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BIOA US Equity

BioAge Labs, Inc.Health Care · Pharmaceutical Preparations · CIK 1709941 · FY ends Dec 31
$10.75
+0.29 (+2.77%)
USD · as of 2026-08-19 · marketstack

BIOA · 10-K · period ended 2025-12-31

← all BIOA documents
filed 2026-03-24 · EDGAR original ↗

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Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before making your decision to invest in shares of our common stock, you should carefully consider the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, including in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and in our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of or that we deem immaterial may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed below will not occur. These events could have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If that were to happen, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. These disclosures reflect the Company’s beliefs and opinions as to factors that could materially and adversely affect the Company and its securities in the future. References to past events are provided by way of example only and are not intended to be a complete listing of such events or a representation as to whether or not such factors or similar events have occurred in the past or their likelihood of occurring in the future.

Risk Factors Summary

Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, among others, the following:

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history, have not completed any clinical trials beyond Phase 1b and have no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for investors to evaluate our business, likelihood of success and viability.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We are not currently profitable, and may never achieve or sustain profitability. If we are unable to achieve or sustain profitability, the market value of our common stock will likely decline.

We will require substantial additional capital to finance our operations and achieve our goals. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on terms acceptable to us, we may be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research or development programs, any future commercialization efforts or other operations.

If we are unable to advance the development of, receive regulatory approval for and ultimately successfully commercialize BGE-102 or any future product candidates we may develop, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

Drug development is a lengthy and expensive process, the outcome of clinical testing is inherently uncertain, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results. We may incur additional costs or experience additional delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of BGE-102, our APJ programs or any future product candidates for many reasons, including a failure to replicate positive results from earlier preclinical studies or clinical trials in future preclinical studies or clinical trials.

We may develop future product candidates in combination with other therapies, which would expose us to additional risks.

We expect to expand our development, clinical and regulatory capabilities and operations as we grow, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly or may fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, each of which may cause our stock price to fluctuate or decline.

Negative results or publicity for one drug for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk reduction, diabetic macular edema (DME), or obesity could have a substantial impact on all drugs and product candidates for ASCVD risk reduction, DME, or obesity, including any potential product candidates we may have in the future.

We are subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.

We previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Although we have remediated these material weaknesses, we may identify additional material weaknesses or other deficiencies in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which could result in material misstatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.

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We rely, and intend to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct clinical trials and perform some of our research and preclinical studies. If these third parties do not satisfactorily carry out their contractual duties, fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements or do not meet expected deadlines, our development programs may be delayed or subject to increased costs or we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval, each of which may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The manufacture of pharmaceutical products, including BGE-102 our APJ programs or any future product candidates, is complex. Our third-party manufacturers may encounter difficulties in production, which could delay or entirely halt their ability in the future to supply our product candidates for clinical trials or, if approved, for commercial sale.

Risks Related to Our Financial Position, Limited Operating History and Need for Additional Capital

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history, have not completed any clinical trials beyond Phase 1b and have no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for investors to evaluate our business, likelihood of success and viability.

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history on which to base your investment decision. Drug development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. It entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that any product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval or become commercially viable. We commenced operations in 2015, have no products approved for commercial sale and have never generated any revenue. To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to identifying, acquiring and developing our product candidates and licensed technologies, building our pipeline, performing research, conducting preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, establishing and maintaining our intellectual property portfolio, establishing arrangements with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates, raising capital and providing general and administrative support for these operations.

To date, we have funded our operations with proceeds from sales of our redeemable convertible preferred stock, convertible notes, proceeds from the sale of our common stock, and stock option exercises. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully complete any clinical trials beyond Phase 1b for our former lead product, azelaprag. Additionally, we have not yet demonstrated an ability to obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. As a result, it may be more difficult for you to accurately predict our likelihood of success and viability than it could be if we had a longer operating history.

In addition, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors and risks frequently experienced by biopharmaceutical companies. We also may need to transition from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome such risks and difficulties, or to make such a transition. If we do not adequately address these risks and difficulties or successfully make such a transition, our business will suffer.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We are not currently profitable, and may never achieve or sustain profitability. If we are unable to achieve or sustain profitability, the market value of our common stock will likely decline.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product revenue since our inception. If our future product candidates are not successfully developed, approved and commercialized, we may never generate significant revenue, if we generate any revenue at all. Our net losses were $80.6 million and $71.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $333.4 million. Substantially all of our losses have resulted from expenses incurred in connection with the development of, and in-licensing of intellectual property related to, our former product candidate azelaprag, the research and development of our NLRP3 programs, our longitudinal human aging platform, and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. BGE-102 and any future product candidates will require substantial additional development time and resources before we would be able to apply for or receive regulatory approvals and begin generating revenue from product sales. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase substantially in connection with our planned and ongoing clinical trials for BGE-102, an NLRP3 inhibitor for patients with elevated cardiovascular risk or diabetic macular edema, our planned development of APJ agonists, and as we continue our development of, seek regulatory approval for and potentially commercialize BGE-102 or any future product candidates we may develop.

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In addition, in May 2022, we entered into a loan and security agreement (the Loan Agreement) with SVB Innovative Credit Growth Fund IX, LP and Innovative Credit Growth Fund VIII-A, LP (collectively, the Lenders) pursuant to which we were able to borrow up to an aggregate of $25.0 million across two potential tranches until December 31, 2023 (the Term Loan). The Term Loan is secured by a lien covering substantially all of our assets, but not including our intellectual property or non-assignable licenses. In connection with the Term Loan, the Lenders were concurrently issued warrants to purchase 24,968 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $10.26 per share, with a term of 10 years. The Loan Agreement required us to pay monthly interest payments until November 1, 2023, after which we commenced monthly principal payments. As of December 31, 2025, we had $2.0 million outstanding principal under the Term Loan. The Term Loan matures by April 1, 2026. For additional information about the Loan Agreement, see Note 5 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing, obtaining regulatory approvals for, and eventually commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including identifying, discovering, developing, in-licensing or acquiring any future product candidates, completing clinical trials of our product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval for BGE-102 and any future product candidates, and manufacturing, marketing, and selling any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval. We are only in the preliminary stages of these activities. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenue that is significant enough to achieve profitability. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with biopharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable may have an adverse effect on the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our product candidates, achieve our strategic objectives or even continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

We will require substantial additional capital to finance our operations and achieve our goals. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on terms acceptable to us, we may be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research or development programs, any future commercialization efforts or other operations.

Developing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is a very time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception, and we expect our expenses to increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we advance our lead product candidate, BGE-102, through clinical development and any future product candidates through preclinical and clinical development. We expect increased expenses as we continue our research and development, initiate clinical trials, seek to expand our product pipeline and clinical applications, seek regulatory approval for our current and future product candidates and invest in our organization. In addition, if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution. Because the outcome of any preclinical study or clinical trial is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amount of capital necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

We had $285.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2025, of which $4.0 million were long-term marketable securities. Based on our current operating plan, we estimate that our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of the filing date of this Annual Report will be sufficient to fund our operations and capital expenses through 2029. Changes beyond our control may occur that would cause us to use our available capital before that time, including changes in and progress of our drug development activities and changes in regulation. Our future capital requirements will be dependent on many factors, including:

the progress, timing and results of clinical trials for our lead product candidate, BGE-102, or any future product candidates;

the extent to which we develop, in-license or acquire any future product candidates or technologies;

the number of future product candidates and additional indications for our current product candidates we may pursue, and the preclinical studies and clinical trials necessary to develop them;

the costs, timing and outcome of seeking regulatory approvals of our current or future product candidates;

the scope and costs of making arrangements with third-party manufacturers, or establishing manufacturing capabilities, for both clinical and commercial supplies of our current or future product candidates;

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the costs involved in growing our organization to the size needed to allow for the research, development and potential commercialization of our current or future product candidates;

the costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidates, including establishing sales, marketing, market access and distribution capabilities;

to the extent we pursue strategic collaborations, including collaborations to commercialize BGE-102 or any future product candidates, our ability to establish and maintain collaborations on favorable terms, if at all, as well as the timing and amount of any milestone or royalty payments we are required to make or are eligible to receive under such collaborations or our current licenses;

the costs associated with completing any post-marketing studies or trials required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other regulatory authorities;

the revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of BGE-102 or any future product candidates, if any are approved;

the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims that we may become subject to, including any litigation costs and the outcome of such litigation; and

the costs associated with potential product liability claims, including the costs associated with obtaining insurance against such claims and with defending against such claims.

We will require additional capital to complete our planned preclinical development programs and advance any product candidates into clinical trials in order to seek regulatory approval, and we anticipate needing to raise additional capital to complete the development of, and eventually commercialize, any of our product candidates, if approved. For example, we are party to the Sales Agreement with Leerink relating to the sale and issuance, from time to time, of shares of our common stock in at-the-market equity offerings with an aggregate offering price up to $75.0 million. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. Our ability to raise additional funds will be dependent on financial, economic and market conditions, geopolitical issues and other factors, over which we may have limited or no control. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. If adequate funds are not available on commercially acceptable terms when needed, we may be forced to delay, reduce or terminate the development or commercialization, if approved, of all or part of our research programs or future product candidates or we may be unable to take advantage of future business opportunities. Furthermore, any additional capital-raising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our current and any future product candidates, if approved. Changing circumstances, some of which may be beyond our control, could cause us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned.

We will be required to obtain further funding through public or private equity financings, debt financings, collaborative agreements, licensing arrangements or other sources of financing, which may dilute our stockholders or restrict our operating activities. We do not have any committed external source of funds. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, each investor’s ownership interests will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect each investor’s rights as a stockholder. Debt financing or preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Such restrictions could adversely impact our ability to conduct our operations and execute our business plan. If we raise additional funds through upfront payments or milestone payments pursuant to strategic collaborations with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.

Our failure to raise capital as and when needed or on acceptable terms could significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and cause the price of our common stock to decline, and we may have to delay, reduce the scope of, suspend or eliminate one or more of our research or drug development programs, preclinical studies, future clinical trials or future commercialization efforts.

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Risk Related to Research, Discovery, Development, Regulatory Approval and Commercialization of our

Product Candidates

We are substantially dependent on our ability to identify and develop future product candidates. If we are unable to advance the development of, receive regulatory approval for and ultimately successfully commercialize BGE-102 or any future product candidates we may develop, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

Our future success is highly dependent on our ability to identify and develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize our lead product candidate, BGE-102, and any future product candidates, which may never occur. We are early in our development efforts with respect to BGE-102, which is a brain-penetrant structurally novel small molecule inhibitor of NLRP3 that has a novel binding site. We are also developing APJ agonists, which are in earlier stages of development. We currently have no products that are approved for sale in any jurisdiction. There can be no assurance that BGE-102 or any future product candidates we develop will achieve success in their respective clinical trials or obtain regulatory approval. We may also become dependent on product candidates that we may develop or acquire in the future. Given our early stage of development, it may be several years, if at all, before we have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of a product candidate sufficient to warrant approval for commercialization.

Our ability to generate product revenue, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will be heavily dependent on the successful development and eventual commercialization of BGE-102, our APJ programs and any future product candidates. The success of BGE-102 and any future product candidates will be dependent on several factors, including the following:

successful and timely completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials demonstrating attractive, competitive target product profiles for our product candidates;

clearance of INDs by the FDA or other similar clinical trial applications from other regulatory authorities for our future clinical trials for our pipeline product candidates;

timely and successful enrollment of patients in, and completion of, clinical trials with favorable results;

demonstration of safety, efficacy and acceptable risk-benefit profiles of our product candidates to the satisfaction of the FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory agencies;

receipt of regulatory approvals from applicable regulatory authorities, if granted, including the completion of any required post-marketing studies or trials and available funding to perform any post-marketing commitments;

raising additional funds necessary to complete clinical development of and commercialize our current or any future product candidates;

obtaining, protecting and enforcing our patent, trade secret and other intellectual property and regulatory exclusivity for our current and future product candidates;

making arrangements with third-party manufacturers, or establishing manufacturing capabilities, for both clinical and commercial supplies of our current or future product candidates and ensuring a resilient, effective supply chain that produces supply that outpaces demand;

developing and implementing marketing and reimbursement strategies, as well as adequate demand forecasts for supply and sales planning;

establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and launching commercial sales of our products, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others in a market where promotional sales approaches are rapidly moving to digital platforms;

demonstration of product characteristics attractive to physicians, patients, advocates, payors and caregivers;

acceptance of our products, if and when approved, by patients, the medical community and third-party payors underpinned by adequate health economic data and a meaningful value proposition;

effectively competing with other therapies, including those that have not yet entered the market;

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obtaining and maintaining third-party payor coverage and adequate reimbursement in both public and private payor spaces, given the significant number of obese patients in the United States who may benefit from our product candidates;

obtaining appropriate support from patient advocacy organizations;

addressing any delays in our clinical trials resulting from any major natural disasters, health pandemics or significant political events; and

maintaining a continued acceptable safety profile of the products following approval.

Many of these factors are beyond our control, and it is possible that none of our product candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval even if we expend substantial time and resources seeking such approval. If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would materially harm our business. For example, our business could be harmed if clinical trial results for future product candidates show unexpected adverse events or a lack of efficacy in the indications we intend to treat or do not meet the clinical endpoints, or if we experience other regulatory or developmental issues. For instance, in December 2024, we announced the discontinuation of our Phase 2 clinical trial of our former lead product candidate azelaprag following observation of liver transaminitis without clinically significant symptoms in some subjects receiving azelaprag.

Due to our limited resources and access to capital, we must, and have in the past decided to, prioritize development of certain potential product candidates over other potential product candidates. These decisions may prove to have been wrong and may adversely affect our ability to develop our own programs or our attractiveness as a commercial partner, and may ultimately have an impact on our commercial success.

Because we have limited resources and access to capital to fund our operations, we must decide which product candidates to pursue and the amount of resources to allocate to each. Our decisions concerning the allocation of research, collaboration, management and financial resources toward particular product candidates or therapeutic areas may not lead to the development of viable commercial products and may divert resources away from better opportunities. Similarly, any decisions to delay, terminate or collaborate with third parties in respect of certain product development programs may also prove not to be optimal and could cause us to miss valuable opportunities. If we make incorrect determinations regarding the market potential of any future product candidates or misread trends in the biopharmaceutical industry, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected.

Drug development is a lengthy and expensive process, the outcome of clinical testing is inherently uncertain, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results. We may incur additional costs or experience additional delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of BGE-102, our APJ programs or any future product candidates for many reasons, including a failure to replicate positive results from earlier preclinical studies or clinical trials in future preclinical studies or clinical trials.

On August 15, 2025, we announced that the first patient was dosed in our Phase 1 SAD / MAD clinical trial for BGE-102. It is impossible to predict when or if BGE-102 or any future product candidates will prove effective and safe in humans or will receive regulatory approval. To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to commercialize any product candidate, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical studies and lengthy, complex and expensive clinical trials that our product candidates are safe and effective in humans. Clinical testing can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of BGE-102 or any future product candidates, or a competitor’s product candidate in the same class, may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. For example, despite encouraging results from our Phase 1b bed rest atrophy clinical trial and the lack of any negative safety signals in other Phase 1 clinical trials of azelaprag, in January 2025, we announced the discontinuation of the azelaprag program following observation of liver transaminitis without clinically significant symptoms in some subjects receiving azelaprag in our Phase 2 clinical trial. Interim, topline or preliminary results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. We may be unable to establish benefit on clinical endpoints that applicable regulatory authorities would consider clinically meaningful, and a clinical trial can fail at any stage of testing. Differences in trial design between early-stage clinical trials and later-stage clinical trials make it difficult to extrapolate the results of earlier clinical trials to later clinical trials. Moreover, clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain regulatory approval of their products. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or to unfavorable safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. There is typically a high rate of failure of product candidates proceeding through clinical trials, particularly in the earlier

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stages of development. Most product candidates that commence clinical trials are never approved as products, and there can be no assurance that any of our future clinical trials will ultimately be successful or support clinical development of any future product candidates.

We may experience delays in initiating or completing clinical trials of our future product candidates. We also may experience unforeseen events during, or as a result of, any future clinical trials that we conduct that could delay or prevent our ability to receive regulatory approval or commercialize BGE-102 or any future product candidates, including:

regulators, institutional review boards (IRBs) or ethics committees may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site, or may halt or suspend an ongoing clinical trial;

we may experience delays in reaching or fail to reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective trial sites and prospective contract research organizations (CROs) the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;

clinical trial sites deviating from the trial protocol or dropping out of a trial;

clinical trials of any product candidates may fail to show safety or efficacy, produce negative or inconclusive results and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials or we may decide to abandon product development programs;

failure of our current or future product candidates in clinical trials to demonstrate important functional or patient-reported outcomes;

the number of subjects required for clinical trials of any product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate or subjects may drop out of these clinical trials or fail to return for post-treatment follow-up at a higher rate than we anticipate;

our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all, or may deviate from the clinical trial protocol or drop out of the trial, which may require that we add new clinical trial sites or investigators;

we may elect, or regulators, IRBs, or ethics committees may require, that we or our investigators, suspend or terminate clinical research or trials for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants in our trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

the cost of clinical trials of BGE-102 or any future product candidates may be greater than we anticipate, and we may not have sufficient funds to complete such trials;

the quality of BGE-102 or any future product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of BGE-102 or any future product candidates may be inadequate to initiate or complete a given clinical trial;

our inability to manufacture sufficient quantities of BGE-102 or any future product candidates for use in clinical trials;

our inability to meet drug specifications suitable for use in clinical trials and commercial applications;

reports from clinical testing of other therapies may raise safety or efficacy concerns about BGE-102 or any future product candidates;

the receipt of feedback from regulatory authorities that requires us to modify the design of our clinical trials;

our failure to establish an appropriate safety profile for a product candidate based on clinical or preclinical data for such product candidate as well as data emerging from other molecules in the same class as BGE-102 or any future product candidates; and

the FDA or other regulatory authorities may require us to submit additional data such as long-term toxicology studies or impose other requirements before permitting us to initiate a clinical trial.

We could also encounter additional delays if a future clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, or the FDA or other regulatory authorities, or if a clinical trial is recommended for suspension or termination by the Data Safety Monitoring Board for such trial. A suspension or termination may be imposed due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements, including the FDA’s Good Clinical Practice (GCP) regulations, or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical

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trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product or treatment, failure to establish or achieve clinically meaningful trial endpoints, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Clinical studies may also be delayed or terminated as a result of ambiguous or negative interim results. Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of BGE-102 or any future product candidates. Further, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval even after they have reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials.

We cannot predict with any certainty the schedule for commencement and completion of future clinical trials. Further, conducting clinical trials in foreign countries, as we have done and may do in the future for our product candidates, presents additional risks that may delay completion of our clinical trials. These risks include the failure of enrolled patients in foreign countries to adhere to clinical protocol as a result of differences in healthcare services or cultural customs, managing additional administrative burdens associated with foreign regulatory schemes, as well as political and economic risks relevant to such foreign countries.

If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our current or future product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our current or future product candidates or other testing in a timely manner, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive or if there are safety concerns, we may incur unplanned costs, be delayed in seeking and obtaining regulatory approval, if we receive such approval at all, receive more limited or restrictive regulatory approval, be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements or have the drug removed from the market after obtaining regulatory approval.

Additionally, if the results of our clinical trials are inconclusive or if there are safety concerns or serious adverse events associated with our product candidates, we may:

be delayed in obtaining regulatory approval, if at all;

obtain approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired or may have restricted duration expectations or guidance;

obtain approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings;

be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements;

be required to perform additional clinical trials to support approval or be subject to additional post- marketing testing requirements;

have regulatory authorities withdraw, or suspend, their approval of the drug or impose restrictions on its distribution in the form of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS);

be subject to the addition of labeling statements, such as warnings or contraindications;

be sued; or

experience damage to our reputation.

Our drug development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or obtaining regulatory approvals. Also, delays in obtaining regulatory approval may increase commercialization costs if the competitive environment becomes more intense prior to market entry. We do not know whether any of our preclinical studies or clinical trials will begin as planned, need to be restructured or be completed on schedule, if at all.

Moreover, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or other regulatory authorities. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the study. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or other regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of one or more of our product candidates.

In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, termination or suspension of, or a delay in the commencement or completion of, clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of a product candidate. We may make formulation or manufacturing changes to our product candidates, in which case we may need to conduct additional preclinical

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studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions. If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of our clinical trials, or if we terminate a clinical trial prior to completion, the commercial prospects of any future product candidates could be negatively impacted, and our ability to generate revenues from our current or future product candidates may be delayed or eliminated entirely.

We may develop future product candidates in combination with other therapies, which would expose us to additional risks.

We may develop other product candidates for use in combination with other therapies in the future. The development of product candidates for use in combination with another product may present challenges that are not faced for single agent product candidates. For example, any future clinical trial for our product candidates in combination with other therapies that is designed to evaluate efficacy could show that our product candidate does not sufficiently contribute to the observed effects of individuals who participate in these trials. Even if any future product candidates were to receive regulatory approval or be commercialized for use in combination with other existing therapies, we would continue to be subject to the risks that the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities could revoke approval of the therapy used in combination with any of our product candidates, or safety, efficacy, manufacturing or supply issues could arise with these existing therapies. In addition, it is possible that existing therapies with which any future product candidates are approved for use could themselves fall out of favor or be relegated to later lines of treatment. This could result in the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities requiring us to conduct additional clinical trials, the need to identify other combination therapies for our product candidates or our own products being removed from the market or being less successful commercially.

If the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities do not approve or withdraw their approval of these other therapies, or if safety, efficacy, commercial adoption, manufacturing or supply issues arise with the therapies we choose to evaluate in combination with any future product candidates, we may be unable to obtain approval of or successfully market any one or all of the future product candidates we may develop. Additionally, if the third-party providers of therapies or therapies in development used in combination with any future product candidates are unable to produce sufficient quantities for clinical trials or for commercialization of any future product candidates, or if the cost of combination therapies are prohibitive, our development and commercialization efforts would be impaired, which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Preliminary, topline or interim data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and/or are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary, topline or interim data from our clinical trials, such as preliminary, topline or interim data analysis from our ongoing and planned clinical trials of BGE-102. For example, we announced interim data from our Phase 1 SAD / MAD study of BGE-102 in December 2025 and January 2026. These data and related findings and conclusions may only reflect certain endpoints rather than all endpoints and are subject to change. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the preliminary or topline results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated.

Preliminary or topline data also remain subject to review and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary or topline data we previously published. As a result, preliminary and topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. In addition, we may report preliminary data or interim analyses of the clinical trials we may conduct and complete, which are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Adverse changes between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business and prospects. Further, additional disclosure of preliminary or interim data by us including, for example, preliminary or interim data that becomes available to us from our ongoing and planned clinical trials of BGE-102 or other future product candidates or by our competitors in the future could result in volatility in the price of our common stock.

Further, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is typically selected from a more extensive amount of available information. You or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product, product candidate or our business. If the preliminary, topline or interim data that we report differ from later, final or actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain

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approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be successful in applying our longitudinal human aging platform to identify additional targets with therapeutic and commercial potential or in the discovery and development of commercially viable product candidates for us or our collaborators.

We use our longitudinal human aging platform to identify and prioritize potential drug targets, to assess the likelihood that we can develop a product candidate that interacts with the target to elicit the desired therapeutic effect, and to transition these insights efficiently into well supported therapeutic candidates. While we believe our platform will increase the likelihood of producing additional product candidates that provide meaningful clinical benefit, past success in identifying potential product candidates does not assure future success for our internal drug discovery programs. Our longitudinal human aging platform is novel, and we may not succeed in applying our platform to identify additional drug targets or transition these targets into promising future product candidates. We similarly cannot provide any assurance that, even if we do successfully identify additional targets, we will be able to successfully develop future product candidates and advance any such future product candidates into and through clinical development. Therefore, we are unable to predict the time and cost associated with the identification and development of any future product candidate or whether the application of our platform will result in the identification, development and ultimately regulatory approval of any future product candidates.

Efforts through our platform to identify, discover, acquire or in-license, and ultimately develop, product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources, whether or not any such future product candidates are ultimately identified. Our efforts may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development or regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

the methodology used may not be successful in identifying any future potential product candidates;

competitors may develop alternatives that render any product candidates we develop obsolete;

any product candidates we develop may nevertheless be covered by third parties’ patents or other exclusive rights;

a product candidate may be shown, in subsequent preclinical or clinical investigations, to have harmful side effects or characteristics that indicate it is unlikely to be effective, or otherwise would not meet applicable regulatory criteria;

a product candidate may not be capable of being produced in commercial quantities at an acceptable cost, or at all; and

a product candidate may not be accepted as safe and effective by physicians, patients, the medical community or third-party payors.

Our future growth may be dependent, in part, on our ability to operate in foreign markets, where we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and other risks and uncertainties.

Our future growth may be dependent, in part, on our ability to develop and commercialize BGE-102, if approved, and any future product candidates in foreign markets for which we may rely on collaboration with third parties. We are not permitted to market or promote BGE-102 or any future product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the applicable regulatory authority in that foreign market and may never receive such regulatory approval for BGE-102 or any future product candidates. To obtain separate regulatory approval in many other countries, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such countries regarding safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, clinical trials and commercial sales, pricing and distribution of BGE-102 or any future product candidates, and we cannot predict success in these jurisdictions. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and receive applicable regulatory approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of BGE-102 or any future product candidates will be harmed, and our business will be adversely affected. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. Our failure to obtain approval of BGE-102 or any future product candidates by regulatory authorities in another country may significantly diminish the commercial prospects of that product candidate and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. Moreover, even if we obtain approval of BGE-102 or any future product candidates and ultimately commercialize BGE-102 or any future product candidates in foreign markets, we would be subject to the risks and uncertainties, including the burden of complying with complex and

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changing foreign regulatory, tax, accounting and legal requirements and reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some foreign countries.

We may experience difficulty enrolling or keeping patients in our clinical trials, which could delay or prevent us from proceeding with, or otherwise adversely affect, clinical trials of our product candidates.

Our clinical trials will compete with other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our product candidates, and this competition could reduce the number and types of patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, it is possible that we will be required to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which could negatively impact the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in such clinical trial site.

Delays related to patient enrollment and difficulties related to patient retention may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of our future clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our product candidates. Further, if patients drop out of our clinical trials, miss scheduled doses or follow-up visits, or otherwise fail to follow clinical trial protocols, the integrity of data from our clinical trials may be compromised or not accepted by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, which would represent a significant setback for the applicable program.

Our current or future product candidates may not achieve adequate market acceptance among physicians, patients or their families, healthcare payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

Even if our current or future product candidates receive regulatory approval, they may not gain adequate market acceptance among physicians, patients or their families, third-party payors and others in the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of any of our approved product candidates will be dependent on a number of factors, including:

the efficacy, durability and safety profile as demonstrated in clinical trials compared to alternative treatments;

the timing of market introduction of the product candidate, as well as competitive products;

the clinical indications for which a product candidate is approved;

restrictions on the use of product candidates in the labeling approved by regulatory authorities, such as boxed warnings or contraindications in labeling, or a REMS, if any, which may not be required of alternative treatments and competitor products;

the potential and perceived advantages of our current or future product candidates over alternative treatments;

the cost of treatment in relation to alternative treatments and the cost/benefit ratios of each;

the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement by third-party payors, including government authorities, given the significant number of obese patients in the United States, and timing of relevant formulary decision-making resulting in this coverage and reimbursement;

the availability of an approved product for use as a combination therapy;

relative convenience and ease of administration in relation to competition;

the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies;

the effectiveness of sales, marketing efforts and market access;

publicity relating to our product candidates or those of our competitors; and

the approval of new therapies for the same indications.

If any of our current or future product candidates are approved but do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, hospitals, healthcare payors and patients, we may not generate or derive sufficient revenue from that product candidate and our financial results would be negatively impacted.

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We have never commercialized a product candidate as a company before and currently lack the comprehensive, fully staffed expertise, personnel and resources to successfully commercialize any products on our own or together with suitable collaborators. If, in the future, we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market any product we may develop, we may not be successful in commercializing those products if they are approved.

We do not have a sales or marketing infrastructure and have no experience in the sales, marketing or distribution of any current or future product candidates. To achieve commercial success for any approved product, we must either develop a sales and marketing organization or outsource these functions to third parties. In the future and if any of our product candidates are approved, we may choose to build a focused sales, marketing and commercial support infrastructure to sell, or participate in sales activities with collaborators for some of our current or future product candidates.

There are risks involved with both establishing our own commercial capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize any approved product candidates include:

the inability to recruit and retain adequate numbers of effective sales, marketing, coverage or reimbursement, customer service, medical affairs and other support personnel;

the inability of sales personnel to obtain access to or persuade adequate numbers of decision makers to utilize any future approved product candidates;

the inability of reimbursement professionals to negotiate arrangements for formulary access, reimbursement and other acceptance by payors;

the inability to price any of our current or future product candidates at a sufficient price point to ensure an adequate and attractive level of profitability;

restricted or closed distribution channels that make it difficult to distribute our current or future product candidates to segments of the patient population;

the lack of complementary product candidates to be offered by sales personnel, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to companies with more extensive product candidate lines; and

unforeseen costs and expenses associated with creating an independent commercialization organization.

If the commercial launch of a product candidate, if approved, for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing and other commercialization capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our commercialization personnel.

If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing, commercial support and distribution services, our sales revenue or the profitability of sales revenue may be lower than if we were to do so ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to commercialize our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. We may have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our product candidates effectively. If we do not establish commercialization capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates, if approved.

Risks Related to Our Business and Operations

Our future performance is dependent on our ability to retain key employees and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel and manage our human capital.

Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries is largely dependent on our ability to attract, motivate and retain highly qualified managerial, clinical, scientific and medical personnel. We are highly dependent on the scientific and management expertise of Dr. Fortney, our Chief Executive Officer, the other members of our management team and other key employees and advisors. We currently do not maintain “key person” life insurance on these individuals or any of our employees. This lack of insurance means that we may not have adequate compensation for the loss of the services of any such individuals. The loss of one or more members of our management team or other key employees or advisors could delay our research and development programs and have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial

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condition, results of operations and prospects. We are dependent on the continued service of our technical personnel, because of the highly technical nature of drug development and the specific knowledge related to BGE-102 or any future product candidates and technologies, and the specialized nature of the regulatory approval process. Because our management team and key employees are not obligated to provide us with continued service, they could terminate their employment with us at any time without penalty.

In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the stock awards they receive in connection with their employment. If the perceived benefits of our stock awards decline, either because we are a public company or for other reasons, it may harm our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. Our employees may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase prices of the shares, or if the exercise prices of the options that they hold are significantly below the market price of our common stock.

We are currently a remote-based company, with a majority of our employees working remotely, and we primarily conduct our in-person operations at our research facility in Emeryville, California. This region is headquarters to many other biopharmaceutical companies and academic and research institutions. Competition for skilled personnel in our market, and nationally, is intense and may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms or at all. We also face competition for personnel from other companies, universities, public and private research institutions, government entities and other organizations. Our industry has experienced a high rate of turnover of management personnel in recent years. Our future performance will be dependent in large part on our continued ability to attract and retain highly qualified scientific, technical and management personnel, as well as personnel with expertise in clinical testing, manufacturing, governmental regulation and commercialization. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, the rate and success at which we can discover and develop product candidates will be limited, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly or may fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, each of which may cause our stock price to fluctuate or decline.

We expect our operating results to be subject to quarterly fluctuations. Our net loss and other operating results will be affected by numerous factors, including:

variations in the level of expense related to the ongoing development of BGE-102 or any future development programs;

results of preclinical studies and clinical trials, or the addition or termination of future clinical trials or funding support by us, or existing or future collaborators or licensing partners;

our ability to enroll patients in clinical trials and the timing of enrollment;

the need to conduct unanticipated clinical trials or trials that are larger or more complex than anticipated;

our execution of any additional collaboration, licensing or similar arrangements, and the timing of payments we may make or receive under existing or future arrangements or the termination or modification of any such existing or future arrangements;

any intellectual property infringement lawsuit or opposition, interference or cancellation proceeding in which we may become involved;

additions and departures of key personnel;

strategic decisions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, joint ventures, strategic investments or changes in business strategy;

regulatory developments affecting BGE-102 or any future product candidates or those of our competitors;

potential unforeseen business disruptions that increase our costs or expenses; effects of global macroeconomic events, such as inflation, tariffs, geopolitical conflicts, such as the armed conflict between the U.S. military and Iran and related disruption in the region, pandemics, natural disasters and supply chain issues, on our business and operations; and

changes in general market and economic conditions.

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If our quarterly or annual operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Furthermore, any quarterly or annual fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate substantially. We believe that quarterly or annual comparisons of our financial results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied on as an indication of our future performance.

We expect to expand our development, clinical and regulatory capabilities and operations as we grow, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

We expect to increase the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of clinical development, clinical operations, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, finance, accounting, business operations, communications and other corporate development functions, and, if BGE-102 or any future product candidates receive regulatory approval, sales, marketing and distribution capabilities. If we acquire additional product candidates or enter into future collaborations, we may have to further expand our employee base beyond our current projections, which may include further preclinical research and development or regulatory operations. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited financial resources and the limited experience of our management team in managing a company with such anticipated growth and with developing sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources.

If we are not able to effectively manage growth and expand our operations, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize, if approved, BGE-102 or any future product candidates and, accordingly, we may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do, if at all.

The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive, and specifically the development and commercialization of therapeutics for cardiometabolic diseases, ophthalmology, and obesity is particularly competitive. Our current and any future product candidates, if approved, will face significant competition, including from well-established, currently marketed therapies or recommended standards of care, and our failure to demonstrate a meaningful improvement to the existing standards of care may prevent us from achieving significant market penetration. Many of our competitors have significantly greater resources and experience than we do, and we may not be able to successfully compete. We face substantial competition from multiple sources, including large and specialty biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic research institutions and governmental agencies and public and private research institutions.

Any future product candidates, if approved, would face competition from other approved treatments, some of which have already achieved commercial success. To compete successfully, we will need to differentiate any of our future therapies, if approved, from currently marketed drugs as well as those that may be approved in the future, meaning that we will have to demonstrate that the relative cost, method of administration, safety, tolerability or efficacy of our future therapies provides a better alternative or complement to existing and new therapies. Our commercial opportunity and likelihood of success will be reduced or eliminated if our future therapies are not ultimately demonstrated to be safer, more effective, more conveniently administered, or less expensive than the current standards of care. Furthermore, even if future therapies are able to achieve these attributes, acceptance of such therapies may be inhibited by the reluctance of physicians to switch from existing therapies, or if physicians choose to reserve our future therapies for use in limited circumstances.

Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and supply resources or experience than we have. If we obtain regulatory approval for any product candidate, we will face competition based on many different factors, including the safety and effectiveness of any future product candidates, the ease with which any future product candidates can be administered and the extent to which participants accept relatively new routes of administration, the timing and scope of regulatory approvals for these product candidates, the availability and cost of manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities, price, reimbursement coverage and patent position. Competing products could present superior treatment alternatives, including by being more effective, safer, less expensive or marketed and sold more effectively than any products we may develop. Competitive products may make any products we develop obsolete or noncompetitive before we recover the expense of developing and commercializing any future product candidates. Such competitors could also recruit our employees, which could negatively impact our level of expertise and our ability to execute our business plan. Mergers and acquisitions in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Early-stage companies may also prove to be

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significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified management and other personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and participants registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this Annual Report may prove to be smaller than we believe, and even if the markets in which we compete achieve the forecasted growth, our business may not grow at similar rates, or at all.

We intend to initially focus our product candidate development on treatments for ASCVD risk reduction, DME, and obesity. Our projections of addressable patient populations within any particular disease state that may benefit from treatment with our product candidates are based on our estimates. Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts included in this Annual Report are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates. These estimates, which have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations and market research, may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. Similarly, the percent of the population with cardiovascular risk factors, DME, and obesity could be lower than we anticipate. In both instances, the pool of potential patients that our current or any future product candidates could address could be substantially smaller than we anticipate. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for any future product candidates may not ultimately be amenable to treatment with any future product candidates. Our market opportunity may also be limited by future competitor treatments that enter the market. If any of our estimates prove to be inaccurate, the market opportunity for any future product candidates that we or our strategic partners develop could be significantly diminished and have an adverse material impact on our business.

Negative results or publicity for one drug for ASCVD risk reduction, DME, or obesity could have a substantial impact on all drugs and product candidates for ASCVD risk reduction, DME, or obesity, including any potential product candidates we may have in the future.

Our business can be affected by adverse publicity or negative public perception about us, our competitors, our future product candidates or products, if approved, or our industry or competitors generally. Adverse publicity may include publicity about ASCVD risk reduction, DME, or obesity or GLP-1R agonists generally, the efficacy, safety and quality of our future product candidates, as well as of the broader category of obesity products, including any products that our future product candidates are intended to be used in combination with, and regulatory investigations, regardless of whether these investigations involve us or the business practices or products of our competitors or our customers. Any adverse publicity or negative public perception could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, any adverse effects in our future clinical trials, even if not ultimately attributable to our future product candidates, and the resulting publicity could result in withdrawal of clinical trial participants, and a decrease in demand for any such future product candidates. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected if any of our future product candidates or products, if approved, or any similar products distributed by other companies are alleged to be or are proved to be harmful to consumers or to have unanticipated and unwanted health consequences.

Our business entails a significant risk of product liability, and our ability to obtain sufficient insurance coverage could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit, delay or cease commercialization of our products.

When we conduct clinical trials of our current and any future product candidates, we may be exposed to significant product liability risks inherent in the development, testing, manufacturing and marketing of therapeutic treatments. Product liability claims could delay or prevent completion of our development programs. If we succeed in marketing products, if approved, such claims could result in an FDA investigation of the safety and effectiveness of our products, our manufacturing processes and facilities or our marketing programs and potentially a recall of our products or more serious enforcement action, limitations on the approved indications for which they may be used or suspension or withdrawal of approvals. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit, delay or cease the commercialization of our products. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may also result in decreased demand for our products, termination of clinical trial sites or entire trial programs, withdrawal of clinical trial participants, injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention, significant costs to defend the related litigation, a diversion of management’s time and our resources from our business operations, substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients, loss of revenue, the inability to commercialize any products that we may develop and a decline in our stock price.

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We currently maintain approximately $18.0 million in general liability insurance and product liability insurance in the aggregate. We may, however, need to obtain higher levels of insurance coverage for later stages of clinical development or marketing any of our product candidates. Any insurance we have or may obtain may not provide sufficient coverage against potential liabilities. Furthermore, clinical trial and product liability insurance is becoming increasingly expensive. As a result, we may be unable to obtain sufficient insurance at a reasonable cost to protect us against losses caused by product liability claims that could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Our inability to obtain and retain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of our product candidates. Although we will maintain such insurance, any claim that may be brought against us could result in a court judgment or settlement in an amount that is not covered, in whole or in part, by our insurance or that is in excess of the limits of our insurance coverage. Our insurance policies will also have various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage. We may have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts.

Our employees, independent contractors, consultants and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading, and we may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other illegal activity by our employees, independent contractors, consultants and vendors. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct that fails to comply with FDA regulations, provide true, complete and accurate information to the FDA or other regulatory authorities, comply with manufacturing standards we may establish, comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. If we obtain FDA approval of any of our current or future product candidates and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our potential exposure under these laws will increase significantly, and our costs associated with compliance with these laws will likely increase. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. Additionally, we are subject to the risk that a person could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, loss of eligibility to obtain approvals from the FDA or other regulatory authorities exclusion from participation in government contracting, healthcare reimbursement or other government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, or reputational harm.

We have received confidential and proprietary information from third parties. In addition, we employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. Although we try to ensure that individuals working for or collaborating with us do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information proprietary to these third parties or our employees’ former employers, or that we caused an employee to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement. We may be subject to claims that patents and applications we have filed to protect inventions of our employees, consultants, advisors or other third parties, even those related to one or more of our product candidates, are rightfully owned by their former or concurrent employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and employees. If our defenses to these claims fail, in addition to requiring us to pay monetary damages, a court could prohibit us from using technologies or features that are essential to our product candidates, if such technologies or features are found to incorporate or be derived from the trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. Moreover, any such litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our reputation, our ability to form strategic alliances or sublicense our rights to collaborators, engage with scientific advisors or hire employees or consultants, each of which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

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We may engage in strategic transactions that could increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities, subject us to other risks, adversely affect our liquidity, increase our expenses and present significant distractions to our management.

From time to time, we may consider strategic transactions, such as acquisitions of companies, asset purchases and out-licensing or in-licensing of intellectual property, products or technologies. Additional potential transactions that we may consider include a variety of business arrangements, including spin-offs, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, restructurings, divestitures, business combinations and investments. We may not be able to find suitable partners or acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete such transactions on favorable terms, if at all. Any future transactions could increase our near and long-term expenditures, result in potentially dilutive issuances of our equity securities, including our common stock, or the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, amortization expenses or acquired in-process research and development expenses, any of which could affect our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. Future acquisitions may also require us to obtain additional financing, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all. These transactions may never be successful and may require significant time and attention of our management. In addition, the integration of any business that we may acquire in the future may disrupt our existing business and may be a complex, risky and costly endeavor for which we may never realize the full benefits. Furthermore, we may experience losses related to investments in other companies, including as a result of failure to realize expected benefits or the materialization of unexpected liabilities or risks, which could have a material negative effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Accordingly, although there can be no assurance that we will undertake or successfully complete any additional transactions of the nature described above, any additional transactions that we do complete could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

In May 2022, we entered into the Loan Agreement and the Term Loan we entered into in connection with the Loan Agreement restricts our ability to pursue certain mergers, acquisitions or consolidations that we may believe to be in our best interest.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

We have incurred substantial losses during our history and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, and we may never achieve profitability. Under current law, unused U.S. federal net operating losses generated in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, will not expire and may be carried forward indefinitely but the deductibility of such federal net operating losses for any year is limited to no more than 80% of current year taxable income (without regard to certain deductions). In addition, both our current and our future net operating losses and other tax attributes may be subject to limitation under Sections 382 and 383 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if we undergo, or have undergone, an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in our equity ownership by certain stockholders or groups of stockholders over a three-year period. It is possible that we have undergone one or more “ownership changes” in the past. We may also undergo ownership changes in the future as a result of shifts in the ownership of our capital stock, some of which may be outside of our control, which may further limit our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset our post-change income or taxes. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit our use of accumulated state tax attributes. In addition, at the state level, there may be periods during which the use of net operating losses is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed. As a result, even if we attain profitability, we may be unable to use all or a material portion of our net operating losses and other tax attributes, which could adversely affect our future cash flows.

Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us may have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition or results of operations.

New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules or regulations could be enacted at any time, which could adversely affect our business operations and financial performance. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. For example, future changes in corporate tax rates, the realization of net deferred tax assets relating to our operations, the taxation of foreign earnings, and the deductibility of expenses could have a material impact on the value of our deferred tax assets, could result in significant one-time charges, and could increase our future U.S. tax expense. In addition, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as amended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ("OBBBA") for tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, taxpayers are required to capitalize and amortize certain research and development expenditures over fifteen years if incurred in foreign jurisdictions. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2021, and beginning on or before December 31, 2024, taxpayers generally were required to capitalize and amortize certain research and development expenditures over five years if incurred in the United States; however, beginning after that period, the OBBBA restored immediate deductibility of research and development expenditures incurred in the United

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States and also permits certain small business taxpayers to apply these changes retroactively to tax years beginning after December 31, 2021.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

We are subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). We designed our disclosure controls and procedures to reasonably assure that information we must disclose in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well-conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. For example, our directors or executive officers could inadvertently fail to disclose a new relationship or arrangement causing us to fail to make any related party transaction disclosures. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected. In addition, we do not have a formal risk management program for identifying and addressing risks to our business in other areas.

We previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Although we have remediated these material weaknesses, we may identify additional material weaknesses or other deficiencies in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which could result in material misstatements of our financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.

We previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. 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 our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. In preparing the financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, management previously determined it had not maintained appropriately designed entity-level controls impacting the control environment, risk assessment procedures and monitoring activities to prevent or detect material misstatements to our consolidated financial statements, which constituted material weaknesses. Specifically, the control deficiencies related to (i) insufficient identification and assessment of risks impacting the design, implementation and operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting and (ii) insufficient evaluation and determination as to whether components of internal control were present and functioning based upon evidence maintained for activity level controls, including management review controls, across substantially all of our financial statement areas. Management had also determined that it did not maintain effective information technology controls in the areas of user access, change management and segregation of duties, within the systems supporting our accounting and reporting processes. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, we successfully completed the testing necessary to conclude that the material weaknesses have been remediated.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial statements and prevent or detect fraud. Although the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described above have been remediated, any new material weaknesses or other deficiencies identified in the future or any deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures, if not timely remediated, could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. We cannot assure you that the remediation measures we have taken to date will be sufficient to prevent or avoid potential future material weaknesses in our internal controls.

If we identify new material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting, if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, if we are unable to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting when we are no longer an emerging growth company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected. As a result of such failures, we could also become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, and become subject to litigation from

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investors and stockholders, which could harm our reputation and financial condition or divert financial and management resources from our regular business activities.

We and the third parties with whom we work are, or may in the future be, subject to stringent and changing data privacy and security obligations.

In the ordinary course of business, we collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, “process”) certain personal information and other sensitive information, including our proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, employee data, intellectual property, data we collect about trial participants in connection with clinical trials, and other sensitive data. The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving and we are or may become subject to numerous data privacy and security obligations, such as various state, federal and foreign laws, regulations, guidance, industry standards, external and internal privacy and security policies, contractual requirements and other obligations that govern the processing of personal, sensitive or confidential information by us and on our behalf, and we may be subject to new or additional data protection laws and regulations and face increased scrutiny from regulators as our business grows. The legislative and regulatory landscape for data privacy and security continues to evolve in jurisdictions worldwide, and there has been an increasing focus on these issues with the potential to affect our business.

Various federal, state, local and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies, or self-regulatory organizations, may expand current laws, rules or regulations, enact new laws, rules or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding data privacy and security that could result in fines or injunctions. Implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards, or perception of their requirements may have on our business. This evolution may create uncertainty in our business, affect our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to process personal information, necessitate the acceptance of more onerous obligations in our contracts, result in liability or impose additional costs on us. The cost of compliance with these laws, regulations and standards is high and is likely to increase in the future. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with federal, state or foreign laws or regulations, our internal policies and procedures or our contracts governing our processing of personal, sensitive or confidential information could result in negative publicity, government investigations and enforcement actions, claims by third parties and damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In the United States, federal, state, and local governments have enacted numerous data privacy and security laws, including comprehensive consumer privacy laws, sector-specific privacy laws, consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), data breach notification laws, laws regarding on-line marketing, and other similar laws (e.g., wiretapping laws). For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended by as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH) (collectively, HIPAA), include a privacy rule and security rule that impose among other things, certain requirements relating to the privacy, security, transmission, and breach of individually identifiable health information. We may obtain health information from third parties (including research institutions from which we obtain clinical trial data) that are subject to privacy and security requirements under HIPAA. Depending on the facts and circumstances, we could be subject to significant penalties if we violate HIPAA.

Certain states have also adopted comparable privacy and security laws and regulations, which govern the privacy, processing and protection of health-related and other personal information. Such laws and regulations will be subject to interpretation by various courts and other governmental authorities, thus creating potentially complex compliance issues for us and our future customers and strategic partners.

Over a dozen states have also passed comprehensive consumer privacy laws, and similar laws are being considered in several other states, as well as at the federal and local levels, some of which we may become subject to. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020) (CCPA) imposes obligations on businesses that meet certain thresholds that process the personal information of California residents (including employees based in California). These obligations include, but are not limited to, providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording California residents certain rights related to their personal information. The CCPA also provides for fines of up to $7,500 per intentional violation and allows private litigants affected by certain data breaches to recover significant statutory damages. The 2020 amendments to the CCPA also created the California Privacy Protection Agency, a new enforcement agency whose sole responsibility is to enforce the CCPA and is empowered to create new CCPA regulations. In addition to government activity, privacy advocacy groups and technology and other industries are considering various new, additional or different self-regulatory standards that may place additional burdens on us. In addition to government activity,

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privacy advocacy groups and technology and other industries continue to consider new or revised self-regulatory standards that may place additional burdens on us.

Outside the United States, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) and the United Kingdom’s GDPR (UK GDPR) impose strict requirements for processing the personal data of individuals. Among other requirements, the GDPR and UK GDPR (and certain other foreign jurisdictions) regulate the cross- border transfer of personal data, which could make it more difficult for us to transfer information across jurisdictions (such as transferring or receiving personal data that originates in the European Union (EU), or the United Kingdom to countries such as the United States which are not considered by the EU or United Kingdom to provide adequate protection of personal data). In October 2022, the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework was implemented, and the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision on July 10, 2023 that set conditions for personal data transfers from the EU to certified companies in the United States without additional safeguards in place. While we strive to adhere to all requirements to transfer information across jurisdictions using safeguards endorsed by government guidance (such as using the Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission), we must still adapt to changing guidance and will follow any anticipated litigation closely. As the regulatory guidance and enforcement landscape in relation to data transfers continue to develop, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines; we may have to stop using certain tools and vendors and make other operational changes; and/or it could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Any such changes in the law related to the use of personal information or data could compromise our ability to pursue our growth strategy effectively or even prevent us from providing certain products in jurisdictions in which we currently operate or may operate in the future. Complying with these numerous, complex and often changing regulations is expensive and difficult, and failure to comply with any data privacy or security laws, whether by us, one of our third-party CDMOs, partners or another third party, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and result in expenses which include, but are not limited to: investigation costs, material fines and penalties, compensatory, special, punitive and statutory damages, litigation, consent orders regarding our privacy and security practices, requirements that we provide notices, credit monitoring services and/or credit restoration services or other relevant services to impacted individuals, adverse actions against our licenses to do business, reputational damage and injunctive relief.

In addition to data privacy and security laws, we are also bound by contractual obligations related to data privacy and security. We may be contractually required to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of non-compliance with any laws, rules and regulations or other legal obligations relating to privacy or any inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure of data that we store or handle as part of operating our business. Any of these events could adversely affect our reputation, business, or financial condition, including but not limited to: loss of customers; interruptions or stoppages in our business operations (including clinical trials); inability to process personal information or to operate in certain jurisdictions; limited ability to develop or commercialize our products; expenditure of time and resources to defend any claim or inquiry; adverse publicity; or substantial changes to our business model or operations.

We cannot assure you that our CROs, CDMOs or other third-party service providers with access to our or our suppliers’, manufacturers’, clinical trial participants’ and employees’ sensitive information for which we are responsible will not breach contractual obligations imposed by us, or that they will not experience data security incidents, which could have a corresponding effect on our business, including putting us in breach of our obligations under privacy laws and regulations and/or which could in turn adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Our contractual measures and our own privacy and security-related safeguards cannot completely protect us from the risks associated with the third-party processing of such information. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We also publicly post our privacy policies and practices concerning our collection, use, disclosure and other processing of the personal information provided to us. Although we endeavor to comply with our public statements and documentation, we may at times fail to do so or be perceived to have failed to do so. Our publication of our privacy policies and other statements we publish that provide promises and assurances about privacy and security can subject us to potential state and federal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices. Any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with federal, state or foreign laws, rules or regulations, industry standards, contractual or other legal obligations, or any actual, perceived or suspected cybersecurity incident, whether or not resulting in unauthorized access to, or acquisition, release or transfer of personal information or other data, may result in enforcement actions and prosecutions, private litigation, significant fines, penalties and censure, claims for damages by customers and other affected individuals, regulatory inquiries and investigations or adverse publicity and could cause our customers to lose trust in us, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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We are dependent on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our information technology systems, and those systems, or those of our third-party service providers, may be impacted by security incidents, cyberattacks, loss of data and other disruptions, which could adversely impact our business.

We are increasingly dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store, generate, transfer, and transmit (collectively, “process”) confidential information (such as intellectual property, proprietary business data and patient data). It is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of such information. We also outsource elements of our information technology systems and operations to third parties (such as vendors, contractors and consultants), and as a result we rely on and take steps designed to manage a number of third- parties who have access to and process our confidential information.

While we take steps designed to detect, mitigate, and remediate vulnerabilities in our information systems, we may not detect or be able to remediate all such vulnerabilities. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures and patches designed to address identified vulnerabilities, if at all. Despite the implementation of these security measures, our information technology systems and those of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants have been in the past and may be in the future potentially vulnerable to service interruptions, system malfunction, accidents by our employees or third-party service providers, natural disasters, terrorism, war, global pandemics, and telecommunication and electrical failures. We may also experience security incidents from inadvertent or intentional actions by our employees, third-party vendors, contractors, consultants, business partners and/or other third parties, including theft, fraud or unauthorized access to or use of our information technology systems, or attack or damage from hacking, cyberattacks or supply chain attacks by malicious third parties and sophisticated nation-state and nation-state- supported actors, which may compromise our system infrastructure, or that of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants, impede our ability to conduct business, delay our financial reporting or lead to data leakage. Any of the above concerns could apply to our third-party suppliers and vendors as well.

The risk of a security incident or disruption, particularly through cyberattacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity, and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. We may not be able to anticipate all types of security threats, nor implement preventive measures effective against all such security threats. Any breach, loss or compromise of confidential proprietary, or personal information may also subject us to liability, government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections), additional reporting requirements and/or oversight, restrictions on processing sensitive information (including personal data), litigation (including class claims), indemnification obligations, negative publicity, reputational harm, monetary fund diversions, diversion of management attention, interruptions in our operations (including availability of data), financial loss and other similar harms. If the information technology systems of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants become subject to disruptions or security incidents, we may have insufficient recourse against such third parties and we may have to expend significant resources to mitigate the impact of such an event, and to develop and implement protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring.

Further, remote work may increase the risks to our information technology systems and data, as remotely working employees utilize network connections, computers and devices outside our premises or network, including working at home, while in transit or in public locations.

Disruptions of our information technology systems or those of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants, or security breaches could result in the loss, misappropriation and/or unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of, or the prevention of access to, confidential information (including trade secrets or other intellectual property or proprietary business information) and claims by our counterparties that we have failed to comply with legal or contractual obligations, which could result in financial, legal, business, and reputational harm to us.

There can be no assurance that the limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate to protect us from liabilities and damage and we may not have adequate insurance coverage to cover losses, or all types of costs, expenses and losses, we could incur with respect to security breaches or disruptions. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage and coverage for errors and omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to any future claim.

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We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” and the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies could make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including (i) not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our Annual Report and our periodic reports and proxy statements and (iii) exemptions from the requirements of holding nonbinding advisory stockholder votes on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not approved previously. In addition, as an emerging growth company, we are only required to provide two years of audited financial statements and two years of selected financial data in our Annual Report.

We could be an emerging growth company until December 31, 2029, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer,” which occurs when the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30, or if we have total annual gross revenue of $1.235 billion or more during any fiscal year before that time, in which cases we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31, or if we issue more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during any three-year period before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company immediately.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. Our financial statements may therefore not be comparable to those of companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards. Until the date that we are no longer an “emerging growth company” or affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the exemption provided by Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act, upon issuance of a new or revised accounting standard that applies to our financial statements and that has a different effective date for public and private companies, we will disclose the date on which adoption is required for non-emerging growth companies and the date on which we will adopt the recently issued accounting standard.

We are also a “smaller reporting company” as defined in the Exchange Act. We will continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250.0 million, measured as of the last business day of our most recently completed second quarter or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700.0 million. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company even after we cease to be an emerging growth company, so we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements, we are not required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We may, in the future, seek to enter into collaborations or other agreements with third parties for the discovery, development and commercialization of product candidates, if approved, and we may not be successful in doing so. If those collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of BGE-102 and any future product candidates.

We may in the future seek third-party collaborators for research, development and commercialization of BGE-102 or any future product candidates. Biopharmaceutical companies are our prior and likely future collaborators for any marketing, distribution, development, licensing or broader collaboration arrangements. With respect to our existing collaboration agreements, and what we expect will be the case with any future collaboration agreements, we have and would expect to have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators dedicate to the development or commercialization of our product candidates. Moreover, our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on our collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements.

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Collaborations involving our technology currently pose, and will continue to pose, the following risks to us:

collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations and may not perform their obligations as expected;

collaborators may de-emphasize or not pursue development and commercialization of any product candidates or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on clinical trial results, changes in the collaborators’ strategic focus, including as a result of a sale or disposition of a business unit or development function, or available funding or external factors such as an acquisition that diverts resources or creates competing priorities;

collaborators may delay clinical trials, provide insufficient funding for a clinical trial program, stop a clinical trial or abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical trials or require a new formulation of a product candidate for clinical testing;

collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with any product candidates if the collaborators believe that competitive products are more likely to be successfully developed or can be commercialized under terms that are more economically attractive than ours;

a collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to multiple products may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of our product, if approved, relative to other products;

collaborators may not properly obtain, maintain, defend or enforce our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information and intellectual property in such a way as to invite litigation or other intellectual property related proceedings that could jeopardize or invalidate our proprietary information and intellectual property or expose us to potential litigation or other intellectual property related proceedings;

disputes may arise between the collaborators and us that result in the delay or termination of the research, development or, if approved, commercialization of any product candidates or that result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management attention and resources;

collaborations may be terminated and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or, if approved, commercialization of the applicable product candidates;

collaboration agreements may not lead to development or, if approved, commercialization of product candidates in the most efficient manner or at all; and

if a future collaborator of ours were to be involved in a business combination, the continued pursuit and emphasis on our product development or, if approved, commercialization program could be delayed, diminished or terminated.

If our collaborations do not result in the successful development and commercialization of product candidates, or if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may not receive any future research funding or milestone or royalty payments under the collaboration. Furthermore, even if we receive such payments, they will likely result in payment obligations under license agreements with our licensors, which could be substantial. If we do not receive the funding we expect under these collaboration agreements, or if the funding is substantially offset by payment obligations to our licensors, our development of product candidates could be delayed, and we may need additional resources to develop product candidates. In addition, if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to find a suitable replacement collaborator or attract new collaborators, and our development programs may be delayed or the perception of us in the business and financial communities could be adversely affected.

As a result of the foregoing, our current and any future collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of our product candidates in the most efficient manner or at all. Moreover, if a collaborator of ours were to be involved in a business combination, the continued pursuit and emphasis on our product development or commercialization program could be delayed, diminished or terminated. Any failure to successfully develop or commercialize our product candidates pursuant to our current or any future collaboration agreements could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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We rely, and intend to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and perform some of our research and preclinical studies. If these third parties do not satisfactorily carry out their contractual duties, fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements or do not meet expected deadlines, our development programs may be delayed or subject to increased costs or we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval, each of which may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We do not have the ability to independently conduct all aspects of our preclinical studies and clinical trials ourselves. As a result, we are dependent on third parties to conduct preclinical studies of certain future product candidates, as well as clinical trials for any future product candidates, as well as potentially preclinical studies of certain future product candidates. The timing of the initiation and completion of these trials will therefore be partially controlled by such third parties and may result in delays to our development programs. Since such third parties partially control the progress of these trials, they may also publish the data related to these trials prior to obtaining or without our approval for doing so. For example, we expect CROs, independent clinical investigators and consultants to play a significant role in the conduct of these trials and the subsequent collection and analysis of data. However, these investigators, CROs and other third parties are not our employees, and we will not be able to control all aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each clinical trial is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol and legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on the investigators, CROs and other third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with GCP requirements, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA for product candidates in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, clinical trial investigators and clinical trial sites. If we or any of our CROs or clinical trial sites fail to comply with applicable GCP requirements, the data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable, and the FDA 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 our clinical trials comply with GCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) regulations. Our failure or the failure of third parties on whom we rely to comply with these regulations may require us to stop and/or repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

There is no guarantee that any such CROs, clinical trial investigators or other third parties on which we rely will devote adequate time and resources to our development activities or perform as contractually required. In addition, these third parties may be subject to supply chain or inflationary pressures that limit their ability to achieve anticipated timelines or result in a greater cost to us. For example, we are aware of recurrent shortages of non-human primates available for preclinical studies and although that is not expected to impact our current business, if we begin new product development programs we could be subject to longer development times or difficulty completing necessary research. If any of these third parties fail to meet expected deadlines, adhere to our clinical protocols or meet regulatory requirements, otherwise perform in a substandard manner, or terminate their engagements with us, the timelines for our development programs may be extended or delayed or our development activities may be suspended or terminated. If our clinical trial site terminates for any reason, we may experience the loss of follow-up information on subjects enrolled in such clinical trial unless we are able to transfer those subjects to another qualified clinical trial site, which may be difficult or impossible.

In addition, with respect to investigator-sponsored trials that may be conducted, we would not control the design or conduct of these trials, and it is possible that the FDA will not view these investigator-sponsored trials as providing adequate support for future clinical trials or market approval, whether controlled by us or third parties, for any one or more reasons, including elements of the design or execution of the trials or safety concerns or other trial results. We expect that such arrangements will provide us certain information rights with respect to the investigator-sponsored trials, including access to and the ability to use and reference the data, including for our own regulatory submissions, resulting from the investigator sponsored trials. However, we would not have control over the timing and reporting of the data from investigator-sponsored trials, nor would we own the data from the investigator-sponsored trials. If we are unable to confirm or replicate the results from the investigator- sponsored trials or if negative results are obtained, we would likely be further delayed or prevented from advancing further clinical development. Further, if investigators or institutions breach their obligations with respect to the clinical development of our product candidates, or if the data proves to be inadequate compared to the firsthand knowledge we might have gained had the investigator-sponsored trials been sponsored and conducted by us, then our ability to design and conduct any future clinical trials ourselves may be adversely affected. The investigators may design clinical trials with clinical endpoints that are more difficult to achieve, or in other ways that increase the risk of negative clinical trial results compared to clinical trials that we may design on our own. Negative results in investigator-sponsored clinical trials could have a material adverse effect on our efforts to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates and the public perception of our product candidates. Additionally, the FDA may disagree with the sufficiency of our right of reference to the preclinical, manufacturing or clinical data generated by these investigator-sponsored trials, or our interpretation of preclinical, manufacturing or clinical data from these investigator-sponsored trials. If so, the FDA may require us to obtain and submit additional preclinical, manufacturing, or clinical data.

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Furthermore, these third parties may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other pharmaceutical product development activities that could harm our competitive position. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, regulatory approval for BGE-102 or any future product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our products.

The manufacture of pharmaceutical products, including BGE-102 and any future product candidates is complex. Our third-party manufacturers may encounter difficulties in production, which could delay or entirely halt their ability in the future to supply our product candidates for clinical trials or, if approved, for commercial sale.

We do not have any manufacturing facilities, and we currently contract with certain third-party manufacturers, which are located in China and India. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and related raw materials for preclinical and clinical testing, product development purposes, to support regulatory application submissions, as well as for commercial manufacture if any of our product candidates obtain regulatory approval. In addition, we expect to contract with analytical laboratories for release and stability testing of our product candidates. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts and cause the FDA to withdraw certain designations, including orphan drug designation. For example, we cannot be sure to what extent the supply chain issues caused by geopolitical uncertainty, including the armed conflict between the U.S. military and Iran and related disruption in the region, the impacts of threatened or imposed tariffs or other trade barriers, and public health epidemics, may impact our ability to procure sufficient supplies for the development of our product candidates and what, if any, impact that may have on our facilities and operations in the region, including but not limited to a decrease or disruption of production, increased costs of production or other interruptions in our supply chain. In addition, any disruption in production or inability of our manufacturers, specifically in China, to produce adequate quantities to meet our needs, whether as a result of a natural disaster, regulatory restrictions or other causes, could impair our ability to operate our business on a day-to-day basis and to continue our development of our product candidates.

Furthermore, since some of our third-party manufacturers are located in China and India, we are exposed to the possibility of product supply disruption and increased costs in the event of changes in the policies of the United States, such as the recent imposition of tariffs, or other trade barriers, or actions by the Chinese governments, political unrest or unstable economic conditions in China.In addition, certain Chinese biotechnology companies may become subject to trade restrictions, sanctions, other regulatory requirements, or proposed legislation by the U.S. government, which could restrict or even prohibit our ability to work with such entities, thereby potentially disrupting the supply of material to us. For example, the BIOSECURE Act, signed into law in December 2025, prohibits U.S. federal agencies from entering into or renewing any contract (or loaning or granting funds to do the same) with any entity that uses “biotechnology equipment or services” produced or provided by a “biotechnology company of concern” to perform that contract. A “biotechnology company of concern” is defined as an entity that is involved in the manufacturing, distribution, provision, or procurement of a biotechnology equipment or service and is (i) identified on the annual 1260H List of Chinese military companies (1260H List) issued by the U.S. Department of Defense, (ii) determined by the U.S. government to meet certain criteria relating to national security and control by a foreign adversary through a process set forth in the Act, or (iii) certain affiliates of the foregoing. In addition, the BIOSECURE Act provides a grandfathering period of five years for entities that are designated by the U.S. Government; however, entities identified on the 1260H List are not eligible for such grandfathering period. We are presently party to agreements with WuXi Apptec and its affiliates (WuXi), pursuant to which WuXi provides development and manufacturing services to us. WuXi is not currently designated on the 1260H List and has not otherwise been determined to be a biotechnology company of concern, but could be designated as such by the U.S. government in an annual update to the 1260H List or through the process set forth in the Act, once established. If this law or similar laws that may be passed impact WuXi or other Chinese biotechnology manufacturing companies that we may contract with or that provide biotechnology equipment or services in the manufacture of our products or product candidates, they would have the potential to severely restrict our ability to work with WuXi and other such Chinese biotechnology manufacturing companies to the extent we would contract with, or otherwise receive funding from, the U.S. government. We cannot predict what actions may ultimately be taken with respect to trade relations between the United States and China or other countries, what products and services may be subject to such actions or what actions may be taken by China or the other countries in retaliation. Setting up alternative manufacturing or supplier relationships in other jurisdictions would result in additional costs to the business and will require the time and attention of management.

Any of these matters could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, disruptions in logistics routes and transportation capabilities could disrupt our supply chain. And, if we experience unexpected spikes in demand over time, we risk running out of our necessary supplies.

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We may be unable to enter into additional agreements with third-party manufacturers or suppliers on favorable terms. Our anticipated reliance on a limited number of third party-manufacturers or suppliers exposes us to the following risks:

reliance on the third party for regulatory, compliance and quality assurance;

reliance on the third party for product development, analytical testing and data generation to support regulatory applications;

operations of our third-party manufacturers or suppliers could be disrupted by conditions unrelated to our business or operations, including the bankruptcy of the manufacturer or supplier, the issuance of an FDA Form 483 notice or warning letter or other enforcement action by the FDA or other regulatory authority;

the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party;

the possible misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how;

the possible termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by the third party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us;

carrier disruptions or increased costs that are beyond our control; and

failure to deliver our drugs under specified storage conditions and in a timely manner.

Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside of the United States. If the FDA determines that our CDMOs are not in compliance with FDA laws and regulations, including those governing cGMPs, the FDA may not approve a new drug application until the deficiencies are corrected or we replace the manufacturer in our application with a manufacturer that is in compliance. Moreover, our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers and suppliers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products. In addition, approved products and the facilities at which they are manufactured are required to maintain ongoing compliance with extensive FDA requirements and the requirements of other similar agencies, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP requirements. As such, our CDMOs are subject to continual review and periodic inspections to assess compliance with cGMPs. Furthermore, although we do not have day-to-day control over the operations of our CDMOs, we are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including cGMPs.

Our product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. As a result, we may not obtain access to these facilities on a priority basis or at all. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.

As we prepare for later-stage clinical trials and potential commercialization, we will need to take steps to increase the scale of production of our product candidates. We have not yet scaled up the manufacturing process for any of our product candidates and may need to scale further to support future supply needs for any of our product candidates. Third-party manufacturers may be unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any of our product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. In addition, quality issues may arise during scale-up or commercial activities. For example, if microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities in which our product candidates are made, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination.

Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or regulatory approval. If our current CDMOs cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace such CDMOs. Although we believe that there are several potential alternative manufacturers who could manufacture our product candidates, we may incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement manufacturer or be able to reach agreement with any alternative manufacturer. In this case, our clinical trials supply could be delayed significantly as we establish alternative supply sources. In addition, if we are required to change CDMOs for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new CDMO maintains facilities and procedures that comply with quality standards and with all applicable regulations. We will also need to verify, such as through a manufacturing comparability study, that any new manufacturing process will produce our product candidate according to the specifications previously submitted to the FDA or another regulatory authority. The delays associated with the verification of a new CDMO could negatively affect our ability to develop product candidates or commercialize our products in a timely manner or within budget. In addition, changes in manufacturers often involve changes in manufacturing procedures and processes, which could require that we conduct bridging studies between our prior clinical supply used in our clinical trials and that of any new manufacturer. We may be unsuccessful in demonstrating the comparability

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of clinical supplies, which could require the conduct of additional clinical trials. Further, our third- party manufacturers may experience manufacturing or shipping difficulties due to resource constraints or as a result of natural disasters, labor disputes, unstable political environments or public health epidemics.

Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates or products may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that obtain regulatory approval on a timely and competitive basis.

If we, or any contract manufacturers or suppliers we engage, fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could harm our business.

We and our third-party contractors are subject to numerous federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources, including any available insurance. We could also be held liable for unexpected safety events that could happen in our business offices.

In addition, our leasing and operation of real property may subject us to liability pursuant to certain of these laws or regulations. Under existing United States environmental laws and regulations, current or previous owners or operators of real property and entities that disposed or arranged for the disposal of hazardous substances may be held strictly, jointly and severally liable for the cost of investigating or remediating contamination caused by hazardous substance releases, even if they did not know of and were not responsible for the releases.

We could incur significant costs and liabilities which may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results for failure to comply with such laws and regulations, including, among other things, civil or criminal fines and penalties, property damage and personal injury claims, costs associated with upgrades to our facilities or changes to our operating procedures, or injunctions limiting or altering our operations.

Although we maintain liability insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biological, hazardous or radioactive materials.

In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations, which are becoming increasingly more stringent, may impair our research, development or production efforts. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

If we do not obtain patent term extension for any product candidates we may develop, our business may be harmed.

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA regulatory approval of BGE-102 and any other product candidates we may develop and our technology, our U.S. patents or one or more U.S. patents that may issue in the future based on a patent application that we license or own may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent extension term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. The application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent for which extension is sought and within 60 days of FDA approval. A patent that covers multiple products for which approval is sought can only be extended in connection with one of the approvals.

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However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. In addition, to the extent we wish to pursue patent term extension based on a patent that we in-license from a third party, we would need the cooperation of that third party. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our revenue could be reduced. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Patent terms may be insufficient to protect our competitive position on BGE-102 and any future product candidates for an adequate amount of time.

Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. Various patent term adjustments or extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering BGE-102 or any future product candidates are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products, including generics. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products identical or similar to ours.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection is dependent on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

Source: SEC EDGAR (public domain) · 10-K for the period ended 2025-12-31, filed 2026-03-24 · accession 0001193125-26-120873

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