2.         Risks and Uncertainties

DiaMedica operates in a highly regulated and competitive environment. The development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products require approval from, and are subject to ongoing oversight by, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the European Union and comparable agencies in other countries. We are in the clinical stage of development of our initial product candidate, DM199, for the treatment of AIS and PE. We have not completed the development of any product candidate and do not generate any revenues from the commercial sale of any product candidate. DM199 requires significant additional clinical testing and investment prior to seeking marketing approval and is not expected to be commercially available for at least three years, if at all.

Prior to the clinical hold of our ReMEDy2 trial, announced in July 2022 and fully lifted in June 2023, we had experienced and are now continuing to experience slower than expected site activations and enrollment in our ReMEDy2 trial. We believe these conditions may be due to hospital and medical facility staffing shortages; concerns regarding the prior clinically significant hypotension events and circumstances surrounding the previous clinical hold; concerns managing logistics and protocol compliance for participants discharged from the hospital to another hospital or an intermediate care facility; our revised inclusion/exclusion criteria in the study protocol; and competition for research staff and trial subjects due to other pending stroke and neurological trials. We continue to reach out to current and potential study sites to understand the specific issues at each study site. In an effort to mitigate the impact of these factors, we made the decision to globally expand the trial and we are in the process of preparing regulatory submissions and identifying and engaging study sites in Canada, Australia and Europe. We continue to work closely with our contract research organization and other advisors to develop procedures to support both U.S. and global study sites and potential participants as needed. We intend to continue to monitor the results of these efforts and, if necessary, implement additional actions to mitigate the impact of these factors on our ReMEDy2 trial; however, no assurances can be provided as to if and when these issues will resolve. The failure to resolve these issues will result in delays in our ReMEDy2 trial.

On June 26, 2024, we announced our plans to expand our DM199 clinical development program into PE. Pending required regulatory approval, we intend to financially support the conduct of a Phase 2 open-label, single center, single-arm, safety and pharmacodynamic, proof-of-concept, investigator-sponsored study of DM199 for the treatment of PE at the Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. Up to 90 women with PE and potentially an additional 30 subjects with fetal growth restriction may be evaluated, with the first subject anticipated to be enrolled in the fourth quarter of 2024. Part 1A topline study results are intended to demonstrate initial proof-of-concept results including whether DM199 is safe, lowers blood pressure, and dilates intrauterine arteries to increase placental blood flow and are expected in the first half of 2025. We currently anticipate this Phase 2 trial to cost us approximately $1.5 million.

Our future success is dependent upon the success of our development efforts, our ability to demonstrate clinical progress for our DM199 product candidate in the United States or other markets, our ability, or the ability of any future partner, to obtain required governmental approvals of our product candidate, our ability to license or market and sell our DM199 product candidate and our ability to obtain additional financing to fund these efforts.

As of June 30, 2024, we have incurred losses of $125.8 million since our inception in 2000. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, we incurred a net loss of $10.3 million and negative cash flows from operating activities of $11.2 million. We expect to continue to incur operating losses until such time as any future product sales, licensing fees, milestone payments and/or royalty payments generate revenue sufficient to fund our continuing operations. For the foreseeable future, we expect to incur significant operating losses as we continue the development and clinical study of, and to seek regulatory approval for, our DM199 product candidate. As of June 30, 2024, we had combined cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $54.1 million, working capital of $51.9 million and shareholders’ equity of $53.4 million.

Our principal source of cash has been net proceeds from the issuance of equity securities. Although we have previously been successful in obtaining financing through equity securities offerings, there is no assurance that we will be able to do so in the future. This is particularly true if our clinical data are not positive or if economic and market conditions deteriorate.

Notwithstanding the completion of our recent private placement in which we received aggregate net proceeds of $11.7 million, we expect that we will need substantial additional capital to further our research and development activities, complete the required clinical studies, regulatory activities and manufacturing development for our product candidate, DM199, or any future product candidates, to a point where they may be licensed or commercially sold. We expect our current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities are sufficient to continue our ReMEDy2 trial, our planned Phase 2 PE trial and otherwise fund our planned operations for at least the next 12 months from the date of issuance of these condensed consolidated financial statements. The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including timing and results of our ongoing development efforts, including our current ReMEDy2 trial and the rate of site activation and participant enrollment in the study, our planned Phase 2 PE trial, the potential expansion of our current development programs, the effects of ongoing site staffing shortages and other factors on our clinical trials and our operating expenses. We may require significant additional funds earlier than we currently expect and there is no assurance that we will not need or seek additional funding prior to such time, especially if market conditions for raising capital are favorable.