CLDX US Equity☆

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should consider carefully these risk factors together with all of the information included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report in addition to our financial statements and the notes to our financial statements. This section includes forward-looking statements.

The following is a discussion of the risk factors that we believe are material to us at this time. These risks and uncertainties are not the only ones facing us, and there may be additional matters that we are unaware of or that we currently consider immaterial. All of these could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Summary of Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements

● Risks related to our need for additional capital to fund our operations.

● Risks related to the Merger Agreement and the acquisition of Kolltan.

● Risks related to U.S. federal income tax reform.

Risks Related to Development and Regulatory Approval of Drug Candidates

● Risks related to the extensive regulatory scrutiny to which we are subject.

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Drug Candidates

● Risks related to reimbursement decisions by third-party payors.

Risks Related to Reliance on Third Parties

● Risks related to our reliance on third parties.

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Risks Related to Business Operations

● Risks related to strategic transactions.

● Risks related to managing our growth.

● Risks related to hazardous materials.

● Risks related to product liability claims.

● Risks related to the global economy and supply chain disruptions.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

● Risks related to intellectual property.

Regulatory Risks

● Risks related to the regulatory approval process for our drugs.

● Risks related to changes in product candidate manufacturing or formulation.

● Risks related to our compliance with laws and regulations.

Risks Related to Our Capital Stock

● Risks related to our reverse stock split.

● Risks relates to the volatility of our common stock.

● Risks related to our use of our net operating loss carryforwards.

General Risk Factors

● Risks related to internal controls over financial reporting.

● Risks that our competitors may develop technologies that make ours obsolete.

● Risks related to health epidemics and outbreaks.

● Risks related to the loss of our key executives and scientists.

● Risks related to our compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rules.

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Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements

We currently have no product revenue and will need to raise capital to operate our business.

To date, we have generated no product revenue and cannot predict when and if we will generate product revenue. We had an accumulated deficit of $1.1 billion as of December 31, 2021. Until, and unless, we complete clinical trials and other development activity, and receive approval from the FDA and other regulatory authorities, for our drug candidates, we cannot sell our drugs and will not have product revenue. We expect to spend substantial funds to continue the research, development and testing of our products that are in the preclinical and clinical testing stages of development and to prepare to commercialize products in anticipation of FDA approval. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, we will have to fund all of our operations and development expenditures from cash on hand, equity or debt financings, licensing fees and grants. Additional financing will be required to meet our liquidity needs. If we do not succeed in raising additional funds on acceptable terms, we might not be able to complete planned preclinical and clinical trials or obtain approval of any drug candidates from the FDA and other regulatory authorities. In addition, we could be forced to discontinue product development, reduce or forego sales and marketing efforts, forego attractive business opportunities or curtail operations. Any additional sources of financing could involve the issuance of our equity securities, which would have a dilutive effect on our stockholders. No assurance can be given that additional financing will be available to us when needed on acceptable terms, or at all.

We cannot be certain that we will achieve or sustain profitability in the future. Failure to achieve profitability could diminish our ability to sustain operations, pay dividends on our common stock, obtain additional required funds and make required payments on our present or future indebtedness.

We expect to incur future losses and we may never become profitable.

We have incurred operating losses of $71.2 million, $63.4 million and $55.0 million during 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and expect to incur an operating loss in 2022 and beyond. We believe that operating losses will continue in 2022 and beyond because we are planning to incur significant costs associated with the development of our drug candidates. During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we incurred $8.0 million, $4.9 million and $4.3 million in clinical trial expense and $1.7 million, $1.2 million and $0.6 million in contract manufacturing expense. Our net losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on, among other things, our stockholders’ equity, total assets and working capital. We expect that losses will fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year, and that such fluctuations may be substantial. We cannot predict when we will become profitable, if at all.

We will need additional capital to fund our operations, including the development, manufacture and potential commercialization of our drug candidates. If we do not have or cannot raise additional capital when needed, we may be unable to develop and ultimately commercialize our drug candidates successfully.

We expect to incur significant costs as we develop our drug candidates. The continuing development and commercialization of our drug candidates requires additional capital beyond our current resources. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $408.3 million. During the next twelve months and beyond, we will take further steps to raise additional capital to fund our long-term liquidity needs. Our capital raising activities may include, but may not be limited to, one or more of the following:

● licensing of drug candidates with existing or new collaborative partners;

● possible business combinations;

● issuance of debt; or

While we may seek capital through a number of means, there can be no assurance that additional financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all, and our negotiating position in capital-raising efforts may worsen as existing resources are used. There is also no assurance that we will be able to enter into further collaborative relationships. Additional equity financing may be dilutive to our stockholders; debt financing, if available, may involve significant cash payment obligations and covenants that restrict our ability to operate as a business; and licensing or strategic collaborations may result in royalties or other terms which reduce our economic potential from drug candidates under development. If we are unable to raise the funds necessary to meet our liquidity needs, we may

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have to delay or discontinue the development of one or more programs, discontinue or delay ongoing or anticipated clinical trials, license out programs earlier than expected, raise funds at significant discount or on other unfavorable terms, if at all, or sell all or part of our business.

Our stockholders may be subject to substantial dilution if we elect to pay future milestone consideration to the former Kolltan stockholders in shares of common stock. If we elect to pay future milestone consideration in cash we would likely need to raise additional capital.

The merger agreement between us and Kolltan (“Merger Agreement”) provides that we will be required to pay Kolltan’s former stockholders contingent consideration in the form of development, regulatory approval and sales-based milestones (“Kolltan Milestones”) of up to $172.5 million. Certain Kolltan Milestones related to the METRIC clinical study, TAM partnership closing within two years of the acquisition, CDX-3379 and CDX-0158 have been abandoned. We previously sent abandonment notices to the representative of Kolltan’s former stockholders, Shareholder Representative Services LLC (“SRS”), with respect to each of the abandoned Kolltan Milestones, and the representative subsequently objected to the abandonment notices for CDX-3379 and CDX-0158. We disagree with their objection and believe their objection to be without merit.

We have filed a Verified Complaint in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware against SRS seeking declaratory relief with respect to the rights and obligations of the parties relating to certain contingent milestone payments under the Merger Agreement. In SRS’ responsive Answer and Verified Counterclaim, SRS made claims of breach of contract with respect to the Merger Agreement, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, declaratory relief, and unjust enrichment regarding abandonment of the CDX-0158 milestones. At this time, we are unable to reasonably assess the ultimate outcome of our litigation with the representative of Kolltan’s former stockholders over its objection to our abandonment of certain Kolltan Milestones or determine an estimate of potential losses, if any. Further, there are disagreements between that representative and us with respect to our abandonment notice related to the discontinued CDX-3379 program. The case remains ongoing and we are currently unable to predict or estimate the outcome of this matter. The case is currently scheduled for trial in June 2022. The parties entered into non-binding mediation in May 2021 following SRS’s approach to Celldex about its interest in settlement or mediation discussions, but those discussions did not result in a resolution of the dispute. As of December 31, 2021, we believe we may be required to make milestone payments in an amount of up to $107.5 million. If we elect to issue shares of our common stock to make these milestone payments, you will experience further dilution.

Milestone payments under the Merger Agreement may be made, at our sole election, in cash, in shares of our common stock or a combination of both, although we are required to maintain a certain percentage of the overall consideration paid in Celldex common stock to satisfy certain tax requirements under the Merger Agreement. We may require additional capital to fund any milestone payments in cash, depending on the facts and circumstances at the time such payments become due. The number of shares of our common stock issuable in connection with a milestone payment, if any, will be determined based on the average closing price per share of our common stock for the five trading day period ending three calendar days prior to the achievement of such milestone. If we elect to pay the Kolltan Milestones in shares of our common stock, our stockholders would experience substantial dilution.

U.S. federal income tax reform could adversely affect us.

On March 27, 2020, in response to COVID-19, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was enacted. The CARES Act modified the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) by, among other things, eliminating the limitation on the deduction of net operating losses to 80% of current year taxable income for tax years beginning before January 1, 2021, and increasing the amount of interest expense that may be deducted from 30% to 50% of adjusted taxable income for tax years beginning in 2019 or 2020. We continue to examine the impact of this tax reform legislation, as well as any additional regulatory guidance that may be issued, may have on our business. For example, the recent change of administration could result in additional tax legislative activity that could have a material adverse effect on the Company.

Risks Related to Development and Regulatory Approval of Drug Candidates

Our long term success depends heavily on our ability to fund and complete the research and development activities and obtain regulatory approval for our program assets.

Only a small minority of all research and development programs ultimately result in commercially successful drugs. Clinical failure can occur at any stage of clinical development. Clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may

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decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical or preclinical trials. In addition, data obtained from trials are susceptible to varying interpretations, and regulators may not interpret our data as favorably as we do, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will generate the same results or otherwise provide adequate data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of a drug candidate.

We will need substantial additional financing to complete the development of our drug candidates and comply with the regulatory requirements governing this process. Further, even if we complete the development of our drug candidates and gain marketing approvals from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in a timely manner, we cannot be sure that such drug candidate will be commercially successful in the pharmaceutical market. If the results of clinical trials, the anticipated or actual timing of marketing approvals, or the market acceptance of any of our drug candidates, if approved, do not meet the expectations of investors or public market analysts, the market price of our common stock would likely decline.

Our drug candidates are subject to extensive regulatory scrutiny.

All of our drug candidates are at various stages of development, and our activities and drug candidates are significantly regulated by a number of governmental entities, including the FDA in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. These entities regulate, among other things, the manufacture, testing, safety, effectiveness, labeling, documentation, advertising and sale of drugs and drug candidates. We or our partners must obtain regulatory approval for a drug candidate in all of these areas before we can commercialize any of our drug candidates. Product development within this regulatory framework takes a number of years and involves the expenditure of substantial resources. This process typically requires extensive preclinical and clinical testing, which may take longer or cost more than we anticipate, and may prove unsuccessful due to numerous factors. Many drug candidates that initially appear promising ultimately do not reach the market because they are found to be unsafe or ineffective when tested. Companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and immunotherapeutic drug industries have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after obtaining promising results in earlier trials. Our inability to commercialize a drug candidate would impair our ability to earn future revenues.

If our drug candidates do not pass required tests for safety and effectiveness, we will not be able to obtain regulatory approval and derive commercial revenue from them.

In order to succeed, we will need to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates. The FDA has not approved any of our drug candidates for sale to date. Our drug candidates are in various stages of preclinical and clinical testing. Preclinical tests are performed at an early stage of a product’s development and provide information about a drug candidate’s safety and effectiveness before initiating human clinical trials. Preclinical tests can last years. If a product passes its preclinical tests satisfactorily and we determine that further development is warranted, we would file an IND application for the product with the FDA, and if the FDA gives its approval, we would begin Phase 1 clinical tests. Phase 1 testing generally lasts between 6 and 24 months. If Phase 1 test results are satisfactory and the FDA gives its approval, we can begin Phase 2 clinical tests. Phase 2 testing generally lasts between 6 and 36 months. If Phase 2 test results are satisfactory and the FDA gives its approval, we can begin Phase 3 pivotal studies. Phase 3 studies generally last between 12 and 48 months. Once clinical testing is completed and a BLA or NDA is filed with the FDA, it may take more than a year to receive FDA approval.

In all cases we must show that a drug candidate is both safe and effective before the FDA, or drug approval agencies of other countries where we intend to sell the product, will approve it for sale. Our research and testing programs must comply with drug approval requirements both in the United States and in other countries, since we are developing our drug candidates with the intention to, or could later decide to, commercialize them both in the U.S. and abroad. A product may fail for safety or effectiveness at any stage of the testing process. A major risk we face is the possibility that none of our products under development will come through the testing process to final approval for sale, with the result that we cannot derive any commercial revenue from them after investing significant amounts of capital in multiple stages of preclinical and clinical testing.

Success in early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and we cannot assure you that any of the clinical trials that we may conduct will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval.

The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the results of later- stage clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Preclinical and clinical data are susceptible to various interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their drug candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials have nonetheless failed to replicate such results in later-stage clinical trials and subsequently

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failed to obtain marketing approval. Drug candidates in later-stage clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy despite having progressed through preclinical and initial clinical trials, even if certain analyses of primary or secondary endpoints in those early trials showed trends towards efficacy. Later-stage clinical trials with larger numbers of patients or longer durations of therapy may also reveal safety concerns that were not identified in earlier smaller or shorter trials. Our failure to demonstrate efficacy and safety data sufficient to support marketing approval for any of our other drug candidates would substantially harm our business, prospectus, financial condition and results of operations.

Product testing is critical to the success of our drug candidates but subject to delay or cancellation if we have difficulty enrolling patients.

As our portfolio of drug candidates moves from preclinical testing to clinical testing, and then through progressively larger and more complex clinical trials, we will need to enroll an increasing number of patients with the appropriate characteristics. At times we have experienced difficulty enrolling patients, and we may experience more difficulty as the scale of our clinical testing program increases. The factors that affect our ability to enroll patients are largely uncontrollable and include principally the following:

● the nature of the clinical test;

● the size of the patient population;

● the distance between patients and clinical test sites; and

● the eligibility criteria for the trial.

If we cannot enroll patients as needed, our costs may increase, or we may be forced to delay or terminate testing for a product.

We may have delays in commencing, enrolling and completing our clinical trials, and we may not complete them at all.

We have not completed the clinical trials necessary to obtain FDA approval to market any of our drug candidates in development. Clinical trials for our products in development may be delayed or terminated as a result of many factors, including the following:

● difficulty in enrolling patients in our clinical trials;

● failure by regulators to authorize us to commence a clinical trial;

● drug candidates demonstrating a lack of efficacy during clinical trials;

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● delays in completing data collection and analysis for clinical trials.

Any delay or failure to commence, enroll or complete clinical trials, fulfill regulatory requirements and obtain FDA approval for our drug candidates could have a material adverse effect on our cost to develop and commercialize, and our ability to generate revenue from, a particular drug candidate.

If serious adverse or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our drug candidates, we may need to abandon or limit our development of some of our drug candidates.

If our drug candidates are associated with serious adverse events or undesirable side effects in clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the serious adverse events, undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. In pharmaceutical development, many drugs that initially show promise in early-stage testing are later found to cause side effects that prevent further development of the drug. Currently marketed therapies for the treatment of cancer are generally limited to some extent by their toxicity. In addition, some of our drug candidates would be chronic therapies or be used in pediatric populations, for which safety concerns may be particularly important. Use of our drug candidates as monotherapies may also result in adverse events consistent in nature with other marketed therapies. In addition, when used in combination with other marketed therapies, our drug candidates may exacerbate adverse events associated with the marketed therapy.

We may expend our resources to pursue a particular drug candidate or indication and forgo the opportunity to capitalize on drug candidates or indications that may ultimately be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.

Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we intend to focus on developing drug candidates for specific indications that we identify as most likely to succeed, in terms of both their potential for regulatory approval and commercialization. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other drug candidates or for other indications that may prove to have greater commercial potential.

Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial drugs or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and drug candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable drug candidates. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular drug candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that drug candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to the drug candidate.

We may be unable to manage multiple late-stage clinical trials for a variety of drug candidates simultaneously.

As our current clinical trials progress, we may need to manage multiple late-stage clinical trials simultaneously in order to continue developing all of our current products. The management of late-stage clinical trials is more complex and time consuming than early-stage trials. Typically, early-stage trials involve several hundred patients in no more than 10 to 30 clinical sites. Late-stage (Phase 3) trials may involve up to several thousand patients in up to several hundred clinical sites and may require facilities in several countries. Therefore, the project management required to supervise and control such an extensive program in a compliant manner is substantially larger than early-stage programs. As the need for these resources is not known until some months before the trials begin, it is necessary to recruit large numbers of experienced and talented individuals very quickly. If the labor market does not allow this team to be recruited quickly, the sponsor is faced with a decision to delay the program or to initiate it with inadequate management resources. This may result in recruitment of inappropriate patients, inadequate monitoring of clinical investigators and inappropriate handling of data or data analysis. Consequently, it is possible that conclusions of efficacy or safety may not be acceptable to permit filing of a BLA or NDA for any one of the above reasons or a combination of several.

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Failure to successfully validate, develop and obtain regulatory approval for companion diagnostics for our drug candidates, if needed, could harm our drug development strategy and operational results.

As an element of our clinical development approach, we may seek to screen and identify subsets of patients that express a certain biomarker or that have a certain genetic alteration who may derive meaningful benefit from our development drug candidates. To achieve this, one or more of our drug development programs may be dependent on the development and commercialization of a companion diagnostic by us or by third-party collaborators. Companion diagnostics are developed in conjunction with clinical programs for the associated drug candidate. Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation as medical devices and must themselves be approved for marketing by the FDA or certain other foreign regulatory agencies before the related drug candidate may be commercialized. The approval of a companion diagnostic as part of the product label will limit the use of the drug candidate to only those patients who express the specific biomarker it was developed to detect. We or our third-party collaborators may also experience delays in developing a sustainable, reproducible and scalable manufacturing process or transferring that process to commercial partners or negotiating insurance reimbursement for such companion diagnostic, all of which may prevent us from completing our clinical trials or commercializing our drugs on a timely or profitable basis, if at all.

To date, the FDA has required premarket approval of all companion diagnostics for cancer therapies. We and our third-party collaborators may encounter difficulties in developing and obtaining approval for these companion diagnostics. Any delay or failure by us or third-party collaborators to develop or obtain regulatory approval of a companion diagnostic could delay or prevent approval of our related drug candidates or, if regulatory approval is obtained, delay or limit our ability to commercialize our related drug candidates.

Any delay in obtaining regulatory approval would have an adverse impact on our ability to earn future revenues.

It is possible that none of the drug candidates that we develop will obtain the regulatory approvals necessary for us to begin commercializing them. The time required to obtain FDA and other approvals is unpredictable but in general takes years following the commencement of clinical trials, depending upon the nature of the drug candidate. Any analysis we perform of data from clinical activities is subject to confirmation and interpretation by regulatory authorities, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Any delay or failure in obtaining required approvals could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenues from the particular drug candidate including, but not limited to, loss of patent term during the approval period. Furthermore, if we, or our partners, do not reach the market with our products before our competitors offer products for the same or similar uses, or if we, or our partners, are not effective in marketing our products, our revenues from product sales, if any, will be reduced.

We face intense competition in our development activities. We face competition from many companies in the United States and abroad, including a number of large pharmaceutical companies, firms specialized in the development and production of vaccines, adjuvants and vaccine and immunotherapeutic delivery systems and major universities and research institutions. Most of our competitors have substantially greater resources, more extensive experience in conducting preclinical studies and clinical testing and obtaining regulatory approvals for their products, greater operating experience, greater research and development and marketing capabilities and greater production capabilities than those of ours. These companies might succeed in obtaining regulatory approval for competitive products more rapidly than we can for our products, especially if we experience any delay in obtaining required regulatory approvals.

We may enter into collaboration agreements for the licensing, development and ultimate commercialization of some of our drug candidates including, where appropriate, for our lead drug candidates. In such cases, we will depend greatly on our third-party collaborators to license, develop and commercialize such drug candidates, and they may not meet our expectations.

We may enter into co-development and commercialization partnerships for our drug candidates where appropriate. The process of identifying collaborators and negotiating collaboration agreements for the licensing, development and ultimate commercialization of some of our drug candidates may cause delays and increased costs. We may not be able to enter into collaboration agreements on terms favorable to us or at all. Furthermore, some of those agreements may give substantial responsibility over our drug candidates to the collaborator. Some collaborators may be unable or unwilling to devote sufficient resources to develop our drug candidates as their agreements require. They often face business risks similar to ours, and this could interfere with their efforts. Also, collaborators may choose to devote their resources to products that compete with ours. If a collaborator does not successfully develop any one of our products, we will need to find another collaborator to do so. The success of our search for a new collaborator will depend on our legal right to do so at the time and whether the product remains commercially viable.

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If we enter into collaboration agreements for one or more of our lead drug candidates, the success of such drug candidates will depend in great part upon our and our collaborators’ success in promoting them as superior to other treatment alternatives. We believe that our drug candidates can be proven to offer disease treatment with notable advantages over drugs in terms of patient compliance and effectiveness. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to prove these advantages or that the advantages will be sufficient to support the successful commercialization of our drug candidates.

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Drug Candidates

We may face delays, difficulties or unanticipated costs in establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or seeking a partnership for the commercialization of our drug candidates, even if regulatory approval is obtained.

We may choose to build a commercial organization which we believe could provide us with the strategic options to either retain full economic rights to our drug candidates or seek favorable economic terms through advantageous commercial partnerships. As a result, we may have full responsibility for commercialization of one or more of our drug candidates if and when they are approved for sale. We currently lack sufficient marketing, sales and distribution capabilities to carry out this strategy. If any of our drug candidates are approved by the FDA, we will need a drug sales force with technical expertise prior to the commercialization of any of our drug candidates. We may not succeed in developing such sales and distribution capabilities, the cost of establishing such sales and distribution capabilities may exceed any product revenue, or our direct marketing and sales efforts may be unsuccessful. We may find it necessary to enter into strategic partnerships, co-promotion or other licensing arrangements. To the extent we enter into such strategic partnerships, co- promotion or other licensing arrangements, our product revenues are likely to be lower than if we directly marketed and sold such drugs, and some or all of the revenues we receive will depend upon the efforts of third parties, which may not be successful and may not be within our control. If we are unable to enter into such strategic partnerships, co-promotion or other licensing arrangements on acceptable terms or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our existing and future drug candidates. If we are not successful in commercializing any drug candidates, for which we obtain regulatory approval, either on our own or through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future product revenue will suffer, and we may never achieve profitability or become unable to continue the operation of our business.

If our drug candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval do not achieve broad acceptance from physicians, patients and third-party payors, we may be unable to generate significant revenues, if any.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates, our approved drugs may not gain market acceptance among physicians and patients. We believe that effectively marketing our drug candidates, if any of them are approved, will require substantial efforts, both prior to commercial launch and after approval. Physicians may elect not to prescribe our drugs, and patients may elect not to request or take them, for a variety of reasons, including:

● limitations or warnings contained in a drug’s FDA-approved labeling;

● limitations in the approved indications for our drug candidates;

● demonstrated clinical safety and efficacy compared to other drugs;

● significant adverse side effects;

● effectiveness of education, sales, marketing and distribution support;

● cost-effectiveness;

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● convenience and ease of administration of our drug candidates; and

If our future drugs fail to achieve market acceptance, we will not be able to generate significant revenues and may never achieve profitability.

Even if any of our drug candidates receive FDA approval, the terms of the approval may limit such drug’s commercial potential. Additionally, even after receipt of FDA approval, such drug would be subject to substantial, ongoing regulatory requirements.

The FDA has complete discretion over the approval of our drug candidates. If the FDA grants approval, the scope of the approval may limit our ability to commercialize such drug, and in turn, limit our ability to generate substantial product revenue. For example, the FDA may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-approval clinical trials or subject to warnings or contraindications. Additionally, even after granting approval, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for such drug will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. In addition, manufacturers of our drug candidates are required to comply with cGMP regulations, which include requirements related to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation. Further, regulatory authorities must inspect and approve these manufacturing facilities before they can be used to manufacture our drug candidates, and these facilities are subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMP regulations. If we or a third party discover previously unknown problems with a drug, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the drug is manufactured, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions on that product, the manufacturer or us, including requiring withdrawal of the drug from the market or suspension of manufacturing. If we, our drug candidates or the manufacturing facilities for our drug candidates fail to comply with regulatory requirements of the FDA and/or other non-U.S. regulatory authorities, we could be subject to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions, including the following:

● warning letters;

● civil or criminal penalties and fines;

● injunctions;

● consent decrees;

● suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approval;

● suspension of any ongoing clinical studies;

● voluntary or mandatory product recalls and publicity requirements;

● refusal to accept or approve applications for marketing approval of new drugs;

● seizure or detention of drugs or import bans.

The regulatory requirements and policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted with which we may also be required to comply. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or in other countries. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may not be permitted to market our future products and our business may suffer.

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Reimbursement decisions by third-party payors may have an adverse effect on pricing and market acceptance of any of our drug candidates. If there is not sufficient reimbursement for our future drugs, it is less likely that such drugs will be widely used.

Market acceptance and sales of any of our drug candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval will depend on reimbursement policies and may be affected by future health care reform measures in both the United States and foreign jurisdictions. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs they will cover and establish payment levels. In addition, government authorities and these third-party payors are increasingly attempting to contain health care costs by demanding price discounts or rebates and limiting both the types and variety of drugs that they will cover and the amounts that they will pay for these drugs. In addition, we might need to conduct post-marketing studies in order to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of any future drugs to such payors’ satisfaction. Such studies might require us to commit a significant amount of management time and financial and other resources.

Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on payments allowed for lower-cost products that are already reimbursed, may be incorporated into existing payments for other products or services and may reflect budgetary constraints and/or imperfections in Medicare or Medicaid data used to calculate these rates. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government health care programs. Such programs, or regulatory changes or relaxation of laws that restrict imports of drugs from other countries, could reduce the net price we receive for any future marketed drugs. In addition, our future drugs might not ultimately be considered cost-effective.

We cannot be certain that reimbursement will be available for any drug candidates that we develop.Also, we cannot be certain that reimbursement policies will not reduce the demand for, or the price paid for, any future drugs. If reimbursement is not available or is available on a limited basis, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any drug candidates that we develop.

Other factors could affect the demand for and sales and profitability of any drug candidates that we may commercialize in the future.

In general, other factors that could affect the demand for and sales and profitability of our future drugs include, but are not limited to:

● the timing of regulatory approval, if any, of competitive drugs;

● marketing exclusivity, if any, awarded by the FDA to our drugs;

● the increasing use and development of alternate therapies;

● the rate of market penetration by competing drugs; and

● the termination of, or change in, existing arrangements with our partners.

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Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on the sales of any drug candidates that we may commercialize in the future.

Failure to obtain regulatory approvals in foreign jurisdictions will prevent us from marketing our products internationally.

We may seek approval for our drug candidates outside the United States and may market future products in international markets. In order to market our future products in the European Economic Area, or EEA, and many other foreign jurisdictions, we must obtain separate regulatory approvals. Specifically, in the EEA, medicinal products can only be commercialized after obtaining a Marketing Authorization, or MA.

Before granting the MA, the European Medicines Agency or the competent authorities of the member states of the EEA make an assessment of the risk-benefit balance of the product on the basis of scientific criteria concerning its quality, safety and efficacy.

The approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional clinical testing, and the time required to obtain approval may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. Clinical studies conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one or more foreign regulatory authorities does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. However, a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country may have a negative effect on the regulatory process in others. The foreign regulatory approval process may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. We may not be able to file for regulatory approvals, and even if we file we may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market.

If we obtain approval to commercialize any approved products outside of the United States, a variety of risks associated with international operations could materially adversely affect our business.

If our drug candidates are approved for commercialization outside of the United States, we expect that we will be subject to additional risks related to international operations and entering into international business relationships, including:

● different regulatory requirements for drug approvals;

● unexpected changes in tariffs, trade barriers and regulatory requirements;

● foreign taxes, including withholding of payroll taxes;

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Risks Related to Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on third parties to plan, conduct and monitor our clinical tests, and their failure to perform as required would interfere with our product development.

We rely on third parties to conduct a significant portion of our clinical development activities. These activities include clinical patient recruitment and observation, clinical trial monitoring, clinical data management and analysis, safety monitoring and project management. We conduct project management and medical and safety monitoring in-house for some of our programs and rely on third parties for the remainder of our clinical development activities. If any of these third parties is unable to perform in a quality and timely manner, and at a feasible cost, our clinical studies will face delays. Further, if any of these third parties fails to perform as we expect or if their work fails to meet regulatory standards, our testing could be delayed, cancelled or rendered ineffective.

We rely on contract manufacturers over whom we have limited control. Should the cost, delivery and quality of clinical materials manufactured by us in our Fall River facility or supplied by contract manufacturers vary to our disadvantage, our business operations could suffer significant harm.

We have limited experience in commercial manufacturing. We rely on CMOs to manufacture drug substance and drug product for any late-stage clinical studies of our drug candidates as well as for future commercial supplies. Our ability to conduct late-stage clinical trials, manufacture and commercialize our drug candidates, if regulatory approval is obtained, depends on the ability of such third parties to manufacture our drug candidates on a large scale at a competitive cost and in accordance with cGMP and foreign regulatory requirements, if applicable. We also rely on CMOs for labeling and storage for studies inside and outside the US. In order for us to establish our own commercial manufacturing facility, we would require substantial additional funds and would need to make facility modifications, hire and retain significant additional personnel and comply with extensive cGMP regulations applicable to such a facility. The commercial manufacturing facility would also need to be licensed for the production of our drug candidates by the FDA and meet other regulatory standards.

Prior to approval of any drug candidate, the FDA must review and approve validation studies for drug product. The manufacturing processes for our drug candidates and immunotherapeutic delivery systems utilize known technologies. We believe that the products we currently have under development can be scaled up to permit manufacture in commercial quantities. However, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter difficulties in scaling up the manufacturing processes. Significant scale-up of manufacturing may result in unanticipated technical challenges and may require additional validation studies that the FDA must review and approve. CMOs may encounter difficulties in scaling up production, including problems involving raw material suppliers, production yields, technical difficulties, scaled-up product characteristics, quality control and assurance, shortage of qualified personnel, capacity constraints, changing priorities within the CMOs, compliance with FDA and foreign regulations, environmental compliance, production costs and development of advanced manufacturing techniques and process controls. Any of these difficulties, if they occur and are not overcome to the satisfaction of the FDA or other regulatory agency, could lead to significant delays and possibly the termination of the development program for such drug candidate. These risks become more acute as we scale up for commercial quantities, where a reliable source of drug product becomes critical to commercial success. The commercial viability of any of our drug candidates, if approved, will depend on the ability of our contract manufacturers to produce drug product on a large scale. Failure to achieve this level of supply can jeopardize and prevent the successful commercialization of the drug.

We operate our own cGMP manufacturing facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, to produce drug substance for our current and planned early-stage clinical trials. Our Fall River manufacturing facility has 250L and 1000L bioreactor capacity and is able to manufacture in compliance with FDA and EU regulations, allowing us to distribute potential products to clinical sites in the U.S., EU and ROW for early-stage clinical trials. We currently manufacture CDX-0159, CDX-1140, CDX-301, CDX-527 and CDX-585 drug substance in our Fall River facility for our current and planned Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials. All products are then filled at CMOs. Any manufacturing failures, supply chain delays or compliance issues at our Fall River facility or at our CMOs could cause delays in our Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies for these drug candidates.

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Our CDX-0159 drug product is currently administered both intravenously and subcutaneously. In 2022, we will continue to manufacture CDX-0159 at our Fall River facility in subcutaneous form to support ongoing and planned clinical trials. The subcutaneous formulation will allow for a potential self-administration at home setting versus the need for intravenous dosing in a hospital or clinic setting. The subcutaneous form could improve the patient experience if the product becomes available commercially. In 2022, we also plan to initiate a transfer of our current CDX-0159 manufacturing process to a CMO to allow us to produce larger batches in support of late-stage trials and to prepare for potential commercialization. We believe that CDX-0159 can be scaled up to permit manufacturing in commercial quantities. However, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter difficulties in scaling up the manufacturing processes.

Our leading drug candidates require specialized manufacturing capabilities and processes. We may face difficulty in securing commitments from U.S. and foreign contract manufacturers as these manufacturers could be unwilling or unable to accommodate our needs. Relying on foreign manufacturers involves peculiar and increased risks, including the risk relating to the difficulty foreign manufacturers may face in complying with cGMP requirements as a result of language barriers, lack of familiarity with cGMP or the FDA regulatory process or other causes, economic or political instability in or affecting the home countries of our foreign manufacturers, shipping delays, potential changes in foreign regulatory laws governing the sales of our product supplies, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and the imposition or application of trade restrictions.

There can be no assurances that contract manufacturers will be able to meet our timetable and requirements. Further, contract manufacturers must operate in compliance with cGMP and failure to do so could result in, among other things, the disruption of product supplies. As noted above, non-U.S. contract manufacturers may face special challenges in complying with cGMP requirements, and although we are not currently dependent on non-U.S. collaborators or contract manufacturers, we may choose or be required to rely on non-U.S. sources in the future as we seek to develop stable supplies of increasing quantities of materials for ongoing clinical trials of larger scale. Our dependence upon third parties for the manufacture of our products may adversely affect our profit margins and our ability to develop, manufacture, sell and deliver products on a timely and competitive basis.

We may need to rely on third-party collaborators to develop and commercialize companion diagnostic tests for our drug candidates.

We do not have experience or capabilities in developing, administering, obtaining regulatory approval for, or commercializing companion diagnostic tests and will need to rely in large part on third-party collaborators to perform these functions. Companion diagnostic tests are subject to regulation by the FDA and similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States as medical devices and require separate regulatory approval prior to commercialization. We may need to rely on such third-party collaborators to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize such companion diagnostic tests. Such third-party collaborators:

● may terminate their relationship with us.

If such third-party collaborators fail to develop, obtain regulatory approval or commercialize the companion diagnostic test, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with another diagnostic company to obtain supplies of an alternative diagnostic test for use in connection with the development and commercialization of our drug candidates or do so on commercially reasonable terms, which could adversely affect and/or delay the development or commercialization of our drug candidates.

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Our reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them.

Because we rely on third parties to develop our drug candidates, we must share trade secrets with them.We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, collaborative research agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our collaborators, advisors, employees and consultants prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically restrict the ability of our collaborators, advisors, employees and consultants to publish data potentially relating to our trade secrets. Our academic collaborators typically have rights to publish data, provided that we are notified in advance and may delay publication for a specified time in order to secure our intellectual property rights arising from the collaboration. In other cases, publication rights are controlled exclusively by us, although in some cases we may share these rights with other parties. We also conduct joint research and development programs which may require us to share trade secrets under the terms of research and development partnership or similar agreements. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, our competitors may discover our trade secrets, either through breach of these agreements, independent development or publication of information including our trade secrets in cases where we do not have proprietary or otherwise protected rights at the time of publication. A competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets would impair our competitive position.

We or the third parties upon whom we depend may be adversely affected by natural disasters and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.

Any unplanned event, such as flood, fire, explosion, earthquake, extreme weather condition, medical epidemic, including the COVID-19 pandemic, power shortage, telecommunication failure or other natural or manmade accidents or incidents that result in us being unable to fully utilize our facilities, or the manufacturing facilities of our third-party CMOs, could severely disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. For example, our operations are located primarily on the east coast of the United States, and any adverse weather event or natural disaster, such as a hurricane or heavy snow storm, could have a material adverse effect on a substantial portion of our operations. If any event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our manufacturing and lab facilities, that damaged critical infrastructure, such as third-party manufacturing facilities, or that otherwise disrupted operations and travel, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place may prove inadequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Business Operations

We may engage in strategic transactions that could impact our liquidity, increase our expenses and present significant distractions to our management.

From time to time we may consider strategic transactions, including acquisitions of companies, asset purchases and out-licensing or in-licensing of products, drug candidates or technologies. Additional potential transactions that we may consider include a variety of different business arrangements, including spin-offs, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, restructurings, divestitures, business combinations, acquisitions of assets and investments. Any such transaction may require us to incur non-recurring or other charges, may increase our near and long-term expenditures and may pose significant integration challenges or disrupt our management or business, which could adversely affect our operations and financial results. For example, these transactions may entail numerous operational and financial risks, including:

● exposure to unknown liabilities;

● higher than expected acquisition and integration costs;

● write-downs of assets or impairment charges;

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● increased amortization expenses;

● inability to retain key employees of any acquired businesses.

Accordingly, although there can be no assurance that we will undertake or successfully complete any transactions of the nature described above, any transactions that we do complete could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

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

We expect that if our drug candidates continue to progress in development, we may require significant additional investment in personnel, management systems and resources, particularly in the build out of our commercial capabilities. To date we have hired a core commercial team to plan for potential commercial launches if any of our drug candidates are approved. Over the next several years, we may experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of drug development, regulatory affairs and sales and marketing. To manage this potential future growth, we may 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, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The physical expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.

We may not be able to successfully integrate our existing technology or to modify our technologies to create new immunotherapeutic drugs.

If we are able to integrate our acquired assets and licensed assets with our immunotherapy technologies, we believe these assets will give our immunotherapeutic drugs a competitive advantage. However, if we are unable to successfully integrate licensed assets, or other technologies which we have acquired or may acquire in the future, with our existing technologies and potential products currently under development, we may be unable to realize any benefit from our acquisition of these assets, or other technologies which we have acquired or may acquire in the future, and we may face the loss of our investment of financial resources and time in the integration process.

We believe that our immunotherapy technology portfolio may offer opportunities to develop immunotherapeutic drugs that treat a variety of cancers and inflammatory and infectious diseases by stimulating a patient’s immune system against those diseases. If our immunotherapy technology portfolio cannot be used to create effective immunotherapeutic drugs against a variety of diseases, we may lose all or portions of our investment in development efforts for new drug candidates.

Our internal computer systems, or those of our CROs, CMOs, or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of our drug development programs.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our CROs, CMOs, and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from cyberattacks, malicious intrusion, computer viruses, unauthorized access, loss of data privacy, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication, electrical failures or other significant disruption. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our drug development programs and commercialization efforts. For example, the loss of clinical study data from completed or ongoing clinical studies for any of our drug candidates could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development or commercialization of our drug candidates could be delayed.

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While we have not experienced any such event to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our independent drug development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from ongoing or future clinical trials for any of our product candidates could result in delays in regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase costs to recover or reproduce the data. Our information security systems are also subject to laws and regulations requiring that we take measures to protect the privacy and security of certain information we gather and use in our business. For example, HIPAA and its implementing regulations impose, among other requirements, certain regulatory and contractual requirements regarding the privacy and security of personal health information. In the European Union the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is even more restrictive with respect to all personal information, including information masked by a coding system. In addition to HIPAA and GDPR, numerous other federal and state laws, including, without limitation, state security breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws, govern the collection, use, disclosure and storage of personal information. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage to data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information or personal health information, we could incur substantial liability, our reputation would be damaged, and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed.

Our business requires us to use hazardous materials, which increases our exposure to dangerous and costly accidents.

Our research and development activities involve the use of biological materials and small amounts of hazardous chemicals. The company has internal policies and procedures for the safe handling and disposal of these materials, in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including applicable OSHA, EPA, state and local regulations, and utilizing EPA licensed disposal companies and facilities. Although we believe we have reduced our risk and impacts from these materials through our safety procedures, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. The ongoing cost of complying with environmental laws and regulations is significant and may increase in the future. All risks of environmental damage inherent to our operations cannot be mitigated and failure to comply with applicable government regulations could result in the imposition of fines, restrictions, or increased operational costs, which could impact our ability to carry on with our operations.

We face the risk of product liability claims, which could exceed our insurance coverage, and product recalls, each of which could deplete our cash resources.

As a participant in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and immunotherapeutic drug industries, we are exposed to the risk of product liability claims alleging that use of our drug candidates caused an injury or harm. These claims can arise at any point in the development, testing, manufacture, marketing or sale of our drug candidates and may be made directly by patients involved in clinical trials of our products, by consumers or health care providers or by individuals, organizations or companies selling our products.Product liability claims can be expensive to defend, even if the drug or drug candidate did not actually cause the alleged injury or harm.

Insurance covering product liability claims becomes increasingly expensive as a drug candidate moves through the development pipeline to commercialization. However, there can be no assurance that such insurance coverage is or will continue to be adequate or available to us at a cost acceptable to us or at all. We may choose or find it necessary under our collaborative agreements to increase our insurance coverage in the future. We may not be able to secure greater or broader product liability insurance coverage on acceptable terms or at reasonable costs when needed. Any liability for damages resulting from a product liability claim could exceed the amount of our coverage, require us to pay a substantial monetary award from our own cash resources and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, a product recall, if required, could generate substantial negative publicity about our products and business and inhibit or prevent development of our drug candidates and, if approval is obtained, commercialization of our future drugs.

Disruptions in the global economy and supply chains may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The disruptions to the global economy in 2020 and into 2021 have impeded global supply chains, resulting in longer lead times and also increased critical component costs and freight expenses. We have taken steps to minimize the impact of these increased costs by working closely with our suppliers. Despite the actions we have undertaken to minimize the impacts from disruptions to the global economy, there can be no assurances that unforeseen future events in the global supply chain, and inflationary pressures, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks Related to Intellectual Property

We license technology from other companies to develop products, and those companies could influence research and development or restrict our use of it. In addition, if we fail to comply with our obligations in our intellectual property licenses with third parties, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

Companies that license technologies to us that we use in our research and development programs may require us to achieve milestones or devote minimum amounts of resources to develop products using those technologies. They may also require us to make significant royalty and milestone payments, including a percentage of any sublicensing income, as well as payments to reimburse them for patent costs. The number and variety of our research and development programs require us to establish priorities and to allocate available resources among competing programs. From time to time, we may choose to slow down or cease our efforts on particular products. If in doing so we fail to fully perform our obligations under a license, the licensor can terminate the license or permit our competitors to use the technology. Termination of these licenses or reduction or elimination of our licensed rights may result in our having to negotiate new or reinstated licenses with less favorable terms. Moreover, we may lose our right to market and sell any products based on the licensed technology. The occurrence of such events could materially harm our business.

Our ability to successfully develop and, if regulatory approval is obtained, commercialize our drug candidates may be materially adversely affected if we are unable to obtain and maintain effective intellectual property rights for our drug candidates and technologies.

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection and other intellectual property protection for our drug candidates and proprietary technology. We have sought to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our drug candidates and technology that are important to our business. This process is expensive and time- consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Our existing patents and any future patents we obtain may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from using our technologies or from developing competing drugs and technologies.

Biotechnology patents involve complex legal, scientific and factual questions and are highly uncertain.To date, there is no consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology patents, particularly in regard to patents for technologies for human uses like those we use in our business. We cannot predict whether the patents we or our licensors seek will issue. If such patents are issued, a competitor may challenge them and limit their scope. Moreover, our patents may not afford effective protection against competitors with similar technology. A successful challenge to any one of our patents could result in a third party’s ability to use the technology covered by the patent. We also face the risk that others will infringe, avoid or circumvent our patents. Technology that we license from others is subject to similar risks and this could harm our ability to use that technology. If we, or a company that licenses technology to us, were not the first creator of an invention that we use, our use of the underlying product or technology will face restrictions, including elimination.

If we must defend against suits brought against us or prosecute suits against others involving intellectual property rights, we will incur substantial costs. In addition to any potential liability for significant monetary damages, a decision against us may require us to obtain licenses to patents or other intellectual property rights of others on potentially unfavorable terms. If those licenses from third parties are necessary but we cannot acquire them, we would attempt to design around the relevant technology, which would cause higher development costs and delays and may ultimately prove impracticable.

We may need to license intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.

A third party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights, that are important or necessary to the development of our drug candidates. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of a third party to commercialize our own technology or drug candidates, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from such third party. A license to such intellectual property may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

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We may be unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, thus harming our business and competitive position.

We rely upon trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information to develop and maintain our competitive position, which we seek to protect, in part, by confidentiality agreements with our employees and our collaborators and consultants. We also have agreements with our employees that obligate them to assign their inventions to us. However, it is possible that technology relevant to our business will be independently developed by a person that is not a party to such an agreement. Furthermore, if the employees, consultants or collaborators that are parties to these agreements breach or violate the terms of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could lose our trade secrets through such breaches or violations. Further, our trade secrets could be disclosed, misappropriated or otherwise become known or be independently discovered by our competitors. In addition, intellectual property laws in foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property to the same extent as the laws of the United States. If our trade secrets are disclosed or misappropriated, it would harm our ability to protect our rights and have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents, which could be expensive, time- consuming and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe our patents. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.

Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and sell our drug candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the proprietary rights or intellectual property of third parties. We may become party to, or be threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our drug candidates and technology. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. If we are found to infringe a third-party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third-party to continue developing our drug candidates and technology. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing the infringing technology or product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties can have a similar negative impact on our business.

Third parties may assert that our employees or consultants have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information or misappropriated trade secrets.

We employ individuals who were previously employed at universities or other diagnostic or biopharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees and consultants 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 intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of a former employer or other third parties. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

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Regulatory Risks

We may not be able to obtain or maintain orphan drug designation or exclusivity for our product candidates.

We may seek orphan drug designation for some of our product candidates in the United States.Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States.

Generally, if a product with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA or the EMA from approving another marketing application for the same indication for that drug during that time period. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in Europe. The European exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if a drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation or if the drug is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified. Orphan drug exclusivity may be lost if the FDA or the EMA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.

We cannot assure you that any future application for orphan drug designation with respect to any product candidate will be granted. If we are unable to obtain orphan drug designation in the United States, we will not be eligible to obtain the period of market exclusivity that could result from orphan drug designation or be afforded the financial incentives associated with orphan drug designation. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care.

Any fast track designation or grant of priority review status by the FDA may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, nor will it assure FDA approval of our product candidates. Additionally, our product candidates may treat indications that do not qualify for priority review vouchers.

We may seek fast track designation for some of our product candidates or priority review of applications for approval of our product candidates. If a drug is intended for the treatment of a serious or life- threatening condition and the drug demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the drug sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. If a product candidate offers major advances in treatment, the FDA may designate it eligible for priority review. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant these designations, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for these designations, we cannot assure you that the FDA would decide to grant them. Even if we do receive fast track designation or priority review, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.

Any breakthrough therapy designation granted by the FDA for our product candidates may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and it does not increase the likelihood that our product candidates will receive marketing approval.

We may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for some of our product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For drugs and biologics that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for accelerated approval if the relevant criteria are met.

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Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that the products no longer meet the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened.

If our processes and systems are not compliant with regulatory requirements, we could be subject to delays in submitting BLAs, NDAs or restrictions on marketing of drugs after they have been approved.

We currently are developing drug candidates for regulatory approval and are in the process of implementing regulated processes and systems required to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for our drug candidates. Certain of these processes and systems for conducting clinical trials and manufacturing material must be compliant with regulatory requirements before we can apply for regulatory approval for our drug candidates. These processes and systems will be subject to continual review and periodic inspection by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. If we are unable to achieve compliance in a timely fashion or if compliance issues are identified at any point in the development and approval process, we may experience delays in filing for regulatory approval for our drug candidates or delays in obtaining regulatory approval after filing. In addition, any later discovery of previously unknown problems or safety issues with approved drugs or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements may result in restrictions on such drugs or manufacturing processes, withdrawal of drugs from the market, the imposition of civil or criminal penalties or a refusal by the FDA and/or other regulatory bodies to approve pending applications for marketing approval of new drugs or supplements to approved applications, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, we are a party to agreements that transfer responsibility for complying with specified regulatory requirements, such as filing and maintenance of marketing authorizations and safety reporting or compliance with manufacturing requirements, to our collaborators and third-party manufacturers. If our collaborators or third-party manufacturers do not fulfill these regulatory obligations, any drugs for which we or they obtain approval may be subject to later restrictions on manufacturing or sale or may even risk withdrawal, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We have conducted and are conducting clinical trials outside the United States and anticipate conducting additional clinical trials outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from such trials.

We are currently conducting clinical trials for our product candidates in countries outside of the United States and we anticipate that we will conduct additional clinical trials in countries outside the United States. Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of such study data by the FDA is subject to certain conditions. For example, the clinical trial must be conducted in accordance with GCP requirements and the FDA must be able to validate the data from the clinical trial through an onsite inspection if it deems such inspection necessary. Where data from foreign clinical trials are intended to serve as the sole basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless those data are considered applicable to the U.S. patient population and U.S. medical practice, the clinical trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence, and the data is considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA or, if the FDA considers such an inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means. In addition, such clinical trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the clinical trials are conducted. A description of any studies related to overdosage is also required, including information on dialysis, antidotes, or other treatments, if known. There can be no assurance the FDA will accept data from clinical trials conducted outside of the United States. If the FDA does not accept any such data, it would likely result in the need for additional clinical trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay aspects of our development plan.

Risks inherent in conducting international clinical trials include, but are not limited to:

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● manufacturing, customs, shipment and storage requirements;

● cultural differences in medical practice and clinical research; and

● diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries.

Changes in product candidate manufacturing or formulation may result in additional costs or delay.

As product candidates are developed through preclinical studies to late-stage clinical trials towards approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods and formulation, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results. During the course of a development program, sponsors may also change the contract manufacturers used to produce the product candidates. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of clinical trials. Such changes may also require additional testing, notification or approval by the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities. This could delay completion of clinical trials; require the conduct of bridging clinical trials or studies, or the repetition of one or more clinical trials; increase clinical trial costs; delay approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue.

Even if we receive regulatory approval for a drug candidate, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and subject us to penalties if we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements.

Once regulatory approval has been granted, the approved product and its manufacturer are subject to continual review by the FDA and/or non-U.S. regulatory authorities. Any regulatory approval that we or our collaboration partners receive for our drug candidates may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing follow-up studies to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product. In addition, if the FDA and/or non-U.S. regulatory authorities approve any of our drug candidates, we will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements by the FDA and other regulatory authorities with regard to the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for our products. In addition, manufacturers of our drug products are required to comply with cGMP regulations, which include requirements related to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation. Further, regulatory authorities must inspect and approve these manufacturing facilities before they can be used to manufacture our drug products, and these facilities are subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMP regulations. If we or a third party discover previously unknown problems with a product, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions on that product, the manufacturer or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing. If we, our drug candidates or the manufacturing facilities for our drug candidates fail to comply with regulatory requirements of the FDA and/or other non-U.S. regulatory authorities, we could be subject to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions, including the following:

● warning letters;

● civil or criminal penalties and fines;

● injunctions;

● consent decrees;

● suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approval;

● suspension of any ongoing clinical studies;

● voluntary or mandatory product recalls and publicity requirements;

● refusal to accept or approve applications for marketing approval of new drugs;

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● seizure or detention of drugs or import bans.

The regulatory requirements and policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted with which we may also be required to comply. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or in other countries. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may not be permitted to market our future products, and our business may suffer.

We may be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, transparency and pricing laws and health information privacy and security laws. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.

If we obtain FDA approval for any of our drug candidates and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our operations will be directly, or indirectly through our customers, subject to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act. These laws may affect, among other things, our proposed sales, marketing and education programs. In addition, we may be subject to patient privacy regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include:

Although compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be entirely eliminated. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including exclusion from payment by federal health care programs, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. Moreover, achieving and sustaining compliance with applicable federal and state privacy, security and fraud laws may prove costly.

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Compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to the privacy and security of health information may be time consuming, difficult and costly, particularly in light of increased focus on privacy issues in countries around the world, including the U.S. and the EU.

We are subject to various domestic and international privacy and security regulations. The confidentiality, collection, use and disclosure of personal data, including clinical trial patient-specific information, are subject to governmental regulation generally in the country that the personal data were collected or used. In the United States we are subject to various state and federal privacy and data security regulations, including but not limited to HIPAA and as amended by the HITECH Act. HIPAA mandates, among other things, the adoption of uniform standards for the electronic exchange of information in common health care transactions, as well as standards relating to the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information, which require the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information. In the EU personal data includes any information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person with health information carrying additional obligations, including obtaining the explicit consent from the individual for collection, use or disclosure of the information. We are also subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) which came into effect on May 25, 2018. Furthermore, the legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing amount of focus on privacy and data protection issues. The United States and the EU and its member states continue to issue new privacy and data protection rules and regulations that relate to personal data and health information.

Compliance with these laws may be time consuming, difficult and costly. If we fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations or duties relating to the use, privacy or security of personal data we could be subject to the imposition of significant civil and criminal penalties, be forced to alter our business practices and suffer reputational harm.

Changes in health care law and implementing regulations, including government restrictions on pricing and reimbursement, as well as health care policy and other health care payor cost-containment initiatives, may have a material adverse effect on us.

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the regulatory system, health care system and efforts to control health care costs, including drug prices, that could have a significant negative impact on our business, including preventing, limiting or delay regulatory approval of our drug candidates and reducing the sales and profits derived from our products once they are approved. For example, in the United States, the ACA substantially changed the way health care is financed by both governmental and private insurers and significantly affects the pharmaceutical industry. Many provisions of ACA impact the biopharmaceutical industry, including that in order for a biopharmaceutical product to receive federal reimbursement under the Medicare Part B and Medicaid programs or to be sold directly to U.S. government agencies, the manufacturer must extend discounts to entities eligible to participate in the drug pricing program under the Public Health Services Act, or PHS. Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges and amendments to certain aspects of ACA. There is continued uncertainty about the implementation of ACA, including the potential for further amendments to the ACA and legal challenges to or efforts to repeal the ACA.

Other examples of proposed changes include, but are not limited to, expanding post-approval requirements, changing the Orphan Drug Act, and restricting sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical products.

We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether government regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes would be on the marketing approvals, sales, pricing, or reimbursement of our drug candidates or products, if any, may be.

Risks Related to Our Capital Stock

Our history of losses and uncertainty of future profitability make our common stock a highly speculative investment.

We have had no commercial revenue to date from sales of our drug candidates. We had an accumulated deficit of $1.1 billion as of December 31, 2021. We expect to spend substantial funds to continue the research and development testing of our drug candidates.

In anticipation of FDA approval of these products, we will need to make substantial investments to establish sales, marketing, quality control, regulatory compliance capabilities and commercial manufacturing alliances. These investments will increase if and when any of these drug candidates receive FDA approval. We cannot predict how quickly our lead drug candidates will progress through the regulatory approval process. As a result, we may continue to lose money for several years.

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We cannot be certain that we will achieve or sustain profitability in the future. Failure to achieve profitability could diminish our ability to sustain operations, pay dividends on our common stock, obtain additional required funds and make required payments on our present or future indebtedness.

We completed a reverse stock split in order to regain compliance with the listing requirements of NASDAQ. However, the reverse stock split may not result in our stock price remaining compliant with the minimum price requirements of NASDAQ.

Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market. In order to maintain that listing, we must satisfy minimum financial and other requirements including, without limitation, a requirement that our closing bid price be at least $1.00 per share. At our annual meeting of stockholders in June 2018, our stockholders approved a proposal to grant discretionary authority to our Board of Directors to amend our certificate of incorporation to effect a reverse stock split of our outstanding shares of common stock within a range of one share of common stock for every ten shares of common stock to one share of common stock for every fifteen shares of common stock, with the exact reverse stock split ratio to be decided by the Board of Directors. On February 8, 2019 we announced that our Board of Directors had approved a one for fifteen reverse stock split of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. On February 11, 2019, our common stock began trading on a split-adjusted basis on the NASDAQ Capital Market.

Our share price has been and could remain volatile.

The market price of our common stock has historically experienced and may continue to experience significant volatility. From January 2020 through December 2021, the market price of our common stock has fluctuated from a high of $57.20 per share in the fourth quarter of 2021, to a low of $1.50 per share in the first quarter of 2020. Our progress in developing and commercializing our products, the impact of government regulations on our products and industry, the potential sale of a large volume of our common stock by stockholders, our quarterly operating results, changes in general conditions in the economy or the financial markets and other developments affecting us or our competitors could cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate substantially with significant market losses. If our stockholders sell a substantial number of shares of common stock, especially if those sales are made during a short period of time, those sales could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital. In addition, in recent years, the stock market has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations. This volatility has affected the market prices of securities issued by many companies for reasons unrelated to their operating performance and may adversely affect the price of our common stock. In addition, we could be subject to a securities class action litigation as a result of volatility in the price of our stock, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources and could harm our stock price, business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

We completed the reverse stock split of our shares of common stock, which may reduce and may limit the market trading liquidity of the shares due to the reduced number of shares outstanding, and may potentially have an anti-takeover effect.

We completed the reverse stock split of our common stock by a ratio of one for fifteen effective February 8, 2019. The liquidity of our common stock may be adversely affected by the reverse stock split as a result of the reduced number of shares outstanding following the reverse stock split. In addition, the reverse stock split may increase the number of stockholders who own odd lots of our common stock, creating the potential for such stockholders to experience an increase in the cost of selling their shares and greater difficulty affecting such sales. Reducing the number of outstanding shares of our common stock through the reverse stock split is intended, absent other factors, to increase the per share market price of our common stock. However, other factors, such as our financial results, market conditions and the market perception of our business may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. As a result, there can be no assurance that the reverse stock split will result in the intended benefits, that the market price of our common stock will remain higher following the reverse stock split or that the market price of our common stock will not decrease in the future. Further, since the reverse stock split was not accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the number of shares authorized for issuance under our Third Restated Certificate of Incorporation, the relative increase in the number of shares authorized for issuance could, under certain circumstances, have an anti-takeover effect by enabling our Board of Directors to issue additional shares of common stock in a transaction making it more difficult for a party to obtain control of us by tender offer or other means.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards will be subject to limitation and, under certain circumstances, may be eliminated.

Utilization of our net operating loss and research and development credit carryforwards (“NOLs”) may be subject to substantial annual limitation due to ownership change limitations that have occurred previously or that could occur in the future provided by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or Section 382, as well as similar state provisions. In general, an ownership

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change, as defined by Section 382, results from transactions increasing the ownership of certain shareholders or public groups in the stock of a corporation by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period.

In October 2007, June 2009, December 2009 and December 2013, we experienced a change in ownership as defined by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. Historically, we have raised capital through the issuance of capital stock on several occasions which, combined with shareholders’ subsequent disposition of those shares, has resulted in three changes of control, as defined by Section 382. As a result of these ownership changes, utilization of our Federal net operating loss carryforwards is subject to an annual limitation. We have not undertaken a study to assess whether an ownership change or multiple ownership changes have occurred for (i) acquired businesses prior to the acquisition, (ii) the Company on the state level, (iii) the Company since March 2015 or (iv) research and development credits. If, based on such a study, we were to determine that there has been an ownership change at any time, utilization of net operating loss or tax credit carryforwards would be subject to an annual limitation under Section 382 (or similar state provisions).

Any unused annual limitation may be carried over to later years, and the amount of the limitation may, under certain circumstances, be subject to adjustment if the fair value of our net assets is determined to be below or in excess of the tax basis of such assets at the time of the ownership change, and such unrealized loss or gain is recognized during the five-year period after the ownership change. Subsequent ownership changes, as defined in Section 382, could further limit the amount of net operating loss carryforwards and research and development credits that can be utilized annually to offset future taxable income. Additionally, as provided above, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limited the deduction for net operating losses to 80% of taxable income while providing that net operating loss carryovers for years after 2017 will not expire. The CARES Act provides relief to corporate taxpayers by permitting a five year carryback of 2018 – 2020 NOLs, removing the 80% limitation on the carryback of those NOLs, and accelerates refunds for minimum tax credit carryforwards, along with a few other provisions. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, no material adjustments were made to provision amounts recorded as a result of the enactment of the CARES Act.

Refer to Note 15, “Income Taxes,” in the accompanying notes to the financial statements for additional discussion on income taxes.

General Risk Factors

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our common stock.

Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any failure to maintain effective internal control as a result of shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic could result in deficiencies in internal control. We have designed, implemented and tested the internal control over financial reporting required to comply with this obligation, which was and is time consuming, costly, and complicated. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected. Any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.

We have many competitors in our field, and they may develop technologies that make ours obsolete.

Biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and therapeutics are rapidly evolving fields in which scientific and technological developments are expected to continue at a rapid pace. We have many competitors in the U.S. and abroad. The competitors of which we are aware that have initiated a Phase 3 study or have obtained marketing approval for a potentially competitive drug to CDX-0159 for treatment of CSU, CIndU or PN include: AstraZeneca, (Fasenra for CSU), Galderma/Chugai (nemolizumab for PN), Genentech (fenebrutinib for CSU), Novartis (ligelizumab for CSU, CIndU and food allergy; LOU064 for CSU), Regeneron/Sanofi (Dupixent for CSU, CIndU

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and PN), and Trevi Therapeutics (nalbuphine for PN). Our success depends upon our ability to develop and maintain a competitive position in the product categories and technologies on which we focus. Many of our competitors have greater capabilities, experience and financial resources than we do. Competition is intense and is expected to increase as new products enter the market and new technologies become available. Our competitors may:

We face risks related to health epidemics and outbreaks, including COVID-19, which could significantly disrupt our preclinical studies and clinical trials.

The duration and the geographic impact of the business disruption and related financial impact resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be reasonably estimated at this time and our business could be adversely impacted by its effects. In an effort to halt the outbreak of COVID-19, the United States has, at times, placed significant restrictions on travel and many businesses have announced extended closures which could adversely impact our operations. Enrollment of patients in our clinical trials and our planned and ongoing preclinical and clinical trials may be delayed due to COVID-19. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations of the FDA and other health authorities may delay potential approvals of our clinical trial protocols. In addition, we rely on independent clinical investigators, contract research organizations and other third-party service providers to assist us in managing, monitoring and otherwise carrying out our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and the pandemic may affect their ability to devote sufficient time and resources to our programs. We also rely on third party suppliers and contract manufacturers to produce the drug product we utilize in our clinical trials, and the pandemic may cause delays in the delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients (“APIs”) and drug product. Temporary closure of our facilities, or facilities at which our clinical or preclinical trials are conducted, or restrictions on the ability of our employees, clinicians or patients enrolled in our trials to travel could adversely affect our operations and our ability to conduct and complete our preclinical and clinical trials. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic, including insufficient vaccination of the general population and the emergence of new variants, including the delta variant and the omicron variant, could affect the health and availability of our workforce as well as those of the third parties on whom we rely. If new, more infectious or severe variants emerge, it is possible that the impact of the pandemic on our business may increase or lengthen in duration.

As a result of the foregoing factors, the expected timeline for data readouts of our preclinical studies and clinical trials and certain regulatory filings may be negatively impacted, which would adversely affect our business.

We depend greatly on the intellectual capabilities and experience of our key executives and scientists, and the loss of any of them could affect our ability to develop our products.

The loss of any of our executive officers could harm us. We entered into employment agreements with each of our executive officers, although an employment agreement as a practical matter does not guarantee retention of an employee. We also depend on our scientific and clinical collaborators and advisors, all of whom have outside commitments that may limit their availability to us. In addition, we believe that our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled scientific, managerial and marketing personnel, particularly as we expand our activities in clinical trials, the regulatory approval process and sales and manufacturing. We routinely enter into consulting agreements with our scientific and clinical collaborators and advisors, key opinion leaders and heads of academic departments in the ordinary course of our business. We also enter into contractual agreements with physicians and institutions who recruit patients into our clinical trials on our behalf in the ordinary course of our business. Notwithstanding these arrangements, we face significant competition for this type of personnel from other companies, research and academic institutions, government entities and other organizations. We cannot predict our success in hiring or retaining the personnel we require for continued growth.

Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations, provide accurate information to the FDA, comply with applicable privacy laws, comply with manufacturing standards we have established, comply with federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws and regulations, report

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financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the health care 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. We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and launched a Health Care Compliance program, but it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct. The precautions we take and the investments we make 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 be in compliance 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 significant effect on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

We may not be able to maintain compliance with the Listing Rules of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

There can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rules, including the minimum bid price requirement and other applicable corporate governance requirements. If we fail to maintain compliance with the minimum bid requirement or to meet the other applicable continued listing requirements for the NASDAQ Capital Market in the future and NASDAQ determines to delist our common stock, the delisting could adversely affect the market price and liquidity of our common stock and reduce our ability to raise additional capital. In addition, if our common stock is delisted from NASDAQ and the trading price remains below $5.00 per share, trading in our common stock might also become subject to the requirements of certain rules promulgated under the Exchange Act, which require additional disclosure by broker-dealers in connection with any trade involving a stock defined as a “penny stock” (generally, any equity security not listed on a national securities exchange or quoted on NASDAQ that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions).

Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

Item 2. PROPERTIES

As of December 31, 2021, our significant leased properties are described below.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

​ Approximate ​ ​

Property Location Square Feet Use Lease Expiration Date

Hampton, New Jersey 33,400 Headquarters, Office and Laboratory July 2025(1)

Fall River, Massachusetts 33,900 Manufacturing Facility July 2023(2)

New Haven, Connecticut 17,700 Office and Laboratory October 2023

Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Shareholder Representative Services LLC (“SRS”) is the hired representative of the former stockholders of Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Kolltan”) in connection with the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated November 1, 2016, by and among Kolltan, Connemara Merger Sub 1, Inc., Connemara Merger Sub 2 LLC, and SRS (“Merger Agreement”). On August 18, 2020, Celldex filed a Verified Complaint in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware against SRS (acting in its capacity as the representative of the former stockholders of Kolltan pursuant to the Merger Agreement) seeking declaratory relief with respect to the rights and obligations of the parties relating to certain contingent milestone payments under the Merger Agreement. Specifically, Celldex sought the entry of an order declaring that:

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In SRS’ responsive Answer and Verified Counterclaim, SRS made claims of breach of contract with respect to the Merger Agreement, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, declaratory relief, and unjust enrichment regarding abandonment of the CDX-0158 milestones, based in part on SRS’ assertion that the CDX-0159 program is in essence an extension of the CDX-0158 (formerly KTN0158) program. The parties entered into non-binding mediation in May 2021 following SRS’s approach to Celldex about its interest in settlement or mediation discussions, but those discussions did not result in a resolution of the dispute. The case remains ongoing and we are currently unable to predict or estimate the outcome of this matter. The case is currently scheduled for trial in June 2022.

Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock currently trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market (NASDAQ) under the symbol “CLDX.” On February 8, 2019, we effected a one for fifteen reverse stock split of our common stock. As of February 17, 2022, there were approximately 158 shareholders of record of our common stock. On February 17, 2022 the closing price of our common stock, as reported by NASDAQ, was $30.25 per share. We have not paid any dividends on our common stock since our inception and do not intend to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.

​

CELLDEX THERAPEUTICS, INC., NASDAQ MARKET INDEX — U.S. AND PEER GROUP INDICES

The graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on the common stock for the period from December 31, 2016 through December 31, 2021, with the cumulative return on (i) NASDAQ U.S. Benchmark TR Index and (ii) NASDAQ Pharmaceutical (Subsector) Index. The comparison assumes investment of $100 on December 31, 2016 in our common stock and in each of the indices and, in each case, assumes reinvestment of all dividends. The points on the graph are as of December 31 of the year indicated.

​

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. ​ $ 100 ​ $ 80 ​ $ 6 ​ $ 4 ​ $ 33 ​ $ 73

​

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Item 6. [Reserved]

​

Item 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

OVERVIEW

We are a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing therapeutic monoclonal and bispecific antibodies that address diseases for which available treatments are inadequate. Our drug candidates include antibody-based therapeutics which have the ability to engage the human immune system and/or directly affect critical pathways to improve the lives of patients with inflammatory diseases and many forms of cancer.

We are focusing our efforts and resources on the continued research and development of:

We routinely work with external parties to collaboratively advance our drug candidates. In addition to Celldex-led studies, we also have an Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) program with multiple studies ongoing with our drug candidates.

Our goal is to build a fully integrated, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops important therapies for patients with unmet medical needs. We believe our program assets provide us with the strategic options to either retain full economic rights to our innovative therapies or seek favorable economic terms through advantageous commercial partnerships. This approach allows us to maximize the overall value of our technology and product portfolio while best ensuring the expeditious development of each individual product. Currently, all programs are fully owned by Celldex.

The expenditures that will be necessary to execute our business plan are subject to numerous uncertainties. Completion of clinical trials may take several years or more, and the length of time generally varies substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use of a drug candidate. It is not unusual for the clinical development of these types of drug candidates to each take five years or more, and for total development costs to exceed $100 million for each drug candidate. We estimate that clinical trials of the type we generally conduct are typically completed over the following timelines:

​ ​ ​

​ ​ Estimated

​ ​ Completion

Clinical Phase Period

Phase 1 1 – 2 Years

Phase 2 1 – 5 Years

Phase 3 1 – 5 Years

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The duration and the cost of clinical trials may vary significantly over the life of a project as a result of differences arising during the clinical trial protocol, including, among others, the following:

● the number of patients that ultimately participate in the trial;

● the duration of patient follow-up that seems appropriate in view of results;

● the number of clinical sites included in the trials;

● the length of time required to enroll suitable patient subjects; and

● the efficacy and safety profile of the drug candidate.

We test potential drug candidates in numerous preclinical studies for safety, toxicology and immunogenicity. We may then conduct multiple clinical trials for each drug candidate. As we obtain results from trials, we may elect to discontinue or delay clinical trials for certain drug candidates in order to focus our resources on more promising drug candidates.

An element of our business strategy is to pursue the discovery, research and development of a broad portfolio of drug candidates. This is intended to allow us to diversify the risks associated with our research and development expenditures. To the extent we are unable to maintain a broad range of drug candidates, our dependence on the success of one or a few drug candidates increases.

Regulatory approval is required before we can market our drug candidates as therapeutic products. In order to proceed to subsequent clinical trial stages and to ultimately achieve regulatory approval, the regulatory agencies must conclude that our clinical data demonstrate that our product candidates are safe and effective. Historically, the results from preclinical testing and early clinical trials (through Phase 2) have often not been predictive of results obtained in later clinical trials. A number of new drugs and biologics have shown promising results in early clinical trials but subsequently failed to establish sufficient safety and efficacy data to obtain necessary regulatory approvals.

Furthermore, our business strategy includes the option of entering into collaborative arrangements with third parties to complete the development and commercialization of our drug candidates. In the event that third parties take over the clinical trial process for one of our drug candidates, the estimated completion date would largely be under control of that third party rather than us. We cannot forecast with any degree of certainty which proprietary products, if any, will be subject to future collaborative arrangements, in whole or in part, and how such arrangements would affect our development plan or capital requirements. Our programs may also benefit from subsidies, grants, contracts or government or agency-sponsored studies that could reduce our development costs.

As a result of the uncertainties discussed above, among others, it is difficult to accurately estimate the duration and completion costs of our research and development projects or when, if ever, and to what extent we will receive cash inflows from the commercialization and sale of a product. Our inability to complete our research and development projects in a timely manner or our failure to enter into collaborative agreements, when appropriate, could significantly increase our capital requirements and could adversely impact our liquidity. These uncertainties could force us to seek additional, external sources of financing from time to time in order to continue with our business strategy. Our inability to raise additional capital, or to do so on terms reasonably acceptable to us, would jeopardize the future success of our business.

During the past five years through December 31, 2021, we incurred an aggregate of $301.1 million in research and development expenses. The following table indicates the amount incurred for each of our significant research programs and for other identified research and development activities during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. The amounts disclosed in the

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following table reflect direct research and development costs, license fees associated with the underlying technology and an allocation of indirect research and development costs to each program.

​

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

​ ​ Year Ended Year Ended Year Ended

​ ​ (In thousands)

​

Clinical Development Programs

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a major impact in the US and around the world. The availability of vaccines holds promise for the future, though new variants of the virus and potential waning immunity from vaccines may result in continued impact from this pandemic in the future, which could adversely impact our operations. To date, the Company has managed delays and disruptions without significant impact in planned and ongoing preclinical and clinical trials, manufacturing or shipping. Potential impacts to our business include delays in planned and ongoing preclinical and clinical trials including enrollment of patients, disruptions in time and resources provided by independent clinical investigators, contract research organizations, and other third-party service providers, temporary closures of our facilities, disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to travel, and delays in manufacturing and/or shipments to and from third-party suppliers and contract manufacturers for APIs and drug product.

CDX-0159

CDX-0159 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that specifically binds the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT and potently inhibits its activity. KIT is expressed in a variety of cells, including mast cells, and its activation by its ligand SCF regulates mast cell growth, differentiation, survival, chemotaxis and degranulation. CDX-0159 is designed to block KIT activation by disrupting both SCF binding and KIT dimerization. Celldex believes that by targeting KIT, CDX-0159 may be able to inhibit mast cell activity and decrease mast cell numbers to provide potential clinical benefit in mast cell related diseases.

In certain inflammatory diseases, such as chronic spontaneous urticaria (“CSU”), also known as chronic idiopathic urticaria (“CIU”) and chronic inducible urticaria (“CIndU”), mast cell degranulation plays a central role in the onset and progression of the disease. In June 2020, we completed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single ascending dose escalation Phase 1a study of CDX-0159 in healthy subjects (n=32; 8 subjects per cohort, 6 CDX-0159; 2 placebo). Subjects received a single intravenous infusion of CDX-0159 at 0.3, 1.0, 3.0, or 9.0 mg/kg or placebo. The objectives of the study included safety and tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (tryptase and stem cell factor) and immunogenicity. Tryptase is an enzyme synthesized and secreted almost exclusively by mast cells and decreases in plasma tryptase levels are believed to reflect a systemic reduction in mast cell burden in both healthy volunteers and in disease. Data from the study were featured in a late breaking presentation at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Annual Congress 2020 in June. CDX-0159 demonstrated a favorable safety profile as well as profound and durable reductions of plasma tryptase, consistent with systemic mast cell suppression.

These data supported expansion of the CDX-0159 program into mast cell driven diseases, including initially in CSU and CIndU, diseases where mast cell degranulation plays a central role in the onset and progression of the disease. The prevalence of CSU and CIndU is approximately 0.5-1% of the total population or up to 1 to 3 million patients in the United States alone (Weller et al. 2010. Hautarzt. 61(8), Bartlett et al. 2018. DermNet. Org). CSU presents as itchy hives, angioedema or both for at least six weeks without a specific trigger; multiple episodes can play out over years or even decades. About 50% of patients with CSU achieve symptomatic control with antihistamines or leukotriene receptor antagonists. Omalizumab, an IgE inhibitor, provides relief for roughly half of the remaining antihistamine/leukotriene refractory patients. Consequently, there is a need for additional therapies. CIndUs are forms of urticaria that have an attributable cause or trigger associated with them, typically resulting in hives or wheals. Celldex is exploring cold-induced, dermographism (scratch-induced) and cholinergic (exercise-induced) urticarias.

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In October 2020, we announced that enrollment had opened and the first patient had been dosed in a Phase 1b multi-center study of CDX-0159 in CSU. This study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo- controlled clinical trial designed to assess the safety of multiple ascending doses of CDX-0159 in up to 40 patients with CSU who remain symptomatic despite treatment with antihistamines. Secondary and exploratory objectives include pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assessments, including measurement of tryptase and stem cell factor levels and clinical activity outcomes (impact on urticaria symptoms, disease control, clinical response) as well as quality of life assessments. CDX-0159 is administered intravenously (0.5, 1.5, 3 and 4.5 mg/kg at varying dosing schedules) as add on treatment to H1- antihistamines, either alone or in combination with H2-antihistamines and/or leukotriene receptor agonists.

In December 2020, we announced that enrollment had opened and the first patient had been dosed in a second Phase 1b study in CIndU being conducted in Germany in patients who are refractory to antihistamines. This study is an open label clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety of a single dose (3 mg/kg) of CDX-0159 in patients with cold urticaria (n=10) or symptomatic dermographism (n=10). In March and June 2021, respectively, we added a third cohort (single dose, 3 mg/kg) in patients with cholinergic urticaria (n=10) and a fourth cohort at a lower dose (single dose, 1.5 mg/kg) in cold urticaria. Patient’s symptoms are induced via provocation testing that resembles real life triggering situations. Secondary and exploratory objectives include pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assessments, including changes from baseline provocation thresholds, measurement of tryptase and stem cell factor levels, clinical activity outcomes (impact on urticaria symptoms, disease control, clinical response), quality of life assessments and measurement of tissue mast cells through skin biopsies. CDX-0159 is administered intravenously on Day 1 as add on treatment to H1-antihistamines.

In July of 2021, we reported positive interim data from the cold urticaria and symptomatic dermographism cohorts. As of the data cut-off on June 11, 2021, 20 patients had received a single intravenous infusion of CDX-0159 at 3 mg/kg, including 11 patients with cold urticaria and 9 patients with symptomatic dermographism. Patients had high disease activity as assessed by provocation threshold testing. In patients with cold urticaria and symptomatic dermographism baseline critical temperature thresholds were 18.9°C/66°F (range: 5-27°C/41-80.6°F) and FricTest® thresholds were 3.8 (range: 3-4) of 4 pins. Safety results were reported for all 20 patients; activity results were reported for the 19 patients who received a full dose of CDX-0159. 14 of 19 patients completed the 12-week study observation period and five were ongoing (range of 2-8 weeks) as of June 11, 2021.

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In September of 2021, we reported additional positive data from the study on measurements of symptom control and quality of life. A single dose of CDX-0159 (3 mg/kg) resulted in a rapid and sustained improvement in urticaria control and greatly reduced disease impact on quality of life, as measured by the Urticaria Control Test (UCT) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI).

Celldex has expanded clinical development of CDX-0159 into prurigo nodularis (“PN"). PN is a chronic skin disease characterized by the development of hard, intensely itchy (pruritic) nodules on the skin. Mast cells through their interactions with sensory neurons and other immune cells are believed to play an important role in amplifying chronic itch and neuroinflammation, both of which are a hallmark of PN. There are currently no FDA approved therapies for PN, representing an area of significant unmet need. Industry sources estimate there are approximately 154,000 patients in the United States with PN who have undergone treatment within the last 12 months and, of these, approximately 75,000 would be biologic-eligible. In December 2021, the first patient was dosed in a Phase 1b multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to assess the safety and treatment effects across multiple dosing cohorts of CDX-0159 in up to 30 patients with PN.

Manufacturing activities to support the introduction of the CDX-0159 subcutaneous formulation into the clinical program have been completed and, in September 2021, we initiated dosing in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 1 study designed to evaluate the safety of single ascending doses of the subcutaneous formulation of CDX-0159 in healthy volunteers. In February 2022, we reported that subcutaneous administration of CDX-0159 was well tolerated and that multiple dose levels have been identified that possess promising pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Importantly, subcutaneous delivery of CDX-0159 resulted in dose-dependent, rapid and sustained decreases in serum tryptase compared with placebo and achieved sufficient exposure to produce tryptase suppression levels comparable with the levels that generated impressive clinical activity observed in the Phase 1 CIndU intravenous study. Celldex anticipates the upcoming Phase 2 multi-dose studies in urticaria will evaluate 75mg and 150mg administered q4weeks and 300mg administered q8weeks. The planned doses support a 0.5 to 2 ml injection volume, allowing for a single injection as CDX-0159 advances towards potential commercialization. In 2022, we plan to initiate a transfer of our current CDX-0159 manufacturing process to a contract manufacturing organization to support late-stage trials and to prepare for potential commercialization.

In February 2022, we also reported interim data after completing the in-life dosing portion of our six month chronic toxicology study in non-human primates; a subset of the animals will continue to be followed beyond clearance of the CDX-0159 antibody to study completion. As expected and consistent with other KIT-targeting agents, impact on spermatogenesis was observed which is anticipated to be fully reversible upon clearance of the antibody. There were no other clinically adverse findings reported in the study. Celldex believes these data strongly support the Company’s planned Phase 2 studies in urticaria later this year and in future indications.

In February 2022, we announced that we will be expanding clinical development of CDX-0159 into eosinophilic esophagitis (“EoE”), the most common type of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease. EoE is a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus characterized by the infiltration of eosinophils. This chronic inflammation can result in trouble swallowing, chest pain, vomiting and impaction of food in the esophagus, a medical emergency. Several studies have suggested that mast cells may be an important driver in the disease, demonstrating that the number and activation state of mast cells are greatly increased in EoE biopsies and that mast cell signatures correlate with markers of inflammation, fibrosis, pain and disease severity. Currently, there are limited treatment options for EoE. Individuals often participate in an elimination diet to identify potential food allergens that may contribute to EoE, avoid difficult to swallow foods and undergo esophageal dilation. While not approved for EoE, proton pump inhibitors and the swallowing of topical corticosteroids are also used to address the disease. Industry sources estimate there are approximately 160,000 patients in the United States with EoE who have undergone treatment within the last 12 months and, of these, approximately 48,000 would be biologic-eligible. Given the lack of effective therapies for EoE and CDX-0159’s potential as a mast cell depleting agent, we believe EoE is an important indication for future study.

We continue to assess potential opportunities for CDX-0159 in other diseases where mast cells play an important role, such as dermatologic, respiratory, allergic, gastrointestinal and ophthalmic conditions.

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CDX-1140

CDX-1140 is a fully human agonist monoclonal antibody targeted to CD40, a key activator of immune response, which is found on dendritic cells, macrophages and B cells and is also expressed on many cancer cells. Potent CD40 agonist antibodies have shown encouraging results in early clinical studies; however, systemic toxicity associated with broad CD40 activation has limited their dosing concentrations to levels that may not be optimal for engaging CD40 expressing cells in the tumor microenvironment. CDX-1140 has unique properties relative to other CD40 agonist antibodies: potent agonist activity is independent of Fc receptor interaction, contributing to more consistent, controlled immune activation; CD40L binding is not blocked, leading to potential synergistic effects of agonist activity near activated T cells in lymph nodes and tumors; and the antibody does not promote cytokine production in whole blood assays. CDX-1140 has shown direct anti-tumor activity in preclinical models of lymphoma. Preclinical studies of CDX-1140 clearly demonstrate strong immune activation effects and low systemic toxicity and support the design of the Phase 1 study to identify the dose for characterizing single-agent and combination activity.

In November 2017, we initiated a Phase 1 study of CDX-1140 in up to 260 patients with recurrent, locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors and B cell lymphomas. The study is designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose, or MTD, during a dose-escalation phase (0.01 to 3.0 mg/kg once every four weeks until confirmed progression or intolerance) and to recommend a dose level for further study in a subsequent expansion phase. Secondary objectives include assessments of safety and tolerability, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity and additional measures of anti-tumor activity, including clinical benefit rate. We believe that the potential for CDX-1140 will be best defined in combination studies with other immunotherapies or conventional cancer treatments. A combination cohort with CDX-301, a hematopoietic cytokine that uniquely expands dendritic cells and hematopoietic stem cells and a safety run-in combination cohort with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma have been completed. A combination of CDX-1140 with pembrolizumab has completed the safety run-in phase. Expansion cohorts in patients with checkpoint-refractory/resistant squamous cell head and neck cancer and non-small cell lung cancer are enrolling patients.

In November 2020, we reported interim Phase 1 data from patients treated at the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and recommended dose of 1.5 mg/kg—one of the highest systemic dose levels in the CD40 agonist class. Interim data from the study were presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC) 35th Annual Meeting 2020 (n=41; 25 mono, 16 with CDX-301 and 29 with post-treatment scans). Preliminary safety data from the combination cohort with pembrolizumab (n=9; 4 at 0.72 mg/kg and 5 at 1.5 mg/kg CDX-1140) were also presented. CDX-1140 monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab was generally well tolerated with mostly grade 1 or 2 drug related adverse events. Activity at 1.5mg/kg dose of CDX-1140 included an ongoing complete response (CR; 18 months as of Oct 2021) in a patient with follicular lymphoma treated with CDX-1140 monotherapy. There was notable tumor shrinkage and/or necrosis in 6 patients with squamous cell head and neck cancer (SCCHN) treated with CDX-1140 alone or in combination with CDX-301 and stable disease (n=10) for 11 to 32 weeks. CDX-1140 provided good systemic exposure and resulted in marked changes in the tumor microenvironment.

In November 2021, we provided an update on the ongoing Phase 1 study. Emerging data from the safety run-in cohort of CDX-1140 with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma and external CD40 agonist data recently reported using the same regimen, suggest that simultaneous treatment with chemotherapy and CD40 activation may not be optimal. Alternative strategies for investigating CDX-1140 in pancreatic cancer in other regimens are being explored, including through investigator sponsored studies. The combination of CDX-1140 with pembrolizumab has completed the safety run-in phase. Expansion cohorts in patients with checkpoint-refractory/resistant squamous cell head and neck cancer and non-small cell lung cancer are enrolling patients. Of the six patients with squamous cell head and neck cancer treated with CDX-1140 at 1.5 mg/kg in combination with pembrolizumab, encouraging preliminary results have been observed including a confirmed partial response and durable stable disease. Of the six evaluable patients with non-small cell lung cancer, four have had stable disease as their best response. Adverse events, such as arthralgia, myalgia and fatigue, have occurred more frequently in combination with pembrolizumab relative to CDX-1140 monotherapy and the protocol has been amended to allow CDX-1140 dose reduction, if necessary, to help manage these toxicities. Enrollment to the study is ongoing.

CDX-527

CDX-527 is the first candidate from Celldex’s bispecific antibody platform. Bispecifics provide opportunities to engage two independent pathways involved in controlling immune responses to tumors. CDX-527 uses Celldex’s proprietary highly active anti-PD-L1 and CD27 human antibodies to couple CD27 co-stimulation with blockade of the PD-L1/PD-1 pathway to help prime and

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activate anti-tumor T cell responses through CD27 costimulation, while preventing PD-1 inhibitory signals that subvert the immune response.

Celldex’s prior clinical experience with combining CD27 activation and PD-1 blockade provide the rationale for linking these two pathways into one molecule. Preclinical data presented at the SITC 34th Annual Meeting in November 2019 demonstrated that CDX-527 is more potent at T cell activation and anti- tumor immunity than the combination of parental monoclonal antibodies.

In August 2020, we announced the initiation of a Phase 1 dose-escalation study. The study includes up to approximately 40 patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors that have progressed during or after standard of care therapy to be followed by tumor-specific expansion cohorts. The study is designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose, or MTD, during a dose-escalation phase and to recommend a dose level for further study in the subsequent expansion phase. The expansion is designed to further evaluate the tolerability, and biologic and anti-tumor effects of selected dose level(s) of CDX-527 in specific tumor types. Enrollment to the dose escalation portion of the study has been completed and an expansion cohort in ovarian cancer is enrolling patients.

Interim data were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 Annual Meeting in June that demonstrated a good safety profile along with promising pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic activity, which are important key hurdles for the development of bispecific antibodies. As of the data cut-off (April 16, 2021), 11 patients were enrolled in the first 5 dose escalation cohorts, 0.03 mg/kg through 3 mg/kg.CDX-527 was well tolerated, with no dose-limiting toxicities or treatment related serious adverse events observed. Pharmacokinetics and receptor occupancy demonstrate good exposure starting at the 1 mg/kg dose and no evidence of significant anti-drug antibodies impact. Pharmacodynamic parameters demonstrate biological activity consistent with immune activation including: transient increase in pro inflammatory cytokines/chemokines, upregulation of activation marker on T cells and particularly NK cells and a decrease in regulatory T cells.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2 to the financial statements included in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. We believe our most critical accounting policies include accounting for contingent consideration, revenue recognition, intangible and long-lived assets, research and development expenses and stock-based compensation expense.

The methods, estimates and judgments we use in applying our most critical accounting policies have a significant impact on the results we report in our financial statements. We evaluate our estimates and judgments on an ongoing basis. We base our estimates on historical experience and on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our experience and assumptions form the basis for our judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may vary from what we anticipate and different assumptions or estimates about the future could materially change our reported results. We believe the following accounting policies are the most critical to us in that they are important to the portrayal of our financial statements and they require our most difficult, subjective or complex judgments in the preparation of our financial statements:

Contingent Consideration

We record contingent consideration resulting from a business combination at its fair value on the acquisition date. We determine the fair value of the contingent consideration based primarily on the following factors: