Tandem Diabetes Care (TNDM) 10-K2022 FY Annual report

Item 1.    Business

We began commercial sales of our first product, t:slim, in August 2012 and our current flagship pump platform, t:slim X2, in October 2016. The t:slim X2 insulin pump now represents 100% of new pump shipments. Until the third quarter of 2018 we were selling our products only in the United States and have since launched our products in select international geographies.

To implement our business strategy and achieve consistent profitability, we need to, among other things, increase sales of our products and the gross profit associated with those sales, maintain an appropriate customer service, training and support infrastructure, fund ongoing R&D activities, create additional efficiencies in our manufacturing processes while adding to our capacity, and obtain regulatory clearance or approval to commercialize our products currently under development both in the United States and the more than 25 countries outside the United States in which our insulin pump is available. We expect our expenses will continue to increase as we pursue these objectives and make investments in our business. Additional increases in our expenses without commensurate increases in sales could significantly increase our operating losses.

The extent of our future operating losses and the timing of our profitability are highly uncertain in light of a number of factors, including the timing of the launch of new products and product features by us and our competitors, market acceptance of our products and competitive products by people with insulin-dependent diabetes, their caregivers and healthcare providers, the timing of regulatory approval of our products and the products of our competitors, the actual efficiencies gained in our manufacturing processes, general economic conditions, and the scope and duration of the impacts caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Any additional operating losses will have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to sustain profitability.

We generate nearly all of our revenue from the sale of t:slim X2 insulin pumps and the related insulin cartridges and infusion sets. Sales of these products may be negatively impacted by many factors, including:

In addition, sales of any of our current or future insulin pump products with CGM integration are subject to the continuation of our applicable agreements with Dexcom, Abbott, or other third parties which, under some circumstances, may be subject to termination, with or without cause, on relatively short notice. Sales of our current or future products may also be negatively impacted in the event of any regulatory or legal actions relating to CGM products that are compatible with our pumps, or in the event of any disruption to the availability of the applicable CGM-related supplies, such as sensors or transmitters, in a given market in which our products are sold. Sales of our products may also be adversely impacted if the CGM products that are compatible with our pumps are not viewed as superior to competing CGM products in markets where our products are sold, or if the price of these products is not competitive with similar products available in the market.

Because we currently rely on sales of our t:slim X2 insulin pump and related products to generate a significant majority of our revenue, any factors that negatively impact sales of these products (or negatively impact the products or components integrated with these products), or result in sales of these products increasing at a lower rate than expected, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We believe the COVID-19 global pandemic has had, and that it may continue to have, an adverse impact on sales of our products. Furthermore, any disruption in our supply chain could negatively impact our ability to manufacture or otherwise supply sufficient product quantities to meet current customer demand, or any unexpected increase in demand, which could also have the effect of magnifying the negative impact of any of the factors described above.

The failure to retain a high percentage of our customers and increase sales to these customers consistent with our forecasts would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The medical device industry is intensely competitive, subject to rapid change and highly sensitive to the introduction of new products, treatment techniques or technologies, as well as other activities of industry participants. We believe our products compete, and will continue to compete, directly with a number of traditional insulin pumps, as well as other methods for the treatment of diabetes, including multiple daily injection (MDI) therapy.

For these and other reasons, we may not be able to compete successfully against our current or potential future competitors, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

Because the insulin-dependent diabetes market is large and growing, we anticipate companies will continue to dedicate significant resources to developing competitive products and technologies. The introduction by competitors of products that are or claim to be superior to our products may create market confusion that may make it difficult to differentiate the benefits of our products over competitive products. In addition, some of our competitors employ aggressive pricing strategies, including the use of discounts, rebates, low-cost product upgrades or other financial incentives that could adversely affect sales of our products. If a competitor develops a product that competes with or is perceived to be superior to our products, or if competitors continue to utilize strategies that place downward pressure on pricing within our industry, our sales may decline, our operating margins could be reduced and we may fail to meet our financial projections, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Moreover, we have designed our hardware products to resemble modern consumer electronic devices to address certain embarrassment and functionality concerns consumers have raised with respect to traditional pumps. Similarly, our newer mobile software applications are being designed to incorporate features and functions that are common to other consumer-oriented applications. These consumer industries are themselves highly competitive, and characterized by continuous new product introductions, rapid developments in technology, and subjective and changing consumer preferences. If, in the future, consumers cease to view our products as contemporary or convenient as compared to then-existing consumer technology, our products may become less desirable.

Our current business and growth strategy is highly dependent on our insulin pump and related products achieving and maintaining market acceptance. In order for us to sell our products to people with insulin-dependent diabetes, we must convince them, their caregivers and healthcare providers that our products are an attractive alternative to competitive products for the treatment of diabetes, including traditional insulin pump products and MDI therapies, as well as alternative diabetes monitoring, treatment or prevention methodologies. Market acceptance and adoption of our products depends on educating people with diabetes, as well as their caregivers and healthcare providers, about the distinct features, ease-of-use, beneficial treatment outcomes, and other perceived benefits of our products as compared to competitive products. If we are not successful in convincing existing and potential customers of the benefits of our products, or if we are not able to achieve the support of caregivers and healthcare providers for our products, our sales may decline or we may achieve sales below our expectations.

Market acceptance of our products could be negatively impacted by many factors, including:

If our insulin pump products do not achieve and maintain widespread market acceptance, we may fail to achieve sales consistent with our projections, in which case our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

A substantial portion of the purchase price of an insulin pump is typically paid for by third-party payors, including private insurance companies, preferred provider organizations and other managed care providers. Future sales of our current and future products will be limited unless our customers can rely on third-party payors to pay for all or part of the associated purchase cost. Access to adequate coverage and reimbursement for our current and future products by third-party payors is essential to the acceptance of our products by customers.

As guidelines in setting their coverage and reimbursement policies, many third-party payors in the United States use coverage decisions and payment amounts determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the U.S. Medicare program. Medicare periodically reviews its reimbursement practices for diabetes-related products, and there is uncertainty as to the future Medicare reimbursement rate for our products. It is also possible that CMS may continue to review and modify the current coverage and reimbursement of diabetes-related products in connection with anticipated changes to the regulatory approval process for insulin pumps and related products, software applications and services. In addition, third-party payors that do not follow the CMS guidelines may adopt different coverage and reimbursement policies for our current and future products. Further, it is possible that some third-party payors will not offer any coverage for our current or future products. For instance, it is possible that third-party payors may adopt policies in the future that designate one or more of our competitors as their preferred, in-network durable medical equipment provider of insulin pumps and that such policies would discourage or prohibit the payors’ members from purchasing our products, which would adversely impact our ability to sell our products.

We currently have contracts establishing reimbursement for our insulin pump products with a number of national and regional third-party payors in the United States. While we may enter into additional contracts both in the United States and the more than 25 countries outside the United States in which our insulin pump is available through third-party payors, and add coverage for future products under our current agreements, we cannot guarantee that we will succeed in doing so or that the reimbursement contracts that we are able to negotiate will enable us to sell our products on a profitable basis. In particular, we have limited experience securing reimbursement in international markets other than Canada, as that process is managed by local distributors. Government involvement in funding healthcare may limit access to or reimbursement for the Company’s products. In addition, existing contracts with third-party payors generally include numerous quality and compliance related requirements, including audit rights, and can be modified or terminated by the third-party payor without cause and with little or no notice to us. Our compliance with the administrative procedures or requirements may result in increased costs for us and delays in processing approvals by those third-party payors for customers to obtain coverage for our products, and any payor audits of our compliance obligations may result in requests for refunds or other costs. Failure to secure or retain adequate coverage or reimbursement for our current and future products by third-party payors, or delays in processing approvals by those payors, could result in the loss of sales, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Further, the healthcare industry in the United States is increasingly focused on cost containment as government and private insurers seek to control healthcare costs by imposing lower payment rates and negotiating reduced contract rates with third-party payors. If third-party payors deny coverage or reduce their current levels of payment, or if our production costs increase faster than increases in reimbursement levels, we may be unable to sell our products on a profitable basis.

We have limited experience marketing and selling our newer products as well as training new customers on their use, particularly in markets outside of United States. In addition, the vast majority of our existing customers are individuals with type 1 diabetes, and we have limited experience marketing and selling our products to customers with type 2 diabetes.

In addition, due to the current COVID-19 global pandemic, starting in the first quarter of 2020 we temporarily discontinued in-person activities for our field-based sales and clinical employees and are utilizing technology to remotely engage healthcare providers and customers. While we have authorized limited in-person activities to resume, many restrictions persist that have been imposed by state and local governmental authorities or expert agencies, as well as by the health systems and professional organizations with which we interact. The scope and duration of these restrictions on our field-based employees remains highly uncertain, and it is difficult to predict the extent of any adverse impacts on the demand for our products resulting from these restrictions.

Our financial condition and operating results are and will continue to be highly dependent on our ability to adequately promote, market and sell our insulin pump and related products, and the ability of our diabetes educators to train new customers on the use of our products. If our sales and marketing representatives or diabetes educators continue to be restricted in their ability to interact with healthcare providers and customers, our sales could decrease or may not increase at levels that are in line with our forecasts.

A key element of our business strategy involves our sales, marketing, clinical and customer service personnel driving adoption of our products. We have significantly increased the number of sales, marketing, clinical and customer service personnel employed by us since we commenced commercial sales. However, we have faced considerable challenges in growing and managing these resources, including with respect to recruiting, training and assimilation of sales territories and new clinical training staff. We expect to continue to face significant challenges as we seek to further increase the number of our sales, clinical and customer service personnel in order to optimize the coverage of our existing sales territories, as well as expand the number and scope of our existing sales territories. These challenges may be even greater in connection with our commercial expansion outside of the United States, where we have limited experience. Unexpected turnover among our sales, marketing, clinical and customer service personnel, or unanticipated challenges in recruiting additional personnel, would have a negative impact on our ability to achieve our sales projections. Further, if a sales, marketing or clinical representative was to depart and be retained by one of our competitors, we may fail to prevent him or her from helping competitors solicit business from our existing customers, which could adversely affect our sales. Similarly, if we are not able to recruit and retain a network of diabetes educators and customer service personnel, we may not be able to successfully train and service new customers, which could delay new sales and harm our reputation. These risks may be greater now than in the past due to current general labor shortages in the United States.

We expect the oversight of our sales, marketing, clinical and customer service personnel will continue to place significant burdens on our management team, which may be compounded as we manage remote employees during the COVID-19 global pandemic and as we work towards returning personnel to our facilities. If we are unable to retain our personnel in line with our strategic plans, we may not be able to effectively commercialize our existing products or products under development, or enhance the strength of our brand, either of which could result in the failure of our sales to increase in line with our projections or cause sales to decline.

As part of our product development efforts, we expect to increasingly rely on clinical investigators and clinical sites to enroll participants in our clinical trials or users in our human factors testing and other third parties to manage such trials and testing and to perform related data collection and analysis. However, we may not be able to control the amount and timing of resources that clinical sites may devote to our clinical trials or other studies. If these clinical investigators and clinical sites fail to enroll a sufficient number of patients, fail to ensure compliance by patients with clinical protocols, or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, we may be unable to successfully complete our clinical trials or other studies, which could prevent us from obtaining regulatory approvals for our products and commercializing our products, which would have an adverse impact on our business.

Another key element of our business strategy is utilizing market research to understand what people with diabetes are seeking to improve in their diabetes therapy management. This strategy underlies our entire product design, marketing and customer support approach and is the basis on which we developed our current products and are pursuing the development of new products. However, our market research is based on interviews, focus groups and online surveys involving people with insulin-dependent diabetes, their caregivers and healthcare providers, which represent only a small percentage of the overall insulin-dependent diabetes market. As a result, the responses we receive may not be reflective of the broader market and may not provide us accurate insight into the desires of people with insulin-dependent diabetes. In addition, understanding the meaning and significance of such market research responses necessarily requires that analysis be conducted and conclusions be drawn. We may not be able perform an analysis that yields meaningful results, or the conclusions we draw from the analysis could be misleading or incorrect. Moreover, even if our market research has allowed us to better understand the features and functionality consumers are seeking in an insulin pump to improve management of their diabetes therapy, there can be no assurance that consumers will actually purchase our products or that our competitors will not develop products with similar features.

We operate in a competitive and rapidly evolving market. Important industry changes, such as the FDA approval and launch of new products by our competitors, as well as changes specific to our business, such as the timing of our launch of new products currently in development, increasing reliance on digital health products and connected devices, and our potential expansion of commercial sales in international markets, combine to make it more difficult for us to predict our future sales and operating results, as well as our expected timeframe to achieve profitability. The significant uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic has made, and may continue to make, it more difficult for us to accurately forecast our financial results and achieve sustained profitability. In assessing our business prospects, you should consider these factors as well as the various risks and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in competitive and rapidly evolving markets, particularly those companies that manufacture and sell medical devices.

These risks include our ability to:

As a result of these or other risks, we may not be able to execute key components of our business strategy, and our business, financial condition and operating results may suffer.

We believe our ability to reduce the per-unit cost of our insulin pumps and related products will have a significant impact on our ability to achieve profitability. Our cost of sales includes raw materials and component parts, labor costs, product training expenses, freight, reserves for expected warranty costs, royalties, scrap and charges for excess and obsolete inventories. It also includes manufacturing overhead costs, including expenses relating to quality assurance, manufacturing engineering, material procurement and inventory control, facilities, equipment, information technology and operations supervision and management. Our warranty reserve requires a significant amount of judgment and is primarily estimated based on historical experience. Recently released versions of our pump may not incur warranty costs in a manner similar to previously released pumps and the launch of our mobile app also may result in unanticipated changes in historical trends.

If we are unable to increase our production volumes while sustaining or reducing our overall cost of sales, including through arrangements such as volume purchase discounts, negotiation of pricing and cost reductions with our suppliers, more efficient training programs for customers, improved warranty performance or fluctuations in warranty estimates, it will be difficult to reduce our per-unit costs and our ability to achieve profitability will be constrained.

In addition, the per-unit cost of our products is significantly impacted by our overall production volumes, and any factors that prevent our products from achieving market acceptance, cause our production volumes to decline, alter our product mix, result in our sales growing at a slower rate than we expect, or result in the closure of our manufacturing facilities, would significantly impact our expected per-unit costs, which would adversely impact our gross margins. Further, we may not achieve anticipated improvements in manufacturing efficiency as we undertake actions to expand our manufacturing capacity. We are also subject to other general market and economic conditions that may increase our expenses, including unpredictable variability in commodity prices, wage increases and inflation. If we are unable to effectively manage our overall costs while increasing our production volumes and lowering our per-unit costs, we may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability, which would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business strategy depends on our ability to manufacture our current and proposed products in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis to meet consumer demand, while adhering to product quality standards, complying with regulatory requirements and managing manufacturing costs. We are subject to numerous risks related to our manufacturing capabilities, including:

If we and our suppliers fail to increase our production capacity to meet consumer demand while also maintaining product quality standards, obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, and efficiently managing costs, our sales and operating margins could be negatively impacted, which would have an adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

We currently rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third-party suppliers to supply components of our current products and our potential future products, including our disposable insulin cartridges. For example, we rely on plastic injection molding companies to provide plastic molded components, electronic manufacturing suppliers to provide electronic assemblies, and machining companies to provide machined mechanical components. We also purchase all of our infusion sets and pump accessories from third-party suppliers. For our business strategy to be successful, our suppliers must be able to provide us with components and products in sufficient quantities, in compliance with regulatory requirements and quality control standards, in accordance with agreed-upon specifications, at acceptable costs and on a timely basis.

We place orders with our suppliers using our forecasts of customer demand, which are based on a number of assumptions and estimates, in advance of purchase commitments from our customers. As a result, we incur inventory and manufacturing costs in advance of anticipated sales, which sales ultimately may not materialize or may be lower than expected. If we overestimate customer demand, we may experience higher inventory carrying costs and increased excess or obsolete inventory, which would negatively impact our results of operations. By the same token, if we underestimate future demand we may be unable to meet future production requirements or our inventory of critical materials may be below our targeted stocking levels. We expect it will be particularly difficult to accurately forecast demand during the global pandemic and even for some time while travel and social-distancing restrictions are lifted.

We may also have difficulty obtaining components from other suppliers that are acceptable to the FDA or other regulatory agencies, and the failure of our suppliers to comply with regulatory requirements could expose us to regulatory action including warning letters, product recalls, termination of distribution, product seizures or civil penalties. Such a failure by our suppliers could also require us to cease using the components, seek alternative components or technologies, and modify our products to incorporate alternative components or technologies, which could necessitate additional regulatory approvals. Any disruption of this nature, or any increased expenses associated with any such disruption, could negatively impact our ability to manufacture our products on a timely basis, in sufficient quantities, or at all, which could harm our commercialization efforts and have a material adverse impact on our operating results.

Although we operate in multiple locations, most of our current operations are still conducted in San Diego, California, including our final pump assembly, some manufacturing processes, and the majority of our research and development, management and administrative functions. In addition, the majority of our inventories of component supplies and finished goods is stored at two facilities in San Diego. Over the past two years we substantially expanded various quality and customer and technical support activities in Boise, Idaho. We take precautions to safeguard our facilities and data infrastructure, including by acquiring insurance, employing back-up generators, adopting health and safety protocols, implementing cybersecurity protections, and utilizing off-site storage of computer data. However, vandalism, terrorism, unplanned power outages, cyberattacks or a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire or flood, or other catastrophic event, could damage or destroy our manufacturing equipment or our inventories of component supplies and finished goods, cause substantial delays in our operations, result in the loss of key information, result in reduced sales, and cause us to incur additional expenses. Our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to provide coverage with respect to the damages incurred in any particular case, and our insurance carrier may deny coverage with respect to all or a portion of our claims. Regardless of the level of insurance coverage or other precautions taken, damage to our facilities may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We continue to scale our business operations and add manufacturing requirements for products currently under development. We have outsourced the majority of our t:slim cartridge manufacturing demand to an experienced third-party contract manufacturer. We may consider outsourcing other aspects of our operations in the future. If we fail to achieve the operating efficiencies that we anticipate, our manufacturing and operating costs may be greater than expected, which would have a material adverse impact on our operating results. In addition, we or our third-party contract manufacturers may encounter problems during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable regulations, equipment malfunction, component part supply constraints and environmental factors, any of which could delay or impede our ability to meet customer demand and have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results. Further, because of the custom nature of our cartridge manufacturing process and product components, and the highly regulated nature of our products overall, in the event of any problems with a contract manufacturer, we may not be able to quickly establish additional or alternative arrangements.

We expect that the management and support of our facilities, increasing reliance on third-party contract manufacturers and the increase of our manufacturing volumes will place significant burdens on our management team, particularly in areas relating to operations, quality, regulatory, facilities and information technology. We may not be able to effectively manage our ongoing manufacturing operations and we may not achieve the operating efficiencies that we anticipate, either from our own facilities or from our use of contract manufacturing. Further, additional increases in demand for our products may require that we further expand our business operations, which may require that we obtain additional facilities, make additional investments in capital equipment or increase our utilization of third-party contract manufacturing.

In order to increase our sales and market share in the insulin-dependent diabetes market, we must enhance and broaden our product portfolio in response to the evolving demands of people with insulin-dependent diabetes, their caregivers and healthcare providers, as well as competitive pressures and technologies. We may not be successful in developing, obtaining regulatory approval for, or marketing our proposed products when anticipated, or at all. In addition, notwithstanding our market research efforts, our future products may not be accepted by people with insulin-dependent diabetes, their caregivers, healthcare providers or third-party payors. The success of any proposed product offerings will depend on numerous factors, including our ability to:

Studies to evaluate the safety or effectiveness of our latest products in a controlled setting are only available over the past few years. As a result, people with insulin-dependent diabetes and healthcare providers may not be familiar with our studies and may be slower to adopt or recommend our products. Further, even with data from controlled studies third-party payors may not be willing to provide coverage or reimbursement for our products. We remain subject to regulatory and product liability risks, and these and other factors could slow the adoption of our products and result in our sales being lower than anticipated. In addition, future studies or clinical experience may indicate that treatment with our products is not superior to treatment with competitive products. Such results could slow the adoption of our products and significantly reduce our sales, which could prevent us from achieving our forecasted sales targets or achieving or sustaining profitability.

If the results of clinical studies or other experience, such as our monitoring or investigation of customer complaints, indicate that our products may cause or create an unacceptable risk of unexpected or serious complications or other unforeseen negative effects, we could be required to inform our customers of these risks or complications or, in more serious circumstances, we could be subject to mandatory product recalls, suspension or withdrawal of FDA clearance or approval, which could result in significant legal liability, harm to our reputation, and a decline in our product sales.

Any alleged illness or injury associated with any of our products or product recalls may negatively impact our financial results and business prospects depending on a number of factors, including the scope and seriousness of the problem, degree of publicity, reaction of our customers and healthcare professionals, competitive response, and consumer perceptions generally. Even if such an allegation or product liability claim lacks merit, cannot be substantiated, is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, the negative publicity surrounding any assertion that our products have caused or carry a risk of causing illness, injury or death could adversely affect our reputation with customers, healthcare professionals, third-party payors, and existing and potential collaborators, and could adversely affect our operating results and cause a decline in our stock price. Furthermore, general concerns regarding the perceived safety or reliability of any of our products, or any component thereof, may have a similar adverse effect on us.

In the ordinary course of our business, we may enter into collaborations, licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships to develop proposed products or technologies, pursue new markets, or protect our intellectual property assets. We may also elect to amend or modify similar agreements that we already have in place. Proposing, negotiating and implementing collaborations, licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships may be a lengthy and complex process, and may subject us to business risks. For example, other companies, including those with substantially greater financial, marketing, sales, technology or other business resources, may compete with us for these opportunities, or may be the counterparty in any such arrangements. We may not be able to identify or complete any such collaboration in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis, on acceptable terms or at all. In addition, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of any such collaborations that we do identify and complete. In particular, these collaborations may not result in the development of products or technologies that achieve commercial success or result in positive financial results, or may otherwise fail to have the intended impact on our business.

Additionally, we may not be in a position to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding a collaboration, licensing or other similar arrangement, which could create the potential risk of creating impasses on decisions. Further, our collaborators and business partners may have economic or business interests or goals that are, or that may become, inconsistent with our business interests or goals. It is possible that conflicts may arise with our collaborators and other business partners, such as conflicts concerning the achievement of performance milestones, or the interpretation of significant terms under any agreement, such as those related to financial obligations, termination rights or the ownership or control or other licenses of intellectual property rights. If any conflicts arise with our current or future collaborators, they may act in their self-interest, which may be adverse to our best interest, and they may breach their obligations to us. In addition, we have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our current collaborators, such as Dexcom and Abbott, or any future collaborators devote to our arrangement with them or our future products. Disputes between us and our current, future or potential collaborators may result in litigation or arbitration which would increase our expenses and divert the attention of our management. Further, these transactions and arrangements are contractual in nature and may be terminated or dissolved under the terms of the applicable agreements and, in such event, we may not continue to have rights to the products relating to such transaction or arrangement or may need to purchase such rights at a premium. For example, we have entered into multiple development and commercialization agreements with Dexcom, which provide us non-exclusive licenses to integrate various currently available and future generations of Dexcom’s CGM technology with our insulin pump products. Under certain circumstances, these agreements may be terminated by either party without cause or on short notice. Our current agreements with Dexcom do not grant us rights to integrate future generations of Dexcom CGM technology, other than G7 CGM devices, with any of our current or future products. Termination of any of our agreements with Dexcom would require us to redesign certain current products and products under development, and attempt to integrate an alternative CGM system into our insulin pump systems, which would require significant development and regulatory activities that could result in an interruption or substantial delay in the availability of the product to our customers. The termination of our existing commercial agreements with Dexcom would disrupt our ability to commercialize our existing products and our development of future products, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations, negatively impact our ability to compete and cause our stock price to decline.

We are highly dependent upon the members of our management team, as well as other key employees. In our industry, it is common to attract and retain executive talent and other employees with compensation packages that include a significant equity component. We have issued, and may continue to issue, additional equity incentives that we believe will enhance our ability to retain our current key employees and attract the necessary additional executive talent. It may be more difficult to continue to incentivize employees during a period of rapid growth in our overall headcount while limiting the utilization of the share reserve under our current stock incentive plans. However, even if we issue significant additional equity incentives, there can be no assurance that we will be able to attract and retain key executive talent. A loss of any of our key personnel, or our inability to hire new personnel, may have a material adverse effect on our ability to execute our business strategy.

During 2018, we began commercialization of the t:slim X2 insulin pump in select geographies outside of the United States. We have limited experience commercializing our products outside of the United States and expect that we will be subject to additional risks related to international business markets, including:

In addition, entry into international markets may require significant financial resources, impose additional demands on our manufacturing, quality, regulatory, customer support and other general and administrative personnel, and could divert management’s attention from managing our core business. We have limited experience with regulatory environments and market practices internationally, and we may not be able to penetrate or successfully operate in new markets. If we are unable to expand internationally, manage the complexity of our global operations successfully or if we incur unanticipated expenses, we may not achieve the expected benefits of this expansion and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely impacted.

From time to time, we may consider opportunities to acquire or invest in other companies, products or technologies that may enhance our product platform or technology, expand the breadth of our markets or customer base, or otherwise advance our business strategies. Potential and completed acquisitions and investments involve numerous risks, including:

We do not know if we will be able to identify future acquisitions or investments we deem suitable, whether we will be able to successfully complete any such acquisitions or investments on favorable terms or at all, or whether we will be able to successfully integrate any acquired products or technologies into our business. Our potential inability to integrate any acquired products or technologies effectively may adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

As a result of these and other factors we may in the future seek capital from public or private offerings of our equity or debt securities, or from other sources. If we issue equity or debt securities to raise additional funds, our existing stockholders may experience dilution, we may incur significant financing or debt service costs, and the new equity or debt securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our existing stockholders. In addition, if we raise additional funds through collaborations, licensing, joint ventures, strategic alliances, partnership arrangements or other similar arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish valuable rights to our potential future products or proprietary technologies, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.

If we are unable to raise additional capital when necessary, we may not be able to maintain our existing sales, marketing, clinical and customer service infrastructure, enhance our current products or develop new products, take advantage of future opportunities, respond to competitive pressures, changes in supplier relationships, or unanticipated changes in customer demand. Any of these events could adversely affect our ability to achieve our strategic objectives, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

There has been and may continue to be meaningful variability in our operating results from quarter to quarter, as well as within each quarter, especially around the time of anticipated new product launches or regulatory approvals by us or our competitors, and as a result of the commercial launch of our products in geographies outside of the United States. Our operating results, and the variability of these operating results, will be affected by numerous factors, including:

In addition, we expect our operating expenses will continue to increase as we expand our business, which may exacerbate the quarterly fluctuations in our operating results. If our quarterly or annual operating results fall below the expectation of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Further, any quarterly or annual fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate substantially, and these price fluctuations could result in further pressure on our stock price. We believe quarterly comparisons of our financial results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of our future performance.

Our business also involves the storage and transmission of a substantial amount of confidential, personal, or other sensitive information, including health information and other personal information relating to our customers, the personal information of our employees and other individuals, and our proprietary, financial, operational or strategic information. Should any of the foregoing risks occur, it could also result in the loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, or unauthorized access of such sensitive information, which could lead to significant reputational or competitive harm, litigation involving us or our business partners, regulatory proceedings, or substantial liabilities, fines, penalties or expenses. As a result, we strive to maintain and regularly update reasonable security measures, and to respond quickly and effectively if and when data security incidents do occur. Like many businesses, we are subject to numerous data privacy and security risks, including threats arising from computer viruses or hackers, cyber-attacks and ransomware attacks, as well as the risk that one or more of our employees may fail to comply, whether knowingly or accidentally, with established security measures, or with internal policies relating to the use, storage or transmission of confidential or sensitive information. We are unable to predict the direct or indirect impact of any such incidents to our business. Further, many of our third-party service providers are subject to similar risks. Whether or not our security measures and those of our third-party service providers are ultimately successful, our expenditures on those measures could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations, and divert management’s attention from pursuing our strategic objectives.

In addition to the risks regarding information technology systems and processing of sensitive information, our insulin pumps and other products rely on software, some of which is developed by third-party service providers, that could contain unanticipated vulnerabilities, which could make our products subject to computer viruses, cyber-attacks, or failures. These risks significantly increased when we commenced use of our Tandem Device Updater, which enables customers to remotely update software on their insulin pumps and may be higher following the launch of our new mobile application in the second half of 2020. These risks may have further increased in the second half of 2022 when we enabled users to control insulin boluses through the mobile app. We may also face new risks relating to our information technology systems as we continue to commercialize our products outside of the United States and are subject to additional regulations relating to the use and protection of personal information and as we launch new mobile applications or new features to our existing applications. As this is a rapidly evolving area, compliance with any future requirements, regulations, and evolving threat models may require the investment of additional resources in the form of capital, personnel or technology.

The failure of our or our service providers’ information technology systems or our pumps’ software or other mobile applications to perform as we anticipate, or our failure to effectively identify, investigate and mitigate potential threats through ongoing maintenance and enhancement of software applications, information technology systems and privacy policies and controls, could disrupt our entire operation or adversely affect our software products. For example, we market our Tandem Device Updater as having the unique capability to deploy software updates to our pumps, which may allow customers remote access to new and enhanced features. The failure of our Tandem Device Updater to provide software updates as we anticipate, including as a result of our inability to secure and maintain necessary regulatory approvals, the inability of our pumps to properly receive software updates, errors or viruses embedded within the software being transmitted, or the failure of our customers to properly utilize the system to complete the update, could result in decreased sales, increased warranty costs, and harm to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The risks posed by this lawsuit and any future related matters include civil monetary damages, attorney fees and costs, other legal penalties, reputational damage, loss of goodwill, and competitive harm. It is possible that our legal expenses and defense costs, alone or together with any monetary damages, may exceed the limits of any applicable insurance coverage that we carry.

There are a number of laws in the United States and outside the United States protecting the privacy and security of personal information. These laws include the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and related regulations, U.S. state laws (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Canada’s Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) or the applicable provincial alternatives, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), EU member states directives, or similar applicable laws. These laws place limits on how we may collect, use, transfer, share and store medical information and other personal information, and they impose obligations to protect that information against unauthorized access, use, loss, and disclosure. The lawsuit described above alleges violations of some of these laws.

If we, or any of our service providers who have access to the personal data for which we are responsible, are found to be in violation of the privacy or security requirements of HIPAA, CCPA, CPRA, PIPEDA, GDPR, or applicable foreign, U.S. state and Canadian provincial laws, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, which could increase our liabilities, harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, entities operating in the healthcare industry have increasingly become targets for hackers. Although we use a variety of measures to secure the data that we control, even compliant entities can experience security breaches or have inadvertent failures despite employing reasonable practices and safeguards.

We may also face new risks relating to data privacy and security as the United States, individual U.S. states or Canadian provinces, E.U. member states, and other international jurisdictions adopt or implement new data privacy and security laws and regulations as we continue to commercialize our products worldwide.

We rely on our trademarks and trade names to distinguish our products from the products of our competitors, and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks. We cannot assure you that our current or future trademark applications will be approved in a timely manner or at all. From time to time, third parties oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote additional resources to marketing new brands. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe upon our trademarks, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

We have entered into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with our officers, employees, temporary employees and consultants regarding our intellectual property and proprietary technology. We also enter into confidentiality agreements with potential collaborators and other counterparties, and the terms of our collaboration agreements typically contain provisions governing the ownership and control of intellectual property. In the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of those agreements, we may not be provided with meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information.

Our success will depend in part on not infringing the patents or violating the other proprietary rights of third parties. Significant litigation regarding patent rights exists in our industry. Our competitors in both the United States and markets outside of United States may have applied for or obtained or may in the future apply for and obtain, patents that will prevent, limit or otherwise interfere with our ability to make and sell our current products or products under development. The large number of patents, the rapid rate of new patent issuances, and the complexities of the technology involved increase the risk of patent litigation.

From time to time, we may receive communications from third parties alleging our infringement of their intellectual property rights or offering a license to their intellectual property relating to products that we are currently developing could require us to do one or more of the following:

We do not maintain insurance to cover the expense or any liability that may arise from an intellectual property dispute. Any litigation or claim against us may cause us to incur substantial costs, divert the attention of management from our business and harm our reputation. Further, as we launch new products, increase our sales and expand the geographic regions in which we commercialize our products we believe the likelihood of our involvement in intellectual property disputes will increase.

Many of our employees were previously employed at other medical device companies, including those that are our competitors or could become our competitors. We may be subject to claims that we, or our employees, have used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information. In addition, we may be subject to allegations that we caused an employee to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement. Even if we successfully defend against these claims, any resulting litigation could cause us to incur substantial costs, divert the attention of management from our business and harm our reputation. If our defense of those allegations fails, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or key personnel. A loss of key personnel or intellectual property rights could limit our ability to commercialize products, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our business exposes us to potential product liability claims that are inherent in the medical device industry. We are subject to product liability lawsuits alleging that component failures, manufacturing defects, design defects, or inadequate disclosure of product-related risks or information resulted in an unsafe condition, injury or death to customers. The risk of product liability claims may be even greater after we launch new products with new features or enter new markets where we have no prior experience selling our products. In addition, the misuse of our products or the failure of customers to adhere to operating guidelines could cause significant harm to customers, which could result in product liability claims. Product liability lawsuits and claims, safety alerts or product recalls could cause us to incur substantial costs, divert the attention of management from our business, harm our reputation and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers.

Although we maintain third-party product liability insurance coverage, it is possible that claims against us may exceed the coverage limits of our insurance policies. Even if any product liability loss is covered by an insurance policy, these policies have substantial deductibles. In addition, we expect the cost of our product liability insurance will increase as our sales increase. Product liability claims in excess of applicable insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, any product liability claim brought against us, with or without merit, could result in further increases of our product liability insurance premiums and make it more difficult to obtain insurance coverage in the future.

The medical device industry is regulated extensively in the United States by governmental authorities, principally the FDA and corresponding state regulatory agencies. The regulations are very complex and are subject to rapid change and varying interpretations. Regulatory restrictions or changes could limit our ability to carry on or expand our operations or result in higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales. The FDA and other U.S. governmental agencies and international regulatory authorities regulate numerous elements of our business, including:

Since our inception we have been audited or inspected by various regulatory authorities on numerous occasions. We also regularly respond to routine inquiries from regulatory authorities. In some instances these audits, inspections and inquiries result in findings that require us to take corrective actions, which could include changes to our internal policies, procedures or operations, revisions to our product labeling, issuances of customer notifications or the initiation of product recalls, any of which could result in product liability claims and lawsuits. Our failure to appropriately respond to these findings and take corrective action, or to comply with applicable regulations for any other reason, could jeopardize our ability to sell our products and result in enforcement actions such as fines, civil penalties, injunctions, warning letters, product recalls, delays in the introduction of products into the market, refusal of the FDA or other regulators to grant future clearances or approvals, and the suspension or withdrawal of existing approvals by the FDA or other regulators. Any of these sanctions could result in higher than anticipated costs, lower than anticipated sales, and diversion of management time and resources, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and operating results.

Any modification to a 510(k)-cleared device that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in its intended use, design, or manufacture, requires a new 510(k) clearance or, possibly, a PMA. The FDA requires every manufacturer to make this determination in the first instance, but the FDA may review any manufacturer’s decision. The FDA may not agree with our decisions regarding whether new clearances or approvals are necessary for changes that we have made to our products. If the FDA disagrees with our determination and requires us to submit new 510(k) notifications or PMAs for modifications to our previously cleared or approved products, for which we concluded that new clearances or approvals were not necessary, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain clearance or approval, and we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties.

Further, the FDA’s ongoing review of and potential changes to the 510(k) program may make it more difficult for us to modify our previously cleared products, either by imposing stricter requirements on when a new 510(k) for a modification to a previously cleared product must be submitted, or by applying more onerous review criteria to such submissions.

The FDA and equivalent foreign regulatory authorities have the authority to require the recall or suspension, either temporarily or permanently, of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in quality systems, product design or manufacture or in the event that a product poses an unacceptable risk to health. Regulatory authorities have broad discretion to require the recall or suspension of a product or to require that manufacturers alert customers of safety risks, and may do so even in circumstances where we do not believe our product poses an unacceptable risk to health. In addition, manufacturers may, under their own initiative, recall a product or suspend sales if any material deficiency in a product is found or alert customers of unanticipated safety risks. A government-mandated or voluntary recall or suspension by us, one of our distributors or any of our other third-party suppliers could occur as a result of an unacceptable risk to health, component failures, manufacturing errors, design or labeling defects or other deficiencies and issues. Recalls, suspensions or other notices relating to any products that we distribute would divert managerial and financial resources, and have an adverse effect on our reputation, financial condition and operating results.

Further, under the FDA’s Medical Device Reporting regulations and equivalent regulations in other geographies, we are required to maintain appropriate quality systems and report incidents in which our product may have caused or contributed to serious injury or death in which our product malfunctioned and, if the malfunction were to recur, would likely cause or contribute to serious injury or death. Repeated product malfunctions may result in a voluntary or involuntary product recall or suspension of product sales, which could divert managerial and financial resources, impair our ability to manufacture our products in a cost-effective and timely manner and have an adverse effect on our reputation, financial condition and operating results. We have initiated product recalls in the past, and our risk of future product recalls may increase as we launch new products or offer new software updates for existing products.

Any adverse event involving any products that we distribute could result in future voluntary corrective actions, such as recalls or customer notifications, or regulatory agency action, which could include inspection, mandatory recall or other enforcement action. For example, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) temporarily suspended our pump product sales in Australia commencing November 24, 2020, however sales of pump-related supplies were allowed to continue. Effective April 1, 2021, following discussions with the TGA, the temporary suspension was lifted for our t:slim X2 with Basal-IQ technology, subject to certain post-market surveillance obligations and other conditions. We have discontinued sales of earlier generation products in Australia and we only recently commenced offering our Control-IQ technology in Australia. There can be no assurance that the TGA will not reimpose the suspension of our pump product sales or impose other regulatory restrictions in the future. In addition, other regulatory bodies may take similar actions against us, and any regulatory challenges we encounter could have a negative impact on our product sales and harm our reputation. Any corrective actions we take in response to this action or future matters with the TGA or other regulatory bodies, whether voluntary or involuntary, will require the dedication of our time and capital, may distract management from operating our business, may harm our reputation and financial results or could result in additional regulatory scrutiny in other geographies.

The U.S. has numerous federal and state laws pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse. Violations of these laws are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including, imprisonment, significant monetary penalties and exclusion from participation in federal funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Healthcare fraud and abuse regulations are complex and evolving. Minor irregularities can potentially give rise to claims. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include:

The scope and enforcement of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform. Our current or future activities could be subject to challenge under these laws. Any of these challenges could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and operating results.

Our promotional materials and training methods must comply with FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition against the promotion of the off-label use of our products or the pre-promotion of unapproved products. Healthcare providers may use our products off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician’s choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitutes promotion of an off-label use or the pre-promotion of an unapproved product, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fines and criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of an unapproved use, which could result in significant fines or penalties. Although our policy is to refrain from statements that could be considered off-label promotion of our products or pre-promotion of an unapproved product, the FDA or another regulatory agency could disagree and conclude that we have engaged in improper promotional activities. In addition, the off-label use of our products may increase the risk of product liability claims, which are expensive to defend and could result in substantial damage awards against us and harm our reputation.

We cannot predict which, if any, additional healthcare reform proposals will be adopted, when they may be adopted or what impact they may have on the existing regulatory environment, or our ability to operate our business. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

The trading price of our common stock has been and will continue to be volatile in response to a variety of factors, including the following:

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our board of directors that our stockholders might consider favorable. Some of these provisions:

We are also subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which may prohibit certain business combinations with stockholders owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock. These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, bylaws and Delaware law could make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to obtain control of our board of directors or initiate actions that are opposed by our then-current board of directors, including a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving our company. Any delay or prevention of a change of control transaction or changes in our board of directors could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments.

Item 2.    Properties.

Item 3.    Legal Proceedings.

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures.

Item 5.    Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Item 6.    [Reserved]

Item 7.    Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Insulin pumps in the markets we serve worldwide are generally subject to a four-year reimbursement cycle, imposed by the third-party insurance carrier, government plan or healthcare system that serves as the primary payor. In the past four years, we have shipped approximately 420,000 insulin pumps worldwide, which is representative of our estimated global in-warranty installed customer base. Our ending estimated worldwide installed base has increased approximately 29% year over year.

At the end of the typical four-year reimbursement cycle, customers may be eligible for the purchase of a new insulin pump, subject to the rules and requirements of their primary insurance payor. While warranties generally expire four years from the original pump shipment date, those customers that renew typically purchase a subsequent pump within one year from the date of warranty expiration. The majority of our insulin pump sales through the current period have been generated by new customers, but the opportunity for existing customers to purchase a renewal insulin pump increases each period as escalating number of additional customer warranties expire. With programs dedicated to customer retention efforts, we expect such renewal purchases to represent a more significant portion of our shipments in the long-term.

We offer products for people with insulin-dependent diabetes in approximately 25 countries. The t:slim X2 insulin pump is our flagship pump platform. Our other products include disposable insulin cartridges and infusion sets, as well as our complementary t:connect, TDU and mobile application products. Our primary customers are the end customers who use our products, non-exclusive distribution partners whose level of service varies based on geography, the healthcare professionals who prescribe our products and the healthcare systems or payors who provide insurance coverage and access to our products. Our sales may fluctuate from period to period, particularly due to seasonality in the United States associated with the timing of insurance deductible resets, which generally result in the lowest percent of sales the first quarter of each calendar year and the highest percent in the fourth quarter.

In September 2022, the Company began offering the Tandem Choice Program to eligible t:slim X2 customers to provide a pathway to ownership of its newest hardware platform for a fee when available. Tandem Choice expires on December 31, 2024. The accounting treatment for Tandem Choice is complex. Initially, the program requires the deferral of some portion of sales for shipments of eligible pumps beginning in the third quarter of 2022. No election is made by the customer at the time of the initial sale, nor does the right offered to the customer impact the economics associated with how or when the initial pump sale is reimbursed. If a customer elects to participate in Tandem Choice at a future date beginning with the launch of our next generation hardware platform, we will recognize the existing deferral, incremental fees received and the associated costs of providing the new hardware at the time of fulfillment. Any remaining deferrals will be recognized at program expiration. At this time, we are not able to estimate the financial impact for the duration of Tandem Choice.

Cost of sales includes raw materials, labor costs, manufacturing overhead expenses, product training costs, royalties, freight, reserves for expected warranty costs, costs of supporting our digital health platforms, scrap and charges for excess and obsolete inventories. Manufacturing overhead expenses include expenses relating to quality assurance, manufacturing engineering, material procurement, inventory control, facilities, equipment, information technology and operations supervision and management. When taking into consideration the differences in reimbursement levels and cost structure, pumps have, and are expected to continue to have, a higher gross profit and gross margin percentage than our pump-related supplies. Therefore, the percentage of pump sales relative to total sales could have a significant impact on our overall gross margin percentage.

Our selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses primarily consist of salary, cash-based incentive compensation, fringe benefits and non-cash stock-based compensation for our sales, marketing and administrative functions, which also includes our clinical, customer support, technical services, insurance verification and regulatory affairs personnel. We have approximately 110 sales territories in the United States, which are generally maintained by sales representatives and field clinical specialists, and supported by managed care liaisons, additional sales management and other customer support personnel. Other significant SG&A expenses typically include those incurred for commercialization activities associated with new product launches, travel, trade shows, outside legal fees, independent auditor fees, outside consultant fees, insurance premiums, facilities costs and information technology costs.

Our research and development (R&D) activities primarily consist of engineering and research programs associated with our hardware, software and digital health products under development, as well as activities associated with our core technologies and processes. R&D expenses are primarily related to employee compensation, including salary, cash-based incentive compensation, fringe benefits and non-cash stock-based compensation. We also incur R&D expenses for supplies, development prototypes, outside design and testing services, depreciation, allocated facilities and information services, clinical trial costs, payments under our licensing, development and commercialization agreements and other indirect costs.

Both our primary short-term and long-term capital needs are expected to include expenditures related to:

We invest our excess cash in marketable securities consisting primarily of U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. Government-sponsored enterprise securities, commercial paper and corporate debt securities. Some of the financial instruments in which we invest subject us to market risk, in that a change in prevailing interest rates may cause the principal amount of the instrument to fluctuate. Other financial instruments in which we invest subject us to credit risk, in that the value of the instrument may fluctuate based on the issuer’s ability to pay. Credit rating agencies have, from time to time, issued downgrades or revised outlooks to negative for certain issuers of the debt securities held in our short-term investments portfolio. Unrealized losses on available-for-sale debt securities at December 31, 2022 were primarily due to the recent increase in market interest rates. Based on the credit quality of the available-for-sale debt securities that are in an unrealized loss position, and our current estimates of future cash flows to be collected from those securities, we believe the unrealized losses were not credit losses (see Note 3, “Short-Term Investments”).

The primary objectives of our investment activities are to maintain liquidity and preserve principal while maximizing the income we receive from our financial instruments without significantly increasing risk. We have established guidelines regarding approved investments and maturities of investments, which are primarily designed to maintain liquidity and preserve principal.

Because of the short-term maturities of our financial instruments, we do not believe that an increase or decrease in market interest rates would have any significant impact on the realized value of our investment portfolio. If a 10% change in interest rates were to have occurred on December 31, 2022, it would not have had a material effect on the fair value of our investment portfolio as of that date.

In May 2020, we issued $287.5 million principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes, which bear interest at a fixed rate of 1.50% per year. Accordingly, we are not subject to interest rate risk as a result of the Convertible Senior Notes (see Note 7, “Debt”).

Our operations are primarily located in the United States. In addition, we have a sales and marketing office in Canada and, beginning in 2022, a distribution center in the Netherlands. Our sales to customers in the United States are made in U.S. dollars. With the exception of sales from our distribution center in the Netherlands and a portion of our sales in Canada, our sales to customers outside of the United States are currently made to independent distributors under agreements denominated in U.S. dollars. Accordingly, we believe our exposure to foreign currency rate fluctuations is currently limited to our operations in Canada and the Netherlands, where fluctuations in the rate of exchange between the U.S. dollar and the local currency could adversely affect our financial results. As we expand and further develop our operations in markets outside the United States, particularly in Europe, we will be exposed to additional foreign currency exchange rate risk. In addition, from time to time, we may have foreign currency exchange risk related to existing assets and liabilities, committed transactions and forecasted future cash flows. In certain circumstances, we may seek to manage such foreign currency exchange risk by using derivative instruments such as foreign currency exchange forward contracts to hedge our risk. However, we may choose not to hedge some exposures for a variety of reasons, including prohibitive economic costs.

Item 8.    Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP