Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc.: Form 10-Q for the period ended Sep 30, 2024

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our financial statements and the related notes and the other financial information included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed below and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report, particularly those under “Risk Factors.”

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 under Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions and future performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control, and which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements through our use of words such as “may,” “can,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “should,” “indicate,” “would,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “expect,” “seek,” “estimate,” “continue,” “plan,” “point to,” “project,” “predict,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “potential” and other similar words and expressions of the future.

There are a number of important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by us. These factors include, but are not limited to:

• our history of operating losses;
• our current and future capital requirements and our ability to satisfy our capital needs;
• our ability to complete required clinical trials of our product and obtain approval from the FDA or other regulatory agents in different jurisdictions;
• our ability to internally develop new product candidates, intellectual property, and other product candidates we may acquire and/or license;
• our ability to maintain or protect the validity of our patents and other intellectual property;
• our ability to retain key executive members;
• interpretations of current laws and the passages of future laws;
• acceptance of our business model by investors;
• the accuracy of our estimates regarding expenses and capital requirements; and
• our ability to adequately support growth.

The foregoing does not represent an exhaustive list of matters that may be covered by the forward-looking statements contained herein or risk factors that we are faced with that may cause our actual results to differ from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Please see “Risk Factors” for additional risks which could adversely impact our business and financial performance.

All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this report or the date of the document incorporated by reference into this report. We have no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We have expressed our expectations, beliefs and projections in good faith and we believe they have a reasonable basis. However, we cannot assure you that our expectations, beliefs, or projections will result or be achieved or accomplished.

Overview

Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (the “Company,” “Corbus,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is an oncology and obesity company with a diversified portfolio and is committed to helping people defeat serious illness by bringing innovative scientific approaches to well-understood biological pathways. Our pipeline is comprised of two experimental drugs targeting solid tumors: CRB-701, a next-generation antibody drug conjugate (“ADC”) that targets the expression of Nectin-4 on cancer cells to release a cytotoxic payload; and CRB-601, an anti-integrin monoclonal antibody that blocks the activation of TGFβ expressed on cancer cells. The pipeline also includes CRB-913, a highly peripherally restricted cannabinoid type-1 (“CB1”) receptor inverse agonist for the treatment of obesity.

Our oncology pipeline:

• CRB-701 is a next-generation ADC targeting the expression of Nectin-4 on cancer cells to release a cytotoxic payload. In February 2023, we obtained a license from CSPC Megalith Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (“CSPC”), a subsidiary of CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited, to develop and commercialize the drug in the United States (“U.S.”), Canada, the European Union (including the European Free Trade Area), the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) and Australia (the “CSPC License Agreement”). The Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for CRB-701 was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) in 2022 and the drug is currently being investigated by CSPC in a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors in China. On June 1, 2024, updated clinical data was presented at ASCO 2024 by CSPC building upon the data presented at ASCO-GU on January 26, 2024. The larger data set included 37 patients of whom 25 patients reflective of seven dose levels had been evaluated for efficacy at the time of the data cut. The emerging clinical data shows that CRB-701 was well-tolerated and demonstrated an overall response rate (“ORR”) of 44% and a disease control rate (“DCR”) of 78% in metastatic urothelial cancer (“mUC”) and 43% ORR and 86% DCR in cervical cancer. No dose limiting toxicities (“DLTs”) have been observed to date in doses up to and including 4.5 mg/Kg.

On April 2, 2024, the first patient was dosed in our bridging Phase 1 clinical trial being conducted in the U.S. and Europe and in October 2024, the Company completed enrollment in the dose escalation phase of the study. The Phase 1 trial is evaluating the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of CRB-701 in patients with advanced solid tumors associated with known high expression of Nectin-4. The Phase 1 study has a three-part design. The Part A dose escalation of the Phase 1 study is evaluating four predetermined doses (1.8 mg/Kg, 2.7 mg/Kg, 3.6 mg/Kg and 4.5 mg/Kg) and is being followed by Part B (dose optimization) and Part C (dose expansion) that will determine the recommended/optimized doses and seek preliminary efficacy signals.

• CRB-601 is a potent and selective anti-αvβ8 monoclonal antibody that blocks the activation of latent TGFβ found on cancer cells. In pre-clinical models, CRB-601 demonstrates enhanced anti-tumor activity when combined with an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor compared to each single agent on its own. The data suggests that blockade of latent TGFβ production by CRB-601 can lead to changes in immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment, thus potentially enhancing the benefit of PD-1 blockade. CRB-601 is being developed as a potential treatment for patients with solid tumors in combination with existing therapies, including checkpoint inhibitors. On January 9, 2024, we announced that the FDA cleared the IND for CRB-601 and we expect to enroll the first patient in a Phase 1 study in Q4 2024.

Our obesity pipeline:

• CRB-913 is a second-generation highly peripherally restricted CB1 receptor inverse agonist designed to treat obesity. We are currently conducting IND-enabling studies and we expect to treat the first patient in a Phase 1 study in the first quarter of 2025.

In diet-induced obesity (“DIO”) mouse models, CRB-913 demonstrates a reduction in body weight, body fat content, leptinemia, insulin resistance, liver triglycerides, liver fat deposits, and improvements in liver histology. CRB-913 when used in combination with incretin analogs (tirzepatide, semaglutide, or liraglutide) provides additive weight loss in DIO mice. Furthermore in DIO mice, weight loss induced by an incretin analog (semaglutide) is maintained post withdrawal by replacing it with CRB-913.

Recent Developments

Open Market Sale Agreement

On May 31, 2023, we entered into the Open Market Sale Agreement with Jefferies, as sales agent. Under the Open Market Sale Agreement, we may issue and sell, from time to time through Jefferies, shares of its common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $150.0 million. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, we sold an aggregate of 663,730 and 2,484,517 shares of common stock, respectively, under the Open Market Sale Agreement, for net proceeds of approximately $35.6 million and $91.4 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2024, approximately $76.4 million was available for issuance and sale under the Open Market Sale Agreement.

Loan and Security Agreement with K2 HealthVentures LLC

The loan from K2HV matured on August 1, 2024 and we made the final payment in the amount of $11.8 million, which represents $10.1 million principal outstanding on the maturity date, $1.6 million final payment and accrued interest.

Financial Operations Overview

We are an oncology and obesity company and have not generated any revenues from the sale of products. We do not expect to generate revenue from product sales unless and until we successfully complete development and obtain regulatory approval for the marketing of one of our product candidates, which we expect will take a number of years and is subject to significant uncertainty. We have never been profitable and at September 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $467.4 million. Our net losses for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, were approximately $13.8 million and $10.1 million, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, our net losses were approximately $30.7 million and $36.6 million, respectively.

We expect to continue to incur significant expenses for the foreseeable future. We expect our expenses to increase in 2024 as compared to 2023 as we incur Phase 1 clinical trial costs for both CRB-701 and CRB-601. We will continue to incur significant operating losses as we move into the clinical phase and, accordingly, we will need additional financing to support our continuing operations. We will seek to fund our operations through public or private equity, debt financings or other sources, which may include government grants and collaborations with third parties. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategy. We will need to generate significant revenues to achieve profitability, and we may never do so.

We expect to continue to incur operating losses for at least the next several years in connection with our ongoing activities, as we:

• conduct pre-clinical and clinical trials for our product candidates;
• continue our research and development efforts; and
• manufacture and purchase drugs for clinical studies.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make estimates, assumptions, and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs of expenses and related disclosures in the condensed consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experience, current economic and industry conditions and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. This forms the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

There have been no changes to the critical accounting estimates we identified in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our 2023 Annual Report.

Results of Operations

Comparison of Three Months Ended September 30, 2024 and 2023

The following table summarizes our operating expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):

Research and Development. Research and development expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2024 totaled approximately $10.8 million, an increase of $4.3 million from approximately $6.6 million recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2023. The increase in fiscal quarter 2024 as compared to 2023 was primarily attributable to increases of $3.2 million primarily related to CRB-701 clinical trial costs with our contract research organizations ("CROs") and clinical sites, $1.0 million in CRB-913 IND-enabling studies, and $0.4 million in higher compensation costs mainly due to stock-based compensation costs as stock options are being granted at higher current fair values as compared to earlier grants. These increases are offset by a $0.7 million decrease in manufacturing costs for CRB-601.

We have a subsidiary in each of the U.K. and Australia and approximately 41% and 64% of research and development expenses recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively was recorded in these entities.

General and Administrative. General and administrative expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2024 totaled approximately $4.7 million, an increase of $1.8 million from approximately $2.9 million recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2023. The increase in fiscal quarter 2024 as compared to 2023 was attributable to increases in stock-based compensation costs of $1.2 million primarily due to stock options being granted at higher current fair values as compared to earlier grants and a $0.4 million increase in investor relations expense primarily due to issuing common stock pursuant to a professional services agreement with a service provider.

Other Income (Expense), net. The following table summarizes our other income (expense) for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):

Other income (expense), net for the three months ended September 30, 2024 was approximately $1.7 million in income as compared to other expense of approximately $0.6 million recorded for the three months ended September 30, 2023. The increase of $2.3 million in 2024 as compared to 2023 was primarily attributable to higher investment income due to higher cash and investment balances and reduced interest expense as principal payments were made on debt in 2024.

Comparison of Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 and 2023

The following table summarizes our operating expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 (in thousands):

Research and Development. Research and development expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 totaled approximately $23.4 million, a decrease of $0.8 million from approximately $24.2 million recorded for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The decrease in fiscal 2024 as compared to fiscal 2023 was primarily attributable to decreases in licensing costs of $7.5 million associated with the CSPC License Agreement and $1.2 million associated with the achievement of a development milestone under the UCSF License Agreement, as well as a decrease of $0.6 million in sponsored research agreement expense as the contract ended in January 2024. These decreases are offset by a $6.6 million increase in CRB-701 clinical trial costs with our CROs and clinical sites, as well as an increase of $0.8 million in CRB-913 IND-enabling studies, $0.5 million increase in manufacturing costs primarily related to CRB-701, and $0.5 million in higher compensation costs primarily related to stock-based compensation costs as stock options are being granted at higher current fair values as compared to earlier grants.

We have a subsidiary in each of the U.K. and Australia and approximately 37% and 32% of research and development expenses recorded for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, was recorded in these entities.

General and Administrative. General and administrative expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 totaled approximately $12.7 million, an increase of $1.9 million from approximately $10.8 million recorded for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The increase in fiscal 2024 as compared to fiscal 2023 was attributable to increases in stock-based compensation costs of $1.4 million primarily due to stock options being granted at higher current fair values as compared to earlier grants, a $0.4 million increase in investor relations expense primarily due to issuing common stock pursuant to a professional services agreement with a service provider, a $0.4 million increase in legal costs and franchise taxes, and additional bonus expense of $0.3 million due to higher bonus accruals. These increases were offset by a $0.8 million reduction in salary expense due to a prior year reduction in staff.

Other Income (Expense), net. The following table summarizes our other income (expense) for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 (in thousands):

Other income (expense), net for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was approximately $5.4 million in income as compared to other expense of approximately $1.6 million recorded for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The increase of $7.0 million in 2024 as compared to 2023 was primarily attributable to receipt of refundable research and development credits from a foreign tax authority of approximately $2.5 million in 2024, as well as higher investment income due to higher cash and investment balances and reduced interest expense as principal payments were made on debt in 2024.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since inception, we have experienced negative cash flows from operations. We have financed our operations primarily through sales of equity-related securities. At September 30, 2024, our accumulated deficit since inception was approximately $467.4 million.

At September 30, 2024, we had total current assets of approximately $160.9 million and current liabilities of approximately $11.6 million, resulting in working capital of approximately $149.3 million. Of our total cash, cash equivalents, investments, and restricted cash of $160.0 million at September 30, 2024, approximately $156.8 million was held within the U.S.

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands):

Net cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was approximately $30.9 million, which includes a net loss of approximately $30.7 million, adjusted for non-cash expenses of approximately $2.9 million largely related to stock-based compensation expense offset by net amortization on discount of investments, and approximately $3.0 million of cash used in net working capital items principally due to decreases in accrued expenses and operating lease liabilities offset by a decrease in prepaid expenses and other current assets.

Cash used by investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 totaled approximately $130.0 million, which was principally related to purchases of investments.

Cash provided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 totaled approximately $166.6 million, which was related to the issuance of common stock. On January 31, 2024, we entered into an underwriting agreement with Jefferies, as representative of the underwriters, relating to an underwritten public offering of 4,325,000 shares of our common stock at a price to the public of $19.00 per share. The underwriters were also granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 648,750 shares of common stock at the public offering price. On January 31, 2024, Jefferies gave notice of the underwriters’ election to exercise the option to purchase additional shares, in full. On February 2, 2024, we completed the public offering raising gross proceeds of approximately $94.5 million and net proceeds of $88.6 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by us. In addition, for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, we sold an aggregate of 2,484,517 shares of common stock under the Open Market Sale Agreement, for net proceeds of approximately $91.4 million.

Future Funding Requirements

We expect our cash, cash equivalents, and investments of approximately $159.4 million at September 30, 2024 will be sufficient to meet our operating and capital requirements to support our operations through the third quarter of 2027, based on current planned expenditures.

We will need to raise significant additional capital to continue to fund the clinical trials for CRB-701, CRB-601 and CRB-913. We may seek to sell common or preferred equity or convertible debt securities, enter into a credit facility or another form of third-party funding or seek other debt financing. In addition, we may seek to raise cash through collaborative agreements or from government grants. The sale of equity and convertible debt securities may result in dilution to our stockholders and certain of those securities may have rights senior to those of our common shares. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of preferred stock, convertible debt securities or other debt financing, these securities or other debt could contain covenants that would restrict our operations. Any other third-party funding arrangement could require us to relinquish valuable rights.

The source, timing and availability of any future financing will depend principally upon market conditions, and, more specifically, on the progress of our clinical development programs. Funding may not be available when needed, at all, or on terms acceptable to us. Lack of necessary funds may require us, among other things, to delay, scale back or eliminate expenses including some or all of our planned clinical trials.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any 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 is material to investors, other than future royalty payments under license agreements discussed as follows:

License Agreement with Jenrin

Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement (the "Jenrin License Agreement") with Jenrin Discovery, LLC (“Jenrin”), we are obligated to pay potential milestone payments to Jenrin totaling up to $18.4 million for each compound we elect to develop based upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones. In addition, we are obligated to pay Jenrin royalties in the mid, single digits based on net sales of any Licensed Products, as defined in the Jenrin License Agreement, subject to specified reductions.

The Jenrin License Agreement terminates on a country-by-country basis and product-by-product basis upon the expiration of the royalty term for such product in such country. Each royalty term begins on the date of the first commercial sale of the licensed product in the applicable country and ends on the later of seven years from such first commercial sale or the expiration of the last to expire of the applicable patents in that country. The Jenrin License Agreement may be terminated earlier in specified situations, including termination for uncured material breach of the Jenrin License Agreement by either party, termination by Jenrin in specified circumstances, termination by Corbus with advance notice, and termination upon a party’s insolvency or bankruptcy.

License Agreement with Milky Way

Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement (the "Milky Way License Agreement") with Milky Way BioPharma, LLC (“Milky Way”), we were obligated to pay potential milestone payments to Milky Way totaling up to $53.0 million based upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones. In addition, we were obligated to pay Milky Way royalties in the lower, single digits based on net sales of any Licensed Products, as defined in the Milky Way License Agreement.

The Milky Way License Agreement will remain in effect on a Licensed Product-by-License Product and country-by-country basis, until the expiration of the Royalty Term of the Licensed Product in the country. The "Royalty Term" means the period beginning from the First Commercial Sale of the Licensed Product in the country until the expiration of the last-to-expire Valid Claim in any Licensor Patent in the country that covers the composition of matter of the Licensed Product, the manufacture of the Licensed Product in the country, or a method of use of the Licensed Product for an indication for which Regulatory Approval has been obtained in the country. The Milky Way License Agreement may be terminated earlier in specified situations, including termination for material breach or termination by us with advance notice. A notice of termination without reason was executed by us and sent to Milky Way on January 25, 2024, terminating the Milky Way Agreement effective as of July 23, 2024.

License Agreement with UCSF

Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement (the "UCSF License Agreement") with the Regents of the University of California, we are obligated to pay potential milestone payments totaling up to $153.2 million based upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, excluding indication milestones for antibodies used for diagnostic products and services that will be an additional $50.0 thousand for each new indication. In addition, we are obligated to pay royalties in the lower, single digits based on net sales of any Licensed Products, as defined in the UCSF License Agreement, and any diagnostic products and services.

The UCSF License Agreement will remain in effect until the expiration or abandonment of the last of the Patent Rights licensed. The Royalty Term is the duration of Patent Rights in that country covering the applicable Licensed Product or Licensed Services Sold in the country. The UCSF License Agreement may be terminated earlier in specified situations, including termination for material breach, termination by us with advance notice, and termination upon a party's bankruptcy.

License Agreement with CSPC

Pursuant to the terms of the CSPC License Agreement with CSPC, we are obligated to pay potential milestone payments to CSPC totaling up to $130.0 million based upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones and $555.0 million in potential commercial milestone payments. In addition, we are obligated to pay CSPC royalties in the low, double digits based on net sales of any Licensed Products, as defined in the CSPC License Agreement.

The CSPC License Agreement will remain in effect on a Licensed Product and on a country-by-country basis, until the expiration of the Royalty Term of the Licensed Product in the country. The Royalty Term is the period beginning from the First Commercial Sale of the Licensed Product in the country until the later of the expiration of the last-to-expire Valid Claim in any Licensor Patent in the country that Covers the Licensed product, 10 years after the date of the First Commercial Sale in the country, or expiration of the Regulatory Exclusivity for the Licensed Product in the country. The CSPC License Agreement may be terminated earlier in specified situations, including termination for material breach, termination by Corbus with advance notice, and termination upon a party's bankruptcy.

Evaluation of Our Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that material information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and to provide reasonable assurance that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the Exchange Act, as amended) as of the end of the period covered by this report.

Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report were effective in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and that the information required to be disclosed by us in such reports is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the period to which this report relates that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Except as set forth below, there have been no material changes in or additions to the risk factors included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

We are, and will be, completely dependent on third parties to manufacture our drug candidates, and our commercialization of our drug candidates could be halted, delayed or made less profitable if those third parties fail to obtain manufacturing approval from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of our drug candidates or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.

We do not currently have, nor do we plan to acquire, the capability or infrastructure to manufacture the active pharmaceutical ingredients of our drug candidates, or the finished drug products, for use in our clinical trials or for commercial product, if any. As a result, we will be obligated to rely on contract manufacturers if and when our drug candidates are approved for commercialization.

We currently rely on contract suppliers for the manufacturing of our drug candidates. We have limited experience contracting third parties to manufacture our drug candidates and we do not control the manufacturing processes of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with current good manufacturing practices ("cGMPs") for manufacture of all active drug substances and finished drug products. These cGMP regulations cover all aspects of the manufacturing, testing, quality control and record keeping relating to our drug candidates. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, they will not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approval for their manufacturing facilities. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our drug candidates, if approved.

Our contract manufacturers will be subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign agencies for compliance with cGMPs and similar regulatory requirements. We will not have control over our contract manufacturers’ compliance with these regulations and standards. Failure by any of our contract manufacturers to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, failure to grant approval to market our drug candidates, delays, suspensions or withdrawals of approvals, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect our business. In addition, we will not have control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. Failure by our contract manufacturers to comply with or maintain any of these standards could adversely affect our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our drug candidates.

If, for any reason, these third parties are unable or unwilling to perform, we may not be able to terminate our agreements with them, and we may not be able to locate alternative manufacturers or formulators or enter into favorable agreements with them and we cannot be certain that any such third parties will have the manufacturing capacity to meet future requirements. If these manufacturers or any alternate manufacturer of finished drug product experiences any significant difficulties in its respective manufacturing processes for our active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, or our finished products or should cease doing business with us, we could experience significant interruptions in the supply of our drug candidates or may not be able to create a supply of our drug candidates at all. Were we to encounter manufacturing issues, our ability to produce a sufficient supply of our drug candidates might be negatively affected. Our inability to coordinate the efforts of our third-party manufacturing partners, or the lack of capacity available at our third-party manufacturing partners, could impair our ability to supply our drug candidates at required levels. Because of the significant regulatory requirements that we would need to satisfy in order to qualify a new bulk or finished product manufacturer, if we face these or other difficulties with our current manufacturing partners, we could experience significant interruptions in the supply of our drug candidates if we decided to transfer the manufacture of our drug candidates to one or more alternative manufacturers in an effort to deal with the difficulties.

In addition, we currently rely on foreign third parties to manufacture certain materials used in clinical trials of our product candidates or to provide services in connection with certain clinical trials and will likely continue to rely on foreign third parties in the future. Foreign third parties may be subject to U.S. legislation, including the proposed BIOSECURE bill, trade restrictions and other foreign regulatory requirements. Any manufacturing problem or the loss of a contract manufacturer could be disruptive to our operations and result in lost sales. Additionally, we rely on third parties to supply the raw materials needed to manufacture our potential products. Any reliance on suppliers may involve several risks, including a potential inability to obtain critical materials and reduced control over production costs, delivery schedules, reliability, and quality. Any unanticipated disruption to a future contract manufacturer caused by problems at suppliers could delay shipment of our drug candidates, increase our cost of goods sold and result in lost sales.

We cannot guarantee that our manufacturing and supply partners will be able to manufacture our drug candidates at commercial scale on a cost-effective basis. If the commercial-scale manufacturing costs of our drug candidates are higher than expected, these costs may significantly impact our operating results. In order to reduce costs, we may need to develop and implement process improvements. However, in order to do so, we will need, from time to time, to notify or make submissions with regulatory authorities, and the improvements may be subject to approval by such regulatory authorities. We cannot be sure that we will receive these necessary approvals or that these approvals will be granted in a timely fashion. We also cannot guarantee that we will be able to enhance and optimize output in our commercial manufacturing process. If we cannot enhance and optimize output, we may not be able to reduce our costs over time.

We expect that we will rely on third parties to assist us in conducting clinical trials for our drug candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our drug candidates and our business would be substantially harmed.

We expect to enter into agreements with third-party CROs to assist us in conducting and managing our clinical programs, including contracting with clinical sites to perform our clinical studies. We plan to rely on these parties for execution of clinical studies for our drug candidates and we will control only certain aspects of conducting the clinical studies. Nevertheless, we will be responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on CROs and clinical sites will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs will be required to comply with cGCPs, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for any products in clinical development. The FDA enforces these cGCP regulations through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or our CROs fail to comply with applicable cGCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, the FDA will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with cGCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with products produced under cGMP regulations and will require a large number of test subjects. Our failure or the failure of our CROs or clinical sites to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process and could also subject us to enforcement action up to and including civil and criminal penalties.

Although we intend to design the clinical trials for our drug candidates in consultation with CROs, we expect that the CROs will manage and assist us with the clinical trials conducted at contracted clinical sites. As a result, many important aspects of our drug development programs would be outside of our direct control. In addition, the CROs and clinical sites may not perform all of their obligations under arrangements with us or in compliance with regulatory requirements. If the CROs or clinical sites do not perform clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, or if they breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the development and commercialization of our drug candidates for the subject indications may be delayed or our development program materially and irreversibly harmed. We cannot control the amount and timing of resources these CROs and clinical sites will devote to our program or our drug candidates. If we are unable to rely on clinical data collected by our CROs, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of, or increase the size of our clinical trials, which could significantly delay commercialization and require significantly greater expenditures.

In addition, we currently rely on foreign CROs to manufacture certain materials used in clinical trials of our product candidates or to provide services in connection with certain clinical trials and will likely continue to rely on foreign CROs in the future. Foreign CROs may be subject to U.S. legislation, including the proposed BIOSECURE bill, trade restrictions and other foreign regulatory requirements. If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs or clinical sites terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or clinical sites. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, any such clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our drug candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our drug candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.

Changes in geopolitical conditions, U.S.-China trade relations and other factors beyond our control may adversely impact our business and operating results.

Our operations and performance depend, in part, on global and regional economic and geopolitical conditions, given our current third-party license agreement with CSPC, which is headquartered in China. Changes in U.S.-China trade policies, including the proposed BIOSECURE bill, and a number of other economic and geopolitical factors both in China and abroad could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. Such factors may include:

• instability in political or economic conditions, such as inflation, recession, foreign currency exchange restrictions and devaluations, restrictive governmental controls on the movement and repatriation of earnings and capital, and actual or anticipated military or political conflicts, particularly in emerging markets;
• expanded jurisdiction of the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS); and
• intergovernmental conflicts or actions, such as armed conflict, trade wars, retaliatory tariffs, and acts of terrorism or war.

As a result of these events, our ability to obtain data or regulatory support from our China-based licensing partner may be limited or adversely affected, and we may ourselves be subject to sanctions, diminished public perception and operational constraints.

Our product candidates may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, which could increase our costs and delay or prevent our development and commercialization efforts.

Our success depends in part on avoiding infringement of the proprietary technologies of others. The pharmaceutical industry has been characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Identification of third-party patent rights that may be relevant to our proprietary technology is difficult because patent searching is imperfect due to differences in terminology among patents, incomplete databases, and the difficulty in assessing the meaning of patent claims. Additionally, because patent applications are maintained in secrecy until the application is published, we may be unaware of third-party patents that may be infringed by any of our product candidates. There may be certain issued patents and patent applications claiming subject matter that we may be required to license in order to research, develop or commercialize our product candidates, and we do not know if such patents and patent applications would be available to license on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Any claims of patent infringement asserted by third parties would be time-consuming and may:

• result in costly litigation;
• divert the time and attention of our technical personnel and management;
• prevent us from commercializing a product until the asserted patent expires or is held finally invalid or not infringed in a court of law;
• require us to cease or modify our use of the technology and/or develop non-infringing technology; or
• require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements.

Although no third party has asserted a claim of infringement against us, others may hold proprietary rights that could prevent our product candidates from being marketed. We are aware of patents or patent applications owned by third parties that relate to some aspects of our programs that are still in development. In some cases, because we have not determined the final methods of manufacture, the method of administration or the therapeutic compositions for these programs, we cannot determine whether rights under such third-party positions will be needed. In addition, in some cases, we believe that the claims of these patents are invalid or not infringed or will expire before commercialization. However, if such patents are needed and found to be valid and infringed, we could be required to obtain licenses, which might not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or to cease or delay commercializing certain product candidates, or to change our programs to avoid infringement. Any patent-related legal action against us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin commercial activities relating to our product candidates or our processes could subject us to potential liability for damages and require us to obtain a license to continue to manufacture or market our product candidates. We cannot predict whether we would prevail in any such actions or that any license required under any of these patents would be made available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, we cannot be sure that we could redesign any product candidates or processes to avoid infringement, if necessary. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or the failure to obtain necessary licenses, could prevent us from developing and commercializing our product candidates, which could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results.

A number of companies, including several major pharmaceutical companies, have conducted research in the same therapeutic areas as our company, which resulted in the filing of many patent applications in the same areas as our research. If we were to challenge the validity of these or any U.S.-issued patent in court, we would need to overcome a statutory presumption of validity that attaches to every U.S.-issued patent. This means that, in order to prevail, we would have to present clear and convincing evidence as to the invalidity of the patent’s claims.

If we were to challenge the validity of these or any U.S. issued patent in an administrative trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, we would have to prove that the claims are unpatentable by a preponderance of the evidence. There is no assurance that a jury and/or court would find in our favor on questions of infringement, validity, or enforceability.