Edgar Filing: AKORN INC

Large accelerated filer þ

Accelerated filer o

Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

Smaller reporting company o

Emerging growth company o

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o

Document

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K



þ	Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

	For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018

o	Transition Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Commission File Number: 001-32360

AKORN, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



LOUISIANA	72-0717400
(State or other jurisdiction of	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
incorporation or organization)

1925 W. Field Court, Suite 300, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045

(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (847) 279-6100

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OF THE ACT:



Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, No Par Value		The NASDAQ Global Select Market

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(g) OF THE ACT:

(None)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes þ No o

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o No þ

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes þ No o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers in response to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company”, and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (check one):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes o No þ

The aggregate market value of the voting stock of the registrant held by non-affiliates (affiliates being, for these purposes only, directors, executive officers and holders of more than 5% of the registrant’s common stock) of the registrant as of June 30, 2018 was approximately $1,106.7 million based on the closing market price of $16.59 reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock, no par value per share, outstanding as of February 20, 2019 was 125,577,671.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Unless otherwise indicated or except where the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “us” and “our” or other similar terms in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refer to Akorn, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Certain statements in this Form 10-K are forward-looking in nature and are intended to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” "will," “would,” “could,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Any forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our intent, beliefs or expectations are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements and may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. See “Item 1A - Risk Factors.” As a result, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. You should read this report completely with the understanding that our actual results may differ materially from what we expect. Unless required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

FORM 10-K TABLE OF CONTENTS



		Page
PART I
Item 1.	Business	4
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	16
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	25
Item 2.	Properties	25
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	25
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	26
PART II
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	28
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	30
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	32
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	40
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	40
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	88
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	88
Item 9B.	Other Information	89
PART III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	90
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	90
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	90
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	90
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	90
PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules	91
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	95
Signatures		95

PART I

Item 1. Business

Akorn, Inc., together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively “Akorn,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us”) is a specialty generic pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets generic and branded prescription pharmaceuticals, branded as well as private-label over-the-counter consumer health products and animal health pharmaceuticals. We are an industry leader in the development, manufacturing and marketing of specialized generic pharmaceutical products in alternative dosage forms. We focus on difficult-to-manufacture sterile and non-sterile dosage forms including, but not limited to, ophthalmics, injectables, oral liquids, otics, topicals, inhalants and nasal sprays. In previous years, the Company completed numerous mergers, acquisitions, product acquisitions, which resulted in significant growth.

Akorn is a Louisiana corporation founded in 1971 in Abita Springs, Louisiana. In 1997, we relocated our corporate headquarters to the Chicago, Illinois area and currently maintain our principal corporate offices in Lake Forest, Illinois. We operate pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Decatur, Illinois; Somerset, New Jersey; Amityville, New York; Hettlingen, Switzerland; and Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India. We operate a central distribution warehouse in Gurnee, Illinois and additional distribution facilities in Amityville, New York and Decatur, Illinois. Our research and development (“R&D”) centers are located in Vernon Hills, Illinois and Cranbury, New Jersey. We maintain other corporate offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Gurgaon, Haryana, India.

During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, the Company reported results for two reportable segments: Prescription Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health. For further detail concerning our reportable segments please see Part II, Item 8, Note 12 - “Segment Information.”

Our common shares are traded on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol AKRX. Our principal corporate office is located at 1925 West Field Court Suite 300, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 with telephone number (847) 279-6100.

Our Strategy

Our strategy is focused on continuing to strengthen our position in the development and marketing of specialized generic and branded pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter (“OTC”) drug products and animal health products. We endeavor to maximize shareholder value by quickly adapting to market conditions, patient demands and customer needs.

We strive to improve cash flow and profitability and generate growth through: new product launches resulting from research and development successes, improving operational execution, improving and optimizing our cash flow and leveraging our customer relationships and market leadership. We remain committed to research and development with a focus on our core product areas of ophthalmics, injectables, oral liquids, otics, topicals, inhalants and nasal sprays.

Additionally, where possible we seek to grow our business inorganically through strategic mergers, acquisitions, business development and licensing activities that provide the ability to move into new product areas or to expand our reach in existing product areas.

Our Competitive Strengths

In order to successfully execute our strategy, we must continue to capitalize on our core strengths:

Research and development expertise in alternative dosage forms. Our R&D efforts are primarily focused on the development of multisource generic products that are in dosage forms other than oral solid dose. We consider dosage forms outside of oral solid dose to be “alternative dosage forms.” These products typically have fewer competitors in mature markets, are more difficult to develop and manufacture and can carry higher profitability over time than oral solid dose products. The alternative dosage form products that we focus on are primarily those that we can manufacture, namely: ophthalmics, injectables, oral liquids, otics, topicals, inhalants and nasal sprays.

Alternative dosage form manufacturing expertise. Our manufacturing network specializes in alternative dosage form products. Four of our five manufacturing facilities are U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved, including:

(1) Our Decatur, Illinois facility, which specializes in sterile products, primarily injectables;

(2) Our Somerset, New Jersey facility, which specializes primarily in sterile ophthalmic products;

(3) Our Amityville, New York facility, which specializes in topical creams, gels and ointments, oral liquids, otic liquids, nasal sprays, sterile ophthalmic products and unit dose oral liquid products; and

(4) Our Hettlingen, Switzerland facility, which specializes primarily in sterile ophthalmic products.

Our Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India manufacturing facility is not yet FDA approved. The Paonta Sahib facility is a sterile injectable facility with separate areas dedicated to general injectable products, carbapenem injectable products, cephalosporin injectable products and hormonal injectable products. On February 25, 2019, the Company made a decision to explore strategic alternatives for exiting our Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India manufacturing facility.

Established portfolio of generic, branded, OTC and animal health products. We market a diverse portfolio of generic prescription pharmaceutical products, branded prescription pharmaceutical products, OTC brands, various private-label OTC pharmaceutical products and a number of prescription animal health products. For our human prescription products, our diverse portfolio of alternative dosage form products sets us apart from our larger competitors and allows us to provide a single source of these products for our customers. Our OTC and animal health portfolios are largely complementary to our human prescription products, allowing us to leverage our manufacturing and marketing expertise.

Targeted sales and marketing infrastructure. We maintain a targeted sales and marketing infrastructure to promote our branded, generic, OTC and animal health products. We leverage our sales and marketing infrastructure to not only promote our branded portfolio, but also to sell our multisource generic products directly into physician offices, hospital systems and group purchasing organizations.

Significant management expertise. Our senior management team has a demonstrated track record of building and operating pharmaceutical companies through product development, in-licensing and acquisitions.

Our Areas of Focus

Alternative dosage form generics. Our core area of focus is generic prescription pharmaceutical products in alternative dosage forms. We market a portfolio of multisource prescription pharmaceutical products in injectable, ophthalmic, topical, oral and inhaled liquid, nasal spray and otic dosage forms. We also market select oral solid dose formulations.

Specialty brands. Alongside our generic prescription pharmaceutical products, we market a portfolio of branded prescription pharmaceutical products, primarily in the ophthalmology area. While we continue to focus primarily on generic products, our branded portfolio allows us to leverage our sales and manufacturing infrastructure and deepen our relationships with customers.

OTC products. Our Akorn Consumer Health division (“ACH”) markets a portfolio of OTC brands and various formulations of private-label OTC pharmaceutical products. Our flagship OTC brand is TheraTears® Therapy for Your Eyes®, which is a family of therapeutic eye care products including dry eye therapy lubricating eye drops, eyelid and eyelash cleansing foam and eye nutrition supplements. We also market several specialty OTC products including, Zostrix®, MagOx®, Maginex®, Multi-betic® and Diabetic Tussin®.

Specialized Animal Health Products. We market a portfolio of branded and generic companion animal prescription pharmaceutical products under the Akorn Animal Health label. Our major animal health products include Anased® and VetaKet®, veterinary sedatives; Tolazine® and Yobine®, sedative reversing agents; and Butorphic®, a pain reliever.

New Product Development

We seek to continually grow our business by developing new products. Internal R&D projects are carried out at our R&D facilities located in Vernon Hills, Illinois and Cranbury, New Jersey. The majority of our product development activity takes place at our R&D facilities, while our manufacturing facilities provide support for the later phases of product development and exhibit batch production. We believe that having our own dedicated R&D facilities allows us to increase the size of our product pipeline and shorten the time between project start and filing with the FDA. As of December 31, 2018, we had 139 full-time employees directly involved in product R&D activities.

In addition to our internal development work, we strategically partner with drug development and contract manufacturing companies (“CMOs”) throughout the world for the development of drug products that we believe will complement our existing product offerings, but for which we may lack the expertise to develop, or the capability, capacity or cost-efficiencies to manufacture. We may owe payments to these partners from time to time based on their achievement of certain milestones, such as filing and launch of the subject development product. Our development partners are typically responsible for manufacturing or sourcing of the finished product and may receive a royalty or a profit split from the sales of the product, or milestone payments.

R&D costs are expensed as incurred. Such costs amounted to $47.3 million, $45.0 million and $38.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. This includes internal and external R&D expenses and milestone fees paid to our strategic partners.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, we submitted two new Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) filings to the FDA. In the prior year ended December 31, 2017, we submitted five ANDA filings while in 2016 we submitted 12 ANDA filings and three Abbreviated New Animal Drug Application (“ANADA”) filings to the FDA.

Akorn and its partners received eight ANDA product approvals from the FDA in the year ended December 31, 2018; 26 ANDA approvals and one New Drug Application (“NDA”) approval in 2017 and finally, seven ANDA approvals and three tentative ANDA approvals in 2016.

As of December 31, 2018, we had 62 ANDA filings under FDA review. We plan to continue to regularly submit additional filings based on perceived market opportunities and our R&D pipeline, as well as review existing filings for commercial viability.

See “Government Regulation” and Item 1A - Risk Factors — “Our growth depends on our ability to timely and efficiently develop and successfully launch and market new pharmaceutical products.”

Strategic Mergers and Acquisitions

We regularly evaluate and, where appropriate, execute opportunities to expand through the acquisition of products and companies in areas that we believe offer attractive opportunities for growth. Below is a summary of recent strategic merger and acquisition activity. See Item 1A - Risk Factors for a description of risks that accompany our business and acquisitions.

Fresenius Kabi AG. On April 24, 2017, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Fresenius Kabi AG, a German stock corporation (“Parent”), Quercus Acquisition, Inc., a Louisiana corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent (“Merger Sub”) and, solely for purposes of Article VIII thereof, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, a German partnership limited by shares.

On April 22, 2018, Fresenius Kabi AG delivered to Akorn a letter purporting to terminate the Merger Agreement. On April 23, 2018, Akorn filed a verified complaint entitled Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG, Quercus Acquisition, Inc. and Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware for breach of contract and declaratory judgment. The complaint alleged, among other things, that (i) the defendants anticipatorily breached their obligations under the Merger Agreement by repudiating their obligation to close the Merger, (ii) the defendants knowingly and intentionally breached their obligations under the Merger Agreement by working to slow the antitrust approval process and by engaging in a series of actions designed to hamper and ultimately block the Merger and (iii) Akorn had performed its obligations under the Merger Agreement, and was ready, willing and able to close the Merger. The complaint sought, among other things, a declaration that Fresenius Kabi AG's termination was invalid, an order enjoining the defendants from terminating the Merger Agreement, and an order compelling the defendants to specifically perform their obligations under the Merger Agreement to use reasonable best efforts to consummate and make effective the Merger. On April 30, 2018, the defendants filed a verified counterclaim alleging that, due primarily to purported data integrity deficiencies, the Company had breached representations, warranties and covenants in the Merger Agreement, and that it had experienced a material adverse effect. The verified counterclaim sought, among other things, a declaration that defendants’ purported termination of the Merger Agreement was valid and that defendants were not obligated to consummate the transaction, and damages.

Following expedited discovery, from July 9 to 13, 2018, the Court of Chancery held a trial on the parties’ claims (the “Delaware Action”). At the conclusion of trial, the Court of Chancery ordered post-trial briefing, which was completed on August 20, 2018, and a post-trial hearing, which was held on August 23, 2018.

On October 1, 2018, the Court of Chancery issued an opinion (the “Opinion”) denying Akorn’s claims for relief and concluding that Fresenius Kabi AG had validly terminated the Merger Agreement. The Court of Chancery concluded that Akorn had experienced a material adverse effect due to its financial performance following the signing of the Merger Agreement; that Akorn had breached representations and warranties in the Merger Agreement and that those breaches would reasonably be expected to give rise to a material adverse effect; that Akorn had materially breached covenants in the Merger Agreement; and that Fresenius was materially in compliance with its own contractual obligations. On October 17, 2018, the Court of Chancery entered partial final judgment against Akorn on its claims and in favor of the Fresenius parties on their claims for declaratory judgment. The Court of Chancery entered an order holding proceedings on the Fresenius parties’ damages claims in abeyance pending the resolution of any appeal from the partial final judgment.

On October 18, 2018, Akorn filed a notice of appeal from the Opinion and the partial final judgment, as well as a motion seeking expedited treatment of its appeal. On October 23, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court granted Akorn's motion for expedited treatment and set a hearing on Akorn's appeal for December 5, 2018.

On December 7, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s ruling denying Akorn’s claims for declaratory and injunctive relief and granting Defendants’ counterclaim for a declaration that the termination was valid. On December 27, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a mandate returning the case to the Court of Chancery for consideration of all remaining issues, including the Fresenius parties’ damages claims.

On January 15, 2019, the parties filed a joint letter to the Court of Chancery seeking thirty days to discuss the potential resolution of the Fresenius parties’ damages claims. On February 19, 2019, the parties filed a joint letter advising the Court that they have been unable to resolve the Fresenius parties’ damages claims. The Fresenius parties stated their intention to seek leave to amend their counterclaims to assert a new claim for fraud and that they would seek an expedited trial on such claim purportedly due to Akorn’s financial condition. Akorn stated that it expected to oppose the motions for amendment and expedition, and that it would move to dismiss the Fresenius parties’ damages claims in their entirety.

On February 20, 2019, the Fresenius parties filed a motion for leave to amend and supplement their counterclaim. The Fresenius parties’ proposed amended and supplemented counterclaim alleges that Akorn fraudulently induced Fresenius to enter into the Merger Agreement and thereafter willfully breached contractual representations and warranties and covenants therein. It seeks damages of approximately $102 million. On February 25, 2019, Akorn filed an opposition to the Fresenius parties’ motion for leave to amend and supplement their counterclaim, arguing that the motion was untimely and prejudicial. On February 27, 2019, the Fresenius parties filed a reply in further support of their motion to file an amended and supplemented counterclaim. On February 28, 2019, the Court of Chancery denied the Fresenius parties’ motion for leave to file an amended and supplemented counterclaim.

Akorn AG (formerly Excelvision AG). To expand our ophthalmic manufacturing capacity, our Luxembourg subsidiary, Akorn International S.à r.l., closed a share purchase agreement on January 2, 2015 with Fareva SA to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of Excelvision AG, a Swiss company (“Excelvision AG”). Excelvision AG was a contract manufacturer located in Hettlingen, Switzerland specializing in ophthalmic products. On April 1, 2016, the name of Excelvision AG was changed to Akorn AG.

VersaPharm. On August 12, 2014, we completed the acquisition of VPI Holdings Corp. (“VPI”), the parent company of VersaPharm Incorporated, a Georgia corporation (“VersaPharm”) (the “VersaPharm Acquisition”). VersaPharm was a developer and marketer of multi-source prescription pharmaceuticals. VersaPharm’s product portfolio, pipeline and development capabilities were complementary to the Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc. (“Hi-Tech”) acquisition, described below, through which we acquired manufacturing capabilities needed for many of VersaPharm’s marketed and pipeline products.

Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc. On April 17, 2014, we completed the acquisition of Hi-Tech, which developed, manufactured and marketed generic and branded prescription and OTC drug products, and specialized in liquid and semi-solid dosage forms (the “Hi-Tech Acquisition”). The acquisition was approved by the shareholders of Hi-Tech on December 19, 2013, and was approved by the FTC on April 11, 2014 following review pursuant to provisions of the Hart-Scott Rodino Act (“HSR”). Hi-Tech’s ECR Pharmaceuticals subsidiary (“ECR”), which marketed branded prescription products, was divested during the year ended December 31, 2014.

The Hi-Tech Acquisition complemented and expanded our manufacturing capabilities and product portfolio by diversifying our offerings to our retail customers beyond ophthalmics to other niche dosage forms such as oral liquids, topical creams and ointments, nasal sprays and otics. The Hi-Tech Acquisition also enhanced our new product pipeline. Further, the Hi-Tech Acquisition added branded OTC products in the categories of cough and cold, nasal sprays and topicals to our TheraTears® brand of eye care products.

Business Development and Licensing

Supplemental to our strategic mergers and acquisitions strategy, we also seek to enhance our current generic and branded product lines through the acquisition or licensing of on-market or in-development products that expand or complement our current branded and generic product portfolio. Below is a summary of product acquisition and licensing transactions that we made from 2013 to 2018. See Item 1A - Risk Factors for a description of risks that accompany our business development.

Lloyd Products Acquisition. To expand our animal health product portfolio, our wholly-owned subsidiary Akorn Animal Health, Inc. entered into a definitive product acquisition agreement on October 2, 2014 with Lloyd, Inc. to acquire certain rights and inventory related to a portfolio of animal health injectable products used in pain management and anesthesia.

Xopenex Product Acquisition. To expand our prescription product portfolio of respiratory products, we entered into a definitive product acquisition agreement with Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., on October 1, 2014 to acquire certain rights and inventory related to Xopenex® Inhalation Solution (levalbuterol hydrochloride).

Zioptan Product Acquisition. To expand our branded ophthalmology portfolio, we acquired the rights to the U.S. NDA for Zioptan™, a prescription ophthalmic eye drop indicated for reducing elevated intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, from Merck, Sharp and Dohme Corp. (“Merck”) on April 1, 2014.

Betimol Product Acquisition. To expand our branded ophthalmology portfolio, we acquired the rights to the U.S. NDA for Betimol®, a prescription ophthalmic eye drop for the reduction of eye pressure in glaucoma patients, from Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., (“Santen”) on January 2, 2014.

Merck Products Acquisition. On November 15, 2013, we acquired three ophthalmic U.S. NDAs from Merck:


•	AzaSite® — (azithromycin ophthalmic solution), a prescription sterile eye drop solution used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis;


•	Cosopt® — (dorzolamide hydrochloride and timolol maleate ophthalmic solution), a prescription sterile eye drop solution that is used to reduce intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension; and


•	Cosopt® PF, supplied in sterile, single-use containers.

This acquisition expanded our line of prescription ophthalmic products to include additional branded products. The acquisition included our acquisition of a Merck subsidiary corporation, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Inspire”), which was and continues to be the holder of the product rights to AzaSite®.

Our Segments

The Company has identified two reportable segments with which we operate our business. These segments are the Prescription Pharmaceuticals Segment and the Consumer Health Segment.

Prescription Pharmaceuticals Segment. Our Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment primarily consists of generic and branded prescription pharmaceuticals in a variety of dosage forms, including sterile ophthalmics, injectables and inhalants and non-sterile oral liquids, topicals, nasal sprays and otics. We also market a number of pain management drugs, including drugs subject to the Controlled Substances Act. The segment represented 89.4% of our net revenue in 2018. Please see Part II, Item 8, Note 12 - “Segment Information” for further detail of the Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment.

While the majority of sales within the Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment are derived from generic products, Akorn markets a line of branded ophthalmic and respiratory products including brands such as Akten®, a topical ocular anesthetic gel, AzaSite®, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis, Cosopt®, Cosopt® PF, Betimol® and Zioptan™, which are used in the treatment of glaucoma, and Xopenex® Inhalation Solution, used in the treatment or prevention of bronchospasm.

Consumer Health Segment. Our Consumer Health segment primarily consists of branded and private-label OTC products and animal health products dispensed by veterinary professionals. Our branded and private-label OTC products are primarily focused on ophthalmics including a leading dry eye treatment TheraTears® Therapy for Your Eyes®. We also market other OTC consumer health products including Mag-Ox®, a magnesium supplement, and the Diabetic Tussin® line of cough and cold products. Our animal health portfolio is focused on products complementary to our human health prescription portfolio, leveraging our R&D and manufacturing capabilities for alternative dosage form products. Major products within our animal health portfolio include Anased® and VetaKet® veterinary sedatives; Tolazine® and Yobine®, sedative reversing agents; and Butorphic®, a pain reliever. Please see Part II, Item 8, Note 12 "Segment Information" for further detail of the Consumer Health segment.

Our Products

Our major products are listed alphabetically below.


•	AK-FLUOR® (fluorescein injection, USP). We market our branded fluorescein injection as AK-FLUOR® 10% (100 mg/mL) and 25% (250 mg/mL). AK-FLUOR® is indicated in diagnostic fluorescein angiography or angioscopy of the retina and iris vasculature.


•	Atropine Sulfate Ophthalmic Solution. We received approval of our NDA for Atropine Sulfate Ophthalmic Solution, USP, 1% in July 2014. We had previously been marketing this product as an unapproved product.

•

Cosopt® PF. We acquired the rights to the U.S. NDA for Cosopt® PF (2% Dorzolamide Hydrochloride 0.5% and Timolol Maleate supplied in sterile, single-use containers), a preservative-free prescription ophthalmic eye drop indicated for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension who are insufficiently responsive to beta-blockers, through the Merck Products Acquisition on November 15, 2013.


•	Dehydrated Alcohol Injection. We began marketing Dehydrated Alcohol Injection, USP in 1997. Our Dehydrated Alcohol Injection is not an FDA approved product and to date our product has not been found by the FDA to be safe and effective.


•	Ephedrine Sulfate Injection. We originally began marketing Ephedrine Sulfate Injection, USP, 50 mg/mL in 1 mL single-dose ampules in 1997 as an unapproved product. In March 2017, we received FDA approval of our NDA for Ephedrine Sulfate Injection.


•	Myorisan™ (isotretinoin capsules, USP). We acquired Myorisan™ isotretinoin capsules, USP, in 10 mg, 20 mg and 40 mg strengths through the VersaPharm Acquisition. We subsequently received approval for the 30 mg strength in 2015.


•	Nembutal® Sodium Solution (pentobarbital sodium injection, USP). We market our pentobarbital sodium injection as Nembutal® Sodium Solution. Nembutal® is a DEA Schedule II controlled drug.


•	Phenylephrine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution. We began marketing Phenylephrine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution, USP, 2.5% shortly after FDA approval of our NDA in January 2015.


•	TheraTears® Dry Eye Therapy Lubricant Eye Drops. TheraTears® is an over-the-counter eye drop that is used as a lubricant to relieve dryness of the eye. TheraTears® unique hypotonic and electrolyte balanced formula replicates healthy tears.


•	Zioptan™. We acquired the rights to the U.S. NDA for Zioptan™ (tafluprost ophthalmic solution) 0.0015%, a preservative-free prescription ophthalmic eye drop indicated for reducing elevated intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, from Merck, in April 2014.

Most of the products discussed above have several generic equivalent competitors. In the year ended December 31, 2018, none of the Company’s products represented 10% or more of total net revenue.

Sales and Marketing

We rely on our sales and marketing teams to help us maintain and, where possible, increase market share for our products. Our sales organization is structured as follows:


(1)	field sales teams focused on branded ophthalmology products;


(2)	field sales teams focused on institutional markets;


(3)	inside sales team focused on customers in smaller markets, and;


(4)	national accounts sales team focused on wholesalers, distributors, retail pharmacy chain and group purchasing organizations (“GPOs”).

Our field sales representatives promote ophthalmic products directly to retinal surgeons and ophthalmologists, and other pharmaceutical products directly to local hospitals in order to support compliance and pull-through against existing contracts. Our inside sales team augments our outside sales teams to sell products in markets where field sales would not be cost effective. Our national accounts sales team seeks to establish and maintain contracts with wholesalers, distributors, retail pharmacy chains and GPOs. As of the year ended December 31, 2018, we utilized a sales force of 74 field and inside sales representatives to promote our product portfolio. To support our sales efforts, we also have a customer service team and a marketing department focused on promoting and raising awareness about our product offerings.

Competition

Prescription Pharmaceuticals. The sourcing, marketing and manufacturing of pharmaceutical products is highly competitive, with many established manufacturers, suppliers and distributors actively engaged in all phases of the business. We compete principally on the quality of our products and services, reliability of our supply, breadth of our portfolio, depth of our customer relationships and price. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources, including greater sales volume, larger sales forces and greater manufacturing capacity. See Item 1A - Risk Factors - “Our branded products may become subject to increased generic competition” for more information.

Generic Pharmaceuticals. Companies that compete with our generic pharmaceuticals portfolio include Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd., Apotex Inc., Fresenius Kabi AG, Hikma Pharmaceuticals plc, Novartis International AG (through their Sandoz and Alcon subsidiaries), Perrigo Company plc, Pfizer Inc., Mylan N.V., Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Bausch Health Companies Inc., among others.

Branded Pharmaceuticals. Companies that compete with our branded pharmaceuticals portfolio include Allergan plc, Novartis International AG (through their Alcon subsidiary), Pfizer Inc. and Bausch Health Companies Inc., among others. Additionally, potential generic entrants with equivalent products referencing our branded products present an additional competitive threat.

Consumer Health. Like our Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment, the sourcing, manufacturing and marketing of Consumer Health products is highly competitive, with many established manufacturers, suppliers and distributors actively engaged in all phases of the business. With the Company’s relatively small OTC and animal health product portfolio, many of our competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources, including greater sales volume, larger sales forces and greater manufacturing capacity. Within this market, we compete primarily on product offering, as well as price and service.

The companies that compete with our Consumer Health segment include both generic and name brand companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Perrigo Company plc., Pfizer Inc., and Bausch Health Companies Inc., among others.

Seasonality

The majority of our products do not experience significant seasonality. We do market certain prescription pharmaceutical and consumer health products for the treatment of allergies which typically generate consumer demand in the warmer months as well as cough and cold products which typically generate higher consumer demand in the colder months, but we do not believe these products materially impact our overall sales trends. Additionally, we market various antidote products through our Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment, the sales of which are largely timed to the expiration of existing stock held by our customers.

Major Customers

For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, a high percentage of our sales were to the three large wholesale drug distributors noted below. These three wholesale drug distributors account for a significant portion of our gross sales, net revenue and accounts receivable in both of our segments. The three large wholesale drug distributors are:


•	AmerisourceBergen Corporation (“Amerisource”);


•	Cardinal Health, Inc. (“Cardinal”); and


•	McKesson Corporation (“McKesson”).

On a combined basis, these three wholesale drug distributors accounted for approximately 83.0% of our total gross sales and 61.7% of our net revenue in the year ended December 31, 2018, and 85.5% of our gross accounts receivable as of December 31, 2018. The difference between gross sales and net revenue is that gross sales is calculated before allowances for chargebacks, rebates, administrative fees and others, promotions and product returns (See Part II, Item 8, Note 2 - “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” for more information).

The table below presents the percentages of our total gross sales, net revenue and gross trade accounts receivable attributed to each of these three wholesale drug distributors as of and for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively:



	2018			2017			2016
	Gross Sales	Net Revenue	Gross Accounts Receivable	Gross Sales	Net Revenue	Gross Accounts Receivable	Gross Sales	Net Revenue	Gross Accounts Receivable
Amerisource	20.5%	20.9%	17.9%	23.6%	19.1%	26.3%	29.5%	23.3%	35.6%
Cardinal	20.7%	15.8%	19.3%	17.5%	17.9%	21.1%	15.4%	16.3%	15.1%
McKesson	41.8%	25.0%	48.3%	39.1%	26.5%	38.6%	32.5%	24.2%	33.2%
Combined Total	83.0%	61.7%	85.5%	80.2%	63.5%	86.0%	77.4%	63.8%	83.9%
Other	17.0%	38.3%	14.5%	19.8%	36.5%	14.0%	22.6%	36.2%	16.1%
Combined Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Amerisource, Cardinal and McKesson are key distributors of our products, as well as a broad range of healthcare products for many other companies. None of these distributors is an end user of our products. Generally speaking, if sales to any one of these distributors were to diminish or cease, we believe that the end users of our products would likely find little difficulty obtaining our products from another distributor; however, the loss of one or more of these distributors, together with a delay or inability to secure an alternative distribution source for end users, could have a material negative impact on our revenue, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We consider our business relationships with Amerisource, Cardinal and McKesson to be in good standing and we currently have fee for services contracts with each of them; however, a change in purchasing patterns, a decrease in inventory levels, an increase in returns of our products, delays in purchasing products and delays in payment for products by one or more of these distributors could have a material negative impact on our revenue, business, financial condition and results of operations. See Item 1A - Risk Factors — “We depend on a small number of wholesalers to distribute our products, the loss of any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business” for more information.

Backorders

As of December 31, 2018, we had approximately $28.2 million of products on backorder as compared to approximately $12.2 million of backorders as of December 31, 2017 and $15.5 million as of December 31, 2016.

Foreign Sales

During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, approximately $16.4 million, $25.5 million, and $26.3 million of our net revenue, respectively, was related to sales to customers in foreign countries.

Our business is subject to risks of currency fluctuations, governmental actions and other governmental proceedings abroad. We do not regard these risks as a deterrent to further expansion of our operations abroad; however, we closely review our methods of operations and seek to adopt strategies responsive to changing economic and political conditions.

Suppliers

We require raw materials and components to manufacture and package pharmaceutical products. The principal components of our products are active and inactive pharmaceutical ingredients and certain packaging materials. Many of these materials are available from only a single source and, in the case of many of our products, only one supplier of raw materials has been identified and qualified. Because FDA approval of drugs requires manufacturers to specify their proposed suppliers of active ingredients and certain packaging materials in their applications, FDA approval of any new supplier would be required if such active ingredients or such packaging materials were no longer available from the specified supplier. The qualification of a new supplier could delay our development and marketing efforts. If for any reason we are unable to obtain sufficient quantities of any of the raw materials or components required to produce and package our products, we may not be able to manufacture our products as planned. In addition, certain of the pharmaceutical products that we market are manufactured by third parties that serve as our only supplier of those products. Any delays or failure of a contract manufacturing partner to supply finished goods timely or in adequate volume could impede our marketing of those products.

No supplier represented 10% or more of our purchases in the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 or 2016. See Item 1A - Risk Factors - “Many of the raw materials and components used in our products come from a single source, the loss of any of

which could have a material adverse effect on our business” and "A significant portion of our revenues are generated through the sale of products manufactured by third parties, the loss or failure of any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations" for more information.

Manufacturing

We operate manufacturing facilities in Decatur, Illinois; Somerset, New Jersey; Amityville, New York and Hettlingen Switzerland. In addition, we own a manufacturing facility in Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India that is not currently manufacturing any products for sale. See Item 2 - Properties, for more information. Through these manufacturing facilities we manufacture a diverse assortment of sterile and non-sterile pharmaceutical products including oral liquids, otics, nasal sprays, liquid injectables, lyophilized injectables, topical gels, creams and ointments; and ophthalmic solutions and ointments for both of our reportable segments. By location, these include:


•	Somerset, New Jersey — sterile ophthalmic solutions, ointments and gels


•	Decatur, Illinois — sterile liquid and lyophilized injectables and sterile ophthalmic solutions


•	Amityville, New York — sterile ophthalmic and otic solutions, sterile gels, and non-sterile nasal sprays, topical ointments and creams, oral liquids, and liquid unit dose cups


•	Hettlingen, Switzerland — sterile ophthalmic solutions, suspensions, gels and ointments


•	Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India — sterile liquid injectables including cephalosporins, carbapenems, hormones and general injectables

Patents, Trademarks and Proprietary Property

We consider the protection of our patents, trademarks and proprietary rights important to maintaining and growing our business. Through our acquisitions, we have increased the number and importance of trademarks related to our products and product lines. Through acquisitions, we also acquired rights to the trade names for the branded, prescription ophthalmic products AzaSite®, Betimol®, Cosopt® PF, and Zioptan®, respiratory product Xopenex®, as well as OTC products TheraTears®, SinusBuster®, Mag-Ox®, Multi-betic® and Zostrix®. We are committed to maintaining and defending these trade names as they are important in supporting the success and growth of this business. In addition, we maintain and defend trademarks related to a number of internally-developed products, as well as others licensed from third parties.

We have sought, and intend to continue to seek, patent protection in the United States and selected foreign countries where deemed appropriate and advantageous to us. The importance of these patents does not vary among our business segments.

We also rely upon trade secrets, unpatented proprietary know-how and continuing technological innovation to maintain and develop our competitive position. We enter into confidentiality agreements with certain of our employees pursuant to which such employees agree to assign to us any inventions relating to our business made by them while in our employ; however, there can be no assurance that others may not acquire or independently develop similar technology or, if patents are not issued with respect to products arising from research, that we will be able to maintain information pertinent to such research as proprietary technology or trade secrets. For more information, see Item 1A. Risk Factors - "Third parties may claim that we infringe their proprietary rights and may prevent or delay us from manufacturing and selling some of our new products" and "Our patents and proprietary rights may be challenged, circumvented or otherwise compromised by competitors, which may result in our protected products losing their market exclusivity and becoming subject to generic competition before their patents expire."

Government Regulation

Pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors are subject to extensive regulation by government agencies, including the FDA, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), the FTC and other federal, state and local agencies. The development, testing, manufacturing, processing, quality, safety, efficacy, packaging, labeling, recordkeeping, distribution, storage and advertising of our products, and disposal of waste products arising from such activities, are subject to regulation by the FDA, DEA, FTC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Similar state and local agencies also have jurisdiction over these activities. Noncompliance with applicable United States and/or state or local regulatory requirements can result in fines, injunctions, penalties, mandatory recalls or seizures, suspensions of production, recommendations by the FDA against governmental contracts and criminal prosecution. In addition, we are subject to oversight from federal and state government benefit programs, healthcare fraud and abuse laws and international regulations in jurisdictions in which we manufacture or sell our pharmaceutical products.

FDA. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (the “FDC Act”), the Controlled Substance Act and other federal statutes and regulations govern or influence the development, testing, manufacture, labeling, storage and promotion of products that we

manufacture and market. The FDA inspects drug manufacturers and storage facilities to determine compliance with its current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”) regulations, non-compliance with which can result in fines, recall and seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, refusal to approve NDAs and ANDAs and criminal prosecution. Under the FDC Act, the federal government has extensive administrative and judicial enforcement authority over the activities of finished drug product manufacturers to ensure compliance with FDA regulations. This authority includes, but is not limited to, the authority to initiate judicial action to seize unapproved or non-complying products, to enjoin non-complying activities, to halt manufacturing operations that are not in compliance with cGMP, to recall products, to seek civil and monetary penalties and to criminally prosecute violators. Other enforcement activities include refusal to approve product applications, withdrawal of previously approved applications or prohibition on marketing of certain unapproved products.

FDA approval is required before any prescription drug products can be marketed. New drugs require the filing of an NDA, including clinical studies demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the drug. Generic drugs, which are therapeutic equivalents of existing brand name drugs, require the filing of an ANDA. An ANDA does not, for the most part, require clinical studies since safety and efficacy have already been demonstrated by the product originator; however, the ANDA must provide data to support the bioequivalence of the generic drug product. The time required by the FDA to review and approve NDAs and ANDAs is variable and, to a large extent, beyond our control.

In 2018, our Decatur, Illinois and Somerset, New Jersey manufacturing facilities were inspected by the FDA and received “Other Action Indicated” status as an outcome of the inspections. On January 4, 2019, the company was issued a warning letter from the FDA related to the 2018 inspection of the Decatur, Illinois manufacturing facility. The Company submitted a comprehensive response to the warning letter on January 28, 2019.

DEA. We manufacture and distribute several controlled drug substances, the distribution and handling of which are regulated by the DEA, which imposes, among other things, certain licensing, security and record-keeping requirements, as well as quotas for the manufacture, purchase, storage and sale of controlled substances. Failure to comply with DEA regulations (and similar state regulations) can result in fines or seizure of product. There have not been any material fines, seizures or interruptions resulting from DEA inspections in any of the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016.

We are subject to periodic inspections by the DEA in facilities where we manufacture, process or distribute controlled substances. The DEA inspected our Decatur, Illinois facility in December 2018 and January 2019, and issued two observations to which the Company responded.

See Item 1A. Risk Factors - Risk factors under the "Risks Related to Regulations" category for more information.

Government Benefit Programs. We sell products that can be subject to the statutory and regulatory requirements for Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE and other government healthcare programs. These regulations govern access and reimbursement levels, including that all pharmaceutical companies pay rebates to individual states based on a percentage of sales arising from Medicaid-reimbursed products. We are also subject to price ceilings for select products sold through the military TRICARE program. U.S. Federal and state governments may continue to enact legislation and other measures aimed at containing or reducing payment levels for prescription pharmaceuticals paid for in whole or in part with government funds. We cannot predict the nature of such potential future measures or the impact on our profitability.

Healthcare Laws. We are subject to various federal, state and local laws targeting fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry. In the United States, there are various federal and state anti-kickback laws that prohibit payment or receipt of kickbacks, bribes or other remuneration intended to induce the purchase or recommendation of healthcare products and services or reward past purchases or recommendations. Violations of these anti-kickback laws can lead to civil and/or criminal penalties, including fines, imprisonment and exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs. See Item 1A - Risk Factors - “Any failure to comply with the complex reporting and payment obligations under Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs may result in litigation or sanctions,” for more information. We are also subject to other healthcare laws, notably:

•

Federal Civil False Claims Act. We are also subject to the provisions of the federal civil False Claims Act and, in particular, actions brought pursuant to the False Claims Act’s whistleblower or qui tam provisions. The civil False Claims Act imposes liability on any person or entity that, among other things, knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment by a federal healthcare program. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act allow a private individual to bring civil actions on behalf of the federal government alleging that the defendant has submitted or caused the submission of a false claim to the federal government, and to share in any monetary recovery. In recent years, the number of suits brought by private individuals has increased dramatically. In addition, various states have enacted false claim laws analogous to the False Claims Act. Many of these state laws apply where a claim is submitted to any third-party payer and not merely a federal healthcare program.

•

HIPAA. Fraud provisions in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) of 1996 prohibits knowingly and willingly executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including those of private third-party payers. Also, false statement provisions within HIPAA prohibits knowingly and willingly falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services.

•

Federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The Federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act mandates annual reporting of various types of payments to physicians and teaching hospitals. Under the regulations, applicable drug, biological, device, and medical supply manufacturers are required to report to CMS payments or other transfers of value made to healthcare professionals and teaching hospitals, and the regulations also require the manufacturers and GPOs to report ownership and investment interests held by physicians or their immediate family members. The rule sets forth a reporting process that permits physicians, teaching hospitals, and physician owners and investors to dispute information reported by applicable manufacturers and GPOs. Under the regulations, information that is the subject of a dispute not resolved within the initial allotted 60-day review and dispute resolution period will be posted on CMS’s public website in the manner in which it was submitted by the manufacturer or GPO, rather than in a manner that includes the version provided by the disputing physician, teaching hospital, or physician owner or investor. Failure to comply with required reporting requirements could subject pharmaceutical manufacturers and others to substantial civil monetary penalties.

International Regulations. The Company and its employees are subject to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), as well as other international anti-corruption laws. In addition, we have two international manufacturing facilities that are subject to local anti-corruption laws and regulations that differ from those under which we operate in the United States. The regulatory agencies outside of the United States that we interact with include Swissmedic in Switzerland and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization in India.

Government Contracts

We maintain distribution contracts with the U.S. Federal Government, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, among others. A number of these contracts allow the U.S. Federal Government to terminate such contracts upon written notice. We do not believe that any single termination is likely or would be material to our operations.

Employees

As of December 31, 2018 we had a total of 2,220 employees globally, consisting of 2,191 permanent, full-time employees and 29 part-time or temporary employees. Our full and part time or temporary employees worked in the following locations:



Country	Full-Time	Part-Time or Temp
United States of America	1,667	3
India	360	—
Switzerland	164	26
Total	2,191	29

We believe we have good relations with our employees. Our full-time and part-time employees are not represented by collective bargaining agreements. All U.S. full-time Akorn employees are eligible to participate in the Company’s 401(k) Plan. The Company matches the employee contribution to 50% of the first 6% of an employee's eligible compensation. Company matching contributions vest 50% after two years of credited service and 100% after three years of credited service. During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, plan-related expense totaled approximately $2.6 million, $2.6 million and $2.2 million, respectively. The Company's matching contribution is funded on a current basis.

Environment

Our operations are subject to foreign, federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations concerning, among other matters, the generation, handling, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of, or exposure to, prescription drugs and toxic and hazardous substances. Violation of these laws and regulations, which frequently change, can lead to substantial fines and penalties. Some of our operations require environmental permits and controls to prevent and limit pollution. We believe that our facilities are in compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations and we do not anticipate any material adverse effect from

compliance with foreign, federal, state and local provisions that have been enacted or adopted regulating the discharge of materials into the environment, or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment.

Available Information

Our internet address is http://www.akorn.com. The contents of our website are not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and our internet address is included in this document as an inactive textual reference only. We make our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such reports with, or furnish such reports to, the SEC.

Materials filed with the SEC can also be read and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. In addition to the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, you should carefully consider each of the risks described below before purchasing shares of our common stock. The risk factors set forth below are not the only risks that may affect our business. Our business could also be affected by additional risks not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could materially suffer. As a result, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to the Termination of the Merger Agreement and the Delaware Opinion

There are material uncertainties and risks associated with damage claims from the Fresenius parties' and Akorn's shareholders as a result of the termination of the April 2017 Merger Agreement.

On April 24, 2017, we signed the Merger Agreement with the Fresenius parties. On April 22, 2018, the Fresenius parties sent Akorn a notice terminating the Merger Agreement. After expedited litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled on October 1, 2018, that the termination was valid. That ruling was upheld on appeal by the Delaware Supreme Court on December 7, 2018. On February 20, 2019, the Fresenius parties filed a motion for leave to amend and supplement its counterclaim against Akorn in order to recover damages purportedly incurred in connection with the Merger Agreement. On February 28, 2019, the Court of Chancery denied the Fresenius parties’ motion for leave to file an amended and supplemented counterclaim. Proceedings on the proposed damages counterclaim are currently ongoing.

In addition, various purported shareholders of Akorn have filed putative class action and derivative claims against Akorn, its directors and its officers relating to the Merger Agreement, Akorn’s regulatory compliance status and/or Akorn’s public statements and SEC filings. Proceedings in those cases are ongoing.

Below are material uncertainties and risks associated with the termination of the Merger Agreement, the ongoing litigation with the Fresenius parties and the pending shareholder litigations. If any of the risks develop into actual events, then our business, financial condition, results and ongoing operations, stock price or prospects could be materially adversely affected.


•	The litigations may involve significant defense costs and indemnification liabilities and may result in significant monetary judgments against Akorn, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations;


•	The litigations, whether or not resolved favorably, may damage our long-term reputation, attract adverse media coverage, interfere with our relationships with key stakeholders and/or interfere with our ability to attract and retain employees; and


•	The litigations may divert the attention of our employees and management, which may affect our business operations.

Risks Related to Our Business.

Our growth depends on our ability to timely and efficiently develop and successfully launch and market new pharmaceutical products.

Our strategy for growth is dependent upon our ability to develop products that can be promoted through current marketing and distribution channels and, when appropriate, the enhancement of such marketing and distribution channels. We may fail to meet our anticipated time schedule for the filing of new applications or may decide not to pursue applications that we have already submitted or had anticipated submitting. Our failure to develop new products or to receive regulatory approval of applications could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if approved, we may have technical challenges or capacity constraints that prevent successful launch and marketing of new products. Even if successfully launched, no assurance can be given as to the actual size of the market for any product or the level of profitability and sales of the product.

Business interruptions at our manufacturing facilities can have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

We manufacture drug products at three domestic and one international manufacturing facilities, and we have contracted with a number of third parties to provide other manufacturing, finishing, and packaging services. We face a substantial risk to our business when any one or more of these facilities is shut down or unable to operate at full capacity as a result of business interruptions, governmental or regulatory actions, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fire, contamination, power shortages,

strikes, terrorist acts, or natural or man-made catastrophic events. For example, we suspended manufacturing at our facility in Somerset, New Jersey during the latter part of 2018 to facilitate the acceleration of the move to our newly constructed laboratory; personnel and equipment requalification and training; and other various cGMP enhancements. This short-term disruption impaired our ability to produce and ship drug products to the market on a timely basis, which resulted in failure to supply penalties, late fees and other adverse impacts on our business.

A significant portion of our revenues are generated through the sale of products manufactured by third parties, the loss or failure of any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

Certain of the pharmaceutical products that we market, representing a significant portion of our net revenue, are manufactured by third parties that serve as our only supplier of those products. Any delays or failure of a contract manufacturing partner to supply finished goods timely or in adequate volume could impede our marketing of those products. We expect this risk to become more significant as we receive approvals for new products to be manufactured through our strategic partnerships and as we seek additional growth opportunities beyond the capacity and capabilities of our current manufacturing facilities. If we are unable to obtain or retain third-party manufacturers for these products on commercially acceptable terms, we may not be able to distribute such products as planned. Any delays or difficulties with third-party manufacturers could adversely affect the marketing and distribution of certain of our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on a small number of wholesalers to distribute our products, the loss of any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A small number of large wholesale drug distributors account for a significant portion of our gross sales, net revenue and accounts receivable. The following three wholesalers — Amerisource, Cardinal and McKesson — accounted for approximately 83.0% of total gross sales and 61.7% of total net revenue in 2018, and constituted 85.5% of gross trade receivables as of December 31, 2018. In addition to acting as distributors of our products, these three companies also distribute a broad range of healthcare products on behalf of many other companies. The loss of our relationship with one or more of these wholesalers, together with a delay or inability to secure an alternative distribution source for our hospital, retail and other customers, could have a material adverse impact on our revenue and results of operations. A change in purchasing patterns or inventory levels, an increase in returns of our products, delays in purchasing products and delays in payment for products by one or more of these wholesale drug distributors also could have a material adverse impact on our revenue, results of operations and cash flows.

We may be subject to significant disruptions or failures in our information technology systems and network infrastructures that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of complex information technology systems and network infrastructures to operate our business. We also hold data in various data center facilities upon which our business depends. Although we have experienced occasional, actual or attempted breaches of our cybersecurity, none of these breaches has had a material effect on our business, operations or reputation. Any significant disruption, infiltration or failure of our information technology systems or any of our data centers as a result of software or hardware malfunctions, system implementations or upgrades, computer viruses, third-party security breaches, employee error, theft, misuse or malfeasance could cause breaches of data security, loss of intellectual property and critical data and the release and misappropriation of sensitive competitive information. Any of these events could result in the loss of key information, impair our production and supply chain processes, damage our reputation in the marketplace, deter people from purchasing our products, cause us to incur significant costs to remedy any damages, subject us to significant civil and criminal liability and require us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses, and ultimately materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and price of our common stock.

We depend on our employees and must continue to attract and retain key personnel in order to be successful, and failure to do so hinders successful execution of our business and development plans.

Our performance depends, to a large extent, on the continued service of our key R&D personnel, other technical employees, managers and sales personnel and our ability to continue to attract and retain such personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense, particularly for highly motivated and experienced R&D and other technical personnel. We are facing increasing competition from companies with greater financial resources for such personnel. As a result, from time to time, we have faced challenges in attracting and retaining highly skilled personnel, particularly during 2017 and 2018, which has adversely affected our business operations.

We are involved in legal proceedings and governmental investigations from time to time, any of which may result in substantial losses, government enforcement actions, damage to our business and reputation and place a strain on our internal resources.

In the ordinary course of our business, we become involved in legal proceedings, as a party or non-party witness, with both private parties and certain government agencies, including the FDA, DEA and SEC. For example, in 2018, several shareholders filed lawsuits and shareholder demands asserting that Akorn and its directors and officers violated Louisiana fiduciary duty law and federal securities laws. Other such matters include receiving and responding to inquiries and subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice - Antitrust Division, and U.S. and Department of Justice - Civil Division relating to industry drug pricing practices; being named defendants in a multidistrict litigation matter in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania relating to alleged price fixing by generic pharmaceutical manufactures; and DEA subpoenas. We incur substantial time and expense participating in these types of lawsuits and investigations, which also divert management’s attention from ongoing business concerns and normal operations. In addition, these matters and any other substantial litigation may result in verdicts against us or government enforcement actions, which may include significant monetary awards, judgments invalidating certain of our intellectual property rights and preventing the manufacture, marketing and sale of our products. When such disputes are resolved unfavorably, our business, financial condition and results of operations are adversely affected. Any litigation, whether or not successful, may also damage our reputation. See Part II, Item 8, Note 19 - "Legal Proceedings.

Charges to earnings resulting from acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

Under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) business acquisition accounting standards, we recognize the identifiable assets acquired, the liabilities assumed, and any non-controlling interests in acquired companies generally at their acquisition date fair values and, in each case, separately from goodwill. Goodwill as of the acquisition date is measured as the excess amount of consideration transferred, which is also generally measured at fair value, and the net of the acquisition date amounts of the identifiable assets acquired and the liabilities assumed. Our estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain. After we complete an acquisition, the following factors could result in material charges and adversely affect our operating results and may adversely affect our cash flow:


•	costs incurred to combine the operations of companies we acquire, such as transitional employee expenses and employee retention, redeployment or relocation expenses;


•	impairment of goodwill or intangible assets;


•	amortization of intangible assets acquired;


•	a reduction in the useful lives of intangible assets acquired;


•	identification of or changes to assumed contingent liabilities, including, but not limited to, contingent purchase price consideration, income tax contingencies and other non-income tax contingencies, after our final determination of the amounts for these contingencies or the conclusion of the measurement period (generally up to one year from the acquisition date), whichever comes first;


•	charges to our operating results to eliminate certain duplicative pre-acquisition activities, to restructure our operations or to reduce our cost structure;


•	charges to our operating results resulting from expenses incurred to effect the acquisition;


•	changes to contingent consideration liabilities, including accretion and fair value adjustments. A significant portion of these adjustments could be accounted for as expenses that will decrease our net income and earnings per share for the periods in which those costs are incurred.

Such charges could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and/or cash flow, and could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

As of December 31, 2018, we had $283.9 million and $285.0 million of Goodwill and Intangible assets, net, respectively on our consolidated balance sheet. During 2018 and 2017, we recorded impairments of Intangible assets of $231.1 million and $128.1 million, respectively.

John N. Kapoor, Ph.D., through his stock ownership and his right to nominate up to three directors, could have an adverse effect on the price of our common stock and have substantial influence over our business strategies and policies.

John N. Kapoor, Ph.D., is a principal shareholder. As of December 31, 2018, Dr. Kapoor beneficially owns approximately 23% of our common stock. In addition, through the Kapoor Trust and EJ Financial, Dr. Kapoor is entitled to nominate up to three persons to serve on our Board. Mr. Brian Tambi was nominated for these purposes. The other seats for nomination are vacant. Nomination of any directors to our Board or any trading of our common stock by Dr. Kapoor and his related parties could have an adverse effect on the price of our common stock and an adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Our Industry.

Many of the raw materials and components used in our products come from a single source, the loss of any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Sales of our products may be adversely affected by further consolidation of our customer base, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

Drug wholesalers, drug retailers, and group purchasing organizations have undergone, and are continuing to undergo, significant consolidation. Such consolidation has provided and may continue to provide them with additional purchasing leverage, and consequently may increase the pricing pressures that we face. Our net revenue and quarterly growth comparisons may be affected by fluctuations in the buying patterns of retail chains, major distributors and other trade buyers, whether resulting from seasonality, pricing, wholesaler buying decisions or other factors. In addition, since such a significant portion of our revenues is derived from relatively few customers, any financial difficulties experienced by a single customer, or any delay in receiving payments from a single customer, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our branded products may become subject to increased generic competition.

Trends moving toward increased substitution and reimbursement of generics for cost-containment purposes may reduce and limit the sales of our off-patent branded products. For example, our branded product Cosopt® PF faced generic competition in late 2018. Increased focus by the FDA on approval of generics may accelerate this trend.

Changes in technology could render our products obsolete.

The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological change. The products that we sell today and their drug delivery methods may be replaced by more effective methods to deliver the same care, rendering our current products obsolete. Further, the technologies that we invest in for future use may not become the preferred method of delivery.

Risks Related to Regulations.

We are subject to extensive government regulations. When regulations change or we fall out of compliance, we can face increased costs, additional obligations, fines, or halts to our operations.

New, modified and additional regulations, statutes or legal interpretation, which occur from time to time among other things, require changes to manufacturing methods, expanded or different labeling, recall, replacement or discontinuation of certain products, additional record keeping procedures, expanded documentation of the properties of certain products and additional scientific substantiation. Such changes or new legislation can have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Certain of the regulatory risks that we are subject to are outlined below:

We and our third-party manufacturers are subject to periodic inspection by the FDA to assure regulatory compliance regarding the manufacturing, distribution, and promotion of pharmaceutical products. The FDA imposes stringent mandatory requirements on the manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical products to ensure their safety and efficacy. The FDA also

regulates drug labeling and the advertising of prescription drugs. A finding by a governmental agency or court that we are not in compliance with FDA requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As previously disclosed in various reports filed with the SEC, the Company, with the assistance of outside consultants, has been investigating alleged breaches of FDA data integrity requirements relating to product development at the Company. The Company has informed the FDA regarding the investigation and will continue to update the FDA as it proceeds. During 2018, we had FDA inspections at our Decatur and Somerset facilities that resulted in Official Action Indicated (“OAI”) facility status and we received a warning letter in early 2019 related to the 2018 Decatur inspection. In 2018, significant costs were incurred to address the FDA observations from the inspections of our Decatur and Somerset facilities. If we are unable to adequately address the FDA’s concerns in a timely manner, the FDA may take further actions and our pipeline product approvals may be further delayed.

We must obtain approval from the FDA for each prescription pharmaceutical product that we market and the timing of such approval process is unknown and uncertain. The FDA approval process is typically lengthy, and approval is never certain. Our new products could take a significantly longer time than we expect to gain regulatory approval and may never gain approval. Even if the FDA or another regulatory agency approves a product, the approval may limit the indicated uses for a product, may otherwise limit our ability to promote, sell and distribute a product or may require post-marketing studies or impose other post-marketing obligations, which could have a material adverse effect on marketability and profitability of the new products.

We are subject to recalls and other enforcement actions by the FDA. The FDA or other government agencies having regulatory authority over pharmaceutical products may request us to voluntarily or involuntarily conduct product recalls due to disputed labeling claims, manufacturing issues, quality defects or for other reasons. Restriction or prohibition on sales, halting of manufacturing operations, recalls of our pharmaceutical products or other enforcement actions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, such actions, in certain circumstances, may constitute an event of default under the terms of our various financing arrangements.

If the FDA changes its regulatory policies, it could force us to delay or suspend our manufacturing, distribution or sales of certain products. FDA interpretations of existing or pending regulations and standards may change over time with the advancement of associated technologies, industry trends, or prevailing scientific rationale. If the FDA changes its regulatory policies due to such factors, it could result in delay or suspension of the manufacturing, distribution or sales of certain of our products. In addition, modifications or enhancements of approved products are in many circumstances subject to additional FDA approvals which may or may not be granted and which may be subject to a lengthy application process. Any change in the FDA’s enforcement policy or any decision by the FDA to require an approved application for one of our products not currently subject to the approved application requirements or any delay in the FDA approving an application for one of our products could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to extensive DEA regulation, which could result in our being fined or otherwise penalized if we are in non-compliance. The DEA could limit or reduce the amount of controlled substances that we are permitted to manufacture and market or issue fines and penalties against us for non-compliance with DEA regulations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our inability to timely and adequately address FDA warning letter and OAI facility status may adversely affect our business.

During 2018, we had FDA inspections at our Decatur and Somerset facilities that resulted in OAI facility status and we received a warning letter in early 2019 related to the 2018 Decatur inspection. If we are unable to adequately address the FDA’s concerns in a timely manner, the FDA may take further actions and our pipeline product approvals may be further delayed.

Changes in healthcare law and policy may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The sales of our products depend in part on the availability of reimbursement from third-party payers such as government health administration authorities, private health insurers, health maintenance organizations including Pharmacy Benefit Managers (“PBMs”) and other healthcare-related organizations. We expect both federal and state governments in the U.S. and foreign governments to continue to propose and pass new legislation, rules and regulations designed to contain or reduce the cost of healthcare. Existing regulations that affect the price of pharmaceutical and other medical products may also change before any of our products are approved for marketing. Cost control initiatives could decrease the price that we receive for any

product we develop in the future. In addition, PBMs and other third-party payers are increasingly challenging the price and cost-effectiveness of medical products and services. Significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved pharmaceutical products. Our products may not be considered cost effective, or adequate third-party reimbursement may not be available to enable us to maintain price levels sufficient to realize a return on our investments. Any such changes in healthcare law or policy may harm our ability to market our products and generate profits.

The FDA may require us to stop marketing certain unapproved drugs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

We market several generic prescription products that do not have formal FDA approvals. These products are non-application drugs that are manufactured and marketed without formal FDA approval on the basis of their having been marketed by the pharmaceutical industry prior to the 1962 Amendments of the FDC Act. The FDA has increased its efforts to require companies to file and seek FDA approval for unapproved products, and when a product is approved, the FDA has typically increased its effort to remove other unapproved products from the market by issuing notices to companies currently manufacturing these products to cease its distribution of said products. In 2013, we discontinued marketing of a previously unapproved product after receipt of notice from the FDA. During 2018, we marketed six such unapproved products, generating net revenue of approximately $48.5 million.

Any failure to comply with the complex reporting and payment obligations under Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs may result in litigation or sanctions.

We are subject to various federal and state laws pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse, including anti-kickback, false claims, marketing and pricing laws. We are also subject to Medicaid and other government reporting and payment obligations that are highly complex and at times ambiguous. Violations of these laws and reporting obligations are punishable by criminal or civil sanctions and exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In 2013, the Attorney General of the State of Louisiana filed a lawsuit against Hi-Tech Pharmacal and numerous other pharmaceutical companies alleging that the defendants violated Louisiana state laws in connection with Medicaid reimbursement for certain vitamins, dietary supplements, and other products that were allegedly ineligible for reimbursement. In 2017, a similar lawsuit was filed by the State of Mississippi against the Company. If our past, present or future operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or other similar governmental regulations, we may be subject to the applicable penalty associated with the violation, which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and negatively impact our financial results. Further, if there is a change in laws, regulations or administrative or judicial interpretations, we may have to change our business practices or our existing business practices could be challenged as unlawful, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

Failure to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could subject us to, among other things, penalties and legal expenses that could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The Company and its employees are subject to the FCPA, which generally prohibits covered entities and their intermediaries from engaging in bribery or making other prohibited payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or other benefits. In addition, the FCPA imposes recordkeeping standards and requirements on publicly traded U.S. corporations and their foreign affiliates, which are intended to prevent the diversion of corporate funds to the payment of bribes and other improper payments, and to prevent the establishment of “off books” slush funds from which such improper payments can be made. If our employees, third-party sales representatives or other agents are found to have engaged in such practices, we could suffer severe penalties, including criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other remedial measures, including further changes or enhancements to our procedures, policies and controls, as well as potential personnel changes and disciplinary actions.

The FDA may authorize sales of some prescription pharmaceuticals on a non-prescription basis, which may reduce the profitability of our prescription products.

The FDA may change the designation of some prescription pharmaceuticals we currently sell to non-prescription. If we are unable to gain approval of our product on a non-prescription designation we may experience an adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Financing.

We may not be able to extend or replace the JPM Revolving Facility.

The JPM revolving facility while undrawn, provides a source of liquidity for the Company. This facility matures on April 17, 2019. If the Company is unable to extend or replace it prior to that time, this source of liquidity will no longer be available to the Company unless the Company is thereafter able to replace it with similar financing and there is no assurance that it would be able to do so on favorable terms if at all.

Events of default may occur under our debt instruments. If events of default occur and lenders under these debt instruments accelerate the obligations thereunder we may not be able to repay the obligations that become immediately due. The terms of our Loan Agreement and Credit Agreement require us to remain in compliance with certain covenants. In the event that an event of default has occurred, the loans thereunder may become accelerated and immediately due. If we are not successful in refinancing our debt or accessing additional liquidity, we may not be able to fund all our commitments and will be in default under these obligations. If we do not have sufficient funds on hand to pay our debt when due, we may be required to seek a waiver or amendment from our lenders, refinance our indebtedness, incur additional indebtedness, sell assets or sell additional securities. No assurance can be given that we will be able to obtain a waiver or amendment from our lenders if needed or that other financing will be available on terms that are acceptable to us or at all. Any failure to meet our obligations under our debt instruments could have a material negative impact on our liquidity and on our business.

Our indebtedness reduces our financial and operating flexibility.

We have entered into various credit arrangements to fund certain of our operations and activities, principally acquisitions. As of December 31, 2018, our debt includes The Existing Term loan and Incremental Term Loan, collectively the “Term Loans,” with a remaining principal balance of $831.9 million. We also have available borrowing capacity under our credit facilities (See Part II, Item 8, Note 7 - “Financing Arrangements” for definitions and descriptions of our Term Loans and our credit facilities). A high level of indebtedness subjects us to a number of risks. In particular, a significant portion of our current indebtedness has variable interest terms meaning we are subject to the risks associated with higher interest rates, and moreover, a high level of indebtedness may impair our ability to obtain additional financing in the future and increases the risk that we may default on our debt obligations. In addition, our current debt arrangements require that we devote a significant portion of our cash flows to service amounts outstanding under those debt arrangements. We also are subject to various covenants with respect to our indebtedness, including the obligation to meet certain defined financial ratios and our ability to pay distributions to our shareholders is restricted. Further, our indebtedness may restrict or otherwise impair our ability to raise additional capital through other debt financing, which could restrict our ability to grow our business. Our ability to meet our debt obligations, to comply with all required covenants, and to reduce our level of indebtedness depends on our future performance. General economic conditions and financial, business and other factors affect our operations and our future performance. Many of these factors are beyond our control. If we do not have sufficient funds on hand to pay our debt when due, we may be required to seek a waiver or amendment from our lenders, refinance our indebtedness, incur additional indebtedness, sell assets or sell additional shares of securities. We may not be able to complete such transactions on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Our failure to generate sufficient funds to pay our debts or to undertake any of these actions successfully could result in a default on our debt obligations, which would materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not generate cash flow sufficient to pay interest and make required principal repayments on our Term Loans.

The outstanding balance of the Term Loans, which was $831.9 million as of December 31, 2018, is due and payable on April 17, 2021. If we do not generate sufficient operating cash flows to fund these payments or obtain additional funding from external sources at acceptable terms, we may not have sufficient funds to satisfy our principal and interest payment obligations when those obligations are due, which would place us into default under the terms of the Existing Term Loan and the Incremental Term Loan. Such default would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, our borrowings are secured by all or substantially all of the Company’s assets. If the Company defaults on its obligations under the Existing Term Loan or the Incremental Term Loans, the lenders may be able to foreclose upon its security interest and otherwise be entitled to obtain or control Company assets. The lenders may also be able to negotiate significant increases in interest rates and fees.

We may need to obtain additional capital to grow our business, which could restrict our ability to operate in a manner we deem to be in our best interest.

We may require additional funds in order to materially grow our business. We require substantial liquidity to implement long-term cost savings and productivity improvement plans, continue capital spending to improve our manufacturing facilities

to increase capacity and support product development programs, meet scheduled term debt and lease maturities, to effect acquisitions and to run our normal business operations. We may seek additional funds through public and private financing, including equity and debt offerings. However, adequate funds through the financial markets or from other sources may not be available to us when needed or on favorable terms. Without sufficient additional capital funding, we may be required to delay, scale back or abandon some or all of our product development, manufacturing, acquisition, licensing and marketing initiatives, or operations. Further, such additional financing, if obtained, may require the granting of rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of the common stock and result in substantial dilution of the existing ownership interests of the common stockholders and could include covenants and restrictions that limit our ability to operate or expand our business in a manner that we deem to be in our best interest.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.

Third parties may claim that we infringe their proprietary rights and may prevent or delay us from manufacturing and selling some of our new products.

The manufacture, use and sale of new products that are the subject of conflicting patent rights have been the subject of substantial litigation in the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies with patented brand products frequently sue companies that file applications to produce generic equivalents of their patented brand products for alleged patent infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights, which may delay or prevent the entry of such generic products into the market. Generally, a generic drug may not be marketed until the applicable patent(s) on the brand name drug expire or are held to be not infringed, invalid, or unenforceable. When we or our development partners submit a filing to the FDA for approval of a generic drug, we or our development partners must certify: (i) that there is no patent listed by the FDA as covering the relevant brand product, (ii) that any patent listed as covering the brand product has expired, (iii) that the patent listed as covering the brand product will expire prior to the marketing of the generic product, in which case the filing will not be finally approved by the FDA until the expiration of such patent, or (iv) that any patent listed as covering the brand drug is invalid or will not be infringed by the manufacture, sale or use of the generic product for which the filing is submitted.

Under any circumstance in which an act of infringement is alleged to occur, there is a risk that a brand pharmaceutical company may sue us for alleged patent infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Also, competing pharmaceutical companies may file lawsuits against us or our strategic partners alleging patent infringement or may file declaratory judgment actions of non-infringement, invalidity, or unenforceability against us relating to our own patents. We have been sued for patent infringement related to several of our filings and we anticipate that we may be sued once we file for other products in our pipeline. Such litigation is often costly and time-consuming and could result in a substantial delay in, or prevent the introduction and/or marketing of our products, allow for damages for any at-risk launches, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if the parties settle their intellectual property disputes through licensing or similar arrangements, the costs associated with these arrangements may be substantial and could include ongoing royalties, and the necessary licenses might not be available to us on terms we believe to be acceptable.

Our patents and proprietary rights may be challenged, circumvented or otherwise compromised by competitors, which may result in our protected products losing their market exclusivity and becoming subject to generic competition before their patents expire.

The patent and proprietary rights position of competitors in the pharmaceutical industry generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and is the subject of much litigation. There can be no assurance that any patent applications or other proprietary rights, including licensed rights, relating to our potential products or processes will result in patents being issued or other proprietary rights secured, or that the resulting patents or proprietary rights, if any, will provide protection against competitors who: (i) successfully challenge our patents or proprietary rights; (ii) obtain patents or proprietary rights that may have an adverse effect on our ability to conduct business; or (iii) are able to circumvent our patent or proprietary rights position. It is possible that other parties have conducted or are conducting research and could make discoveries of pharmaceutical formulations or processes that would precede any discoveries made by us, which could prevent us from obtaining patent or other protection for these discoveries or marketing products developed therefrom. Consequently, others could independently develop pharmaceutical products similar to or rendering obsolete those that we are planning to develop, or duplicate any of our products. Our inability to obtain patents for, or other proprietary rights in, our products and processes or the ability of competitors to circumvent or cause to be obsolete our patents or proprietary rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, our inability to successfully defend the existing patents on our products against Paragraph IV challenges by competing drug companies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, the patents that protect Azasite® that will

expire in March 2019, were challenged by two generic competitors. We settled with one competitor and the courts found in our favor with the other. Additionally, the Zioptan™ patents faced challenges from two generic competitors. We ultimately reached settlements with both competitors.

Further, the majority of the drug products that we market are generics, with essentially no patent or proprietary rights attached. While this fact allowed us the opportunity to obtain FDA approval to market our generic products, it also allows competing drug companies to do the same. Should multiple additional drug companies choose to develop and market the same generic products that we actively market, our profit margins could decline, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock.

The issuance of shares related to the Company’s various stock plans may have a substantial dilutive effect on our common stock.

As of December 31, 2018, holders of unvested restricted stock units would receive 1.6 million shares of our common stock should all their restricted stock units vest. If the price per share of our common stock at the time of exercise of any stock options is in excess of the various exercise prices of such options, exercise of such options would have a dilutive effect on our common stock. As of December 31, 2018, holders of our outstanding options would receive 3.4 million shares of our common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $28.55 per share.

Our announced stock repurchase program could affect the price of our common stock and increase volatility and may be suspended or terminated at any time, which may result in a decrease in the trading price of our common stock.

In July 2016, the Board authorized a stock repurchase program (the "Stock Repurchase Program") that would allow the Company to effect repurchases from time to time in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions or otherwise, including accelerated stock repurchase arrangements. During 2016, the Company repurchased a total of approximately 1.8 million shares at an average price of $24.89 per share of common stock. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased under the Stock Repurchase Program has depended on a variety of factors, including the timing of open trading windows, price, corporate and regulatory requirements and other market conditions. Any repurchases pursuant to such program could affect our stock price and increase its volatility. The existence of a stock repurchase program could also cause our stock price to be higher than it would be in the absence of such a program and could potentially reduce the market liquidity for our stock. There can be no assurance that any stock repurchases will occur or that if they do, that they will enhance stockholder value as the market price of our common stock may decline below the levels at which we repurchased shares of common stock. In addition, short-term stock price fluctuations could reduce the program’s effectiveness.

We may issue preferred stock and the terms of such preferred stock may reduce the market value of our common stock.

We are authorized to issue up to a total of 5 million shares of preferred stock in one or more series subject to certain limitations, without further action by holders of our common stock. If we did issue shares of preferred stock, it could affect the rights or reduce the market value of our common stock. In particular, specific rights granted to future holders of preferred stock could be used to restrict our ability to merge with or sell our assets to a third party. These terms may include voting rights, preferences as to dividends and liquidation, conversion and redemption rights and sinking fund provisions.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

Our manufacturing facilities in Decatur, Illinois, Amityville, New York, Somerset, New Jersey and Hettlingen, Switzerland are expected to be adequate to accommodate our current manufacturing needs.

Owned Locations

As of December 31, 2018, the Company owns three facilities in Decatur, Illinois. The Wyckles Road facility, which consists of 105,000 square feet of building space, is used for packaging, warehousing, distribution, and office space. The Company also owns approximately 7 acres of additional currently undeveloped land adjacent to the Wyckles facility. The Grand Avenue facility is a 123,000 square-foot facility for manufacturing, laboratories and office space. A third facility is a 750 square-foot storage unit. The Decatur facilities support the Prescription Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health segments.

The Company owns five buildings in Hettlingen, Switzerland which support the Prescription Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health segments with approximately 50,000 square-feet of manufacturing, office and storage space, and approximately 0.5 acres of additional currently undeveloped land.

The Company owns seven facilities in Amityville and Copiague, New York, with a total of approximately 219,000 square-feet. These facilities support the Prescription Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health segments:


•	42,000 square-foot facility dedicated to liquid and semi-solid production,


•	29,000 square-foot facility housing a sterile manufacturing facility, DEA manufacturing, chemistry and microbiology laboratories,


•	65,000 square-foot facility used for warehousing finished goods,


•	22,000 square-foot facility with 4,000 square feet of office space and 18,000 square feet of warehouse space,


•	8,000 square-foot office building utilized for administrative functions,


•	35,000 square-foot facility with mixed office, laboratory and manufacturing space,


•	18,000 square-foot building with mixed office and laboratory space. (Operations relocated to Cranbury)

The Company owns approximately 380,000 square feet of pharmaceutical manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities situated on approximately 14 acres of land in Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Leased Locations

The Company leases four facilities in Somerset, New Jersey. One is a 50,000 square-foot facility used for drug manufacturing, research and development and administrative activities related to our Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment. The second facility is a 15,000 square foot facility used for a quality laboratory and additional office space. The third facility is a 6,600 square foot on-site warehouse, and the fourth facility is a 52,000 square-foot warehouse. The Company also leases a facility in Cranbury, New Jersey that is approximately 48,000 square feet used for research and development activities and a 3,000 square-foot laboratory space in Winterthur, Switzerland.

Our corporate headquarters and administrative offices consist of 70,000 square feet of leased space in two office buildings in Lake Forest, Illinois. In Gurnee, Illinois, we lease approximately 161,000 square feet of space for our product warehousing and distribution needs. In Vernon Hills, Illinois, the Company leases approximately 28,000 square feet of space for research and development activities.

Our subsidiary, Akorn Consumer Health, maintains its corporate offices in a 3,200-square foot leased facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In India, the Company leases approximately 9,000 square feet of warehouse and office space.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Legal proceedings which may have a material effect on the Company have been further disclosed in Part II, Item 8, Note 19 - “Legal Proceedings” and are herein incorporated by reference.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

Executive Officers of the Company

The following table identifies our current executive officers, the positions they hold as of February 20, 2019, and the year in which they became an officer. Our officers are appointed by the Board to hold office until their successors are elected and qualified.



Name	Position	Age	Year Became Officer

Douglas S. Boothe	President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”)	55	2019
Duane A. Portwood	Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”)	52	2015
Joseph Bonaccorsi	Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary (“General Counsel”)	54	2009
Randall E. Pollard	Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Accounting Officer ("CAO")	47	2015
Jonathan Kafer	Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer	55	2016
Christopher C. Young	Executive Vice President, Global Operations	47	2019

Douglas S. Boothe. Mr. Boothe was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Akorn as of January 1, 2019. Prior to joining Akorn, Boothe most recently served as president of the generics division of publicly held Impax Laboratories, which developed, manufactured and marketed bioequivalent pharmaceuticals and was acquired by Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC. Prior to Impax Laboratories, Mr. Boothe was the executive vice president and general manager of Perrigo Company Plc, with responsibility for the U.S. pharmaceuticals business, which included generics and specialty pharmaceutical products. He also served as the CEO of Actavis Inc., the U.S. manufacturing and marketing division of Actavis Group, and held senior positions at Alpharma and Pharmacia Corp. Following Mr. Boothe’s time at Impax Laboratories, he served as principal consultant for his own consulting company, Channel Advantage Consulting LLC. Mr. Boothe received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Duane A. Portwood. Mr. Portwood joined Akorn in 2015 as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He previously worked for The Home Depot, Inc., where he was their Vice President & Corporate Controller since 2006. In that role, he was responsible for all of Home Depot’s accounting and financial reporting functions, as well as its financial operations and internal controls. Prior to Home Depot, Mr. Portwood served with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company from 1999 to 2006 in a number of accounting and finance leadership roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Corporate Controller. Mr. Portwood began his career with Price Waterhouse LLP, where he held numerous leadership positions in their audit and transaction support practices. Mr. Portwood, previously a Certified Public Account, holds an M.B.A. with Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Montana.

Joseph Bonaccorsi. Mr. Bonaccorsi, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, joined Akorn in 2009. Mr. Bonaccorsi came to Akorn from Walgreen Co., where he served as Senior Vice President Mergers & Acquisition and Counsel for the Walgreens-Option Care Home Care division. Mr. Bonaccorsi joined Option Care, Inc. in 2002, where he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Corporate Compliance Officer through 2007. Prior to joining Option Care, Inc., he was in private law practice in Chicago, Illinois. He received his B.S. degree from Northwestern University and his Juris Doctorate from Loyola University School of Law, Chicago.

Randall E. Pollard. Mr. Pollard joined Akorn in 2015 as Vice President, Corporate Controller and is currently serving as Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Accounting Officer. Mr. Pollard joined Akorn from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as the head of accounting and reporting for Novartis’ generic division, Sandoz. During his tenure at Novartis, Mr. Pollard also served as Controller of the Sandoz division. Prior to Novartis/Sandoz, he had served in various financial leadership roles at Wyeth Pharmaceutics and Mayne Pharma. Mr. Pollard began his career in public accounting at Arthur Andersen. Mr. Pollard is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University and an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Jonathan Kafer. Mr. Kafer joined Akorn in 2015 as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing and was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer effective as of December 10, 2018. Mr. Kafer joined Akorn from Allergan, Inc., where he was previously the Vice President, Account Management. At Allergan, Mr. Kafer was responsible for all trade activity within Allergan’s wholesale, retail specialty pharmacy, e-Solutions and managed market channels for all of Allergan’s business units. Prior to Allergan, Mr. Kafer was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Health Systems at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Kafer has also served in various senior management roles at AAIPharma, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, HealthNexis and Novartis. Mr. Kafer holds a B.A. in Organizational Communications from The Ohio State University.

Christopher C. Young. Mr. Young was appointed Executive Vice President, Global Operations, effective January 24, 2019. Mr. Young brings twenty-five years of pharmaceutical experience to Akorn having most recently been the Executive Vice President of Global Operations for Alvogen, Inc. from 2013 to 2018. Prior to Alvogen, Mr. Young was Vice President of Operations in the United States and India for Actavis. Mr. Young received his undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College and his MBA from Rutgers University.

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

From February 7, 2007 to date, our common stock has been listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “AKRX”.

As of February 20, 2019, there were 125,577,671 shares of our common stock outstanding, held by 250 stockholders of record. This number does not include stockholders for which shares are held in a “nominee” or “street” name. The closing price of our common stock on February 20, 2019 was $4.04 per share.

The Company did not pay cash dividends in 2018, 2017 or 2016 and does not expect to pay dividends on its common stock in the foreseeable future. Moreover, we may be restricted or limited from making dividend payments pursuant to the terms of our financing arrangements with certain other financial institutions (see Item 8, Note 7 - "Financing Arrangements”).

The Company did not repurchase any of its common stock during 2018 or 2017. During 2016, the Company repurchased a total of approximately 1.8 million shares at an average price of $24.89 per share of common stock. See Item 8, Note 20 - "Share Repurchases" for further information. The following table sets forth the summary of the Company's repurchase activity during each quarter in 2016.



Period	Total Number of Shares Repurchased	Average Price Paid per Share (including commission costs)		Cumulative Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs	Dollar Value of Shares that may yet be Purchased under the Plans or Programs
September 1-30, 2016	901,382	$	27.74	901,382	$	174,995,663
November 1-30, 2016	906,451	$	22.06	1,807,833	$	154,999,354
Total	1,807,833	$	24.89	1,807,833	$	154,999,354

PERFORMANCE GRAPH

The following Stock Performance Graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor should such information be incorporated by reference into any future filings under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference in such filing.

The graph below compares the cumulative shareholder return on our common stock with the NASDAQ Composite Index (ticker symbol: ^IXIC) and the NASDAQ Health Care Index (ticker symbol: ^IXHC) over the last five years through December 31, 2018. The graph assumes $100 was invested in our common stock, as well as the two indices presented, at the end of December 2012 and that all dividends were reinvested during the subsequent five-year period.



Total Return Chart	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
NASDAQ Composite Index (^IXIC)	100	113	120	129	153	159
NASDAQ Health Care Index (^IXHC)	100	128	137	114	138	133
Akorn, Inc. (AKRX)	100	147	152	89	131	14

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

The following table sets forth selected summary historical financial data. We have prepared this table using our consolidated financial statements for the five years ended December 31, 2018. Our consolidated financial statements upon which the selected summary historical financial data is derived were audited by BDO USA, LLP (“BDO”), independent registered public accounting firm, during each of the five years ended December 31, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014. Certain prior-period amounts have been reclassified to conform to current-period presentation including cost of sales, selling, general and administrative expenses, research and development expenses, impairment of intangible assets, litigation rulings and settlements and other non-operating (expense) income, net on the consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income, as well as Fin 48 reserve and accrued legal fees and contingencies on the consolidated balance sheet. This summary should be read in conjunction with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto, and "Item 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and other financial information included herein.



	Years Ended December 31,
	2018 (2)			2017			2016			2015 (1)			2014 (1)
(In thousands, except per share data)
Revenues	$	694,018		$	841,045		$	1,116,843		$	985,076		$	555,048
Gross profit	246,016			432,206			673,512			595,243			261,360
Operating (loss) income	(388,426		)	(22,884		)	322,858			288,172			60,816
Interest expense, net, amortization of deferred financing costs and other non-operating income (expense), net	(49,756		)	(36,314		)	(51,558		)	(56,016		)	(35,474		)
Pretax (loss) income from operations	(438,182		)	(59,198		)	271,300			232,156			25,342
Income tax (benefit) provision from operations	(36,273		)	(34,648		)	87,057			81,358			10,954
(Loss) income from operations	$	(401,909	)	$	(24,550	)	$	184,243		$	150,798		$	14,388
Weighted average shares outstanding:
Basic	125,383			124,790			122,869			116,980			103,480
Diluted	125,383			124,790			125,801			125,762			109,588
PER SHARE:
Equity, per diluted share	$	3.54		$	6.66		$	6.51		$	4.94		$	3.25
(Loss) income from operations per share:
Basic	$	(3.21	)	$	(0.20	)	$	1.50		$	1.29		$	0.14
Diluted	$	(3.21	)	$	(0.20	)	$	1.47		$	1.22		$	0.13
Share Price: High	$	33.63		$	34.00		$	39.46		$	57.10		$	45.25
Low	$	3.16		$	17.74		$	17.57		$	19.08		$	20.52
BALANCE SHEET DATA:
Current assets	$	583,819		$	730,151		$	685,811		$	708,132		$	437,750
Net property, plant & equipment	334,853			313,418			238,404			179,614			144,196
Total assets	$	1,495,257		$	1,909,511		$	1,973,720		$	2,042,545		$	1,832,150
Current liabilities	$	170,823		$	171,089		$	175,555		$	231,376		$	150,853
Long-term obligations, less current installments	880,568			907,177			978,981			1,189,604			1,324,990
Shareholders’ equity	$	443,866		$	831,245		$	819,184		$	621,565		$	356,307
CASH FLOW DATA:
Cash (used in) provided by operating activities	$	(68,894	)	$	247,633		$	166,690		$	299,031		$	43,390
Cash used in investing activities	$	(69,131	)	$	(90,555	)	$	(72,922	)	$	(53,718	)	$	(966,874	)
Cash (used in) provided by financing activities	$	(5,038	)	$	7,594		$	(240,333	)	$	31,908		$	963,116
Effect of changes in exchange rates	$	(1,032	)	$	1,183		$	2		$	(251	)	$	(183	)
Decrease/(increase) in cash and cash equivalents	$	(144,095	)	$	165,855		$	(146,563	)	$	276,970		$	39,449

(1) Years 2014 and 2015 include the effects of acquisitions such as Akorn AG (January 2, 2015), VersaPharm (August 12, 2014) and Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc. (April 17, 2014).

(2) Operating loss for 2018 and 2017, include total intangible asset impairment amounts of $231.1 million and $128.1 million, respectively.

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

OVERVIEW

We, together with our wholly-owned subsidiaries, are a specialty generic pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets generic and branded prescription pharmaceuticals, branded and private-label OTC consumer health products and animal health pharmaceuticals. We are an industry leader in the development, manufacturing and marketing of specialized generic pharmaceutical products. As such, we specialize in difficult-to-manufacture sterile and non-sterile dosage forms including, but not limited to, ophthalmics, injectables, oral liquids, otics, topicals, inhalants and nasal sprays.

We have identified two reportable segments:


•	Prescription Pharmaceuticals, we manufacture and market generic and branded prescription pharmaceuticals including ophthalmics, injectables, oral liquids, otics, topical, inhalants, and nasal sprays.


•	Consumer Health, we manufacture and market branded and private-label animal health and OTC products.

For a more detailed description of the products and customers that comprise our reportable segments, see Part I, Item 1 - Business.

New Product Development:

We plan to continue to regularly submit additional filings based on perceived market opportunities and our R&D pipeline, as well as review existing filings for commercial viability. We continue to develop new products internally; as well as partner with other drug companies for products that we would not intend to manufacture ourselves. Our R&D expense in the year ended December 31, 2018 was $47.3 million as compared to $45.0 million in the prior year ended December 31, 2017. This includes internal and external R&D expenses and milestone fees paid to our strategic partners.

Revenue & Gross Profit:

Net revenue was $694.0 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018, representing a decrease of $147.0 million, or 17.5%, as compared to net revenue of $841.0 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. The decrease in net revenue in the period was primarily due to $157.4 million decline in organic revenue. The $157.4 million decline in organic revenue was due to approximately $117.1 million and $40.4 million declines in volume declines and price erosion, respectively. Gross profit for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 was $246.0 million, or 35.4% of revenue, compared to $432.2 million, or 51.4% of revenue, for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. The decline in the gross profit percentage was principally due to unfavorable product mix shifts primarily driven by the effect of competition on Ephedrine Sulfate Injection and Nembutal Injection, unfavorable variances due to decreased production resulting from extended planned shutdowns at our Decatur and Somerset manufacturing facilities, as well as increased operating costs associated with FDA compliance related improvement activities.

Sales Practices:

From time to time we offer incentives, such as extended payment terms or discounts, to support the launch of new products. We believe these practices are consistent with industry practice. For all sales under which these incentives were provided during the periods presented in this Management’s Discussion & Analysis, revenue received from such sales was properly accounted for in accordance with ASC 606 — “Revenue Recognition” and was recognized in the proper applicable accounting period.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

For the years 2018, 2017 and 2016, we have identified and reported operating results for two distinct business segments: Prescription Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health. Our reported results by segment are based upon various internal financial reports that disaggregate certain operating information. Our Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM"), as defined in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 280, Segment Reporting, is our Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Our CEO oversees operational assessments and resource allocations based upon the results of our reportable segments, all of which have available discrete financial information (See Item 8, Note 12 – “Segment Information” for further discussion).

The following table sets forth amounts and percentages of total revenue for certain items from our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income and our segment reporting information for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 (in thousands):



	2018					2017					2016
	Amount			% of Revenue		Amount			% of Revenue		Amount		% of Revenue
Revenues:
Prescription Pharmaceuticals	$	620,669		89.4	%	$	772,524		91.9	%	$	1,053,579	94.3	%
Consumer Health	73,349			10.6	%	68,521			8.1	%	63,264		5.7	%
Total revenues	694,018			100.0	%	841,045			100.0	%	1,116,843		100.0	%
Gross profit and gross margin percentage:
Prescription Pharmaceuticals	213,560			34.4	%	402,082			52.0	%	644,319		61.2	%
Consumer Health	32,456			44.2	%	30,124			44.0	%	29,193		46.1	%
Total gross profit	246,016			35.4	%	432,206			51.4	%	673,512		60.3	%
Operating expenses:
Selling, general & administrative expenses	279,628			40.3	%	216,324			25.7	%	197,631		17.7	%
Acquisition-related costs	121			—	%	159			—	%	364		—	%
Research and development expenses	47,321			6.8	%	44,988			5.3	%	38,753		3.5	%
Amortization of intangibles	53,472			7.7	%	61,443			7.3	%	65,713		5.9	%
Impairment of intangible assets	231,086			33.3	%	128,127			15.2	%	44,369		4.0	%
Litigation rulings and settlements	22,814			3.3	%	4,049			0.5	%	3,824		0.3	%
Operating (loss) income	$	(388,426	)	(56.0	)%	$	(22,884	)	(2.7	)%	$	322,858	28.9	%
Net (loss) income	$	(401,909	)	(57.9	)%	$	(24,550	)	(2.9	)%	$	184,243	16.5	%

COMPARISON OF YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Net revenue was $694.0 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018, representing a decrease of $147.0 million, or 17.5%, as compared to net revenue of $841.0 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. The decrease in net revenue in the period was primarily due to $157.4 million decline in organic revenue that was partially offset by $14.8 million of new product revenue. The $157.4 million decline in organic revenue was due to approximately $117.1 million, or 13.9%, and $40.4 million, or 4.8% in volume and price declines, respectively. The organic revenue decline was principally due to the effect of competition on Ephedrine Sulfate Injection, Nembutal, Lidocaine Ointment and Clobetasol Cream. In addition, the Company experienced lower net revenue as a result of supply shortfalls from extended planned shutdowns at our Decatur and Somerset manufacturing facilities during the year. While the Company received eight new-to-Akorn ANDA product approvals and launched or relaunched four new products during 2018, it was unable to offset the overall net revenue decline through new product launches or new business opportunities.

The Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment revenues of $620.7 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 represented a decrease of $151.8 million, or 19.7%, as compared to revenues of $772.5 million for twelve month period ended December 31, 2017.

The Consumer Health segment revenues of $73.3 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 represented an increase of $4.8 million, or 7.0%, as compared to revenues of $68.5 million for twelve month period ended December 31, 2017.

The net revenue for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 of $694.0 million was net of adjustments totaling $1,193.8 million for chargebacks, rebates, administrative fees and others, product returns, discounts and allowances and advertising, promotions and other. Chargeback expenses for 2018 were $830.0 million, or 44.0% of gross sales, compared to $953.3 million, or 40.5% of gross sales, in 2017. The $123.3 million decrease in chargeback expense was due to lower gross sales in the current year as compared to prior year. Rebates, administrative fees and other expenses for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 were $297.8 million, or 15.8% of gross sales, compared to $476.6 million, or 20.3% for twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. The $178.8 million decrease in rebates, administrative fees and other expenses was primarily due to volume declines as well as product mix and customer mix. Our product returns provision for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 was $20.2 million, or 1.1% of gross sales, compared to $26.9 million, or 1.1% of gross sales, for twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. Discounts and allowances were $36.9 million or 2.0% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018, compared to $45.3 million, or 1.9% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. Advertisement and promotion expenses were $8.9 million or 0.5% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018, compared to $7.9 million, or 0.3% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017.

Gross profit for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018 was $246.0 million, or 35.4% of revenue, compared to $432.2 million, or 51.4% of revenue, for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017. The decline in the gross profit percentage was principally due to unfavorable product mix shifts primarily driven by the effect of competition on Ephedrine Sulfate Injection and Nembutal Injection, unfavorable variances due to decreased production resulting from extended planned shutdowns at our Decatur and Somerset manufacturing facilities, as well as increased operating costs associated with FDA compliance related improvement activities.

Total operating expenses were $634.4 million in the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018, an increase of $179.4 million, or 39.4%, from the comparative prior year period amount of $455.1 million. The $179.4 million increase was primarily driven by respective increases, $103.0 million, $63.3 million and $18.8 million in Impairment of intangible assets, Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses and Litigation rulings and settlement expenses that were partially offset by a decrease of $8.0 million in Amortization of intangibles. The following is a discussion of the main drivers of the increase:

Impairments of intangible assets were $231.1 million in 2018, an increase of $103.0 million or 80.4% over the prior year amount of $128.1 million. The $103.0 million increase was primarily as a result of anticipated market conditions upon launch resulting in lower expected market share and lower average selling price, which reduced the viability for future development. As a result, the cost to get these products to market outweighed the benefits resulting in increased IPR&D impairments of $114.9 million that was partially offset by a decrease in Product licensing rights impairments of $11.9 million.

SG&A expenses were $279.6 million in 2018, an increase of $63.3 million, or 29.3%, over the prior year expenses of $216.3 million. The primary drivers of the $63.3 million increase were $36.0 million legal expenses attributed to the Delaware Action and $27.9 million expenses related to the data integrity assessment projects, $6.2 million severance packages for the former executives and $6.1 million of fixed assets impairments. These were partially offset by a decrease of $18.3 million in restatement related expenses.

Litigation rulings and settlements were $22.8 million in 2018, an increase of $18.8 million, from the comparative prior year period amount of $4.0 million. The primary drivers of the $18.8 million increase were $10.5 million related to an intermediate appellate decision for damages in a product liability case, $5.0 million related to a legal settlement accrual, and $3.8 million for an adverse arbitration decision related to a contract dispute in the third quarter of 2018.

Non-operating expenses were $49.8 million in 2018, an increase of $13.5 million, or 37.2%, over the prior year expenses of $36.3 million. The $13.5 million increase was primarily driven by $11.4 million increase in interest expense related to higher interest rates in 2018 compared to the prior year in 2017, and $3.0 million income attributed to receipt and subsequent sale of the Nicox securities that the Company received as a milestone payment in the second quarter of 2017.

Income tax benefit was $36.3 million based on an effective tax provision rate of approximately 8.3% in 2018, compared to an income tax benefit of $34.6 million in 2017 based on an effective tax provision rate of approximately 58.5%. The change in the tax rate experienced by the company was driven principally by a full valuation allowance of $60.6 million recorded against US, India, and Switzerland deferred tax assets and shortfalls and forfeitures related to stock compensation. A $3.0 million benefit also resulted from the re-measurement of U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities at the lower enacted corporate tax rate included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). In the absence of the changes in the Tax Act, our tax benefit for 2018 would have been $33.2 million, with an effective tax provision rate of approximately 7.6%. The Company’s foreign subsidiaries do not have accumulated earnings that they can distribute; therefore, the provisions of the Tax Act that related to

the repatriation of foreign earnings are not applicable to the Company at December 31, 2018. The benefit resulting from the re-measurement of U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities was partially offset by an accrual of $15.7 million of penalties and interest in 2017 and an additional accrual of $7.9 million of penalties and interest in 2018 that could result from adverse results of income tax examinations. Absent the effects of both the reduction in our deferred tax liability and the accrual of the penalties and interest, the income tax rate would have been approximately 9.4%.

The Company reported a net loss of $401.9 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2018, or 57.9% of net revenue, compared to net loss of $24.6 million, for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 or 2.9% of net revenue.

COMPARISON OF YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017 AND 2016

Net revenue was $841.0 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017, representing a decrease of $275.8 million, or 24.7%, as compared to net revenue of $1,116.8 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2016. The decrease in net revenue in the period was primarily due to $279.1 million decline in organic revenue. The $279.1 million decline in organic revenue was due to approximately $192 million and $87 million declines in volume and price erosion, respectively. The organic revenue decline was principally due to the effect of competition on Ephedrine Sulfate Injection, as well as Lidocaine Ointment. Additionally, other key products, such as Progesterone and Clobetasol Ointment, experienced more significant than expected declines in net revenue as a result of increased competition consistent with observed industry trends in 2017. In addition, the Company experienced more than normal supply disruptions for certain products during the year, resulting in lower net revenue. While the Company received 26 new-to-Akorn ANDA product approvals and launched 21 new products during 2017, it was unable to offset the overall net revenue decline through new product launches or new business opportunities.

The Prescription Pharmaceuticals segment revenues of $772.5 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 represented a decrease of $281.1 million, or 26.7%, as compared to revenues of $1,053.6 million for twelve month period ended December 31, 2016.

The Consumer Health segment revenues of $68.5 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 represented an increase of $5.3 million, or 8.3%, as compared to revenues of $63.3 million for twelve month period ended December 31, 2016.

The net revenue for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 of $841.0 million was net of adjustments totaling $1,510.0 million for chargebacks, rebates, administrative fees and others, product returns, discounts and allowances and advertising, promotions and other. Chargeback expenses for 2017 were $953.3 million, or 40.5% of gross sales, compared to $1,218.6 million, or 42.1% of gross sales, in 2016. The $265.2 million decrease in chargeback expense was due to lower gross sales in the current year as compared to prior year. Rebates, administrative fees and other expenses for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 were $476.6 million, or 20.3% of gross sales, compared to $463.7 million, or 16.0% for twelve month period ended December 31, 2016. The $12.9 million increase in rebates, administrative fees and other expenses was due to the impact of product and customer mix. Our product returns provision for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 was $26.9 million, or 1.1% of gross sales, compared to $28.3 million, or 1.0% of gross sales, for twelve month period ended December 31, 2016. Discounts and allowances were $45.3 million or 1.9% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017, compared to $55.5 million, or 1.9% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2016. Advertisement and promotion expenses were $7.9 million or 0.3% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017, compared to $8.4 million, or 0.3% of gross sales for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2016.

Gross profit for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017 was $432.2 million, or 51.4% of revenue, compared to $673.5 million, or 60.3% of revenue, for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2016. The decline in the gross profit percentage was principally due to unfavorable product mix shifts primarily driven by the effect of competition on one of our major products.

Total operating expenses were $455.1 million in the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017, an increase of $104.4 million, or 29.8%, from the comparative prior year period amount of $350.7 million. The $104.4 million increase was primarily driven by respective increases of $83.7 million and $18.7 million in Impairment of intangible assets and Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses. The following is a discussion of the main drivers of the increase:

Impairments of intangible assets were $128.1 million in 2017, an increase of $83.8 million or 188.8% over the prior year amount of $44.4 million. The $83.8 million increase was primarily as a result of anticipated market conditions upon launch resulting in lower expected market share and lower average selling price, which reduced the viability for future

development. As a result, the cost to get these products to market outweighed the benefits resulting in increased IPR&D impairments of $20.7 million and Product licensing rights impairments of $63.0 million.

SG&A expenses were $216.3 million in 2017, an increase of $18.7 million, or 9.5%, over the prior year expenses of $197.6 million. The primary drivers of the $18.7 million increase were $15.4 million in marketing and advertising expenses in 2017, of which $13.1 million was related to the TheraTears® direct-to-consumer ("DTC") advertising campaign, $7.9 million expenses related to the proposed Merger between Fresenius Kabi and Akorn, Inc., $7.5 million of net increase in Other SG&A expenses and $4.2 million increase in legal and audit expenses, which are being partially offset by a $16.9 million decrease in restatement related expenses.

During 2017, the Company incurred non-operating expenses totaling $36.3 million compared to $51.6 million during 2016. The $15.3 million decrease was primarily driven by respective decreases of $5.6 million, $4.7 million and $4.5 million in amortization of deferred financing costs, interest expense, net and other non-operating income (expense), net. The main drivers of the net decrease were comprised of the following:

Amortization of deferred financing costs totaled approximately $5.2 million in 2017, a decrease of $5.6 million as compared to the $10.8 million recognized in 2016. The decrease in deferred financing costs in the year was principally due to 2016 expense including a deferred financing fee write-down associated with $200.0 million principal repayment of the Term loans in February 2016.

Interest expense, net was $38.1 million in 2017, compared to $42.7 million in 2016. The decrease in 2017 was primarily due to increased capitalized interest and the effects of the conversion of the Convertible Notes on June 1, 2016.

Income tax benefit was $34.6 million based on an effective tax provision rate of approximately 58.5% in 2017, compared to an income tax expense of $87.1 million in 2016 based on an effective tax provision rate of approximately 32.1%. The change in the tax rate experienced by the company was driven principally by $26.9 million tax benefit resulting from the re-measurement of U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities at the lower enacted corporate tax rate included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “ Tax Act”). In the absence of the changes in the Tax Act, our tax benefit for 2017 would have been $7.7 million, with an effective tax provision rate of approximately 13.1%. The Company’s foreign subsidiaries do not have accumulated earnings that they can distribute; therefore, the provisions of the Act that related to the repatriation of foreign earnings are not applicable to the Company at December 31, 2017. The benefit resulting from the re-measurement of U.S. deferred tax assets and liabilities was partially offset by an accrual of $15.7 million of penalties and interest that could result from adverse results of income tax examinations. Absent the effects of both the reduction in our deferred tax liability and the accrual of the penalties and interest, the income tax rate would have been approximately 39.5%.

The Company reported a net loss of $24.6 million for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2017, or 2.9% of net revenue, compared to net income of $184.2 million, for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2016 or 16.5% of net revenue.

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND LIQUIDITY

Cash and Cash Equivalents

As of December 31, 2018, we had cash and cash equivalents of $224.9 million, which is $143.2 million lower than our cash and cash equivalents balance of $368.1 million as of December 31, 2017. This decrease in 2018 cash and cash equivalents was driven by investing cash outflows of $69.1 million, operating cash outflows of $68.9 million and financing cash outflows of $5.0 million. Our net working capital was $413.0 million at December 31, 2018, compared to $559.1 million at December 31, 2017, a decrease of $146.1 million.

Operating Cash Flows



	Year ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2016
OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net (loss) income	$	(401,909	)	$	(24,550	)	$	184,243
Adjustments to reconcile consolidated net (loss) income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization	82,805			85,173			87,963
Impairment of intangible assets	231,086			128,127			44,369
Fixed asset impairment	6,135			—			—
Amortization of deferred financing fees	5,216			5,216			10,760
Non-cash stock compensation expense	21,503			21,018			15,412
Non-cash interest expense	—			—			777
Income from available-for-sale securities	—			(3,032		)	—
Deferred income taxes, net	(37,396		)	(115,249		)	(32,934		)
Gain on sale of available-for-sale security	—			199			45
Other	421			(307		)	(4,888		)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Trade accounts receivable, net	(11,627		)	141,979			(132,617		)
Inventories, net	9,694			(8,367		)	10,208
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	3,847			(12,232		)	(7,262		)
Other non-current assets	(3,120		)	(3,519		)	(301		)
Trade accounts payable	(5,002		)	(9,223		)	6,139
Accrued legal fees and contingencies	24,120			21,492			711
FIN 48 Reserve	9,690			38,999			(984		)
Accrued expenses and other liabilities	(4,357		)	(18,091		)	(14,951		)
NET CASH (USED IN) PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES	$	(68,894	)	$	247,633		$	166,690

During 2018, we used $68.9 million in cash flow from operations. This negative operating cash flow was primarily driven by a net loss of $401.9 million and a $37.4 million decrease in deferred income taxes, partially offset by add-backs of impairment of intangible assets of $231.1 million, add-backs of depreciation and amortization of $82.8 million, accrued legal fees of $24.1 million, non-cash stock compensation expense of $21.5 million and $9.7 million related to FIN48 reserve, which mainly represents uncertain tax position regarding the reserve for chargebacks & rebates, penalties and interest for the change from accrual basis to cash basis.

During 2017, we generated $247.6 million in cash flow from operations. This positive operating cash flow was primarily driven by a decrease of $142.0 million in trade accounts receivable, net, add-backs of impairment of intangible assets of $128.1 million and add-backs of depreciation and amortization of $85.2 million, partially offset by a net loss of $24.6 million and a reduction in net deferred tax liabilities of $115.2 million.

During 2016, we generated $166.7 million in cash flow from operations. This positive operating cash flow was primarily driven by net income of $184.2 million, add-backs of depreciation and amortization of $88.0 million, intangible asset impairments of $44.4 million and amortization of deferred financing fees of $10.8 million, non-cash stock compensation expense of $15.4 million and a $10.2 million decrease in inventories, net, partially offset by a $132.6 million increase in trade accounts receivable, net, a $32.9 million decrease in deferred income taxes, net and $15.0 million related to a decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities.

Investing Cash Flows



	Year ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2016
INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from disposal of assets	$	30		$	4,815		$	5,966
Payments for other intangible assets	(50		)	(200		)	(3,950		)
Purchases of property, plant and equipment	(69,111		)	(95,170		)	(74,938		)
NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES	$	(69,131	)	$	(90,555	)	$	(72,922	)

During 2018, we used $69.1 million of cash in investing activities. Of this total, $69.1 million was used to acquire property, plant and equipment. The decrease in net cash used in investing activities during 2018 compared to 2017, was primarily driven by a decrease of approximately $17.5 million in capital spending related to our ongoing effort to comply with the Federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act ("DSCSA").

During 2017, we used $90.6 million of cash in investing activities. Of this total, $95.2 million was used to acquire property, plant and equipment. This use of cash was partially offset by $4.8 million of inflows from the sales of investments in available-for-sale securities and disposal of fixed assets. The increase in net cash used in investing activities during 2017 compared to 2016, was primarily driven by an increase of approximately $18.0 million in capital spending related to our ongoing effort to comply with the DSCSA.

During 2016, we used $72.9 million of cash in investing activities. Of this total, $74.9 million was used to acquire property, plant and equipment, and $4.0 million was used for the payment of other intangible assets. These uses of cash were partially offset by $6.0 million received in proceeds related to the disposition of assets during the year.

Financing Cash Flows



	Year ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2016
FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds under stock option and stock purchase plans	$	546		$	9,320		$	11,291
Stock compensation plan withholdings from employee taxes	(777		)	(1,726		)	(1,496		)
Payments of contingent acquisition liabilities	(4,793		)	—			—
Debt financing costs	—			—			(5,128		)
Common stock repurchases	—			—			(45,000		)
Lease Payments	(14		)	—			—
Debt repayment	—			—			(200,000		)
NET CASH (USED IN) PROVIDED BY FINANCING ACTIVITIES	$	(5,038	)	$	7,594		$	(240,333	)

During 2018, financing activities used $5.0 million of cash. $4.8 million was used for payments of contingent acquisition liabilities. During 2017, financing activities generated $7.6 million of cash from the employee stock option exercise proceeds. During 2016, financing activities used $240.3 million of cash of which $200.0 million was specifically used to repay debt, $45.0 million was used to purchase Akorn shares of common stock under our Stock Repurchase Program and $5.1 million was spent on debt financing costs. These uses were partially offset by $9.8 million of proceeds under stock option and stock purchase plans.

Liquidity and Capital Needs

We require certain capital resources in order to operate our business. The company has incurred and expects in 2019 to continue to incur significant costs related to consultants assisting with cGMP improvements. Our future capital expenditures may include substantial projects undertaken to upgrade, expand and improve our manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Switzerland. Our cash obligations include the principal and interest payments due on our Term Loans and any amount we may borrow under the JPMorgan Facility (as both described throughout this report). Also, costs related to ongoing legal matters may be significant (see Item 8, Note 19 - “Legal Proceedings” for further details). We believe that our cash reserves and operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our cash needs for the foreseeable future.

Refer to Item 8, Note 7 - “Financing Arrangements” for further detail of debt obligations as of and for the year ended December 31, 2018.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

In order to support the continued increase in the number of relevant and marketable pharmaceutical products that we market and sell, we will from time to time partner with outside firms for the development of selected products. These development agreements frequently call for the payment of “milestone payments” as various steps in the process are completed in relation to product development and submission to the FDA for approval. The dollar amount of these payments is generally fixed contractually, assuming that the required milestones are achieved; however, the timing of such payments is contingent based on a variety of factors and is therefore subject to change. The amounts disclosed in the below table under the caption “Strategic partners - contingent payments” represents our best estimate of the amount and expected timing of the “milestone payments” and other fees we expect to pay to outside development partners based on our current contractual agreements with them. These milestone payments are accrued as liabilities on our balance sheets once the milestones have been achieved.

As more fully described under Part I, Item 2 - Properties, we currently lease the facilities that we occupy in Gurnee, Illinois, Lake Forest, Illinois and Vernon Hills, Illinois, as well as in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Somerset, New Jersey, Cranbury, New Jersey and India. We also lease various pieces of office equipment at these facilities, as well as at our manufacturing facilities in Decatur, Illinois and Amityville, New York. Our remaining obligations under these leases are summarized in the table below.

As of December 31, 2018, our principal outstanding debt obligation was related to our Term Loans. We had no outstanding loan balance under our JPM Credit Agreement at December 31, 2018, or any time since we entered into this agreement on April 17, 2014.

The following table details our future contractual obligations as of December 31, 2018 (in thousands):



Description	Total		2019		2020		2021		2022		2023		2024 and beyond
Term Loans due 2021 (1)	$	831,938	$	—	$	—	$	831,938	$	—	$	—	$	—
Interest Payable – 8.06% existing and incremental term loan (2)	153,723		67,079		67,079		19,565		—		—		—
Estimated future pension benefit payments (3)	14,167		1,477		1,451		1,316		1,328		1,278		7,317
Inventory purchase commitments	8,647		3,452		2,957		280		280		280		1,398
Leases	26,867		4,564		4,647		4,283		3,724		2,673		6,976
Strategic partners – contingent payments (4)	12,998		4,658		3,890		2,650		1,800		—		—
Total:	$	1,048,340	$	81,230	$	80,024	$	860,032	$	7,132	$	4,231	$	15,691


(1)	As discussed further in Item 8, Note 7 - “Financing Arrangements,” on February 16, 2016 the Company voluntarily prepaid $200.0 million of cumulative Term Loans principal which eliminated any further interim principal repayment obligations.

(2) Interest on borrowings under these facilities are variable as calculated at our election, on an ABR rate or an adjusted LIBOR rate, plus a margin of 3.25% to 4.50% for ABR loans, and 4.25% to 5.50% for LIBOR loans with a current comprehensive rate of 8.06% as of December 31, 2018. The calculated interest payable amounts above assume the current comprehensive rate of 8.06% remains unchanged across the remaining term of the associated loan.


(3)	The $7.3 million in the 2024 and beyond column represents estimated future pension benefit payments from 2024 through 2028 only.

(4) Note the strategic partner payments include our best estimates regarding if and when various contingencies and market opportunities will occur in 2019 and beyond.

OFF BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

We have no significant off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that are material to our shareholders.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Our significant accounting policies and critical accounting estimates are described in Item 8, Note 2 - “Summary of significant accounting policies” to the Consolidated Financial Statements and are herein incorporated by reference.

RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

Recently issued accounting pronouncements which may have an effect on the Company are described in Item 8, Note 15 - “Recently issued and adopted accounting pronouncements” to the Consolidated Financial Statements and are herein incorporated by reference.

RECENTLY ADOPTED ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

Recently adopted accounting pronouncements which have had an effect on the Company are described in Item 8, Note 15 - “Recently issued and adopted accounting pronouncements” to the Consolidated Financial Statements and are herein incorporated by reference.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

As of December 31, 2018, our principal debt obligations included the Term Loans with outstanding debt of $831.9 million. As of the date of the filing of this Form 10-K until the maturity of the Term Loans, our spread will be based upon the Ratings Level applicable on such date as documented below.



Ratings Level	Index Ratings (Moody's/S&P)	Eurodollar Spread	ABR Spread
Level I	B1/B+ or higher	4.25%	3.25%
Level II	B2/B	4.75%	3.75%
Level III	B3/B- or lower	5.50%	4.50%

As of December 31, 2018, we were party to the $150.0 million JPM Credit Agreement with JPMorgan providing for a revolving credit facility. Interest on borrowings under the JPM Credit Agreement were to be calculated at a premium above either the current prime rate or current LIBOR rates plus a margin determined in accordance with the Company’s consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") to fixed charges), exposing us to interest rate risk on such borrowings. As of December 31, 2018, we had no outstanding loans under the JPM Credit Agreement and no outstanding letter of credit under the JPM Credit Agreement.

Our Swiss subsidiary, Akorn AG, operates a manufacturing facility in Hettlingen, Switzerland. Accordingly, we are subject to foreign exchange risk based on changes in the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Swiss Francs.

Our financial instruments include cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, available for sale securities and accounts payable. The fair values of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and accounts payable approximate book value because of the short maturity of these instruments. Available for sale securities are stated at fair value adjusted for certain lock-up provisions that prevent us from selling until a set period of time has elapsed.

At December 31, 2018, the majority of our cash and cash equivalents balance of $224.9 million was invested in overnight instruments, the interest rates of which may change daily.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

The following financial statements are included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

INDEX:

Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2018 and 2017

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016

Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Shareholders and Board of Directors

Akorn, Inc.

Lake Forest, Illinois

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Akorn, Inc. (the “Company”) and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the related consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company and subsidiaries at December 31, 2018 and 2017, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) and our report dated March 1, 2019 expressed an adverse opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ BDO USA, LLP

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2016.

Chicago, Illinois

March 1, 2019

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Shareholders and Board of Directors

Akorn, Inc.

Lake Forest, Illinois

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited Akorn, Inc.’s (the “Company’s”) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the “COSO criteria”). In our opinion, the Company did not maintain, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the related consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income, shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018, and the related notes and our report dated March 1, 2019, expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

A company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Item 9A, Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit of internal control over financial reporting in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. A material weakness regarding management’s failure to design and maintain internal controls over stock award modification accounting has been identified and described in management’s assessment. This material weakness was considered in determining the nature, timing, and extent of audit tests applied in our audit of the 2018 financial statements, and this report does not affect our report dated March 1, 2019 on those financial statements.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ BDO USA, LLP

Chicago, Illinois

March 1, 2019

AKORN, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In Thousands,

Except Share Data)



	December 31,
	2018			2017
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents	$	224,868		$	368,119
Trade accounts receivable, net	153,126			141,383
Inventories, net	173,645			183,568
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	32,180			37,081
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS	583,819			730,151
PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT, NET	334,853			313,418
OTHER LONG-TERM ASSETS
Goodwill	283,879			285,310
Intangible assets, net	284,976			569,484
Deferred tax assets	—			6,521
Other non-current assets	7,730			4,627
TOTAL OTHER LONG-TERM ASSETS	576,585			865,942
TOTAL ASSETS	$	1,495,257		$	1,909,511
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Trade accounts payable	$	39,570		$	51,976
Purchase consideration payable	—			3,901
Income taxes payable	—			15,775
Accrued royalties	6,786			5,902
Accrued compensation	19,745			12,286
Accrued administrative fees	36,767			38,598
Accrued legal fees and contingencies	52,413			28,293
Accrued expenses and other liabilities	15,542			14,358
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES	170,823			171,089
LONG-TERM LIABILITIES
Long-term debt (net of non-current deferred financing costs)	820,411			815,195
Deferred tax liability	566			43,404
FIN 48 reserve	49,990			40,300
Other long-term liabilities	9,601			8,278
TOTAL LONG-TERM LIABILITIES	880,568			907,177
TOTAL LIABILITIES	1,051,391			1,078,266
SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Preferred stock, $1 par value —5,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding at December 31, 2018 and 2017	—			—
Common stock, no par value — 150,000,000 shares authorized; 125,492,373 and 125,090,522 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2018 and 2017	574,553			550,472
(Accumulated deficit) Retained earnings	(107,168		)	294,741
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(23,519		)	(13,968		)
TOTAL SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY	443,866			831,245
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY	$	1,495,257		$	1,909,511

See notes to the consolidated financial statements.

AKORN, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) INCOME

(In Thousands, Except Per Share Data)



	Year ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2016
REVENUES	$	694,018		$	841,045		$	1,116,843
Cost of sales (exclusive of amortization of intangibles, included within operating expenses below)	448,002			408,839			443,331
GROSS PROFIT	246,016			432,206			673,512
Selling, general and administrative expenses	279,628			216,324			197,631
Acquisition-related costs	121			159			364
Research and development expenses	47,321			44,988			38,753
Amortization of intangibles	53,472			61,443			65,713
Impairment of intangible assets	231,086			128,127			44,369
Litigation rulings and settlements	22,814			4,049			3,824
TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES	634,442			455,090			350,654
OPERATING (LOSS) INCOME	(388,426		)	(22,884		)	322,858
Amortization of deferred financing costs	(5,216		)	(5,216		)	(10,791		)
Interest expense, net	(45,900		)	(38,070		)	(42,734		)
Other non-operating income (expense), net	1,360			6,972			1,967
(LOSS) INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES	(438,182		)	(59,198		)	271,300
Income tax (benefit) provision	(36,273		)	(34,648		)	87,057
NET (LOSS) INCOME	$	(401,909	)	$	(24,550	)	$	184,243
NET (LOSS) INCOME PER COMMON SHARE:
NET (LOSS) INCOME, BASIC	$	(3.21	)	$	(0.20	)	$	1.50
NET (LOSS) INCOME, DILUTED	$	(3.21	)	$	(0.20	)	$	1.47
SHARES USED IN COMPUTING NET (LOSS) INCOME PER COMMON SHARE:
BASIC	125,383			124,790			122,869
DILUTED	125,383			124,790			125,801
COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) INCOME:
Net (loss) income	$	(401,909	)	$	(24,550	)	$	184,243
Unrealized holding (loss) gain on available-for-sale securities, net of tax of $6, ($157) and ($436) for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.	(21		)	267			740
Foreign currency translation (loss) gain for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.	(8,001		)	6,150			(1,941		)
Pension liability adjustment, net of tax of $389, ($403) and $694 for the year ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.	(1,529		)	1,582			(3,624		)
COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) INCOME	$	(411,460	)	$	(16,551	)	$	179,418

See notes to the consolidated financial statements.

AKORN, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2016, 2017 AND 2018

(In Thousands)



	Common Stock					Retained Earnings (Accumulated Deficit)			Other Compre-hensive Loss			Total
	Shares		Amount			Amount			Amount			Amount
BALANCES AT DECEMBER 31, 2015	119,427		$	458,659		$	180,048		$	(17,142	)	$	621,565
Net income	—		—			184,243			—			184,243
Common stock repurchases	(1,808	)	—			(45,000		)	—			(45,000		)
Exercise of stock options	1,792		13,953			—			—			13,953
Restricted stock units	184		4,091			—			—			4,091
Stock-based compensation expense	—		11,321			—			—			11,321
Foreign currency translation loss	—		—			—			(1,941		)	(1,941		)
Excess tax benefit – stock compensation	(138	)	(4,158		)	—			—			(4,158		)
Unrealized holding loss on available-for-sale securities	—		—			—			740			740
Convertible note conversions	4,933		43,215			—			—			43,215
Akorn AG pension liability adjustment	—		—			—			(3,624		)	(3,624		)
Other	—		(5,221		)	—			—			(5,221		)
BALANCES AT DECEMBER 31, 2016	124,390		$	521,860		$	319,291		$	(21,967	)	$	819,184
Net loss	—		—			(24,550		)	—			(24,550		)
Exercise of stock options	625		9,673			—			—			9,673
Restricted stock units	138		7,736			—			—			7,736
Stock-based compensation expense	—		13,282			—			—			13,282
Foreign currency translation gain	—		—			—			6,150			6,150
Stock compensation plan withholdings for employee taxes	(62	)	(2,079		)	—			—			(2,079		)
Unrealized holding loss on available-for-sale securities	—		—			—			267			267
Akorn AG pension liability adjustment	—		—			—			1,582			1,582
BALANCES AT DECEMBER 31, 2017	125,091		$	550,472		$	294,741		$	(13,968	)	$	831,245
Net loss	—		—			(401,909		)	—			(401,909		)
Exercise of stock options	22		546			—			—			546
Employee stock purchase plan issuances	146		2,809			—			—			2,809
Compensation and share issuances related to restricted stock awards	288		11,673			—			—			11,673
Stock-based compensation expense	—		9,830			—			—			9,830
Foreign currency translation loss	—		—			—			(8,001		)	(8,001		)
Stock compensation plan withholdings for employee taxes	(55	)	(777		)	—			—			(777		)
Unrealized holding loss on available-for-sale securities	—		—