Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration Nos. 333-164215

 

 

Subject to Completion, dated September 8, 2010

 

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
(To Prospectus dated January 5, 2010)

8,300,000 Shares

 

 

Common Stock

 

This is an offering of 8,300,000 shares of the common stock of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.

 

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “HALO.” The last reported sale price of our common stock on The NASDAQ Global Market on September 3, 2010 was $7.99 per share.

 

Investing in our common stock involves significant risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-7 of this prospectus supplement and each of the “Risk Factors” on page 4 of the accompanying prospectus.

 

 

We have granted Barclays Capital a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,245,000 shares of common stock on the same terms and conditions set forth above.

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus supplement or the prospectus to which it relates. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

Barclays Capital expects to deliver the shares on or about September   , 2010.

 

 

Barclays Capital

 

Prospectus Supplement dated September   , 2010

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give any information or to represent anything not contained in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus. You must not rely on any unauthorized information or representations. This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are an offer to sell only the shares offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is current only as of their respective dates.

 

This document is in two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the specific terms of the offering and also adds to and updates information contained in the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. The second part, the accompanying prospectus dated January 5, 2010, including the documents incorporated by reference, provides more general information. Generally, when we refer to this prospectus, we are referring to both parts of this document combined. To the extent there is a conflict between the information contained in this prospectus supplement, on the one hand, and the information contained in the accompanying prospectus or in any document incorporated by reference that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, before the date of this prospectus supplement, on the other hand, you should rely on the information in this prospectus supplement. If any statement in one of these documents is inconsistent with a statement in another document having a later date—for example, a document incorporated by reference in the accompanying prospectus—the statement in the document having the later date modifies or supersedes the earlier statement. You should read this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including the information incorporated by reference and any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering, in their entirety before making an investment decision.

 

You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, along with the information contained in any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering. If the description of the offering varies between this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, you should rely on the information in this prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different or additional information. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, and any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering is accurate only as of the respective dates of those documents. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

 

PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT SUMMARY

 

THE OFFERING

Common stock we are offering		8,300,000 shares
Common stock covered by the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares		1,245,000 shares
Common stock outstanding immediately following this offering (excluding any shares subject to the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares)		100,324,742 shares
Risk Factors		Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk factors” beginning on page S-7.
Use of proceeds		We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes and to support further research and development of our product candidates. See “Use of Proceeds” on page S-20.
NASDAQ Global Market symbol		HALO

	•	8,610,097 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options, having a weighted average exercise price of $3.98 per share; and
	•	an aggregate of up to 2,877,934 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our stock option and employee stock purchase plans.

 

An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before deciding whether to invest in our common stock, you should consider carefully the risks described below, together with other information in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, the information and documents incorporated by reference, and in any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flow could be seriously harmed. This could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline, resulting in a loss of all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently see as immaterial, may also harm our business.

 

Risks Relating to this Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

 

Our stock price is subject to significant volatility.

 

We participate in a highly dynamic industry which often results in significant volatility in the market price of common stock irrespective of company performance. As a result, our high and low sales prices of our common stock during the twelve months ended June 30, 2010 were $9.11 and $5.22, respectively. We expect our stock price to continue to be subject to significant volatility and, in addition to the other risks and uncertainties described elsewhere in this prospectus supplement and all other risks and uncertainties that are either not known to us at this time or which we deem to be immaterial, any of the following factors may lead to a significant drop in our stock price:

 

 

 

Future sales of shares of our common stock pursuant to our universal shelf registration statement may negatively affect our stock price.

 

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock, and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. As of June 30, 2010, we had 92,010,298 shares of common stock outstanding, all of which shares are eligible for sale in the public market, subject in some cases to the volume limitations and manner of sale and other requirements under Rule 144, the restrictions under our NOL preservation lock-up agreement described under “Description of Capital Stock” in the accompanying prospectus and the restrictions under the lock-up agreements with Barclays Capital described under “Underwriting” in this prospectus supplement. In addition, all of the shares of common stock sold in this offering will be freely tradeable

 

Trading in our stock has historically been limited, so investors may not be able to sell as much stock as they want to at prevailing market prices.

 

Our stock has historically traded at a low daily trading volume. If low trading volume continues, it may be difficult for stockholders to sell their shares in the public market at any given time at prevailing prices.

 

If you purchase shares of common stock in this offering, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution in your investment. You will experience further dilution if we issue additional equity securities in future fundraising transactions.

 

Purchasers of common stock in this offering will pay a price per share in this offering that substantially exceeds the net tangible book value (deficit) per share of our common stock. Assuming we sell 8,300,000 shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed public offering price of $7.99 per share (which was the last reported sale price of our common stock as reported on The NASDAQ Global Market on September 3, 2010), without any deduction for underwriting discounts and commissions but after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us, you would experience immediate and substantial dilution of $7.47 per share, representing the difference between our as adjusted net tangible book value (deficit) per share as of June 30, 2010 after giving effect to this offering and the assumed public offering price. See the section entitled “Dilution” below for a more detailed illustration of the dilution you would incur if you purchase common stock in this offering.

 

If we raise additional funds by issuing additional common stock, or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for common stock, our stockholders, including investors who purchase shares of common stock in this offering, will experience additional dilution, and any such issuances may result in downward pressure on the price of our common stock.

 

Risks Related To Our Business

 

We have generated only minimal revenue from product sales to date; we have a history of net losses and negative cash flow, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability.

 

Relative to expenses incurred in our operations, we have generated only minimal revenue from product sales, licensing fees and milestone payments to date and we may never generate sufficient revenues from future product sales, licensing fees and milestone payments to offset expenses. Even if we ultimately do achieve significant revenues from product sales, licensing fees and/or milestone payments, we expect to incur significant operating losses over the next few years. We have never been

profitable, and we may never become profitable. Through June 30, 2010, we have incurred aggregate net losses of approximately $195.9 million.

 

If our contract manufacturers are unable to manufacture significant amounts of the API used in our products and product candidates, our product development and commercialization efforts could be delayed or stopped and our collaborative partnerships could be damaged.

 

We have existing supply agreements with contract manufacturing organizations Avid Bioservices, Inc., or Avid, and Cook Pharmica LLC, or Cook, to produce bulk API. These manufacturers each produce API under current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, for clinical uses. In addition, Avid currently produces API for commercialized products. Avid and Cook will also provide support for the chemistry, manufacturing and controls sections for FDA and other regulatory filings. We rely on their ability to successfully manufacture these batches according to product specifications and Cook has relatively limited experience manufacturing our API. In addition, as a result of our contractual obligations to Roche, we will be required to significantly scale up our commercial API production at Cook during the next few years. If Cook is unable to obtain status as a cGMP-approved manufacturing facility, or if either Avid or Cook: (i) are unable to retain status as cGMP-approved manufacturing facilities; (ii) are unable to otherwise successfully scale up our API production; or (iii) fail to manufacture the API required by our proprietary and partnered products and product candidates for any other reason, our business will be adversely affected. We have not established, and may not be able to establish, favorable arrangements with additional API manufacturers and suppliers of the ingredients necessary to manufacture the API should the existing manufacturers and suppliers become unavailable or in the event that our existing manufacturers and suppliers are unable to adequately perform their responsibilities. We have attempted to mitigate the impact of supply interruption through the establishment of excess API inventory, but there can be no assurances that this safety stock will be maintained or that it will be sufficient to address any delays, interruptions or other problems experienced by Avid and/or Cook. Any delays, interruptions or other problems regarding the ability of Avid and/or Cook to supply API on a timely basis could: (i) cause the delay of clinical trials or otherwise delay or prevent the regulatory approval of proprietary or partnered product candidates; (ii) delay or prevent the effective commercialization of proprietary or partnered products and/or (iii) cause us to breach contractual obligations to deliver API to our partners. Such delays would likely damage our relationship with our partners under our key collaboration agreements and they would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

 

Our key partners are responsible for providing certain proprietary materials that are essential components of our partnered product candidates, and any failure to supply these materials could delay the development and commercialization efforts for these partnered product candidates and/or damage our collaborative partnerships.

 

Our partners are responsible for providing certain proprietary materials that are essential components of our partnered product candidates. For example, Roche is responsible for producing the Herceptin and MabThera required for its subcutaneous product candidates and Baxter is responsible for producing the GAMMAGARD LIQUID for its product candidate. If a partner, or any applicable third party service provider of a partner, encounters difficulties in the manufacture, storage, delivery, fill, finish or packaging of either components of the partnered product candidate or the partnered product candidate itself, such difficulties could: (i) cause the delay of clinical trials or otherwise delay or prevent the regulatory approval of partnered product candidates; and/or (ii) delay or prevent the effective commercialization of partnered products. Such delays could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. For example, Baxter received a Warning Letter from the FDA in January 2010 regarding Baxter’s GAMMAGARD LIQUID manufacturing facility in Lessines, Belgium. The FDA indicated in March 2010 that the issues raised in the Warning Letter had been addressed by Baxter and we do not expect these issues to impact the development of the GAMMAGARD LIQUID product candidate.

If any party to a key collaboration agreement, including us, fails to perform material obligations under such agreement, or if a key collaboration agreement, or any other collaboration agreement, is terminated for any reason, our business could significantly suffer.

 

We have entered into multiple collaboration agreements under which we may receive significant future payments in the form of maintenance fees, milestone payments and royalties. In the event that a party fails to perform under a key collaboration agreement, or if a key collaboration agreement is terminated, the reduction in anticipated revenues could delay or suspend our product development activities for some of our product candidates, as well as our commercialization efforts for some or all of our products. In addition, the termination of a key collaboration agreement by one of our partners could materially impact our ability to enter into additional collaboration agreements with new partners on favorable terms, if at all. In certain circumstances, the termination of a key collaboration agreement would require us to revise our corporate strategy going forward and reevaluate the applications and value of our technology.

 

For example, because a portion of the HYLENEX manufactured by Baxter was not in compliance with the requirements of the underlying HYLENEX agreements, HYLENEX was voluntarily recalled in May 2010. On May 16, 2010, we delivered a notice of breach to Baxter due to Baxter’s failure to manufacture HYLENEX in accordance with the terms of existing development and supply contracts. The notice of breach was sent after Baxter informed us that a portion of the HYLENEX manufactured by Baxter was not in compliance with the requirements of the underlying agreements with Baxter. In July of 2010, Baxter asserted their own breach claims against us, which we believe are without merit, and we expect to prevail in the event of any dispute relating to the HYLENEX agreements. On August 31, 2010, we announced the completion of our root cause investigation regarding HYLENEX manufacturing and also withdrawal of the notice of breach. We have identified a corrective action plan and regulatory strategy to reintroduce HYLENEX to the market. We hope to meet with the FDA in the near future and we will not be able to predict the timing for HYLENEX reintroduction until after meeting with the FDA.

 

If we have problems with third parties that either distribute API on our behalf or prepare, fill, finish and package our products and product candidates for distribution, our commercialization and development efforts for our products and product candidates could be delayed or stopped.

 

We rely on third parties to store and ship API on our behalf and to also prepare, fill, finish and package our products and product candidates prior to their distribution. If we are unable to locate third parties to perform these functions on terms that are acceptable to us, the progress of clinical trials could be delayed or even suspended and the commercialization of approved product candidates could be delayed or prevented. We currently utilize a subsidiary of Baxter to prepare, fill, finish and package HYLENEX under a development and supply agreement. We rely on its ability to successfully manufacture HYLENEX batches according to product specifications. Any delays or interruptions in Baxter’s ability to manufacture HYLENEX batches in amounts necessary to meet product demand could have a material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

 

For example, because a portion of the HYLENEX manufactured by Baxter was not in compliance with the requirements of the underlying HYLENEX agreements, HYLENEX was voluntarily recalled in May 2010. On August 31, 2010, we announced the completion of our root cause investigation regarding HYLENEX manufacturing, and we have identified a corrective action plan and regulatory strategy to reintroduce HYLENEX to the market. We hope to meet with the FDA in the near future and we will not be able to predict the timing for HYLENEX reintroduction until after meeting with the FDA.

We may wish to raise additional capital in the next twelve months, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain such funds.

 

During the next twelve months, we may wish to raise additional capital to continue the development of our product candidates or for other current corporate purposes. Our current cash position and expected revenues during the next few years will not constitute the amount of capital necessary for us to continue the development of our proprietary product candidates and to fund general operations. In addition, if we engage in acquisitions of companies, products or technology in order to execute our business strategy, we may need to raise additional capital. We will need to raise additional capital in the future through one or more financing vehicles that may be available to us. Potential financing vehicles include: (i) the public or private issuance of securities; (ii) new collaborative agreements; and/or (iii) expansions or revisions to existing collaborative relationships.

 

Considering our stage of development, the nature of our capital structure and general market conditions, if we are required to raise additional capital in the future, the additional financing may not be available on favorable terms, or at all. If additional capital is not available on favorable terms, we will be required to significantly reduce operating expenses through the restructuring of our operations. If we are successful in raising additional capital, a substantial number of additional shares may be issued and these shares will dilute the ownership interest of our current investors.

 

If we are unable to sufficiently develop our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or enter into successful agreements with third parties to perform these functions, we will not be able to fully commercialize our products.

 

We may not be successful in marketing and promoting our existing product candidates or any other products we develop or acquire in the future. Our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities are very limited. In order to commercialize any products successfully, we must internally develop substantial sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or establish collaborations or other arrangements with third parties to perform these services. We do not have extensive experience in these areas, and we may not be able to establish adequate in-house sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or engage and effectively manage relationships with third parties to perform any or all of such services. To the extent that we enter into co-promotion or other licensing arrangements, our product revenues are likely to be lower than if we directly marketed and sold our products, and any revenues we receive will depend upon the efforts of third parties, whose efforts may not meet our expectations or be successful.

 

We depend upon the efforts of third parties, such as Baxter for HYLENEX, to promote and sell our current products, but there can be no assurance that the efforts of these third parties will meet our expectations or result in any significant product sales. While these third parties are largely responsible for the speed and scope of sales and marketing efforts, they may not dedicate the resources necessary to maximize product opportunities and our ability to cause these third parties to increase the speed and scope of their efforts may be limited. In addition, sales and marketing efforts could be negatively impacted by the delay or failure to obtain additional supportive clinical trial data for our products. In some cases, third party partners are responsible for conducting these additional clinical trials and our ability to increase the efforts and resources allocated to these trials may be limited.

 

Most of our current proprietary and partnered products and product candidates rely on the rHuPH20 enzyme.

 

The rHuPH20 enzyme is a key technological component of Enhanze Technology, our ultrafast insulin program, HYLENEX and other proprietary and partnered products and product candidates. An adverse development for rHuPH20 (e.g., we are unable to obtain sufficient quantities of rHuPH20, we are unable to obtain or maintain material proprietary rights to rHuPH20 or we discover negative characteristics of rHuPH20) would substantially impact multiple areas of our business, including current and potential partnerships, as well as proprietary programs.

If our proprietary and partnered product candidates do not receive and maintain regulatory approvals, they will not be commercialized, and this failure would substantially impair our ability to generate revenues.

 

Approval from the FDA is necessary to manufacture and market pharmaceutical products in the United States. Most other countries in which we may do business have similar requirements. To date, two of our product candidates have received regulatory approval from the FDA.

 

The process for obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals is extensive, time-consuming and costly, and there is no guarantee that the FDA or other regulatory bodies will approve any new drug applications, or NDAs, that may be filed with respect to any of our proprietary or partnered product candidates, or that the timing of any such approval will be appropriate for our desired product launch schedule and other business priorities, which are subject to change. There are no proprietary or partnered product candidates currently in the NDA approval process, and we and our partners may not be successful in obtaining such approvals for any potential products.

 

Our proprietary and partnered product candidates may not receive regulatory approvals for a variety of reasons, including unsuccessful clinical trials.

 

Clinical testing of pharmaceutical products is a long, expensive and uncertain process and the failure or delay of a clinical trial can occur at any stage. Even if initial results of preclinical studies or clinical trial results are promising, we or our partners may obtain different results that fail to show the desired levels of safety and efficacy, or we may not, or our partners may not, obtain applicable regulatory approval for a variety of other reasons. Clinical trials for any of our proprietary or partnered product candidates could be unsuccessful, which would delay or prohibit regulatory approval and commercialization of the product candidates. In the United States, FDA approval can be delayed, limited or not granted for many reasons, including, among others:

 

 

If the FDA does not approve a proprietary or partnered product candidate in a timely fashion on commercially viable terms, or if development of any product candidate is terminated due to difficulties or delays encountered in the regulatory approval process, it could have a material adverse impact on our business and we will become more dependent on the development of other proprietary

or partnered product candidates and/or our ability to successfully acquire other products and technologies. There can be no assurances that any proprietary or partnered product candidate will receive regulatory approval in a timely manner, or at all.

 

We anticipate that certain proprietary and partnered products will be marketed, and perhaps manufactured, in foreign countries. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals in foreign countries is subject to delay and failure for many of the same reasons set forth above, as well as for reasons that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The approval process varies among countries and jurisdictions and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. Foreign regulatory agencies may not provide approvals on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA.

 

If we or our partners fail to comply with regulatory requirements, regulatory agencies may take action against us or them, which could significantly harm our business.

 

Any approved products, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for these products, are subject to continual requirements and review by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. Regulatory authorities subject a marketed product, its manufacturer and the manufacturing facilities to continual review and periodic inspections. We will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements, including required submissions of safety and other post-market information and reports, registration requirements, cGMP regulations, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping requirements. The cGMP regulations include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance, as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation. We rely on the compliance by our contract manufacturers with cGMP regulations and other regulatory requirements relating to the manufacture of our products. We and our partners are also subject to state laws and registration requirements covering the distribution of our products. Regulatory agencies may change existing requirements or adopt new requirements or policies. We or our partners may be slow to adapt or may not be able to adapt to these changes or new requirements.

 

Regulatory requirements applicable to pharmaceutical products make the substitution of suppliers and manufacturers costly and time consuming. We have minimal internal manufacturing capabilities and are, and expect to be in the future, entirely dependent on contract manufacturers and suppliers for the manufacture of our products and for their active and other ingredients. The disqualification of these manufacturers and suppliers through their failure to comply with regulatory requirements could negatively impact our business because the delays and costs in obtaining and qualifying alternate suppliers (if such alternative suppliers are available, which we cannot assure) could delay clinical trials or otherwise inhibit our ability to bring approved products to market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

 

Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our proprietary or partnered products, manufacturing processes or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in any of the following:

 

 

 

For example, because a portion of the HYLENEX manufactured by Baxter was not in compliance with the requirements of the underlying HYLENEX agreements, HYLENEX was voluntarily recalled in May 2010. On August 31, 2010, we announced the completion of our root cause investigation regarding HYLENEX manufacturing, and we have identified a corrective action plan and regulatory strategy to reintroduce HYLENEX to the market. We hope to meet with the FDA in the near future and we will not be able to predict the timing for HYLENEX reintroduction until after meeting with the FDA.

 

If proprietary or partnered product candidates are approved by regulatory bodies such as the FDA but do not gain market acceptance, our business may suffer and we may not be able to fund future operations.

 

Assuming that our proprietary or partnered product candidates obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, a number of factors may affect the market acceptance of these existing product candidates or any other products which are developed or acquired in the future, including, among others:

 

 

If these products do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to fund future operations, including the development or acquisition of new product candidates and/or our sales and marketing efforts for our approved products, which would cause our business to suffer.

 

In addition, our proprietary and partnered product candidates will be restricted to the labels approved by applicable regulatory bodies such as the FDA, and these restrictions may limit the marketing and promotion of the ultimate products. If the approved labels are restrictive, the sales and marketing efforts for these products may be negatively affected.

 

Developing and marketing pharmaceutical products for human use involves product liability risks, for which we currently have limited insurance coverage.

 

The testing, marketing and sale of pharmaceutical products involves the risk of product liability claims by consumers and other third parties. Although we maintain product liability insurance coverage, product liability claims can be high in the pharmaceutical industry and our insurance may not sufficiently cover our actual liabilities. If product liability claims were to be made against us, it is possible that our insurance carriers may deny, or attempt to deny, coverage in certain instances. If a

lawsuit against us is successful, then the lack or insufficiency of insurance coverage could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition. Furthermore, various distributors of pharmaceutical products require minimum product liability insurance coverage before purchase or acceptance of products for distribution. Failure to satisfy these insurance requirements could impede our ability to achieve broad distribution of our proposed products and the imposition of higher insurance requirements could impose additional costs on us. In addition, since many of our partnered product candidates include the pharmaceutical products of a third party, we run the risk that problems with the third party pharmaceutical product will give rise to liability claims against us.

 

Our inability to attract, hire and retain key management and scientific personnel could negatively affect our business.

 

Our success depends on the performance of key management and scientific employees with biotechnology experience. Given our relatively small staff size relative to the number of programs currently under development, we depend substantially on our ability to hire, train, motivate and retain high quality personnel, especially our scientists and management team. If we are unable to retain existing personnel or identify or hire additional personnel, we may not be able to research, develop, commercialize or market our product candidates as expected or on a timely basis and we may not be able to adequately support current and future alliances with strategic partners.

 

Furthermore, if we were to lose key management personnel, particularly Jonathan Lim, M.D., our President and Chief Executive Officer, or Gregory Frost, Ph.D., our Chief Scientific Officer, then we would likely lose some portion of our institutional knowledge and technical know-how, potentially causing a substantial delay in one or more of our development programs until adequate replacement personnel could be hired and trained. For example, Dr. Frost has been with us from soon after our inception, and he possesses a substantial amount of knowledge about our development efforts. If we were to lose his services, we would experience delays in meeting our product development schedules. In 2008, we adopted a severance policy applicable to all employees and a change in control policy applicable to senior executives. We have not adopted any other policies or entered into any other agreements specifically designed to motivate officers or other employees to remain with us.

 

We do not have key man life insurance policies on the lives of any of our employees, including Dr. Lim and Dr. Frost.

 

Our operations might be interrupted by the occurrence of a natural disaster or other catastrophic event.

 

Our operations, including laboratories, offices and other research facilities, are located in a three building campus in San Diego, California. We depend on our facilities and on our partners, contractors and vendors for the continued operation of our business. Natural disasters or other catastrophic events, interruptions in the supply of natural resources, political and governmental changes, wildfires and other fires, floods, explosions, actions of animal rights activists, earthquakes and civil unrest could disrupt our operations or those of our partners, contractors and vendors. Even though we believe we carry commercially reasonable business interruption and liability insurance, and our contractors may carry liability insurance that protect us in certain events, we might suffer losses as a result of business interruptions that exceed the coverage available under our and our contractors’ insurance policies or for which we or our contractors do not have coverage. Any natural disaster or catastrophic event could have a significant negative impact on our operations and financial results. Moreover, any such event could delay our research and development programs.

 

If we or our partners do not achieve projected development goals in the timeframes we publicly announce or otherwise expect, the commercialization of our products and the development of our product candidates may be delayed and, as a result, our stock price may decline.

 

We publicly articulate the estimated timing for the accomplishment of certain scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development goals. The accomplishment of any goal is typically

based on numerous assumptions and the achievement of a particular goal may be delayed for any number of reasons both within and outside of our control. If scientific, regulatory, strategic or other factors cause us to not meet a goal, regardless of whether that goal has been publicly articulated or not, the commercialization of our products and the development of our proprietary and partnered product candidates may be delayed. In addition, the consistent failure to meet publicly announced milestones may erode the credibility of our management team with respect to future milestone estimates.

 

Future acquisitions could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition.

 

In order to augment our product pipeline or otherwise strengthen our business, we may decide to acquire additional businesses, products and technologies. As we have limited experience in evaluating and completing acquisitions, our ability as an organization to make such acquisitions is unproven. Acquisitions could require significant capital infusions and could involve many risks, including, but not limited to, the following:

 

 

If any of these risks occurred, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We cannot assure you that we will be able to identify or consummate any future acquisitions on acceptable terms, or at all. If we do pursue any acquisitions, it is possible that we may not realize the anticipated benefits from such acquisitions or that the market will not view such acquisitions positively.

 

Risks Related To Our Industry

 

Compliance with the extensive government regulations to which we are subject is expensive and time consuming and may result in the delay or cancellation of product sales, introductions or modifications.

 

Extensive industry regulation has had, and will continue to have, a significant impact on our business. All pharmaceutical companies, including ours, are subject to extensive, complex, costly and evolving regulation by the federal government, principally the FDA and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, and foreign and state government agencies. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Controlled Substances Act and other domestic and foreign statutes and regulations govern or influence the testing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, storing, recordkeeping, safety, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution of our products. Under certain of these regulations, we and our contract suppliers and manufacturers are subject to periodic inspection of our

or their respective facilities, procedures and operations and/or the testing of products by the FDA, the DEA and other authorities, which conduct periodic inspections to confirm that we and our contract suppliers and manufacturers are in compliance with all applicable regulations. The FDA also conducts pre-approval and post-approval reviews and plant inspections to determine whether our systems, or our contract suppliers’ and manufacturers’ processes, are in compliance with cGMP and other FDA regulations. If we, or our contract supplier, fail these inspections, we may not be able to commercialize our product in a timely manner without incurring significant additional costs, or at all.

 

In addition, the FDA imposes a number of complex regulatory requirements on entities that advertise and promote pharmaceuticals including, but not limited to, standards and regulations for direct-to-consumer advertising, off-label promotion, industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, and promotional activities involving the internet.

 

We are dependent on receiving FDA and other governmental approvals prior to manufacturing, marketing and shipping our products. Consequently, there is always a risk that the FDA or other applicable governmental authorities will not approve our products, or will take post-approval action limiting or revoking our ability to sell our products, or that the rate, timing and cost of such approvals will adversely affect our product introduction plans or results of operations.

 

We may be required to initiate or defend against legal proceedings related to intellectual property rights, which may result in substantial expense, delay and/or cessation of the development and commercialization of our products.

 

We primarily rely on patents to protect our intellectual property rights. The strength of this protection, however, is uncertain. For example, it is not certain that:

 

 

We currently own or license several patents and also have pending patent applications applicable to rHuPh20 and other proprietary materials. There can be no assurance that our existing patents, or any patents issued to us as a result of our pending patent applications, will provide a basis for commercially viable products, will provide us with any competitive advantages, or will not face third party challenges or be the subject of further proceedings limiting their scope or enforceability. Such limitations in our patent portfolio could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. In addition, if any of our pending patent applications do not result in issued patents, or result in issued patents with narrow or limited claims, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

 

We may become involved in interference proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine the priority of our inventions. In addition, costly litigation could be necessary to protect our patent position. We also rely on trademarks to protect the names of our products. These trademarks may not be acceptable to regulatory agencies. In addition, these trademarks may be challenged by others. If we enforce our trademarks against third parties, such enforcement proceedings may be expensive. We also rely on trade secrets, unpatented proprietary know-how and continuing technological innovation that we seek to protect with confidentiality agreements with employees, consultants and others with whom we discuss our business. Disputes may arise concerning the ownership of intellectual property or the applicability or enforceability of these agreements, and we might not be able to resolve these disputes in our favor.

In addition to protecting our own intellectual property rights, third parties may assert patent, trademark or copyright infringement or other intellectual property claims against us based on what they believe are their own intellectual property rights. If we become involved in any intellectual property litigation, we may be required to pay substantial damages, including but not limited to treble damages, for past infringement if it is ultimately determined that our products infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights. Even if infringement claims against us are without merit, defending a lawsuit takes significant time, may be expensive and may divert management’s attention from other business concerns. Further, we may be stopped from developing, manufacturing or selling our products until we obtain a license from the owner of the relevant technology or other intellectual property rights. If such a license is available at all, it may require us to pay substantial royalties or other fees.

 

Patent protection for protein-based therapeutic products and other biotechnology inventions is subject to a great deal of uncertainty, and if patent laws or the interpretation of patent laws change, our competitors may be able to develop and commercialize products based on our discoveries.

 

Patent protection for protein-based therapeutic products is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. In recent years, there have been significant changes in patent law, including the legal standards that govern the scope of protein and biotechnology patents. Standards for patentability of full-length and partial genes, and their corresponding proteins, are changing. Recent court decisions have made it more difficult to obtain patents, by making it more difficult to satisfy the requirement of non-obviousness, have decreased the availability of injunctions against infringers, and have increased the likelihood of challenging the validity of a patent through a declaratory judgment action. Taken together, these decisions could make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain, license and enforce our patents. In addition, in recent years, several members of the United States Congress have made numerous proposals to change the patent statute. These proposals include measures that, among other things, would expand the ability of third parties to oppose United States patents, introduce the “first to file” standard to the United States patent system, and limit damages an infringer is required to pay. If the patent statute is changed, the scope, validity and enforceability of our patents may be significantly decreased.

 

There also have been, and continue to be, policy discussions concerning the scope of patent protection awarded to biotechnology inventions. Social and political opposition to biotechnology patents may lead to narrower patent protection within the biotechnology industry. Social and political opposition to patents on genes and proteins may lead to narrower patent protection, or narrower claim interpretation, for genes, their corresponding proteins and inventions related to their use, formulation and manufacture. Patent protection relating to biotechnology products is also subject to a great deal of uncertainty outside the United States, and patent laws are evolving and undergoing revision in many countries. Changes in, or different interpretations of, patent laws worldwide may result in our inability to obtain or enforce patents, and may allow others to use our discoveries to develop and commercialize competitive products, which would impair our business.

 

If third party reimbursement and customer contracts are not available, our products may not be accepted in the market.

 

Our ability to earn sufficient returns on our products will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for our products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers, managed care organizations and other healthcare providers.

 

Third-party payors are increasingly attempting to limit both the coverage and the level of reimbursement of new drug products to contain costs. Consequently, significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved healthcare products. Third party payors may not establish adequate levels of reimbursement for the products that we commercialize, which could limit their market acceptance and result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

Customer contracts, such as with group purchasing organizations and hospital formularies, will often not offer contract or formulary status without either the lowest price or substantial proven clinical differentiation. If our products are compared to animal-derived hyaluronidases by these entities, it is possible that neither of these conditions will be met, which could limit market acceptance and result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

 

The rising cost of healthcare and related pharmaceutical product pricing has led to cost containment pressures that could cause us to sell our products at lower prices, resulting in less revenue to us.

 

Any of the proprietary or partnered products that have been, or in the future are, approved by the FDA may be purchased or reimbursed by state and federal government authorities, private health insurers and other organizations, such as health maintenance organizations and managed care organizations. Such third party payors increasingly challenge pharmaceutical product pricing. The trend toward managed healthcare in the United States, the growth of such organizations, and various legislative proposals and enactments to reform healthcare and government insurance programs, including the Medicare Prescription Drug Modernization Act of 2003, could significantly influence the manner in which pharmaceutical products are prescribed and purchased, resulting in lower prices and/or a reduction in demand. Such cost containment measures and healthcare reforms could adversely affect our ability to sell our products. Furthermore, individual states have become increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access, importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third party payors or other restrictions could negatively and materially impact our revenues and financial condition. We anticipate that we will encounter similar regulatory and legislative issues in most other countries outside the United States.

 

We face intense competition and rapid technological change that could result in the development of products by others that are superior to our proprietary and partnered products under development.

 

Our proprietary and partnered products have numerous competitors in the United States and abroad including, among others, major pharmaceutical and specialized biotechnology firms, universities and other research institutions that have developed competing products. Pending the reintroduction of HYLENEX, the competitors for HYLENEX will include, but are not limited to, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For our Insulin-PH20 and Analog-PH20 product candidates, such competitors may include Biodel Inc. and Mannkind Corporation. These competitors may develop technologies and products that are more effective, safer, or less costly than our current or future proprietary and partnered product candidates or that could render our technologies and product candidates obsolete or noncompetitive. Many of these competitors have substantially more resources and product development, manufacturing and marketing experience and capabilities than we do. In addition, many of our competitors have significantly greater experience than we do in undertaking preclinical testing and clinical trials of pharmaceutical product candidates and obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of products and therapies for use in healthcare.

 

This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, the documents we have filed with the SEC that are incorporated herein by reference and any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to our financial condition, results of operations and business. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “could,” “would,” “will,” “may,” “can,” “continue,” “potential,” “should,” and the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology often identify forward-looking statements. Statements included or incorporated herein or in any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering that are not historical facts are hereby identified as “forward-looking statements” for the purpose of the safe harbor provided by Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties discussed under the sections captioned “Risk Factors” contained in this prospectus supplement and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2010.

 

Many of the important factors that will determine these results are beyond our ability to control or predict. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date such forward-looking statements are made. You should carefully read this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, and any free writing prospectus that we have authorized for use in connection with this offering, together with the information incorporated herein by reference as described under the heading “Where You Can Find Additional Information,” completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. Except as otherwise required by law, we do not assume any obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus supplement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

 

We estimate that the net proceeds from the sale of the 8,300,000 shares of common stock we are offering will be approximately $      million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us (or approximately $      million if the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares is exercised in full).

 

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes and to support further research and development of our product candidates.

 

If you purchase our common stock in this offering, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the offering price per share and the net tangible book value (deficit) per share of our common stock after this offering. Our net tangible book value (deficit) as of June 30, 2010 was approximately ($14.1) million, or ($0.15) per share. Net tangible book value (deficit) per share is determined by dividing our total tangible assets, less total liabilities, by the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2010. Dilution in net tangible book value (deficit) per share represents the difference between the amount per share paid by purchasers of shares of common stock in this offering and the net tangible book value (deficit) per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

 

Assuming we sell 8,300,000 shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed public offering price of $7.99 per share (which was the last reported sale price of our common stock as reported on The NASDAQ Global Market on September 3, 2010), without any deduction for underwriting discounts and commissions but after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us, our as adjusted net tangible book value as of June 30, 2010 would have been approximately $51.9 million, or $0.52 per share. This would represent an immediate increase in net tangible book value (deficit) of $0.67 per share to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $7.47 per share to investors purchasing our common stock in this offering at the assumed public offering price. The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

 

 

The foregoing discussion and table are based on 92,024,742 shares of common stock outstanding as of August 2, 2010. This number of shares does not include 1,245,000 shares of common stock subject to the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares and also excludes, as of August 2, 2010:

 

 

The following summary describes the material U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our common stock acquired in this offering by a Non-U.S. Holder (as defined below). This discussion does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income and estate taxes and does not deal with foreign, state and local consequences that may be relevant to Non-U.S. Holders in light of their particular circumstances. Special rules may apply to certain Non-U.S. Holders that are subject to special treatment under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, such as financial institutions, insurance companies, tax-exempt organizations, broker-dealers and traders in securities, U.S. expatriates, “controlled foreign corporations,” “passive foreign investment companies,” corporations that accumulate earnings to avoid U.S. federal income tax, persons that hold our common stock as part of a “straddle,” “hedge,” “conversion transaction,” “synthetic security” or integrated investment, partnerships and other pass-through entities, and investors in such pass-through entities. Such Non-U.S. Holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors to determine the U.S. federal, state, local and other tax consequences that may be relevant to them. Furthermore, the discussion below is based upon the provisions of the Code, and Treasury regulations, rulings and judicial decisions thereunder as of the date hereof, and such authorities may be repealed, revoked or modified, perhaps retroactively, so as to result in U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences different from those discussed below. This discussion assumes that the Non-U.S. Holder holds our common stock as a capital asset.

 

The following discussion is for general information only and is not tax advice. Persons considering the purchase of our common stock should consult their own tax advisors concerning the U.S. federal income and estate tax consequences in light of their particular situations as well as any consequences arising under the laws of any other taxing jurisdiction, including any state, local or foreign tax consequences.

 

Except as otherwise described in the discussion of estate tax below, a “Non-U.S. Holder” is a beneficial holder of our common stock that is not a U.S. Holder or a partnership. A “U.S. Holder” means a beneficial holder of our common stock that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes (i) an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States, (ii) a corporation or other entity treated as a corporation created or organized in or under the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof, (iii) an estate the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source or (iv) a trust if it (x) is subject to the primary supervision of a court within the United States and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (y) has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations to be treated as a U.S. person.

 

If a partnership (including any entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) acquires our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Persons who are partners of partnerships holding our common stock are urged to consult their tax advisors.

 

Distributions

 

Subject to the discussion below, distributions, if any, made to a Non-U.S. Holder of our common stock out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits generally will constitute dividends for U.S. tax purposes and will be subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty. To obtain a reduced rate of withholding under a treaty, a Non-U.S. Holder generally will be required to provide us with a properly-executed IRS Form W-8BEN, or other appropriate form, certifying the Non-U.S. Holder’s entitlement to benefits under that treaty. Treasury regulations provide special rules to determine whether, for purposes of determining the applicability of a tax treaty, dividends paid to a Non-U.S. Holder that is an entity should be treated as paid to the entity or to those holding an interest in that entity. If a Non-U.S. Holder holds stock through a financial institution or other agent acting on the holder’s behalf, the holder will be required to provide appropriate documentation to such agent. The

holder’s agent will then be required to provide certification to us or our paying agent, either directly or through other intermediaries.

 

We generally are not required to withhold tax on dividends paid to a Non-U.S. Holder that are effectively connected with the Non-U.S. Holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States if a properly-executed IRS Form W-8ECI, stating that the dividends are so connected (and are not exempt from net U.S. federal income tax under a treaty as described below), is filed with us. Effectively connected dividends will be subject to net U.S. federal income tax, generally in the same manner and at the regular rate as if the Non-U.S. Holder were a U.S. citizen or resident alien or a domestic corporation, as the case may be, unless a specific treaty exemption applies. If the Non-U.S. Holder is eligible for the benefits of a tax treaty between the United States and the holder’s country of residence, any effectively connected dividends would generally be subject to net U.S. federal income tax only if they are also attributable to a permanent establishment maintained by the holder in the United States. A corporate Non-U.S. Holder receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to an additional “branch profits tax”, which is imposed, under certain circumstances, at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable treaty) of the corporate Non-U.S. Holder’s effectively connected earnings and profits, subject to certain adjustments. If you are eligible for a reduced rate of withholding tax pursuant to a tax treaty, you may generally obtain a refund of any excess amounts currently withheld if you timely file an appropriate claim for refund with the IRS.

 

To the extent distributions on our common stock, if any, exceed our current and accumulated earnings and profits, they will constitute a return of capital and will first reduce your basis in our common stock, but not below zero, and then will be treated as gain from the sale of stock.

 

Gain on disposition of common stock

 

A Non-U.S. Holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax with respect to gain realized on a sale or other disposition of our common stock unless (i) the gain is effectively connected with a trade or business of such holder in the United States, (ii) in the case of Non-U.S. Holders who are nonresident alien individuals, such individuals are present in the United States for 183 or more days in the taxable year of the disposition and certain other conditions are met, or (iii) we are or have been a “United States real property holding corporation” within the meaning of Code Section 897(c)(2) at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding such disposition or such holder’s holding period. In general, we would be a United States real property holding corporation if interests in U.S. real estate comprised at least half of our business assets. We believe that we are not, and do not anticipate becoming, a United States real property holding corporation. Even if we are treated as a United States real property holding corporation, gain realized by a Non-U.S. Holder on a disposition of our common stock will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax so long as (1) the Non-U.S. Holder owned directly, indirectly and constructively, no more than five percent of our common stock at all times within the shorter of (a) the five year period preceding the disposition or (b) the holder’s holding period and (2) our common stock is regularly traded on an established securities market. There can be no assurance that our common stock will continue to qualify as regularly traded on an established securities market.

 

If you are a Non-U.S. Holder described in (i) above, you will be required to pay tax on the net gain derived from the sale at generally applicable United States federal income tax rates, subject to an applicable income tax treaty providing otherwise, and corporate Non-U.S. Holders described in (i) above may be subject to the branch profits tax at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty. If you are an individual Non-U.S. Holder described in (ii) above, you will be required to pay a flat 30% tax (or a reduced rate under an applicable income tax treaty) on the gain derived from the sale, which tax may be offset by U.S. source capital losses if you have timely filed tax returns with respect to such losses (even though you are not considered a resident of the United States).

Information reporting and backup withholding

 

Generally, we must report to the IRS the amount of dividends paid, the name and address of the recipient, and the amount, if any, of tax withheld. A similar report is sent to the holder. Pursuant to tax treaties or certain other agreements, the IRS may make its reports available to tax authorities in the recipient’s country of residence. Backup withholding will generally not apply to payments of dividends made by us or our paying agents to a Non-U.S. Holder if the holder has provided its federal taxpayer identification number, if any, or the required certification that it is not a U.S. person (which is generally provided by furnishing a properly-executed IRS Form W-8BEN), unless the payer otherwise has knowledge or reason to know that the payee is a U.S. person. The backup withholding rate is currently 28%. Backup withholding is generally not required on payments to corporations, whether domestic or foreign.

 

Under current U.S. federal income tax law, information reporting and backup withholding will apply to the proceeds of a disposition of our common stock effected by or through a U.S. office of a broker unless the disposing holder certifies as to its non-U.S. status or otherwise establishes an exemption. The certification procedures for claiming benefits under a tax treaty described in “—Distributions” above will satisfy the certification requirements to avoid backup withholding as well. Generally, U.S. information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to a payment of disposition proceeds where the transaction is effected outside the United States through a non-U.S. office of a non-U.S. broker. Backup withholding will apply to a payment of disposition proceeds if the broker has actual knowledge or reason to know that the holder is a U.S. person.

 

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Rather, the tax liability of persons subject to backup withholding will be reduced by the amount of tax withheld. If withholding results in an overpayment of taxes, a refund may generally be obtained, provided that the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.

 

New legislation relating to foreign accounts

 

Newly enacted legislation may impose withholding taxes on certain types of payments made to “foreign financial institutions” (as specifically defined in this new legislation) and certain other non-U.S. entities (including financial intermediaries). Under this legislation, the failure to comply with additional certification, information reporting and other specified requirements could result in withholding tax being imposed on payments of dividends and sales proceeds to foreign intermediaries and certain Non-U.S. Holders. The legislation imposes a 30% withholding tax on dividends, or gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of, common stock paid to a foreign financial institution or to a foreign non-financial entity, unless (i) the foreign financial institution undertakes certain diligence and reporting obligations or (ii) the foreign non-financial entity either certifies it does not have any substantial United States owners or furnishes identifying information regarding each substantial United States owner. If the payee is a foreign financial institution, it must enter into an agreement with the United States Treasury requiring, among other things, that it undertake to identify accounts held by certain United States persons or United States-owned foreign entities, annually report certain information about such accounts, and withhold 30% on payments to account holders whose actions prevent it from complying with these reporting and other requirements. The legislation applies to payments made after December 31, 2012. Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding this legislation.

 

Federal estate tax

 

Common stock owned or treated as owned by an individual who is not a citizen or resident of the United States (as specifically defined for U.S. federal estate tax purposes) at the time of death is considered a U.S. situs asset includible in the individual’s gross estate for U.S. federal estate tax purposes and therefore may be subject to U.S. federal estate tax, unless an applicable estate tax treaty provides otherwise. The United States federal estate tax was automatically repealed effective January 1, 2010, for the estates of decedents dying in the year 2010. Accordingly, at present, there is no United States federal estate tax. However, Congress could pass a law reinstating the estate tax that has

retroactive effect. In addition, unless Congress acts to make the current repeal permanent, the estate tax will be reinstated with respect to decedents who die after December 31, 2010. In view of the continuing uncertainty regarding the federal estate tax law, prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal estate tax considerations of acquiring, holding, and disposing of common stock. The test for whether an individual is a resident of the United States for federal estate tax purposes differs from the test used for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Some individuals, therefore, may be “Non-U.S. Holders” for U.S. federal income tax purposes, but not for U.S. federal estate tax purposes, and vice versa.

 

THE PRECEDING DISCUSSION OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. IT IS NOT TAX ADVICE. EACH PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR SHOULD CONSULT ITS OWN TAX ADVISOR REGARDING THE TAX CONSEQUENCES OF PURCHASING, HOLDING AND DISPOSING OF OUR COMMON STOCK, INCLUDING THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANY PROPOSED CHANGE IN APPLICABLE LAW.

 

Under the terms of an underwriting agreement, which we will file as an exhibit to our current report on Form 8-K and incorporate by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, Barclays Capital Inc., as the underwriter in this offering, has agreed to purchase from us, 8,300,000 shares of common stock.

 

The underwriting agreement provides that the underwriter’s obligation to purchase shares of common stock depends on the satisfaction of the conditions contained in the underwriting agreement including:

 

 

Commissions and Expenses

 

The following table summarizes the underwriting discounts and commissions we will pay to the underwriter. These amounts are showing assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares. The underwriting fee is the difference between the initial price to the public and the amount the underwriter pays to us for the shares.

 

 

The underwriter has advised us that it proposes to offer the shares of common stock directly to the public at the public offering price on the cover of this prospectus supplement and to selected dealers, which may include the underwriter, at such offering price less a selling concession not in excess of $      per share. After the offering, the underwriter may change the offering price and other selling terms. Sales of shares made outside of the United States may be made by affiliates of the underwriter.

 

The expenses of the offering that are payable by us are estimated to be $250,000 (excluding underwriting discounts and commissions).

 

Option to Purchase Additional Shares

 

We have granted the underwriter an option exercisable for 30 days after the date of the underwriting agreement, to purchase, from time to time, in whole or in part, up to an aggregate of 1,245,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions.

 

Lock-Up Agreements

 

We, all of our officers, directors and certain of our stockholders have agreed that, subject to specified exceptions, not to directly or indirectly sell, offer, contract or grant any option to sell (including without limitation any short sale), pledge, transfer, establish an open “put equivalent position” or otherwise dispose of any shares of our common stock, options or warrants to acquire our common stock, or securities exchangeable or exercisable for or convertible into our common stock currently or hereafter owned (including, without limitation, shares of common stock that may be deemed to be beneficially owned in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and

Exchange Commission) or publicly announce an intention to do any of the foregoing for a period of 90 days after the date of this prospectus supplement, or the Lock-Up Period.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Barclays Capital Inc., has agreed that the transfer restrictions shall not apply to:

 

 

Barclays Capital Inc., in its sole discretion, may release the common stock and other securities subject to the lock-up agreements described above in whole or in part at any time with or without notice. When determining whether or not to release the common stock and other securities from lock-up agreements, Barclays Capital will consider, among other factors, the holder’s or our reasons for requesting the release, the number of shares of common stock or other securities for which the release is being requested and market conditions at the time.

 

Indemnification

 

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriter against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and to contribute to payments that the underwriter may be required to make for these liabilities.

 

Listing

 

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “HALO”.

 

Stabilization and Short Positions

 

The underwriter may engage in stabilizing transactions, covering transactions or purchases for the purpose of pegging, fixing or maintaining the price of the common stock, in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act:

 

 

These stabilizing transactions and covering transactions may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of our common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock. As a result, the price of the common stock may be higher than the price

that might otherwise exist in the open market. These transactions may be effected on the NASDAQ Global Market or otherwise and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.

 

Neither we nor the underwriter make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of the common stock. In addition, neither we nor the underwriter make representation that the underwriter will engage in these stabilizing transactions or that any transaction, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.

 

Passive Market Making

 

In connection with the offering, the underwriter and selling group members may engage in passive market making transactions in the common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market in accordance with Rule 103 of Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the period before the commencement of offers or sales of common stock and extending through the completion of distribution. A passive market maker must display its bids at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid of the security. However, if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market maker’s bid that bid must be lowered when specified purchase limits are exceeded.

 

Electronic Distribution

 

A prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the Internet sites or through other online services maintained by the underwriter or by its affiliates. In those cases, prospective investors may view offering terms online and, depending upon the particular underwriter, prospective investors may be allowed to place orders online. The underwriter may agree with us to allocate a specific number of shares for sale to online brokerage account holders. Any such allocation for online distributions will be made by the underwriter on the same basis as other allocations.

 

Other than the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in electronic format, the information on the underwriter’s website and any information contained in any other website maintained by the underwriter is not part of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus or the registration statement of which the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus forms a part, has not been approved and/or endorsed by us or the underwriter in its capacity as underwriter and should not be relied upon by investors.

 

Stamp Taxes

 

If you purchase shares of common stock offered in the prospectus, you may be required to pay stamp taxes and other charges under the laws and practices of the country of purchase, in addition to the offering price listed on the cover page of the prospectus.

 

Relationships

 

Barclays Capital Inc. and its affiliates may provide investment banking or financial advisory services to us in the future, for which they expect to receive customary fees and expense reimbursement.

 

Selling Restrictions

 

European Economic Area

 

In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area that has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a relevant member state), with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that relevant member state (the relevant implementation

date), an offer of securities described in this prospectus supplement may not be made to the public in that relevant member state other than:

 

 

provided that no such offer of securities shall require us to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive.

 

For purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of securities to the public” in any relevant member state means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the securities, as the expression may be varied in that member state by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that member state, and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each relevant member state.

 

We have not authorized and do not authorize the making of any offer of securities through any financial intermediary on their behalf, other than offers made by Barclays Capital Inc. or its affiliates with a view to the final placement of the securities as contemplated in this prospectus supplement. Accordingly, no purchaser of the securities, other than Barclays Capital Inc. or its affiliates, is authorized to make any further offer of the securities on behalf of us or Barclays Capital Inc. or its affiliates.

 

United Kingdom

 

This prospectus supplement is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive (“Qualified Investors”) that are also (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This prospectus supplement and its contents are confidential and should not be distributed, published or reproduced (in whole or in part) or disclosed by recipients to any other persons in the United Kingdom. Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a relevant persons should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

 

Australia

 

No prospectus supplement or other disclosure document (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) of Australia (“Corporations Act”)) in relation to the common stock has been or will be lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (“ASIC”). This document has not been

lodged with ASIC and is only directed to certain categories of exempt persons. Accordingly, if you receive this document in Australia:

 

(a) you confirm and warrant that you are either:

 

(i) a “sophisticated investor” under section 708(8)(a) or (b) of the Corporations Act;

 

(ii) a “sophisticated investor” under section 708(8)(c) or (d) of the Corporations Act and that you have provided an accountant’s certificate to us which complies with the requirements of section 708(8)(c)(i) or (ii) of the Corporations Act and related regulations before the offer has been made;

 

(iii) a person associated with the company under section 708(12) of the Corporations Act; or

 

(iv) a “professional investor” within the meaning of section 708(11)(a) or (b) of the Corporations Act, and to the extent that you are unable to confirm or warrant that you are an exempt sophisticated investor, associated person or professional investor under the Corporations Act any offer made to you under this document is void and incapable of acceptance; and

 

(b) you warrant and agree that you will not offer any of the common stock for resale in Australia within 12 months of those common stock being issued unless any such resale offer is exempt from the requirement to issue a disclosure document under section 708 of the Corporations Act.

 

Hong Kong

 

The common stock may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than (a) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made under that Ordinance or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the common stock may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of the issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to the common stock which are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) or any rules made under that Ordinance.

 

India

 

This prospectus supplement has not been and will not be registered as a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies in India or with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. This prospectus supplement or any other material relating to these securities is for information purposes only and may not be circulated or distributed, directly or indirectly, to the public or any members of the public in India and in any event to not more than 50 persons in India. Further, persons into whose possession this prospectus supplement comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. Each prospective investor is advised to consult its advisors about the particular consequences to it of an investment in these securities. Each prospective investor is also advised that any investment in these securities by it is subject to the regulations prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India and the Foreign Exchange Management Act and any regulations framed thereunder.

Japan

 

No securities registration statement (“SRS”) has been filed under Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948, as amended) (“FIEL”) in relation to the common stock. The common stock are being offered in a private placement to “qualified institutional investors” (tekikaku-kikan-toshika) under Article 10 of the Cabinet Office Ordinance concerning Definitions provided in Article 2 of the FIEL (the Ministry of Finance Ordinance No. 14, as amended) (“QIIs”), under Article 2, Paragraph 3, Item 2 i of the FIEL. Any QII acquiring the common stock in this offer may not transfer or resell those shares except to other QIIs.

 

Korea

 

The common stock may not be offered, sold and delivered directly or indirectly, or offered or sold to any person for reoffering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Korea or to any resident of Korea except pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations of Korea, including the Korea Securities and Exchange Act and the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law and the decrees and regulations thereunder. The common stock has not been registered with the Financial Services Commission of Korea for public offering in Korea. Furthermore, the common stock may not be resold to Korean residents unless the purchaser of the common stock complies with all applicable regulatory requirements (including but not limited to government approval requirements under the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law and its subordinate decrees and regulations) in connection with the purchase of the common stock.

 

Singapore

 

This prospectus supplement has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus supplement and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the common stock may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the common stock be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Future Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a “relevant person” as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275 (1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

 

Where the common stock are subscribed and purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

 

(a) a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or

 

(b) a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) whose sole whole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary is an accredited investor,

 

shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferable within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the common stock under Section 275 of the SFA except:

 

(i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA;

 

(ii) (in the case of a corporation) where the transfer arises from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) of the SFA, or (in the case of a trust) where the transfer

arises from an offer that is made on terms that such rights or interests are acquired at a consideration of not less than $200,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) for each transaction, whether such amount is to be paid for in cash or by exchange of securities or other assets;

 

(iii) where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer; or

 

(iv) where the transfer is by operation of law.

 

By accepting this prospectus supplement, the recipient hereof represents and warrants that he is entitled to receive it in accordance with the restrictions set forth above and agrees to be bound by limitations contained herein. Any failure to comply with these limitations may constitute a violation of law.

 

DLA Piper LLP (US), San Diego, California will pass upon the validity of the issuance of the common stock offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. The underwriter is being represented by Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, New York.

 

Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, has audited our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009, as set forth in their reports, which are incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and elsewhere in the registration statement. Our financial statements are incorporated by reference in reliance on Ernst & Young LLP’s report, given on their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

 

We have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, a registration statement on Form S-3 (No. 333-164215) under the Securities Act relating to the common stock offered by this prospectus supplement. This prospectus supplement is a part of that registration statement, which includes additional information not contained in this prospectus supplement.

 

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of certain information filed by us with the SEC are also available on our website at www.halozyme.com. Our website is not a part of this prospectus supplement. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference room, at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1–800–SEC–0330 for further information on the operation of its Public Reference Room.

 

We are incorporating by reference in this prospectus supplement the documents that we file with the SEC. This means that we are disclosing important information to you by referring to these filings. The information we incorporate by reference is considered a part of this prospectus supplement, and subsequent information that we file with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information.

 

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or considered to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement shall be considered to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus supplement to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus supplement or in any other subsequently filed document that is considered to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement modifies or supersedes such statement.

 

We incorporate by reference the following documents that we have filed with the SEC:

 

 

 

Any information in any of the foregoing documents will automatically be deemed to be modified or superseded to the extent that information in this prospectus supplement or in a later filed document that is incorporated or deemed to be incorporated herein by reference modifies or replaces such information.

 

We also incorporate by reference any future filings (other than current reports furnished under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of Form 8-K and exhibits filed on such form that are related to such items) made with the SEC pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, after the date of this prospectus supplement and prior to the termination of the offering of the common stock covered by this prospectus supplement. Information in such future filings updates and supplements the information provided in this prospectus supplement. Any statements in any such future filings will automatically be deemed to modify and supersede any information in any document we previously filed with the SEC that is incorporated or deemed to be incorporated herein by reference to the extent that statements in the later filed document modify or replace such earlier statements.

 

We will provide, upon written or oral request, to each person, including any beneficial owner to whom a prospectus is delivered, a copy of these filings (other than exhibits to such documents unless such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference in any such documents) at no cost by writing to Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., Attention: Investor Relations, 11388 Sorrento Valley Road, San Diego, CA 92121, telephone: (858) 794-8889.

PROSPECTUS

 

$100,000,000

 

Common Stock, Preferred Stock,

Debt Securities,

Warrants and Units

 

HALOZYME THERAPEUTICS, INC.

 

From time to time, we may offer up to $100,000,000 of any combination of the securities described in this prospectus, either individually or in units.

 

This prospectus provides a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we sell securities, we will provide specific terms of the securities offered in a supplement to this prospectus. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you in connection with these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should carefully read this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as any documents incorporated by reference before you invest in any securities. This prospectus may not be used to consummate a sale of securities unless accompanied by the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “HALO.” On December 30, 2009, the last reported sale price for our common stock was $6.17 per share. The applicable prospectus supplement will contain information, where applicable, as to any other listing on The Nasdaq Global Market or any securities market or other exchange of the securities, if any, covered by the prospectus supplement.

 

INVESTING IN OUR SECURITIES INVOLVES RISKS. YOU SHOULD REVIEW CAREFULLY THE RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES DESCRIBED UNDER THE HEADING “RISK FACTORS” ON PAGE 4 AND CONTAINED IN THE APPLICABLE PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT AND ANY RELATED FREE WRITING PROSPECTUS AND UNDER SIMILAR HEADINGS IN THE OTHER DOCUMENTS THAT ARE INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO THIS PROSPECTUS.

 

We will sell these securities directly to investors, through agents designated from time to time or to or through underwriters or dealers. For additional information on the methods of sale, you should refer to the section entitled “Plan of Distribution” in this prospectus. If any underwriters are involved in the sale of any securities with respect to which this prospectus is being delivered, the names of such underwriters and any applicable commissions or discounts will be set forth in a prospectus supplement. The price to the public of such securities and the net proceeds we expect to receive from such sale will also be set forth in a prospectus supplement.

 

NEITHER THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF 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          ,          

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

This prospectus is a part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, utilizing a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we may sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings up to a total dollar amount of $100,000,000. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we sell securities under this shelf registration, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information relating to these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus or in any documents that we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus. You should read this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, together with the information incorporated herein by reference as described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

 

You should rely only on the information that we have provided or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you. We have not authorized any dealer, salesman or other person to give any information or to make any representation other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you. You must not rely upon any information or representation not contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or the accompanying prospectus supplement. This prospectus and the accompanying supplement to this prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor do this prospectus and the accompanying supplement to this prospectus constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus is accurate on any date subsequent to the date set forth on the front of the document or that any information we have incorporated by reference is correct on any date subsequent to the date of the document incorporated by reference, even though this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus is delivered or securities sold on a later date.

 

SUMMARY

	•	designation or classification;
	•	aggregate principal amount or aggregate offering price;
	•	maturity, if applicable;
	•	original issue discount, if any;
	•	rates and times of payment of interest or dividends, if any;
	•	redemption, conversion, exchange or sinking fund terms, if any;
	•	conversion or exchange prices or rates, if any, and, if applicable, any provisions for changes to or adjustments in the conversion or exchange prices or rates and in the securities or other property receivable upon conversion or exchange;
	•	ranking;
	•	restrictive covenants, if any;
	•	voting or other rights, if any; and
	•	important United States federal income tax considerations.

	•	the names of those underwriters or agents;
	•	applicable fees, discounts and commissions to be paid to them;
	•	details regarding over-allotment options, if any; and
	•	the net proceeds to us.

 

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risk factors incorporated by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC in addition to the other information contained in this prospectus, as updated by our subsequent filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and the risk factors and other information contained in any applicable prospectus supplement and in any related free writing prospectuses in connection with a specific offering, and in the documents incorporated herein or therein before deciding whether to purchase any of the securities being registered pursuant to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. Each of the risk factors could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition, as well as adversely affect the value of an investment in our securities, and the occurrence of any of these risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

 

Risks Related To Our Business

 

We have generated only minimal revenue from product sales to date; we have a history of net losses and negative cash flow, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability.

 

We have generated only minimal revenue from product sales, licensing fees and milestone payments to date and may never generate significant revenues from future product sales, licensing fees and milestone payments. Even if we do achieve significant revenues from product sales, licensing fees and/or milestone payments, we expect to incur significant operating losses over the next few years. We have never been profitable, and we may never become profitable. Through November 30, 2009, we have incurred aggregate net losses of approximately $165.9 million.

 

If our contract manufacturers are unable to manufacture significant amounts of the API used in our products and product candidates, our product development and commercialization efforts could be delayed or stopped and our collaborative partnerships could be damaged.

 

We have existing supply agreements with contract manufacturing organizations Avid Bioservices, Inc., or Avid, and Cook Pharmica LLC, or Cook, to produce bulk API. These manufacturers each produce API under current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, for clinical uses. In addition, Avid currently produces API for commercialized products. Avid and Cook will also provide support for the chemistry, manufacturing and controls sections for FDA and other regulatory filings. We rely on their ability to successfully manufacture these batches according to product specifications and Cook has relatively limited experience manufacturing our API. In addition, as a result of our contractual obligations to Roche, we will be required to significantly scale up our commercial API production at Cook during the next few years. If Cook is unable to obtain status as an FDA-approved manufacturing facility, or if either Avid or Cook: (i) are unable to retain status as FDA-approved manufacturing facilities; (ii) are unable to otherwise successfully scale up our API production; or (iii) fail to manufacture the API required by our proprietary and partnered products and product candidates for any other reason, our business will be adversely affected. We have not established, and may not be able to establish, favorable arrangements with additional API manufacturers and suppliers of the ingredients necessary to manufacture the API should the existing manufacturers and suppliers become unavailable or in the event that our existing manufacturers and suppliers are unable to adequately perform their responsibilities. We have attempted to mitigate the impact of supply interruption through the establishment of excess API inventory, but there can be no assurances that this safety stock will be maintained or that it will be sufficient to address any delays, interruptions or other problems experienced by Avid and/or Cook. Any delays, interruptions or other problems regarding the ability of Avid and/or Cook to supply API on a timely basis could: (i) cause the delay of clinical trials or otherwise delay or prevent the regulatory approval of proprietary or partnered product candidates; and (ii) delay or prevent the effective commercialization of proprietary or partnered products. Such delays would likely damage our relationship with our partners under our key collaboration agreements and they would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

If any party to a key collaboration agreement, including us, fails to perform material obligations under such agreement, or if a key collaboration agreement is terminated for any reason, our business would significantly suffer.

 

We have entered into key collaboration agreements under which we may receive significant future payments in the form of maintenance fees, milestone payments and royalties. In the event that a party fails to perform under a key collaboration agreement, or if a key collaboration agreement is terminated, the reduction in anticipated revenues could delay or suspend our product development activities for some of our product candidates as well as our commercialization efforts for some or all of our products. In addition, the termination of a key collaboration agreement by one of our partners could materially impact our ability to enter into additional collaboration agreements with new partners on favorable terms, if at all. In certain circumstances, the termination of a key collaboration agreement would require us to revise our corporate strategy going forward and reevaluate the applications and value of our technology.

 

If we are unable to sufficiently develop our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or enter into successful agreements with third parties to perform these functions, we will not be able to fully commercialize our products.

 

We may not be successful in marketing and promoting our existing product candidates or any other products we develop or acquire in the future. Our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities are very limited. In order to commercialize any products successfully, we must internally develop substantial sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or establish collaborations or other arrangements with third parties to perform these services. We do not have extensive experience in these areas, and we may not be able to establish adequate in-house sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or engage and effectively manage relationships with third parties to perform any or all of such services. To the extent that we enter into co-promotion or other licensing arrangements, our product revenues are likely to be lower than if we directly marketed and sold our products, and any revenues we receive will depend upon the efforts of third parties, whose efforts may not meet our expectations or be successful.

 

We depend upon the efforts of third parties, such as Baxter for HYLENEX, to promote and sell our current products, but there can be no assurance that the efforts of these third parties will meet our expectations or result in any significant product sales. While these third parties are largely responsible for the speed and scope of sales and marketing efforts, they may not dedicate the resources necessary to maximize product opportunities and our ability to cause these third parties to increase the speed and scope of their efforts may be limited. In addition, sales and marketing efforts could be negatively impacted by the delay or failure to obtain additional supportive clinical trial data for our products. In some cases, third party partners are responsible for conducting these additional clinical trials and our ability to increase the efforts and resources allocated to these trials may be limited.

 

If we have problems with third parties that prepare, fill, finish, and package our products and product candidates for distribution, our product commercialization and development efforts for these products and product candidates could be delayed or stopped.

 

We rely on third parties to prepare, fill, finish, and package our products and product candidates prior to their distribution. If we are unable to locate third parties to perform these functions on terms that are economically acceptable to us, the progress of clinical trials could be delayed or even suspended and the commercialization of approved product candidates could be delayed or prevented. We currently utilize a subsidiary of Baxter to prepare, fill, finish, and package HYLENEX under a development and supply agreement. Baxter has only limited experience manufacturing HYLENEX batches, and we rely on its ability to successfully manufacture HYLENEX batches according to product specifications. Any delays or interruptions in Baxter’s ability to manufacture HYLENEX batches in amounts necessary to meet product demand could have a material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

 

Most of our current proprietary and partnered products and product candidates rely on the rHuPH20 enzyme.

 

The rHuPH20 enzyme is a key technological component of Enhanze Technology, our ultrafast insulin program, HYLENEX and other proprietary and partnered products and product candidates. An adverse

development for rHuPH20 (e.g., we are unable to obtain sufficient quantities of rHuPH20, we are unable to obtain or maintain material proprietary rights to rHuPH20, or we discover negative characteristics of rHuPH20) would substantially impact multiple areas of our business, including current and potential partnerships as well as proprietary programs.

 

If our proprietary and partnered product candidates do not receive and maintain regulatory approvals, they will not be commercialized, and this failure would substantially impair our ability to generate revenues.

 

Approval from the FDA is necessary to manufacture and market pharmaceutical products in the United States. Most other countries in which we may do business have similar requirements. To date, two of our product candidates have received regulatory approval from the FDA.

 

The process for obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals is extensive, time-consuming and costly, and there is no guarantee that the FDA or other regulatory bodies will approve any new drug applications, or NDAs, that may be filed with respect to any of our proprietary or partnered product candidates, or that the timing of any such approval will be appropriate for our desired product launch schedule and other business priorities, which are subject to change. There are no proprietary or partnered product candidates currently in the NDA approval process, and we and our partners may not be successful in obtaining such approvals for any potential products.

 

Our proprietary and partnered product candidates may not receive regulatory approvals for a variety of reasons, including unsuccessful clinical trials.

 

Clinical testing of pharmaceutical products is a long, expensive and uncertain process and the failure of a clinical trial can occur at any stage. Even if initial results of preclinical studies or clinical trial results are promising, we or our partners may obtain different results that fail to show the desired levels of safety and efficacy, or we may not, or our partners may not, obtain applicable regulatory approval for a variety of other reasons. Clinical trials for any of our proprietary or partnered product candidates could be unsuccessful, which would delay or prohibit regulatory approval and commercialization of the product candidates. FDA approval can be delayed, limited or not granted for many reasons, including, among others:

 

 

If the FDA does not approve a proprietary or partnered product candidate in a timely fashion on commercially viable terms, or if development of any product candidate is terminated due to difficulties or delays encountered in the regulatory approval process, it could have a material adverse impact on our business and we will become more dependent on the development of other proprietary or partnered product candidates and/or our ability to successfully acquire other products and technologies. There can be no assurances that any proprietary or partnered product candidate will receive regulatory approval in a timely manner, or at all.

We anticipate that certain proprietary and partnered products will be marketed, and perhaps manufactured, in foreign countries. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals in foreign countries is subject to delay and failure for many of the same reasons set forth above as well as for reasons that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The approval process varies among countries and jurisdictions and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. Foreign regulatory agencies may not provide approvals on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA.

 

If we or our partners fail to comply with regulatory requirements, regulatory agencies may take action against us or them, which could significantly harm our business.

 

Any approved products, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for these products, are subject to continual requirements and review by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. Regulatory authorities subject a marketed product, its manufacturer and the manufacturing facilities to continual review and periodic inspections. We will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements, including required submissions of safety and other post-market information and reports, registration requirements, cGMP regulations, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping requirements. The cGMP regulations include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance, as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation. We rely on the compliance by our contract manufacturers with cGMP regulations and other regulatory requirements relating to the manufacture of our products. We and our partners are also subject to state laws and registration requirements covering the distribution of our products. Regulatory agencies may change existing requirements or adopt new requirements or policies. We or our partners may be slow to adapt or may not be able to adapt to these changes or new requirements.

 

Regulatory requirements applicable to pharmaceutical products make the substitution of suppliers and manufacturers costly and time consuming. We have minimal internal manufacturing capabilities and are, and expect to be in the future, entirely dependent on contract manufacturers and suppliers for the manufacture of our products and for their active and other ingredients. The disqualification of these manufacturers and suppliers through their failure to comply with regulatory requirements could negatively impact our business because the delays and costs in obtaining and qualifying alternate suppliers (if such alternative suppliers are available, which we cannot assure) could delay clinical trials or otherwise inhibit our ability to bring approved products to market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

 

Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our proprietary or partnered products, manufacturing processes or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in any of the following:

 

 

We may wish to raise funds in the next twelve months, and there can be no assurance that such funds will be available.

 

During the next twelve months, we may wish to raise additional capital to continue the development of our product candidates or for other corporate purposes. Our current cash position and expected revenues during the next few years will not constitute the amount of capital necessary for us to continue the development of our proprietary product candidates and to fund general operations. In addition, if we engage in acquisitions of companies, products or technology in order to execute our business strategy, we may need to raise additional capital. We expect to raise additional capital in the future through one or more financing vehicles that may be available to us. These financing vehicles currently include: (i) the public offering of securities; (ii) new collaborative agreements; (iii) expansions or revisions to existing collaborative relationships; (iv) private financings; and/or (v) other equity or debt financings.

 

Considering our stage of development, the nature of our capital structure and general market conditions, if we are required to raise additional capital in the future, the additional financing may not be available on favorable terms, or at all. If we are successful in raising additional capital, a substantial number of additional shares may be issued and these shares will dilute the ownership interest of our current investors.

 

If proprietary or partnered product candidates are approved by regulatory bodies such as the FDA but do not gain market acceptance, our business may suffer and we may not be able to fund future operations.

 

Assuming that our proprietary or partnered product candidates obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, a number of factors may affect the market acceptance of these existing product candidates or any other products which are developed or acquired in the future, including, among others:

 

 

If these products do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to fund future operations, including the development or acquisition of new product candidates and/or our sales and marketing efforts for our approved products, which would cause our business to suffer.

 

In addition, our proprietary and partnered product candidates will be restricted to the labels approved by applicable regulatory bodies such as the FDA, and these restrictions may limit the marketing and promotion of the ultimate products. If the approved labels are restrictive, the sales and marketing efforts for these products may be negatively affected.

 

Developing and marketing pharmaceutical products for human use involves product liability risks, for which we currently have limited insurance coverage.

 

The testing, marketing and sale of pharmaceutical products involves the risk of product liability claims by consumers and other third parties. Although we maintain product liability insurance coverage, product liability claims can be high in the pharmaceutical industry and our insurance may not sufficiently cover our actual liabilities. If product liability claims were to be made against us, it is possible that our insurance carriers may deny, or attempt to deny, coverage in certain instances. If a lawsuit against us is successful, then the lack or insufficiency of insurance coverage could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition. Furthermore, various distributors of pharmaceutical products require minimum product liability insurance coverage before purchase or acceptance of products for distribution. Failure to satisfy these insurance requirements could impede our ability

to achieve broad distribution of our proposed products and the imposition of higher insurance requirements could impose additional costs on us. In addition, since many of our partnered product candidates include the pharmaceutical products of a third party, we run the risk that problems with the third party pharmaceutical product will give rise to liability claims against us.

 

Our inability to attract, hire and retain key management and scientific personnel could negatively affect our business.

 

Our success depends on the performance of key management and scientific employees with biotechnology experience. Given our relatively small staff size relative to the number of programs currently under development, we depend substantially on our ability to hire, train, motivate and retain high quality personnel, especially our scientists and management team. If we are unable to retain existing personnel or identify or hire additional personnel, we may not be able to research, develop, commercialize or market our product candidates as expected or on a timely basis and we may not be able to adequately support current and future alliances with strategic partners.

 

Furthermore, if we were to lose key management personnel, particularly Jonathan Lim, M.D., our President and Chief Executive Officer, or Gregory Frost, Ph.D., our Chief Scientific Officer, then we would likely lose some portion of our institutional knowledge and technical know-how, potentially causing a substantial delay in one or more of our development programs until adequate replacement personnel could be hired and trained. For example, Dr. Frost has been with us from soon after our inception, and he possesses a substantial amount of knowledge about our development efforts. If we were to lose his services, we would experience delays in meeting our product development schedules. In 2008, we adopted a severance policy applicable to all employees and a change in control policy applicable to senior executives. We have not adopted any other policies or entered into any other agreements specifically designed to motivate officers or other employees to remain with us.

 

We do not have key man life insurance policies on the lives of any of our employees, including Dr. Lim and Dr. Frost.

 

If we or our partners do not achieve projected development goals in the timeframes we publicly announce or otherwise expect, the commercialization of our products and the development of our product candidates may be delayed and, as a result, our stock price may decline.

 

We publicly articulate the estimated timing for the accomplishment of certain scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development goals. The accomplishment of any goal is typically based on numerous assumptions and the achievement of a particular goal may be delayed for any number of reasons both within and outside of our control. If scientific, regulatory, strategic or other factors cause us to not meet a goal, regardless of whether that goal has been publicly articulated or not, the commercialization of our products and the development of our proprietary and partnered product candidates may be delayed. In addition, the consistent failure to meet publicly announced milestones may erode the credibility of our management team with respect to future milestone estimates.

 

Future acquisitions could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition.

 

In order to augment our product pipeline or otherwise strengthen our business, we may decide to acquire additional businesses, products and technologies. As we have limited experience in evaluating and completing acquisitions, our ability as an organization to make such acquisitions is unproven. Acquisitions could require significant capital infusions and could involve many risks, including, but not limited to, the following:

 

 

 

If any of these risks occurred, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We cannot assure you that we will be able to identify or consummate any future acquisitions on acceptable terms, or at all. If we do pursue any acquisitions, it is possible that we may not realize the anticipated benefits from such acquisitions or that the market will not view such acquisitions positively.

 

Risks Related To Ownership of Our Common Stock

 

Our stock price is subject to significant volatility.

 

We participate in a highly dynamic industry which often results in significant volatility in the market price of common stock irrespective of company performance. As a result, our high and low sales prices of our common stock during the twelve months ended November 30, 2009 were $7.89 and $2.77, respectively. We expect our stock price to continue to be subject to significant volatility and, in addition to the other risks and uncertainties described elsewhere in this prospectus and all other risks and uncertainties that are either not known to us at this time or which we deem to be immaterial, any of the following factors may lead to a significant drop in our stock price:

 

 

 

Trading in our stock has historically been limited, so investors may not be able to sell as much stock as they want to at prevailing market prices.

 

Our stock has historically traded at a low daily trading volume. If low trading volume continues, it may be difficult for stockholders to sell their shares in the public market at any given time at prevailing prices.

 

Risks Related To Our Industry

 

Compliance with the extensive government regulations to which we are subject is expensive and time consuming and may result in the delay or cancellation of product sales, introductions or modifications.

 

Extensive industry regulation has had, and will continue to have, a significant impact on our business. All pharmaceutical companies, including ours, are subject to extensive, complex, costly and evolving regulation by the federal government, principally the FDA and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, and foreign and state government agencies. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Controlled Substances Act and other domestic and foreign statutes and regulations govern or influence the testing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, storing, recordkeeping, safety, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution of our products. Under certain of these regulations, we and our contract suppliers and manufacturers are subject to periodic inspection of our or their respective facilities, procedures and operations and/or the testing of products by the FDA, the DEA and other authorities, which conduct periodic inspections to confirm that we and our contract suppliers and manufacturers are in compliance with all applicable regulations. The FDA also conducts pre-approval and post-approval reviews and plant inspections to determine whether our systems, or our contract suppliers’ and manufacturers’ processes, are in compliance with cGMP and other FDA regulations. If we, or our contract supplier, fail these inspections, we may not be able to commercialize our product in a timely manner without incurring significant additional costs, or at all.

 

In addition, the FDA imposes a number of complex regulatory requirements on entities that advertise and promote pharmaceuticals including, but not limited to, standards and regulations for direct-to-consumer advertising, off-label promotion, industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, and promotional activities involving the internet.

 

We are dependent on receiving FDA and other governmental approvals prior to manufacturing, marketing and shipping our products. Consequently, there is always a risk that the FDA or other applicable governmental authorities will not approve our products, or will take post-approval action limiting or revoking our ability to sell our products, or that the rate, timing and cost of such approvals will adversely affect our product introduction plans or results of operations.

 

We may be required to initiate or defend against legal proceedings related to intellectual property rights, which may result in substantial expense, delay and/or cessation of the development and commercialization of our products.

 

We primarily rely on patents to protect our intellectual property rights. The strength of this protection, however, is uncertain. For example, it is not certain that:

 

 

We currently own or license several U.S. patents and also have pending patent applications applicable to rHuPH20 and other proprietary materials. There can be no assurance that our existing patents, or any patents issued to us as a result of our pending patent applications, will provide a basis for commercially viable products, will provide us with any competitive advantages, or will not face third party challenges or be the subject of further proceedings limiting their scope or enforceability. Such limitations in our patent portfolio could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. In addition, if any of our pending patent applications do not result in issued patents, or result in issued patents with narrow or limited claims, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

 

We may become involved in interference proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine the priority of our inventions. In addition, costly litigation could be necessary to protect our patent position. We also rely on trademarks to protect the names of our products. These trademarks may not be acceptable to regulatory agencies. In addition, these trademarks may be challenged by others. If we enforce our trademarks against third parties, such enforcement proceedings may be expensive. We also rely on trade secrets, unpatented proprietary know-how and continuing technological innovation that we seek to protect with confidentiality agreements with employees, consultants and others with whom we discuss our business. Disputes may arise concerning the ownership of intellectual property or the applicability or enforceability of these agreements, and we might not be able to resolve these disputes in our favor.

 

In addition to protecting our own intellectual property rights, third parties may assert patent, trademark or copyright infringement or other intellectual property claims against us based on what they believe are their own intellectual property rights. If we become involved in any intellectual property litigation, we may be required to pay substantial damages, including but not limited to treble damages, for past infringement if it is ultimately determined that our products infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights. Even if infringement claims against us are without merit, defending a lawsuit takes significant time, may be expensive and may divert management’s attention from other business concerns. Further, we may be stopped from developing, manufacturing or selling our products until we obtain a license from the owner of the relevant technology or other intellectual property rights. If such a license is available at all, it may require us to pay substantial royalties or other fees.

 

Patent protection for protein-based therapeutic products and other biotechnology inventions is subject to a great deal of uncertainty, and if patent laws or the interpretation of patent laws change, our competitors may be able to develop and commercialize products based on our discoveries.

 

Patent protection for protein-based therapeutic products is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. In recent years, there have been significant changes in patent law, including the legal standards that govern the scope of protein and biotechnology patents. Standards for patentability of full-length and partial genes, and their corresponding proteins, are changing. Recent court decisions have made it more difficult to obtain patents, by making it more difficult to satisfy the requirement of non-obviousness, have decreased the availability of injunctions against infringers, and have increased the likelihood of challenging the validity of a patent through a declaratory judgment action. Taken together, these decisions could make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain, license and enforce our patents. In addition, in recent years, several members of the United States Congress have made numerous proposals to change the patent statute. These proposals include measures that, among other things, would expand the ability of third parties to oppose United States patents, introduce the “first to file” standard to the United States patent system, and limit damages an infringer is required to pay. If the patent statute is changed, the scope, validity and enforceability of our patents may be significantly decreased.

 

There also have been, and continue to be, policy discussions concerning the scope of patent protection awarded to biotechnology inventions. Social and political opposition to biotechnology patents may lead to narrower patent protection within the biotechnology industry. Social and political opposition to patents on genes and proteins may lead to narrower patent protection, or narrower claim interpretation, for genes, their corresponding proteins and inventions related to their use, formulation and manufacture. Patent protection relating to biotechnology products is also subject to a great deal of uncertainty outside the United States, and patent laws are evolving and undergoing revision in many countries. Changes in, or different interpretations of, patent laws worldwide may result in our inability to obtain or enforce patents, and may allow others to use our discoveries to develop and commercialize competitive products, which would impair our business.

If third party reimbursement and customer contracts are not available, our products may not be accepted in the market.

 

Our ability to earn sufficient returns on our products will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for our products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers, managed care organizations and other healthcare providers.

 

Third-party payors are increasingly attempting to limit both the coverage and the level of reimbursement of new drug products to contain costs. Consequently, significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved healthcare products. Third party payors may not establish adequate levels of reimbursement for the products that we commercialize, which could limit their market acceptance and result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

 

Customer contracts, such as with group purchasing organizations and hospital formularies, will often not offer contract or formulary status without either the lowest price or substantial proven clinical differentiation. If our products are compared to animal-derived hyaluronidases by these entities, it is possible that neither of these conditions will be met, which could limit market acceptance and result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

 

The rising cost of healthcare and related pharmaceutical product pricing has led to cost containment pressures that could cause us to sell our products at lower prices, resulting in less revenue to us.

 

Any of the proprietary or partnered products that have been, or in the future are, approved by the FDA may be purchased or reimbursed by state and federal government authorities, private health insurers and other organizations, such as health maintenance organizations and managed care organizations. Such third party payors increasingly challenge pharmaceutical product pricing. The trend toward managed healthcare in the United States, the growth of such organizations, and various legislative proposals and enactments to reform healthcare and government insurance programs, including the Medicare Prescription Drug Modernization Act of 2003, could significantly influence the manner in which pharmaceutical products are prescribed and purchased, resulting in lower prices and/or a reduction in demand. Such cost containment measures and healthcare reforms could adversely affect our ability to sell our products. Furthermore, individual states have become increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access, importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third party payors or other restrictions could negatively and materially impact our revenues and financial condition. We anticipate that we will encounter similar regulatory and legislative issues in most other countries outside the United States.

 

We face intense competition and rapid technological change that could result in the development of products by others that are superior to our proprietary and partnered products under development.

 

Our proprietary and partnered products have numerous competitors in the United States and abroad including, among others, major pharmaceutical and specialized biotechnology firms, universities and other research institutions that have developed competing products. For example, for HYLENEX, such competitors include, but are not limited to, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Primapharm, Inc. among others. For our Insulin-PH20 and Analog-PH20 product candidates, such competitors may include Biodel Inc. and Mannkind Corporation. These competitors may develop technologies and products that are more effective, safer, or less costly than our current or future proprietary and partnered product candidates or that could render our technologies and product candidates obsolete or noncompetitive. Many of these competitors have substantially more resources and product development, manufacturing and marketing experience and capabilities than we do. In addition, many of our competitors have significantly greater experience than we do in undertaking preclinical testing and clinical trials of pharmaceutical product candidates and obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of products and therapies for use in healthcare.

 

This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference contain forward-looking statements. These are based on our management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions about future events, conditions and results and on information currently available to us. Discussions containing these forward-looking statements may be found, among other places, in the Sections entitled “Business,” “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” incorporated by reference from our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as any amendments thereto, filed with the SEC. Within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our business, technologies, prospects, partners, customers, suppliers and regulatory strategies.

 

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated herein regarding our strategy, future operations, financial position, future revenues, projected costs, plans, prospectus and objectives are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance, time frames or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, time frames or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the Section entitled “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as any amendments thereto filed with the SEC. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

 

Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after the date of this prospectus, even if new information becomes available in the future.

 

The following table sets forth our ratio of earnings to fixed charges and the ratio of our earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends to earnings for each of the periods presented. Our net losses were insufficient to cover fixed charges and combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends in each of the years ended December 31, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 and in the nine months ended September 30, 2009. Because of these deficiencies, the ratio information is not applicable for those periods. The extent to which earnings were insufficient to cover fixed charges and combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends for those periods is shown below. Amounts shown are in millions, except for ratios.

 

 

Our ratio of earnings to fixed charges for each of the five most recently completed fiscal years and any required interim periods will each be specified in a prospectus supplement or in a document that we file with the SEC and incorporate by reference pertaining to the issuance, if any, by us of debt securities in the future.

 

Except as described in any applicable prospectus supplement and in any free writing prospectuses in connection with a specific offering, we currently intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities offered hereby for operating costs, capital expenditures and for general corporate purposes, including working capital. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to invest in or acquire businesses or technologies that we believe are complementary to our own, although we have no current plans, commitments or agreements with respect to any acquisitions as of the date of this prospectus. Pending these uses, we intend to invest the net proceeds in investment-grade, interest-bearing securities.

 

As of the date of this prospectus, our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue 150,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share. As of December 30, 2009, approximately 91.7 million shares of common stock were outstanding and no shares of Preferred Stock were outstanding. Our board of directors has previously designated 500,000 of the 20,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock as Series A Preferred Stock.

 

The following summary describes the material terms of our capital stock. The description of our capital stock is qualified by reference to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, our bylaws, as amended, the certificate of designation for our Series A Preferred Stock, which are incorporated by reference as exhibits into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

 

Common Stock

 

The holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders. Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any outstanding shares of the preferred stock, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive ratably such dividends as may be declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor. In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our company, holders of the common stock are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after payment of liabilities and the liquidation preferences of any outstanding shares of preferred stock. Holders of common stock have no preemptive rights and no right to convert their common stock into any other securities. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. All outstanding shares of common stock are, and all shares of common stock to be outstanding upon the closing of this offering will be, fully paid and nonassessable.

 

Additional shares of authorized common stock may be issued, as authorized by our board of directors from time to time, without stockholder approval, except as may be required by applicable stock exchange requirements.

 

Preferred Stock

 

Pursuant to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, or the Restated Certificate, our board of directors currently has the authority, without further action by the stockholders, to issue up to 19,500,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the designations, powers, preferences, privileges and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of the common stock. The board of directors, without stockholder approval, can issue preferred stock with voting, conversion or other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of common stock. Preferred stock could thus be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. Additionally, the issuance of preferred stock may have the effect of decreasing the market price of the common stock and may adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and reduce the likelihood that common stockholders will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation.

 

Future Preferred Stock.  Our board of directors will fix the rights, preferences, privileges, qualifications and restrictions of the preferred stock of each series that we sell under this prospectus and applicable prospectus

supplements in the certificate of designation relating to that series. We will incorporate by reference into the registration statements of which this prospectus is a part the form of any certificate of designation that describes the terms of the series of preferred stock we are offering before the issuance of the related series of preferred stock. This description will include:

 

 

When we issue shares of preferred stock under this prospectus, the shares will be fully paid and nonassessable and will not have, or be subject to, any preemptive or similar rights.

 

The General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the state of our incorporation, provides that the holders of preferred stock will have the right to vote separately as a class on any proposal involving fundamental changes in the rights of holders of that preferred stock. This right is in addition to any voting rights that may be provided for in the applicable certificate of designation.

Antitakeover Effects of Provisions of Charter Documents and Delaware Law

 

Charter Documents.  Our Restated Certificate and Amended and Restated Bylaws, or Bylaws, include a number of provisions that may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers or delaying or preventing changes in control or management of our company. First, our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors. Under Delaware law, directors of a corporation with a classified board may be removed only for cause unless the corporation’s certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our Restated Certificate does not provide otherwise. In addition, the Restated Certificate provides that all stockholder action must be effected at a duly called meeting of stockholders and not by a consent in writing. Further, our Bylaws limit who may call special meetings of the stockholders. Our Restated Certificate does not include a provision for cumulative voting for directors. Under cumulative voting, a minority stockholder holding a sufficient percentage of a class of shares may be able to ensure the election of one or more directors. Finally, our Bylaws establish procedures, including advance notice procedures, with regard to the nomination of candidates for election as directors and stockholder proposals. These and other provisions of our Restated Certificate and Bylaws and Delaware law could discourage potential acquisition proposals and could delay or prevent a change in control or management of our company.

 

Delaware Takeover Statute.  We are subject to Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or DGCL, which regulates acquisitions of some Delaware corporations. In general, Section 203 prohibits, with some exceptions, a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years following the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

 

Section 203 of the DGCL generally defines a “business combination” to include any of the following:

 

 

In general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as any person who, together with the person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status did own, 15% or more of a corporation’s voting stock.

Section 203 of the DGCL could depress our stock price and delay, discourage or prohibit transactions not approved in advance by our board of directors, such as takeover attempts that might otherwise involve the payment to our stockholders of a premium over the market price of our common stock.

 

Transfer Agent And Registrar

 

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Corporate Stock Transfer Company.

 

Listing on The Nasdaq Global Market

 

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “HALO”.

 

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplements or free writing prospectuses, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. We may issue debt securities, in one or more series, as either senior or subordinated debt or as senior or subordinated convertible debt. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future debt securities we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any debt securities that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus. The terms of any debt securities we offer under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below. However, no prospectus supplement shall fundamentally change the terms that are set forth in this prospectus or offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of its effectiveness. As of the date of this prospectus, we have no outstanding registered debt securities. Unless the context requires otherwise, whenever we refer to the “indentures,” we also are referring to any supplemental indentures that specify the terms of a particular series of debt securities.

 

We will issue any senior debt securities under the senior indenture that we will enter into with the trustee named in the senior indenture. We will issue any subordinated debt securities under the subordinated indenture that we will enter into with the trustee named in the subordinated indenture. We have filed forms of these documents as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, and supplemental indentures and forms of debt securities containing the terms of the debt securities being offered will be filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part or will be incorporated by reference from reports that we file with the SEC.

 

The indentures will be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended, or the Trust Indenture Act. We use the term “trustee” to refer to either the trustee under the senior indenture or the trustee under the subordinated indenture, as applicable.

 

The following summaries of material provisions of the senior debt securities, the subordinated debt securities and the indentures are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all of the provisions of the indenture applicable to a particular series of debt securities. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplements and any related free writing prospectuses related to the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus, as well as the complete indentures that contains the terms of the debt securities. Except as we may otherwise indicate, the terms of the senior indenture and the subordinated indenture are identical.

 

General

 

The terms of each series of debt securities will be established by or pursuant to a resolution of our board of directors and set forth or determined in the manner provided in an officers’ certificate or by a supplement indenture. Debt securities may be issued in separate series without limitation as to aggregate principal amount. We may specify a maximum aggregate principal amount for the debt securities of any series. We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms of the series of debt securities being offered, including:

 

 

 

 

Conversion or Exchange Rights

 

We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms on which a series of debt securities may be convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock, our preferred stock or other securities (including securities of a third-party). We will include provisions as to whether conversion or exchange is mandatory, at the option of the holder or at our option. We may include provisions pursuant to which the number of shares of our common stock, our preferred stock or other securities (including securities of a third-party) that the holders of the series of debt securities receive would be subject to adjustment.

 

Consolidation, Merger or Sale

 

Unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, the indentures will not contain any covenant that restricts our ability to merge or consolidate, or sell, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. However, any successor to or acquirer of such assets must assume all of our obligations under the indentures or the debt securities, as appropriate. If the debt securities are convertible into or exchangeable for our other securities or securities of other entities, the person with whom we consolidate or merge or to whom we sell all of our property must make provisions for the conversion of the debt securities into securities that the holders of the debt securities would have received if they had converted the debt securities before the consolidation, merger or sale.

 

Events of Default under the Indenture

 

Unless we provide otherwise in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, the following are events of default under the indentures with respect to any series of debt securities that we may issue:

 

 

We will describe in each applicable prospectus supplement any additional events of default relating to the relevant series of debt securities.

If an event of default with respect to debt securities of any series occurs and is continuing, other than an event of default specified in the last bullet point above, the trustee or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series, by notice to us in writing, and to the trustee if notice is given by such holders, may declare the unpaid principal, premium, if any, and accrued interest, if any, due and payable immediately. If an event of default specified in the last bullet point above occurs with respect to us, the unpaid principal, premium, if any, and accrued interest, if any, of each issue of debt securities then outstanding shall be due and payable without any notice or other action on the part of the trustee or any holder.

 

The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of an affected series may waive any default or event of default with respect to the series and its consequences, except defaults or events of default regarding payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest, unless we have cured the default or event of default in accordance with the indenture. Any waiver shall cure the default or event of default.

 

Subject to the terms of the indentures, if an event of default under an indenture shall occur and be continuing, the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under such indenture at the request or direction of any of the holders of the applicable series of debt securities, unless such holders have offered the trustee reasonable indemnity or security satisfactory to it against any loss, liability or expense. The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee, with respect to the debt securities of that series, provided that:

 

 

The indentures provide that if an event of default has occurred and is continuing, the trustee will be required in the exercise of its powers to use the degree of care that a prudent person would use in the conduct of its own affairs. The trustee, however, may refuse to follow any direction that conflicts with law or the indenture, or that the trustee determines is unduly prejudicial to the rights of any other holder of the relevant series of debt securities, or that would involve the trustee in personal liability. Prior to taking any action under the indentures, the trustee will be entitled to indemnification against all costs, expenses and liabilities that would be incurred by taking or not taking such action.

 

A holder of the debt securities of any series will have the right to institute a proceeding under the indentures or to appoint a receiver or trustee, or to seek other remedies only if:

 

 

These limitations do not apply to a suit instituted by a holder of debt securities if we default in the payment of the principal, premium, if any, or interest on, the debt securities, or other defaults that may be specified in the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

We will periodically file statements with the trustee regarding our compliance with specified covenants in the indentures.

 

The indentures provide that if a default occurs and is continuing and is actually known to a responsible officer of the trustee, the trustee must mail to each holder notice of the default within the earlier of 90 days after it occurs and 30 days after it is known by a responsible officer of the trustee or written notice of it is received by the trustee, unless such default has been cured or waived. Except in the case of a default in the payment of principal or premium

of or interest on any debt security or certain other defaults specified in an indenture, the trustee shall be protected in withholding such notice if and so long as the board of directors, the executive committee or a trust committee of directors, or responsible officers of the trustee, in good faith determine that withholding notice is in the best interests of holders of the relevant series of debt securities.

 

Modification of Indenture; Waiver

 

Subject to the terms of the indenture for any series of debt securities that we may issue, we and the trustee may change an indenture without the consent of any holders with respect to the following specific matters:

 

 

In addition, under the indentures, the rights of holders of a series of debt securities may be changed by us and the trustee with the written consent of the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series that is affected. However, subject to the terms of the indenture for any series of debt securities that we may issue or otherwise provided in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, we and the trustee may only make the following changes with the consent of each holder of any outstanding debt securities affected:

 

 

Discharge

 

Each indenture provides that, subject to the terms of the indenture and any limitation otherwise provided in the prospectus supplement applicable to a particular series of debt securities, we can elect to be discharged from our obligations with respect to one or more series of debt securities, except for specified obligations, including obligations to:

 

 

 

In order to exercise our rights to be discharged, we must deposit with the trustee money or government obligations sufficient to pay all the principal of, any premium and interest on, the debt securities of the series on the dates payments are due.

 

Form, Exchange and Transfer

 

We will issue the debt securities of each series only in fully registered form without coupons and, unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, in denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof. The indentures provide that we may issue debt securities of a series in temporary or permanent global form and as book-entry securities that will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company or another depositary named by us and identified in a prospectus supplement with respect to that series. See “Legal Ownership of Securities” below for a further description of the terms relating to any book-entry securities.

 

At the option of the holder, subject to the terms of the indentures and the limitations applicable to global securities described in the applicable prospectus supplement, the holder of the debt securities of any series can exchange the debt securities for other debt securities of the same series, in any authorized denomination and of like tenor and aggregate principal amount.

 

Subject to the terms of the indentures and the limitations applicable to global securities set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the debt securities may present the debt securities for exchange or for registration of transfer, duly endorsed or with the form of transfer endorsed thereon duly executed if so required by us or the security registrar, at the office of the security registrar or at the office of any transfer agent designated by us for this purpose. Unless otherwise provided in the debt securities that the holder presents for transfer or exchange, we will make no service charge for any registration of transfer or exchange, but we may require payment of any taxes or other governmental charges.

 

We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement the security registrar, and any transfer agent in addition to the security registrar, that we initially designate for any debt securities. We may at any time designate additional transfer agents or rescind the designation of any transfer agent or approve a change in the office through which any transfer agent acts, except that we will be required to maintain a transfer agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of each series.

 

If we elect to redeem the debt securities of any series, we will not be required to:

 

 

Information Concerning the Trustee

 

The trustee, other than during the occurrence and continuance of an event of default under an indenture, undertakes to perform only those duties as are specifically set forth in the applicable indenture and is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers given it by the indentures at the request of any holder of debt securities unless it is offered reasonable security and indemnity against the costs, expenses and liabilities that it might incur. However, upon an event of default under an indenture, the trustee must use the same degree of care as a prudent person would exercise or use in the conduct of his or her own affairs.

Payment and Paying Agents

 

Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will make payment of the interest on any debt securities on any interest payment date to the person in whose name the debt securities, or one or more predecessor securities, are registered at the close of business on the regular record date for the interest.

 

We will pay principal of and any premium and interest on the debt securities of a particular series at the office of the paying agents designated by us, except that unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will make interest payments by check that we will mail to the holder or by wire transfer to certain holders. Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will designate the corporate trust office of the trustee as our sole paying agent for payments with respect to debt securities of each series. We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement any other paying agents that we initially designate for the debt securities of a particular series. We will maintain a paying agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of a particular series.

 

All money we pay to a paying agent or the trustee for the payment of the principal of or any premium or interest on any debt securities that remains unclaimed at the end of two years after such principal, premium or interest has become due and payable will be repaid to us, and the holder of the debt security thereafter may look only to us for payment thereof.

 

Governing Law

 

The indentures and the debt securities will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, except to the extent that the Trust Indenture Act is applicable.

 

Ranking Debt Securities

 

The subordinated debt securities will be unsecured and will be subordinate and junior in priority of payment to certain other indebtedness to the extent described in a prospectus supplement. The subordinated indenture does not limit the amount of subordinated debt securities that we may issue. It also does not limit us from issuing any other secured or unsecured debt.

 

The senior debt securities will be unsecured and will rank equally in right of payment to all our other senior unsecured debt. The senior indenture does not limit the amount of senior debt securities that we may issue. It also does not limit us from issuing any other secured or unsecured debt.

 

Existing Subordinated Debt

 

As of December 31, 2009, the Company had no existing subordinated debt.

 

The following description, together with the additional information we may include in any applicable prospectus supplements and free writing prospectuses, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the warrants that we may offer under this prospectus, which may consist of warrants to purchase common stock, preferred stock or debt securities and may be issued in one or more series. Warrants may be offered independently or together with common stock, preferred stock or debt securities offered by any prospectus supplement, and may be attached to or separate from those securities. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any warrants that we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any series of warrants that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement and any applicable free writing prospectus. The terms of any warrants offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below. However, no prospectus supplement will fundamentally change the terms that are set forth in this prospectus or offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of its effectiveness.

 

We will issue the warrants under a warrant agreement that we will enter into with a warrant agent to be selected by us. The warrant agent will act solely as an agent of ours in connection with the warrants and will not act as an agent for the holders or beneficial owners of the warrants. We will file as exhibits to the registration statement of

which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from a current report on Form 8-K that we file with the SEC, the form of warrant agreement, including a form of warrant certificate, that describes the terms of the particular series of warrants we are offering before the issuance of the related series of warrants. The following summaries of material provisions of the warrants and the warrant agreements are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the warrant agreement and warrant certificate applicable to a particular series of warrants. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any applicable free writing prospectus related to the particular series of warrants that we sell under this prospectus, as well as the complete warrant agreements and warrant certificates that contain the terms of the warrants.

 

General

 

We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms relating to a series of warrants, including:

 

 

Before exercising their warrants, holders of warrants will not have any of the rights of holders of the securities purchasable upon such exercise, including:

 

 

Exercise of Warrants

 

Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase the securities that we specify in the applicable prospectus supplement at the exercise price that we describe in the applicable prospectus supplement. Unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the warrants may exercise the warrants at any time up to the specified time on the expiration date that we set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void.

 

Holders of the warrants may exercise the warrants by delivering the warrant certificate representing the warrants to be exercised together with specified information, and paying the required amount to the warrant agent in immediately available funds, as provided in the applicable prospectus supplement. We will set forth on the reverse side of the warrant certificate and in the applicable prospectus supplement the information that the holder of the warrant will be required to deliver to the warrant agent.

 

Upon receipt of the required payment and the warrant certificate properly completed and duly executed at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will issue and deliver the securities purchasable upon such exercise. If fewer than all of the warrants represented by the warrant certificate are exercised, then we will issue a new warrant certificate for the remaining amount of warrants. If we so indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the warrants may surrender securities as all or part of the exercise price for warrants.

 

Enforceability of Rights by Holders of Warrants

 

Each warrant agent will act solely as our agent under the applicable warrant agreement and will not assume any obligation or relationship of agency or trust with any holder of any warrant. A single bank or trust company may act as warrant agent for more than one issue of warrants. A warrant agent will have no duty or responsibility in case of any default by us under the applicable warrant agreement or warrant, including any duty or responsibility to initiate any proceedings at law or otherwise, or to make any demand upon us. Any holder of a warrant may, without the consent of the related warrant agent or the holder of any other warrant, enforce by appropriate legal action its right to exercise, and receive the securities purchasable upon exercise of, its warrants.

 

The following description, together with the additional information we may include in any applicable prospectus supplements, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the units that we may offer under this prospectus. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any units that we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any series of units in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The terms of any units offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below. However, no prospectus supplement will fundamentally change the terms that are set forth in this prospectus or offer a security that is not registered and described in this prospectus at the time of its effectiveness.

 

We will file as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from a current report on Form 8-K that we file with the SEC, the form of unit agreement that describes the terms of the series of units we are offering, and any supplemental agreements, before the issuance of the related series of units. The following summaries of material terms and provisions of the units are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the unit agreement and any supplemental agreements applicable to a particular series of units. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplements related to the particular series of units that we sell under this prospectus, as well as the complete unit agreement and any supplemental agreements that contain the terms of the units.

 

General

 

We may issue units comprised of one or more debt securities, shares of common stock, shares of preferred stock and warrants in any combination. Each unit will be issued so that the holder of the unit is also the holder of each security included in the unit. Thus, the holder of a unit will have the rights and obligations of a holder of each

included security. The unit agreement under which a unit is issued may provide that the securities included in the unit may not be held or transferred separately, at any time or at any time before a specified date.

 

We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms of the series of units, including:

 

 

The provisions described in this section, as well as those described under “Description of Capital Stock,” “Description of Debt Securities” and “Description of Warrants” will apply to each unit and to any common stock, preferred stock, debt security or warrant included in each unit, respectively.

 

Issuance in Series

 

We may issue units in such amounts and in numerous distinct series as we determine.

 

Enforceability of Rights by Holders of Units

 

Each unit agent will act solely as our agent under the applicable unit agreement and will not assume any obligation or relationship of agency or trust with any holder of any unit. A single bank or trust company may act as unit agent for more than one series of units. A unit agent will have no duty or responsibility in case of any default by us under the applicable unit agreement or unit, including any duty or responsibility to initiate any proceedings at law or otherwise, or to make any demand upon us. Any holder of a unit may, without the consent of the related unit agent or the holder of any other unit, enforce by appropriate legal action its rights as holder under any security included in the unit.

 

We, the unit agents and any of their agents may treat the registered holder of any unit certificate as an absolute owner of the units evidenced by that certificate for any purpose and as the person entitled to exercise the rights attaching to the units so requested, despite any notice to the contrary. See “Legal Ownership of Securities.”

 

We can issue securities in registered form or in the form of one or more global securities. We describe global securities in greater detail below. We refer to those persons who have securities registered in their own names on the books that we or any applicable trustee or depositary or warrant agent maintain for this purpose as the “holders” of those securities. These persons are the legal holders of the securities. We refer to those persons who, indirectly through others, own beneficial interests in securities that are not registered in their own names, as “indirect holders” of those securities. As we discuss below, indirect holders are not legal holders, and investors in securities issued in book-entry form or in street name will be indirect holders.

 

Book-Entry Holders

 

We may issue securities in book-entry form only, as we will specify in the applicable prospectus supplement. This means securities may be represented by one or more global securities registered in the name of a financial institution that holds them as depositary on behalf of other financial institutions that participate in the depositary’s book-entry system. These participating institutions, which are referred to as participants, in turn, hold beneficial interests in the securities on behalf of themselves or their customers.

 

Only the person in whose name a security is registered is recognized as the holder of that security. Global securities will be registered in the name of the depositary or its participants. Consequently, for global securities, we will recognize only the depositary as the holder of the securities, and we will make all payments on the securities to the depositary. The depositary passes along the payments it receives to its participants, which in turn pass the payments along to their customers who are the beneficial owners. The depositary and its participants do so under

agreements they have made with one another or with their customers; they are not obligated to do so under the terms of the securities.

 

As a result, investors in a global security will not own securities directly. Instead, they will own beneficial interests in a global security, through a bank, broker or other financial institution that participates in the depositary’s book-entry system or holds an interest through a participant. As long as the securities are issued in global form, investors will be indirect holders, and not legal holders, of the securities.

 

Street Name Holders

 

We may terminate a global security or issue securities that are not issued in global form. In these cases, investors may choose to hold their securities in their own names or in “street name.” Securities held by an investor in street name would be registered in the name of a bank, broker or other financial institution that the investor chooses, and the investor would hold only a beneficial interest in those securities through an account he or she maintains at that institution.

 

For securities held in street name, we or any applicable trustee or depositary will recognize only the intermediary banks, brokers and other financial institutions in whose names the securities are registered as the holders of those securities, and we or any such trustee or depositary will make all payments on those securities to them. These institutions pass along the payments they receive to their customers who are the beneficial owners, but only because they agree to do so in their customer agreements or because they are legally required to do so. Investors who hold securities in street name will be indirect holders, not holders, of those securities.

 

Legal Holders

 

Our obligations, as well as the obligations of any applicable trustee or third party employed by us or a trustee, run only to the legal holders of the securities. We do not have obligations to investors who hold beneficial interests in global securities, in street name or by any other indirect means. This will be the case whether an investor chooses to be an indirect holder of a security or has no choice because we are issuing the securities only in global form.

 

For example, once we make a payment or give a notice to the holder, we have no further responsibility for the payment or notice even if that holder is required, under agreements with its participants or customers or by law, to pass it along to the indirect holders but does not do so. Similarly, we may want to obtain the approval of the holders to amend an indenture, to relieve us of the consequences of a default or of our obligation to comply with a particular provision of an indenture, or for other purposes. In such an event, we would seek approval only from the legal holders, and not the indirect holders, of the securities. Whether and how the holders contact the indirect holders is up to the legal holders.

 

Special Considerations for Indirect Holders

 

If you hold securities through a bank, broker or other financial institution, either in book-entry form because the securities are represented by one or more global securities or in street name, you should check with your own institution to find out:

 

 

Global Securities

 

A global security is a security that represents one or any other number of individual securities held by a depositary. Generally, all securities represented by the same global securities will have the same terms.

 

Each security issued in book-entry form will be represented by a global security that we issue to, deposit with and register in the name of a financial institution or its nominee that we select. The financial institution that we select for this purpose is called the depositary. Unless we specify otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, The Depository Trust Company, New York, New York, known as DTC, will be the depositary for all securities issued in book-entry form.

 

A global security may not be transferred to or registered in the name of anyone other than the depositary, its nominee or a successor depositary, unless special termination situations arise. We describe those situations below under “— Special Situations When A Global Security Will Be Terminated.” As a result of these arrangements, the depositary, or its nominee, will be the sole registered owner and legal holder of all securities represented by a global security, and investors will be permitted to own only beneficial interests in a global security. Beneficial interests must be held by means of an account with a broker, bank or other financial institution that in turn has an account with the depositary or with another institution that does. Thus, an investor whose security is represented by a global security will not be a legal holder of the security, but only an indirect holder of a beneficial interest in the global security.

 

If the prospectus supplement for a particular security indicates that the security will be issued as a global security, then the security will be represented by a global security at all times unless and until the global security is terminated. If termination occurs, we may issue the securities through another book-entry clearing system or decide that the securities may no longer be held through any book-entry clearing system.

 

Special Considerations For Global Securities

 

As an indirect holder, an investor’s rights relating to a global security will be governed by the account rules of the investor’s financial institution and of the depositary, as well as general laws relating to securities transfers. We do not recognize an indirect holder as a holder of securities and instead deal only with the depositary that holds the global security.

 

If securities are issued only as global securities, an investor should be aware of the following:

 

 

Special Situations When A Global Security Will Be Terminated

 

In a few special situations described below, a global security will terminate and interests in it will be exchanged for physical certificates representing those interests. After that exchange, the choice of whether to hold securities directly or in street name will be up to the investor. Investors must consult their own banks or brokers to find out how to have their interests in securities transferred to their own names, so that they will be direct holders. We have described the rights of holders and street name investors above.

 

A global security will terminate when the following special situations occur:

 

 

The applicable prospectus supplement may also list additional situations for terminating a global security that would apply only to the particular series of securities covered by the prospectus supplement. When a global security terminates, the depositary, and neither we nor any applicable trustee, is responsible for deciding the names of the institutions that will be the initial direct holders.

 

We may sell the securities to or through underwriters or dealers, through agents, or directly to one or more purchasers. A prospectus supplement or supplements (and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you) will describe the terms of the offering of the securities, including, to the extent applicable:

 

 

Only underwriters named in the prospectus supplement are underwriters of the securities offered by the prospectus supplement.

 

If underwriters are used in the sale, they will acquire the securities for their own account and may resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. The obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to the conditions set forth in the applicable underwriting agreement. We may offer the securities to the public through underwriting syndicates represented by managing underwriters or by underwriters without a syndicate. Subject to certain conditions, the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the securities offered by the prospectus supplement. Any public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers may change from time to time. We may use underwriters with whom we have a material relationship. We will describe in the prospectus supplement, naming the underwriter, the nature of any such relationship.

We may sell securities directly or through agents we designate from time to time. We will name any agent involved in the offering and sale of securities and we will describe any commissions we will pay the agent in the prospectus supplement. Unless the prospectus supplement states otherwise, our agent will act on a best-efforts basis for the period of its appointment.

 

We may authorize agents or underwriters to solicit offers by certain types of institutional investors to purchase securities from us at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. We will describe the conditions to these contracts and the commissions we must pay for solicitation of these contracts in the prospectus supplement.

 

We may provide agents and underwriters with indemnification against civil liabilities related to this offering, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or contribution with respect to payments that the agents or underwriters may make with respect to these liabilities. Agents and underwriters may engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us in the ordinary course of business.

 

All securities we offer, other than common stock, will be new issues of securities with no established trading market. Any underwriters may make a market in these securities, but will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. We cannot guarantee the liquidity of the trading markets for any securities.

 

Any underwriter may engage in overallotment, stabilizing transactions, short covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Overallotment involves sales in excess of the offering size, which create a short position. Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum. Short covering transactions involve purchases of the securities in the open market after the distribution is completed to cover short positions. Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a dealer when the securities originally sold by the dealer are purchased in a covering transaction to cover short positions. Those activities may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would otherwise be. If commenced, the underwriters may discontinue any of the activities at any time.

 

Any underwriters who are qualified market makers on The Nasdaq Global Market may engage in passive market making transactions in the securities on The Nasdaq Global Market in accordance with Rule 103 of Regulation M, during the business day prior to the pricing of the offering, before the commencement of offers or sales of the securities. Passive market makers must comply with applicable volume and price limitations and must be identified as passive market makers. In general, a passive market maker must display its bid at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid for such security; if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market maker’s bid, however, the passive market maker’s bid must then be lowered when certain purchase limits are exceeded.

 

In compliance with guidelines of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, the maximum consideration or discount to be received by any FINRA member or independent broker dealer may not exceed 8% of the aggregate amount of the securities offered pursuant to this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement.

 

 

DLA Piper LLP (US), San Diego, California will pass for us upon the validity of the securities being offered by this prospectus and applicable prospectus supplement, and counsel named in the applicable prospectus supplement will pass upon legal matters for any underwriters, dealers or agents.

 

 

The consolidated financial statements of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. appearing in Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.’s Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2008, and the effectiveness of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008 have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their reports thereon, included therein, and incorporated herein by reference. Such consolidated financial statements are incorporated herein by reference in reliance upon such report given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

 

We are a reporting company and file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-3 under the Securities Act with respect to the securities we are offering under this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and the exhibits to the registration statement. For further information with respect to us and the securities we are offering under this prospectus, we refer you to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed as a part of the registration statement. You may read and copy the registration statement, as well as our reports, proxy statements and other information, at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You can request copies of these documents by writing to the SEC and paying a fee for the copying cost. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for more information about the operation of the Public Reference Room. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, where our SEC filings are also available. The address of the SEC’s web site is “http://www.sec.gov.” We maintain a website at www.halozyme.com. Information contained in or accessible through our website does not constitute a part of this prospectus.

 

 

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” information that we file with it into this prospectus, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus. Information in this prospectus supersedes information incorporated by reference that we filed with the SEC prior to the date of this prospectus, while information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede the information in this prospectus. We incorporate by reference into this registration statement and prospectus the documents listed below, and any future filings we will make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of the initial registration statement but prior to effectiveness of the registration statement and after the date of this prospectus but prior to the termination of the offering of the securities covered by this prospectus (other than current reports or portions thereof furnished under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of Form 8-K):

 

 

We will provide to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom a prospectus is delivered, without charge upon written or oral request, a copy of any or all of the information that has been incorporated by reference into this prospectus but not delivered with the prospectus, including exhibits that are specifically incorporated by reference into such documents. Requests should be directed to: Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., Attention: Investor Relations, 11388 Sorrento Valley Road, San Diego, CA 92121, telephone: (858) 794-8889.

 

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, the registrant has been informed that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.

8,300,000 Shares

 

 

Common Stock

 

Prospectus Supplement

September   , 2010

 

 

Barclays Capital