intend, expect, project, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties. We have based these forward-looking statements on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate

Important factors that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include, among other things:

These statements are only current predictions and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. We discuss many of these risks in this prospectus in greater detail under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Except as required by law, we are under no duty to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this prospectus.

LISTING DETAILS

Our Ordinary Shares have been trading on the TASE under the symbol “ICCM” since February 2011. We have applied to list the Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq under the symbol “ICCM.” Although we believe that as of the closing of the January 2021 SPA we meet the initial listing criteria for listing our Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq, there can be no assurance that our application will be approved. As of the date of this prospectus our only listed class of securities will be Ordinary Shares outstanding. All of the Ordinary Shares, including those to be offered by the selling shareholders pursuant to this prospectus, have the same rights and privileges see “Description of Share Capital And Governing Documents”).

USE OF PROCEEDS

We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Ordinary Shares by the selling shareholders. All net proceeds from the sale of the Ordinary Shares will go to the selling shareholders.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our Ordinary Shares and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Payment of cash dividends, if any, in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on then-existing conditions, including our financial condition, operating results, contractual restrictions, capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant.

The Companies Law imposes further restrictions on our ability to declare and pay dividends.

Payment of dividends may be subject to Israeli withholding taxes (see “Taxation” for additional information).

CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and our capitalization as of December 31, 2020:

You should read this table in conjunction with the sections titled “Summary Consolidated Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The discussion below contains forward-looking statements that are based upon our current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to inaccurate assumptions and known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including those identified in “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and under “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this prospectus.

Overview

We are a commercial stage medical device company focusing on the research, development and marketing of cryoablation systems and technologies based on LN2 for treating tumors. Cryoablation is the process by which benign and malignant tumors are ablated (destroyed) through freezing such tumors while in a patient’s body. Our proprietary cryoablation technology is a minimally invasive alternative to surgical intervention, for tumors, including those found in breast, lungs, kidneys and bones and other indications. Our lead commercial cryoablation product is the ProSense system. 

In addition to our existing lead product, the ProSense system, a single probe system, we have developed an additional multi probe system that is expected to have the ability to freeze several tumors simultaneously or larger tumors, which we refer to as our MultiSense system. Currently, we are focusing on developing our next generation MultiSense system, which we intend to commercialize subject to regulatory approvals. In our continued efforts aimed at improving our core technology, we are also currently in the process of developing our next generation single probe system. While these next generation systems are still in various research and development stages, we expect them to be more efficient and user friendly (see “Business – Our Products – Research and Development” for additional information).

Components of Operating Results

Revenues

Our revenues primarily consist of (i) selling our ProSense system and its disposables and related services; and (ii) revenues from granting the exclusive distribution rights to our products in Japan and Singapore to Terumo Corporation, which also include providing technical, regulatory and clinical materials and support in obtaining regulatory approvals.

Cost of Revenues

Our cost of revenues consists primarily of salaries and related personnel expenses, materials for production of our products, subcontractors’ expenses and other related production expenses.

Gross Margin

Gross margin, or gross profit as a percentage of revenue, is affected by a variety of factors which influence our revenues and the cost of goods sold. Revenues are affected mostly by the different selling prices depending on sales channels, territories and the mix of products and currency fluctuation, mainly the U.S. Dollar against the EURO. The cost of revenues is affected mostly by the changes in cost of materials and import costs, subcontractors’ costs, cost of personal, and currency fluctuation, mainly the U.S. Dollar against the NIS. Our gross margin, is also affected by production volumes and production efficiency.

Operating Expenses

Our current operating expenses consist of three components — research and development expenses, marketing and sales expenses and general and administrative expenses.

Research and Development Expenses

Our research and development expenses consist primarily of salaries and related benefits, subcontractor’s expenses, materials and other related research and development expenses, clinical studies and regulation expenses.

We expect that our research and development expenses will materially increase as we continue to develop our new products, pursue new regulatory indications in the US and other territories, collect updated clinical data, and recruit additional research and development and regulation employees.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of salaries and related benefits, payments to consultants, costs associated with conventions, travel and other marketing and sales expenses.

We expect that our sales and marketing expenses will materially increase as we continue to enhance our market penetration efforts and recruit additional sales and marketing employees.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related benefits, professional services fees for accounting, legal, directors’ fees, facilities, and associate costs, insurance and other general and administrative expenses. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase as a result of the listing on Nasdaq and expansion of our business.

Financial expense and income

Financial expenses and income consist primarily of exchange rate differences, interest expenses on cash and cash equivalents, deposits and other assets and liabilities which are denominated in NIS and Euros.

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods presented.

Revenues

The following table summarizes our revenues through types for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

The following table summarizes our revenues by geographic region for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

Our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by 138% to $3,868 thousand, compared to $1,627 thousand revenues for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase is attributable to an increase of 131% in revenues from sales of our systems which amounted to revenues of $1,817 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $786 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019, increase of 104% in revenues from sales of our probes to $1,006 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $493 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019, and increase of 200% in revenues from our exclusive distribution agreement with Terumo Corporation to $1,045 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $348 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Accordingly, our revenues in Japan increased by 310% to $2,097 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020, of which $1,052 are from sales of products, most of which generated from Terumo Corporation’s initial order, and $1,045 are revenues from our exclusive distribution agreement with Terumo Corporation. For the year ended December 31, 2019, our revenues from sales of products in Japan were $164 thousand and our revenues from our exclusive distribution agreement with Terumo Corporation were $348 thousand. Our revenues from sales in the United States increased by 19% to $276 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to $231 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019. We did not have any sales in China in 2020 since we are in the process to obtain regulatory approvals for our Probes. In Thailand, following obtaining regulatory approval, our revenues in 2020 were $528 thousand compared to no sales in 2019.

Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit

The following table summarizes our cost of revenues for the periods presented, as well as presenting the gross profit as a percentage of total revenues. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

Our cost of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by 29.1% to $1,424 thousand, compared to $1,103 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019, whereas our gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by 366% to $2,444 thousand, which is 63.2% of our revenues in 2020, compared to $1,103 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019 which is 32.2% of our revenues in 2019. The increase in absolute gross profit is primarily due to increase in volume of sales of products and revenues from our exclusive distribution agreement with Terumo Corporation. The increase in our gross profit margin is primarily attributable to: (i) allocation of fixed costs and overhead expenses on a higher volume of sales; (ii) increased efficiency production process; and (iii) revenues from our exclusive distribution agreement with Terumo Corporation which did not have corresponding production expenses.

Research and development expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development costs for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

Research and development, or R&D, expenses increased by 26.9% to $3,809 thousand 2020, compared with $3,001 thousand in 2019. This increase reflects our strategy regarding focusing on the development of our next generation MultiSense, and single probe systems, and regulatory activity. The increase is primarily due to increase in employee related costs, raw materials subcontractors and consulting. 

Sales and marketing expenses

The following table summarizes our sales and marketing costs for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

Selling and marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased by 2.7% to $1,063 thousand, compared to $1,035 thousand in 2019.  The increase of selling and marketing expenses compared in 2020, reflects our strategy regarding the expansion of our marketing activities, that was limited in part due to restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. The increase during the year 2020 compared to the year 2019 is mostly due to an increase in salary and related expenses and sales commissions, which was partially offset by a decrease in travel expenses following the spread of COVID-19, and other selling and marketing expenses.

General and administrative expenses

The following table summarizes our general and administrative costs for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

General and administrative expenses increased by 34.7% to $1,714 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to $1,272 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019. This increase is primarily due to additional payroll and related benefits, legal, audit and other expenses relating to the preparation of the listing of the Company’s Ordinary Shares on Nasdaq.

Operating loss

Based on the foregoing, our operating loss decreased from $4,784 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $4,142 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2020. 

Financial income, net

Financial income, net for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $412 thousand compared to $233 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in our financial income net is primarily because of the effect of the NIS strengthening against the U.S. dollar on our net NIS denominated assets, including cash and cash equivalents, deposits and other net liquid liabilities.

Net loss

Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2020 decreased by $821 thousand or 18%, to $3,730 thousand, compared with a net loss of $4,551 thousand for the year ended December 31, 2019. This decrease is primarily attributable to: (i) the increase in revenues and gross profit which attributed to the decrease in operating loss, and (ii) the increase in net financial income, as described above.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We describe our significant accounting policies more fully in Note 2 to our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019. We believe that the accounting policy below is critical in order to fully understand and evaluate our financial condition and results of operations.

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. At the time of the preparation of the financial statements, our management is required to use estimates, evaluations, and assumptions which affect the application of the accounting policy and the amounts reported for assets, obligations, income, and expenses. Any estimates and assumptions are continually reviewed. The changes to the accounting estimates are credited during the period in which the change to the estimate is made.

Use of estimates in the preparation of financial statements:

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Management believes that the estimates, judgments and assumptions used are reasonable based upon information available at the time they are made. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Share-based compensation

We measure the compensation costs of share-based compensation arrangements based on the grant-date fair value and recognize the costs in the financial statements over the period during which employees are required to provide services. Share-based compensation arrangements include options, performance-based awards, share appreciation rights, and employee share purchase plans. We amortize such compensation amounts, if any, over the respective service periods of the award. We use the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model, or the Black-Scholes Model, an acceptable model in accordance with ASC 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation, to value options. Option valuation models require the input of assumptions, including the expected life of the stock-based awards, the estimated stock price volatility, the risk-free interest rate, and the expected dividend yield. The risk-free interest rate assumption is based upon the yield from Israel Treasury zero-coupon bonds with an equivalent term. Estimated volatility is a measure of the amount by which our stock price is expected to fluctuate each year during the term of the award. Our calculation of estimated volatility is based on historical stock prices over a period equal to the expected term of the awards. The average expected life of options was based on the contractual terms of the stock option using the simplified method. We utilize a dividend yield of zero based on the fact that we have never paid cash dividends and have no current intention to pay cash dividends. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of share-based awards represent our best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management judgment. As a result, if factors change and we use different assumptions, our share-based compensation expense could be materially different in the future. We recognize the compensation expense for share-based compensation granted based on the grant date fair value estimated in accordance with ASC 718. We generally recognize the compensation expense over the employee’s requisite service period. We account for forfeitures when they occur. 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Overview

Since our inception through December 31, 2020, we have funded our operations principally from the issuance of Ordinary Shares, options, convertible securities, loans, revenues from sale of products and grants received from the IIA. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately $ 8,171 thousand in cash and cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits, compared with $5,789 thousand as of December 31, 2019.

The table below presents our cash flows for the periods indicated.

Operating Activities

Cash flows from operating activities consist primarily of loss adjusted for various non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization and share-based compensation expenses. In addition, cash flows from operating activities are impacted by changes in operating assets and liabilities, which include inventories, accounts receivable, other assets, accounts payable and other current liabilities.

Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $3,690 thousand. This net cash used in operating activities primarily reflects a net loss of $3,730 thousand which is decreased by net non-cash expenses of $77 thousand and increase net of $37 thousand which reflects changes in operating assets and liabilities.

The decrease in operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2020 is attributed mainly to an increase in net cash loss of $37 thousand in trade accounts receivable, deposit, inventory, trade accounts payable and other long-term liabilities.. This increase was partially offset due to decrease in trade accounts payable and other long-term liabilities.

Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $1,989 thousand. This net cash used in operating activities primarily reflects a net loss of $4,551 thousand which is decreased by net non-cash expenses of $46 thousand and decrease net of $2,516 thousand which reflects changes in operating assets and liabilities.

The increase in operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2019 is attributed mainly to a decrease in cash loss of $2,306 thousand in other current liabilities due to advance payments received mostly from Terumo Corporation under the exclusive distribution agreement. This decrease was partially offset due to increase in prepaid expenses and other receivables and increase in right of use assets.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $4,670 thousand. This net cash used in investing activities is primarily attributable to investment in short-term bank deposits in the amount of $4,432 thousand and purchase of property and equipment of $223 thousand. Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $103 thousand. This cash used in investing activities is attributable to purchase of property and equipment in an aggregate total amount of $103 thousand.

Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $5,858 thousand. This net cash is attributed primarily to net proceeds from issuance of Ordinary Shares in a public offering in the net amount of $5,847 and exercise of options in the amount of $11 thousand.

Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $3,309 thousand which is attributed to net proceeds from issuance of shares in a public offering and a rights offering.

Financial Arrangements

As of July 6, 2021, our credit arrangements include grants from the IIA.

Since our inception through our initial public offering on TASE on February 2, 2011, we have funded our operations primarily through the private sale of equity securities and convertible debt in an aggregate amount of $8.9 million.

Since our initial public offering on TASE through March 2018, we raised an aggregate of $29.7 million, in public offerings of equity securities, rights offerings and convertible debt, and a private placement to Epoch Investment Partners Limited, or the Epoch SPA, who became our controlling shareholder on February 7, 2015. Pursuant to the Epoch SPA, we received a total of $5,485 thousand against issuance of 15,142,857 Ordinary Shares and 2,271,429 warrants. The warrants were not exercised and expired. Since than we performed multiple public offerings and rights offerings.

Since March 2018, we have funded our operations mainly through a number of public and rights offerings in an aggregate amount of $11.6 million.

On August 12, 2020, we received an unsecured loan under the United States Small Business Administration, or the SBA, PPP pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in the amount of $24,898. The five-year SBA-administered PPP loan has an interest rate of 1.0% per annum. According to the terms of the loan, as long as a borrower submits its loan forgiveness application within10 months of the completion of the covered period of such loan, the borrower is not required to make any payments until the forgiveness amount is remitted to the lender by SBA. If the loan is fully forgiven, the borrower is not responsible for any payments. If only a portion of the loan is forgiven, or if the forgiveness application is denied, any remaining balance due on the loan must be repaid by the borrower on or before the maturity date of the loan. Interest accrues during the time between the disbursement of the loan and SBA remittance of the forgiveness amount. In April 2021, we submitted a loan forgiveness application.

On January 26, 2021, we entered into the January 2021 SPA with the January 2021 Investors. Pursuant to the January 2021 SPA, we will receive an aggregate amount of $15 million, against issuance of 91,885,555 Ordinary Shares. The January 2021 Investors were granted a 12-month participation right following the January 2021 Second Closing, in future financings equal to 50% of the subsequent financing, subject to certain conditions. We also undertook to refrain from issuing any Ordinary Shares or Ordinary Shares equivalents from the date of the January 2021 SPA until 60 calendar days from the January 2021 Second Closing, subject to certain exempt issuances. On March 9, 2021, we received $9 million and issued 55,131,333 Ordinary Shares, and on May 9, 2021, we received $6 million and issued 36,754,222 Ordinary Shares.

In addition, since our inception, we received an aggregate of $2.46 million (including accumulated interest) from the IIA.

Current Outlook

We have financed our operations to date primarily through proceeds from sales of our Ordinary Shares and convertible securities, sales of our products and grants from the IIA. We have incurred losses and generated negative cash flows from operations since inception in 2006. Since 2012, we have generated revenues from the sale of our products and revenues from granting the exclusive distribution rights to our products in Japan and Singapore to Terumo Corporation, which also include providing technical, regulatory and clinical materials and support in obtaining regulatory approvals.

We expect to generate revenues from the sale of our products and other revenues in the future. However, we do not expect these revenues to support all of our operation in the near future. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue the development of our MultiSense system, and continue our commercialization efforts. Furthermore, following the completion of this listing, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a Nasdaq public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations.

As of December 31, 2020, our cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits were $8,171 thousand, and we had a working capital of $5,875 thousand and an accumulated deficit of $48,536 thousand. On March 9, 2021, pursuant to the January 2021 SPA, we received $9,000 thousand. On May 9, 2021, pursuant to the January 2021 SPA, we received $6,000 thousand. As of June 30, 2021, our cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits were $18,607 thousand. We expect that our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits will be sufficient for the next 12 months of operation; however, we expect that we will require substantial additional capital to continue the development of, and to commercialize our products. In addition, our operating plans may change as a result of many factors that may currently be unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

Until we can generate significant recurring revenues and profit, we expect to satisfy our future cash needs through debt or equity financings. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available to us when needed, on acceptable terms, if at all. If funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate research or development plans, and/or commercialization efforts and/or regulatory efforts with respect to our products in different territories. This may raise substantial doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, including entities sometimes referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities that were established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. We do not engage in off-balance sheet financing arrangements. In addition, we do not engage in trading activities involving non-exchange traded contracts.

Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations at December 31, 2020.

Operating lease obligations consist of payments pursuant to lease agreements for our facility in Israel and motor vehicle leases.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business. Market risk represents the risk of loss that may impact our financial position due to adverse changes in financial market prices and rates. Our current investment policy is to invest available cash in bank deposits with banks that have a credit rating of at least A-minus. Accordingly, some of our cash and cash equivalents is held in deposits that bear interest. Given the current low rates of interest we receive, we will not be adversely affected if such rates are reduced. Our market risk exposure is primarily a result of U.S. dollar/NIS exchange rates, which is discussed in detail in the following paragraph.

Foreign Exchange Risk

Our results of operations and cash flow are subject to fluctuations due to changes in U.S. dollar/NIS currency exchange rates. A certain portion of our liquid assets is held in U.S. dollars, and the vast majority of our expenses is denominated in NIS. Changes of 5% and 10% in the U.S. dollar/NIS exchange rate would increase/decrease our operating expenses for December 31, 2020 by approximately 8% and 4%, respectively. However, these historical figures may not be indicative of future exposure. Currently, we do not hedge our foreign currency exchange risk. In the future, we may enter into formal currency hedging transactions to decrease the risk of financial exposure from fluctuations in the exchange rates of our principal operating currencies. These measures, however, may not adequately protect us from the material adverse effects of such fluctuations.

BUSINESS

Overview

We are a commercial stage medical device company focusing on the research, development and marketing of cryoablation systems and technologies based on liquid nitrogen, or LN2, for treating tumors. Cryoablation is the process by which benign and malignant tumors are ablated (destroyed) through freezing such tumors while in a patient’s body. Our proprietary cryoablation technology is a minimally invasive alternative to surgical intervention, for tumors, including those found in breast, lungs, kidneys, bones and other indications. Our lead commercial cryoablation product is the ProSense system (pictured below).

In addition to our existing lead product, the ProSense system, a single probe system, we have developed an additional multi probe system that is expected to have the ability to freeze several tumors simultaneously or larger tumors, which we refer to as our MultiSense system. In our continued efforts aimed at improving our core technology, we are currently focusing on developing our next generation MultiSense system, which we intend to commercialize subject to regulatory approvals. We are also currently in the process of developing our next generation single probe system. While these next generation systems are still in various research and development stages, we expect them to be more efficient and user friendly (see “Business – Our Products – Research and Development” for additional information).

We believe that obtaining regulatory approval for our products for specific indications will help us grow our business. As of July 2021, we have received a broad range of regulatory approvals for our systems to treat tumors in the lungs, kidneys, bones and other indications. In the United States our products are approved as a “single family” known as the “IceCure Family,” which includes the IceSense3, ProSense, and MultiSense (which has not been commercialized) cryoablation systems. Although our existing, “IceCure Family” systems have regulatory approvals from the FDA for commercialization in the United States, we have yet to receive regulatory approval for such systems for treatment of malignant breast tumors, which requires a separate approval from the FDA. The FDA classifies medical devices into one of three classes (Class I, Class II, or Class III) depending on their level of risk and the types of controls that are necessary to ensure device safety and effectiveness. The class assignment is a factor in determining the type of premarketing submission or application, if any, that will be required before marketing products in the United States. If the FDA does not approve 510(k) regulatory pathway, we will request that De Novo classification be accepted for our “IceCure Family” systems. If De Novo classification is needed for our “IceCure Family” systems, we will be required to accept special controls imposed by the FDA, mainly on the production process and post-market monitoring. If a De Novo classification is not approved by the FDA as the regulatory pathway, the FDA will accept only PMA, in which case we expect the timeline for marketing approvals would be longer and our costs associated with PMA would be higher compared to 510(k) or De Novo approvals (see “Business – Government Regulation” for additional information).

Obtaining regulatory approvals and developing our next generation MultSense system will require the incurrence of significant costs and our success will depend, in part, on gaining market acceptance. In order to gain market acceptance in the United States, we will require specific approval from the FDA for our ProSense system, which we hope to obtain based on the interim results of our ICE3 trial published on April 29, 2021  , obtaining Medicare coverage from the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology, or MCIT, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, or the ASBrS, amending their guidelines to support cryoablation as an alternative to surgery, applying for CPT1 codes for cryoablation for breast cancer (with the support of the ASBrS), negotiate medical coverage for our systems from medical insurers and collaborating with a major distributor of medical devices (see “Business – Government Regulation – FDA Regulation of Medical Devices” and “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Product Development and Regulatory Approval” for additional information).

In addition, competition in the medical devices and cancer treatment market is intense. Some of our competitors hold significant market share, have long histories and strong reputations within the industry, greater brand recognition, financial and human resources than we do. They also have more experience and capabilities in researching and developing testing devices, obtaining and maintaining regulatory clearances and other requirements, manufacturing and marketing those products than we do. Their dominant market position and significant control over the market could significantly limit our ability to introduce or effectively market and generate sales of our ProSense and MultiSense systems.

To date, we have incurred significant operating losses, generated minimal revenues from product sales, and as of December 31, 2020, our accumulated deficit was $48.5 million. We expect that we will need to raise substantial additional funding in the future (see “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements”).

In Europe, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Russia, Thailand, Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, Israel, Columbia and Costa Rica we have approvals for either our ProSense or our IceSense3 systems, or, in certain countries, both products. For instance, in China, we have approval for our IceSense3 (without the disposables) (see “Business – Our Products – Regulatory Approvals” below for additional information). In addition, in order to generate significant revenue, we are seeking to pursue additional regulatory approvals for our system for specific indications, in countries where we already have general regulatory approvals. In these countries, we are seeking regulatory approval for the treatment of specific tumors, including those found in breast, lungs, kidneys and bones. In addition, we are also seeking regulatory approvals for our system in other countries where we believe that there is significant potential for sales of our systems. 

The procedure using our ProSense system begins with the introduction of our proprietary disposable probe into the tumor through a small pea-sized incision in the skin while the patient is under local anesthesia and/or sedation. The probe is guided by high-resolution ultrasound (for breast tumors) or computed tomography, or CT (for other indications). For some indications we use guiding needles (introducers) in order to guide the probe to the tumor. Once the probe is in place, LN2 is introduced into the probe in a closed-loop circuit, so that LN2 does not enter the body, and creates a freezing zone around the tip of the probe. During the freeze cycle, an ice ball forms in the freezing zone and encompasses the tumor, ablating the cancer or benign tumor, while the ice ball can be monitored by the physician using ultrasound or CT in order to avoid causing damage to the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. Several minutes after the procedure is completed, the ice ball thaws and as a result thereof, there is no need for surgical removal of the dead tumor tissue, as the dead tissue is absorbed by the body in a natural process. The entire cryoablation procedure of freeze-thaw-freeze with our ProSense system generally takes between 15 to 40 minutes, depending on the size, type and location of the tumor. The same system configuration can be used and was designed to treat both malignant and non-malignant tumors. However, there is usually a different configuration for the probe handle between the systems used to treat breast tumors (with a primarily straight handle) and used to treat other indications (with a 90-degrees handle) due to the different imaging device that is used in each instance(see “Business – Our Products” for additional information). Pictured below is our system forming an ice ball (which in practice forms around the tissue within the body) in ultrasound gel.

As a minimally invasive alternative to surgery, cryoablation is much less traumatic than open surgery, and, based on current data, we believe this treatment is more affordable, entails less risk and generally results in fewer side effects and complications than open surgery. On the patient side, following procedures with our cryoablation technology, patients usually can resume normal activities within 24 hours after the procedure. In addition, in breast procedures with our technology, there is no need for a post-procedure reconstruction surgery. On the health provider side, procedures with our technology for breast tumors may be carried out in a clinic, while treatment by our ProSense system for other indications can generally be carried out as an outpatient procedure in a CT room. As a result, the potential profit margins for health care providers and payors are potentially greater than most of the current surgical procedures that are conducted in the operating room, which entail additional and expensive cost elements for the operating room and operating room staff. In addition, we believe that our LN2-based technology provides patients, medical service providers, physicians and insurers with advantages versus our competitors, especially those using heat to treat tumors, also known as thermal ablation. For example, the freezing effect on tissue from cryoablation produces less pain, and accordingly less anesthesia (which also reduces costs). A study published on April 8, 2021 by Elles M.F. van de Voort et al titled "Thermal Ablation as an Alternative for Surgical Resection of Small ( ≤2 cm) Breast Cancers: A Meta-Analysis" suggested that cryoablation has the lowest complication rate among breast cancer tumor procedures and the advantage of an analgesic effect. In addition, in comparison to the treatment of tumors with heat, when treating a tumor with cryoablation (unlike treatmesnt with heat technology), the freezing does not cause evaporation of the treated tissue and therefore provides the physician conducting the treatment with a clearer view of the tissue, which we believe enables the physician to carry out the procedure more accurately with a precise view of the tumor.

We believe that cryoablation has already started to be recognized for its true potential, and that it represents the future of treatment for certain benign and malignant tumors. Our ongoing business strategy, as further detailed below, is focused on helping us overcome certain factors that have limited our ability to generate significant revenues, including, but not limited to, obtaining support of key opinion leaders and leading medical associations for the use of cryoablation (and specifically, our systems) for the treatment of tumors and other indications. In recent years, and in part due to our efforts and accomplishments, cryoablation of malignant breast tumors has been recognized for its vast potential. For example, following preliminary results of our ICE3 trial, in October 2018, the ASBrS, which, among other things, sets guidelines for breast cancer treatment, updated its guidelines on performing cryoablation procedures on breast malignant tumors in their early stages. While not cited by the ASBrS, we believe that the results of our study were a factor in the ASBrS decision to update these guidelines. (see ”Business – Our Lead Indication and Market Opportunity – Primary Indication – Breast Tumors – Malignant Breast Tumors – Multi-Site Clinical Trial of the Cryoablation System ICE3 Study – United States” for additional information).

In addition to updating its guidelines, the ASBrS also recommend taking part in clinical trials and in registries for treating malignant breast tumors, each relating to cryoablation, to increase the knowledge and data of breast cancer cryoablation. Registries, by which uniform data is collected from patients through observational studies, represent an important stage in the commercialization of technologies and are part of the required procedure for receiving remuneration from health insurance companies.

Recent Developments

COVID-19 Pandemic

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, or COVID-19, was identified in Wuhan, China. The spread of COVID-19 from China to over 200 countries, including the United States and Israel, resulted in the World Health Organization declaring the outbreak of COVID-19 as a “pandemic,” or a worldwide spread of a new disease.

Due to the burden on health systems and the fear of infection, medical institutions in certain territories restricted elective procedures, including those related to our area of activity. As a result, certain of our plans for 2020 and our plans for 2021 were impacted, including, for example, our ability to hold face to face meetings, conventions and on-site trainings. In addition, although we were able to have certain face to face meetings and hold virtual meetings, our ability to reach new customers was impacted due to travel restrictions and social distancing requirements. We believe that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, investments in new technologies, including, for example, our ProSense system, decreased as customers sought to minimize their capital expenditures. Despite the resulting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not believe that we have sustained any material adverse effect on our financial condition and operations, and in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, our revenues for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 increased by 138% in comparison to the year ended December 31, 2019 (see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” for additional information). We continued to face challenges during the first quarter of 2021, and expect to continue to experience COVID-related challenges for the foreseeable future, mainly related to delays in shipments of materials by our suppliers, and disruption in access to new medical service providers and costumers due to the continued restrictions on international travel, direct access to medical service providers and public gatherings. Any disruption of suppliers or access to medical service provider would likely impact our progress, as well as our ability to access capital through the financial markets.

Although we were not able to increase sales to new customers as planned prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that certain competitive advantages that our ProSense system has versus surgical treatment helped us generate sales to our existing customers, and avert any material adverse effect on our financial condition or operations.

We continue to examine the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, perform risk assessments and implement operational solutions that we believe will help us deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to accurately predict the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our operations going forward due to uncertainties that will be dictated by the length of time that the COVID-19 pandemic and related disruptions continue, the impact of governmental regulations that might be imposed in response to such pandemic and overall changes in the behavior of our customers.

Revenues and Growth Strategy

Our strategic objective is to be the leader in the field of cryoablation treatment for benign and malignant breast tumors and other interventional oncology indications. Using our innovative ProSense LN2 cryoablation system (and, in the future, potentially using additional systems) and propriety disposable probes and introducers, we intend to create a recurring revenues stream by selling single use probes to the users of our ProSense system. For tumors which are not in the breast, we also sell a disposable (single use) introducer which is used to assist with navigating the probe to the tumor.

Our revenues are based on a number of business models.

In both models, although we may lease/sell a fixed number of systems over a period of time, the sales of the disposables are tied to the number of procedures conducted (similar to the razor/razor-blade model), and therefore, we expect to sell an increasing number of disposables as the number of procedures increases.

In order to generate significant revenues, we believe that we need to achieve each of the following milestones: (i) FDA approval for commercialization of our products for treatment of malignant tumors in breast, (ii) recommendations for the use of our products in guidelines of medical associations, such as the ASBrS, and (iii) the need to obtain category I CPT code and coverage for our products. We believe that reaching these milestones, while focusing on our business growth strategy, will help us achieve greater revenues. Our growth strategy includes the following actions.

Our Lead Indication and Market Opportunity

Our lead indication is breast tumors. There are generally two types of breast tumors: those that are non-cancerous, or benign, and those that are cancerous, or malignant.

Primary Indication

Breast Tumors

With regard to the costs involved in treating breast tumors (both for benign and malignant tumors), the National Cancer Institute estimates that national expenditure for breast cancer treatment increases each year. Thus, in 2010, the cost of treating breast cancer was approximately $16.5 billion in the United States – higher than any other type of cancer. This cost was expected to increase to $20.5 billion by 2020. Individual costs vary, depending on the stage of the malignancy and treatment options selected.

Benign Breast Tumors

The majority of breast tumors are benign (non-cancerous), and are generally not life-threatening compared to breast cancer. Fibroadenomas is a common type of benign breast tumors. They are solid benign (noncancerous) tumors common among women of various ages. Fibroadenoma tumors range in size and on average can be located anywhere in the breast, from the size of a marble to up to 2.5 centimeters in diameter, and tend to grow during pregnancy and breastfeeding. According to scientific publications from recent years, 10% of all women in the world suffer from fibroadenomas, and the phenomenon is particularly common among women under the age of 30 (80% of breast biopsies for women of these ages identify benign tumors). Many physicians and oncologists recommend removal of benign tumors for a variety of reasons, including: concerns that the tumor will increase in size, pain and due to concerns that the existence of a benign breast lump will make it difficult to manually discover breast cancer in the future. However, the vast majority of benign tumors are left untreated for reasons including cost and undesirable cosmetic outcomes, the latter of which, is generally not caused by treatment with our ProSense system.

Clinical Trial in Fibroadenoma (Benign Breast Tumors)

We sponsored and completed a prospective clinical trial in benign breast tumors in the Czech Republic, Israel and Germany. Between April 2009 and September 2012, data was collected from 60 procedures that were performed across four clinical sites located in Czech Republic, Israel and Germany (two sites). The IceSense3 was used to conduct the cryoablation procedures. The primary endpoint was to create an ice ball which would successfully engulf the entire tumor, as seen using ultrasound imaging. Our inclusion criteria were patients over 18 years old with core biopsy-proven breast fibroadenoma between 0.5 cm and 3.0 cm. The expected probability of success was 88%. At the one-year follow-up, in 93% of the cases, the fibroadenomas no longer existed. A June 2015 publication highlighting the data concluded that cryoablation of the fibroadenoma using a LN2 system demonstrated meaningful reduction in volume, palpability, pain and an improvement in cosmetic results from the procedure. No serious adverse events related to the IceSense3 system occurred during the clinical trial.

Malignant Breast Tumors

According to recent estimates from the American Breast Cancer Foundation’s publications, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Of the diagnosed breast cancers, it is estimated by the American Cancer Society that 73% of breast cancers are low-risk, while according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, localized breast cancer accounts for 63% of total breast cancer incidence. In 2021, it is estimated that about 30% of newly diagnosed cancer in women will be breast cancer, resulting in approximately 281,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the United States. Furthermore, the American Breast Cancer Foundation estimates that the mortality rate in 2021 will be 43,600 women. It is further estimated that breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women (after lung cancer). Additionally, the American Cancer Society estimates that from 2008 to 2017 incidence rates have increased slightly by 0.5% per year. More recently, in February 2021, the American Breast Cancer Foundation reported that the average risk of a woman in the United States of developing breast cancer during her lifetime is approximately 13%, which means that there is a one (1) in eight (8) chance that a woman will develop breast cancer over the course of her life. A study conducted by the American Association for Cancer Research suggests that the number of breast cancer patients may increase by 50% by 2030, which shows a significant long-term market growth potential.

Traditional treatment options for malignant breast tumors include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Concerning the surgical path, most breast cancer cases will require to have some type of surgery to remove the tumor. Surgical treatment often entails either breast-conserving surgery, or BCS, in which only the part of the breast containing the cancer is removed, or mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed, including all of the breast tissue and sometimes also nearby tissue.

Clinical Trials in Cancerous (Malignant) Breast Tumors

We are currently sponsoring and/or participating in three clinical trials in malignant breast tumors spanning across the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and China.

Multi-Site Clinical Trial of the Cryoablation System ICE3 Study – United States

In May 2014, we initiated a multi-site clinical trial in the United States, which included participation of 19 sites in the ICE3 trial. The ICE3 trial was intended to expand the clinical base for using our cryoablation system for treating low-risk, small breast cancer tumors (up to 1.5 centimeters). The primary goal of ICE3 was to assess the effectiveness by the breast tumors local recurrence rates in patients who undergo cryoablation without excision for a follow-up period of five years. The inclusion criteria were patients over 65 years old with core biopsy-proven invasive ductal carcinoma with unifocal primary disease, tumor size less than 1.5 cm, Nottingham grade 1-2, estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive and HER2 negative and breast size adequate for safe cryoablation.

In February 2019, the last patient was recruited. In total, 211 patients were recruited to the ICE3 trial, 206 of whom have enrolled, and 194 undergone Cryoablation according to the study protocol.

In April 2021, as part of the yearly conference of the ASBrS, the interim results of the ICE3 trial were presented. At the follow up period of 34.83 months following treatment with our cryoablation system, only 2.06% (four patients) experienced cancer recurrence. The 36-month local Failure Free Probability is 99.22%. The statistical analysis presented at the ASBrS conference by Dr. Richard Fine, an ICE3 investigator who serves as Program Director of the Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship and as Director of Research and Education at the West Comprehensive Breast Center in Germantown, TN, indicates that among patients treated using our cryoablation system, the chance of non-recurrence in a population of patients with low-risk breast cancer, in early stages, and up to 1.5 cm tumor size, for a period of up to three years, is between 94.58%% and 99.89%%, with a statistical significance (confidence level) of 95%. Dr. Fine has also reported that freezing low risk breast tumors in the early stages delivers greater patient satisfaction at a lower cost than traditional interventions. No significant device-related adverse events were reported, and 95% percent of patients and 98% of treating physicians reported satisfaction with the cosmetic results.

We intend to continue monitoring patients for five years after undergoing our cryoablation treatment, and as such, the ICE3 trial is expected to be completed in 2024. In June 2021 we had 49 patients that have completed a five-year follow-up, 41 patients that have completed a four-year follow-up, 39 patients that have completed a three-year follow-up, and 51 patients that have completed a two-year follow-up. We believe that the interim results presented at ASBrS conference will assist us in the process of submitting an application for specific approval for breast cancer from the FDA.

Independent Clinical Trial of the Cryoablation System – Japan

Since May 2012, an independent clinical trial has been ongoing at the Kameda Medical Center in Kamogawa, Japan using our IceSense3 cryoablation system. So far, over 400 cryoablation procedures have been conducted using our cryoablation system (in addition to approximately 80 additional procedures with a different system). According to information reported on the International Cryosurgery Society Convention, which was held in September 2019, in 304 of the 400 patients who were treated with cryoablation between 2006 and 2019, the recurrence rate of breast cancer was lower than 1%. The inclusion criteria were patients with histologically-proven breast cancer at stage 0 (TisN0M0) or stage 1 (T1N0M0) with tumor mass and lesion (including the progress within intraductal component) less than 1.0 cm. The primary endpoints were comparing the tumor necrosis rate, cosmetic results of the procedure, clarity of imaging, safety and therapeutic effects of IceSense3 versus a competing cryoablation device.

In addition, since May 2018, an independent investigator initiated clinical trial in Japan at the St. Marianna University School of Medicine Department of Mammary Gland and Endocrine Surgery using our ProSense system. The trial’s purpose was conducted in breast cancer tumors of up to 1.5 cm (in their early stages). The inclusion criteria were patients with histologically-proven breast cancer at stage 0 (TisN0M0) or stage 1 (T1N0M0), between the age of 20 and 85 years, HER2 protein expression-negative status, Ki-67 positivity of ≤ 20% and lesion spread of 1.5 cm or less. The trial was completed after the enrollment of seven patients, in which pathology was confirmed using a vacuum-assisted biopsy. In all seven patients, there was no evidence of malignant cells, and following a monitoring period of two years, all seven patients remain disease free with no clinical and imaging evidence. The primary endpoint of this clinical trial was to expand the clinical knowledge of cryoablation of cancerous breast tumors and enable to implement this technology at the St. Marianna University Hospital as a routine procedure. Based on these results, the trial received approval from the hospital to offer cryoablation for breast cancer in a commercial setting.

Independent Clinical Trial of the Cryoablation System –Hong Kong and China

Since November 2018, an independent clinical trial has been ongoing at the Queen Mary Medical Center in Hong Kong and at Hong Kong-Shenzhen University Hospital in China. According to information disclosed by the primary investigator, treatments using our ProSense cryoablation system has been performed to date in 20 patients, out of an expected total patient pool of 150, in which each patient underwent an excision after the cryoablation to examine the ablated area by pathology. Following the first phase, the remaining patients are expected to be monitored according to the standard of care without excision. The purpose of this clinical trial is to expand the clinical knowledge of cryoablation of cancerous breast tumors. The primary endpoints were to demonstrate cryosurgery’s efficacy in ablating small breast cancers, safety with low morbidity and the use of PET/MRI as an effective imaging modality to assess post-treatment responses. The inclusion criteria were patients between 18 and 70 years old with core biopsy-proven T0/T1a and b breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ.

Other Clinical Indications

We are targeting other tissue tumor ablation for our ProSense system, in organs such as: lungs, kidneys, bones and other organs. Our approach to these indications is to collaborate with hospitals and doctors to conduct clinical trials in order to gain additional information regarding the potential of our products to treat certain diseases. While our cryoablation products have been approved by various regulatory agencies for variety of oncology and surgical uses, we will need to validate our products in specific indications, and in certain situations in order to obtain specific regulatory approvals, and/or to collect medical data, which will be required in order to successfully market our products for these indications.

Lung Cancer

The American Cancer Society has estimated that in 2021, approximately 235,760 new cases of lung and bronchus cancer will be diagnosed in the United States while an estimated of 131,880 patients will die of such cancers in the United States during 2021.

Lung Cancer Clinical Trial

Since November 2013, an independent clinical trial in cryoablation of lung tumors in non-small cell carcinoma or metastatic lesions has been ongoing at the Kameda Medical Center in Kamogawa, Japan using our IceSense3 system. Based on data provided to us, this trial is an ongoing trial, and to date, more than 300 procedures have been performed using our cryoablation system.

In November 2020, the lead investigator for the trial published the results in a peer reviewed article in the European Journal of Radiology. The results in the published article covered the cryoablation treatments in 101 patients during the years 2013 through 2019. The patients in this review were divided into four categories based on the size of maximum tumor diameter, as follows: (1) group 1: tumor size up to 0.9 cm; (2) group 2: tumor size between 1 and 1.2 cm; (3) group 3: tumor size between 1.3 and 1.7 cm; and (4) group 4: tumor size larger than 1.8 cm. Ten patients experienced local recurrences. There were no recurrences in groups 1 or 2 (0%). There was one recurrence in group 3 (4%) and nine in group 4 (33%), indicating local control to be better in smaller tumors (p<0.001). The 3-year recurrence-free survival rates were: 86% in group 1; 97% in group 2; 93% in group 3; and 53% in group 4, indicating survival to be better in smaller tumors (p<0.001). There were no serious adverse events reported.

The results of the trial, as disclosed in the published article, were that the treatment of tumors in groups 1 and 2 through cryoablation and LN2and local control of the tumor and the lack recurrence of the cancer was more effective than in groups 3 and 4. As part of the trial, tumors treated in groups 1 and 2 did not have local recurrence, while in groups 3 and 4, 4% and 33%, respectively, of the tumors had local recurrence. The 3-year recurrence-free survival rates were: 86% in group 1; 97% in group 2; 92% in group 3; and 53% group 4, indicating the survival to be better in smaller tumors (p < 0.001). No patient had treatment-related mortality. The most frequent complication was pneumothorax, with a rate of 24%, while the decrease of pulmonary function was just 3%.

The peer reviewed publication also highlighted that the use of cryoablation treatment with only one needle for the majority of the patients in the trial represented an advantage in comparison to systems that use argon gas, which usually requires the use of 2-3 needles for a procedure on the same tumors size. We believe that the publication of the results of the trial in a peer reviewed publication raises the validity of using our products for the treatment of lung tumors.

Kidney Tumors

The American Cancer Society has estimated that in 2021, approximately 76,080 new cases of kidney and renal pelvis cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, while an estimated of 13,780 patients will die of such cancers in the United States during 2021.

According to an article published in the Journal of Endourology in 2016, the cost of cryoablation of a kidney is about 53% of the cost of an open kidney surgery, also known as an open partial nephrectomy, and 51% of a robot-assisted partial nephrectomy. Despite percutaneous cryoablation being performed in older patients with higher comorbidity indices, percutaneous cryoablation had lower hospitalization times and eliminated the cost of many hospital-related expenses such as room and board.

Kidney Tumors Clinical Trials

In 2012, a clinical trial was initiated at Bnei Zion Medical Center in Haifa, Israel in collaboration with the Shamir/Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Be’er Ya’akov, Israel. Procedures were performed using our ProSense system for freezing and ablating kidney tumors. The recruitment for this trial is completed.

As of January 2021, our IceSense3 and ProSense systems have been used to freeze and ablate kidney tumors in 120 patients as planned in the protocol. Initial results of the clinical trial were also presented in March 2019, as part of the annual conference of the European Association of Urology, held in Barcelona, Spain, which demonstrated treatment of an aggregate of 45 tumors in sizes of up to 4 cm in 42 patients, which had undergone a follow-up of at least 12 months (the average follow-up period was 18.2 months). According to the initial results, the recurrence rate is 7%. In addition, the average cryoablation time was 22 minutes and the average length of the entire treatment was 50.5 minutes per patient. One serious adverse event was reported in this trial.

Our Products