Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Nature of Business, Basis of Presentation and Going Concern Uncertainty

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Nature of Business, Basis of Presentation and Going Concern Uncertainty
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Nature of Business, Basis of Presentation and Going Concern Uncertainty

1. NATURE OF BUSINESS, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND GOING CONCERN UNCERTAINTY

Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (referred to as “Achieve,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company committed to the global development and commercialization of cytisinicline for smoking cessation. We were incorporated in the state of Delaware, and operate out of Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q.  Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required to be presented for complete financial statements. The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring items) which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods presented. The accompanying consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2019 has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year then ended. The unaudited consolidated financial statements and related disclosures have been prepared with the assumption that users of the interim financial information have read or have access to the audited consolidated financial statements for the preceding fiscal year. Accordingly, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on March 13, 2020.

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Achieve and our wholly owned subsidiaries, Achieve Life Sciences Technologies Inc., Achieve Life Science, Inc., Extab Corporation, and Achieve Pharma UK Limited. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated.

Reverse Stock Split

 

On July 29, 2020, we filed a certificate of amendment to our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and effected as of July 31, 2020 a 1-for-20 reverse stock split of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. As a result of the reverse stock split, each 20 shares of the outstanding common stock were combined into one share of common stock without any change to the par value per share. The reverse stock split did not affect the number of authorized shares of common stock which remains at 150,000,000. The reverse stock split was approved by our board of directors and stockholders and is intended to allow us to regain compliance with the NASDAQ’s continued listing criteria related to the Minimum Bid Price Rule. On August 14, 2020, we received written confirmation from NASDAQ that we regained compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Rule and the matter has been closed.

Unless otherwise noted, impacted amounts and share information included in the financial statements and notes thereto have been retroactively adjusted for the stock split as if such stock split occurred on the first day of the first period presented. Certain amounts in the notes to the financial statements may be slightly different than previously reported due to rounding of fractional shares as a result of the reverse stock split.

 

Going Concern Uncertainty

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming we will continue to operate as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business.

We have historically experienced recurring losses from operations that have generated an accumulated deficit of $55.7 million through September 30, 2020. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, we incurred a net loss of $3.8 million and $10.0 million. As of September 30, 2020, we had a cash and cash equivalents balance of $22.4 million and a positive working capital balance of $22.2 million. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, net cash used in operations was $11.0 million.

 

Substantial doubt exists as to our ability to continue as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern is uncertain and dependent on our ability to obtain additional financing. There is no assurance that we will obtain financing from other sources. We have, thus far, financed our operations through the closing of the arrangement between us and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. pursuant to a Merger Agreement dated January 5, 2017, or the Arrangement, and through debt and equity financings (Note 6—Common Stock). Without additional funds, we may be forced to delay, scale back or eliminate some of our research and development activities or other operations and potentially delay product development in an effort to provide sufficient funds to continue our operations. If any of these events occurs, our ability to achieve our development and commercialization goals would be adversely affected.

Our current resources are insufficient to fund our planned operations for the next 12 months. We will continue to require substantial additional capital to continue our clinical development activities. Accordingly, we will need to raise substantial additional capital to continue to fund our operations from the sale of our securities, partnering arrangements or other financing transactions in order to finance the commercialization of our product candidate. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including the pace and results of our clinical development efforts. Failure to raise capital as and when needed, on favorable terms or at all, will have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to develop our product candidate. The uncertainty with respect to our operations and the market generally due to the COVID-19 pandemic may also make it challenging to raise additional capital on favorable terms, if at all. We expect our research and development expenses to substantially increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we advance our product candidate in clinical development.

The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to the amounts and classification of assets and liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern. Such adjustments could be material.