ACHN 2017 Annual Report

• the results of clinical trials conducted by others on drugs that would compete with our drug candidates; • the announcements of those data, particularly at high profile medical meetings, and the investment community’s perception of and reaction to those data; • the entry into, modification of, or termination of collaborations and other key agreements; • market expectations about the timeliness of our entry into, failure to enter to, or termination of, collaboration arrangements with third parties; • the results of regulatory reviews and actions relating to the approval of our drug candidates; • our failure to obtain patent protection for any of our drug candidates or the issuance of third-party patents that cover our drug candidates; • the initiation of, material developments in, or conclusion of litigation; • failure of any of our drug candidates, if approved, to achieve commercial success; • general and industry-specific economic conditions that may affect our business, financial condition and operations, including without limitation research and development expenditures; • the launch of drugs by others that would compete with our drug candidates; • the benefits of, and market reaction to, any restructurings we undertake; • the failure or discontinuation of any of our research programs; • issues in manufacturing our drug candidates or any approved products; • the introduction of technological innovations or new commercial products by us or our competitors; • changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, who cover our common stock; • future sales, or the anticipation of future sales, of our common stock by us, our insiders or other stockholders; • changes in the structure of health care payment systems; • period-to-period fluctuations in our financial results; • low trading volume of our common stock; and • the other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section. In addition, if we fail to reach an important research, development or commercialization milestone or result by a publicly expected deadline, even if by only a small margin, there could be significant impact on the market price of our common stock. Additionally, as we approach the announcement of important clinical data or other significant information and as we announce such results and information, we expect the price of our common stock to be particularly volatile, and negative results would have a substantial negative impact on the price of our common stock. The stock markets in general have experienced substantial volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, stockholders have often instituted class action securities litigation against those companies. Such litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management attention and resources, which could significantly harm our business operations and reputation. For example, we, and certain of our current and former officers, were named as defendants in a consolidated class action lawsuit following our announcements regarding the FDA’s clinical hold related to sovaprevir, our clinical-stage drug candidate for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C viral infection. On May 5, 2014, without any settlement payment by us, any individual defendant or any third party on their behalf, the lead plaintiffs in the consolidated class action lawsuit voluntarily dismissed all of their claims without prejudice. 70